Ghee has almost no protein. USDA FoodData Central lists 0.28 g of protein per 100 g of anhydrous butter oil, its closest entry to ghee, against 3.15 g in whole milk. The milk's protein is left behind in the buttermilk and the brown residue strained off. If you have a milk allergy, that small figure does not make ghee safe for you: follow your doctor's advice.
The question comes up in two ways. Some people want to know whether ghee counts towards their daily protein. Others, often those managing a milk allergy, want to know whether any protein is left at all. The answer to the first is no. The answer to the second is yes, a trace, and a trace can matter.
At a glance
- USDA lists 0.28 g of protein per 100 g of anhydrous butter oil, its closest entry to ghee, against 3.15 g in whole milk and 0.85 g in butter; a tablespoon of ghee holds about 0.04 g.
- FSSAI requires ghee to be at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, leaving at most 0.5 per cent for protein, water and everything else.
- The milk's protein leaves at two stages: in the buttermilk at churning, and in the brown residue strained off after heating, which one Tamil Nadu analysis found to be 24 per cent protein.
- "A2" on ghee describes the milk's beta-casein, a protein ghee barely retains, so it is not a reason to pay more.
- A trace is not zero: allergy organisations list ghee among milk ingredients to avoid, so anyone with a milk allergy should follow their doctor's advice.
Does ghee have any protein at all?
A trace. USDA FoodData Central lists anhydrous butter oil, the nearest food it has to ghee, at 0.28 g of protein and 99.5 g of fat per 100 g. India's food standard requires ghee to be at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, so very little room is left for protein. It is close to zero, but not zero.
Two caveats come with the USDA number. First, butter oil is not ghee made the Indian way, though FSSAI's standard groups the two together as milk fat products. Second, the protein value in that entry rests on a single analysed sample, dated 1976 in the database. It is the best public figure we found, not a measurement of any particular jar.
FSSAI, India's food regulator, describes ghee and butter oil as fatty products made by processes that result in "almost total removal of water and milk solids-not-fat". Its standard sets ghee at a minimum of 99.5 per cent milk fat and a maximum of 0.5 per cent moisture. It sets no separate limit for protein. The arithmetic does the work instead: if at least 99.5 per cent is fat, protein, water and everything else together can make up no more than 0.5 per cent.
How does ghee compare with milk, curd and butter for protein?
Ghee has the least protein of the four, by a wide margin. On USDA's figures per 100 g, whole milk holds 3.15 g, plain whole-milk yogurt 3.47 g, unsalted butter 0.85 g and anhydrous butter oil 0.28 g. From butter to ghee, each step concentrates the fat and leaves protein behind.
| Food (USDA entry) | Protein, g per 100 g | Fat, g per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat | 3.15 | 3.25 |
| Yogurt, plain, whole milk (closest entry to curd) | 3.47 | 3.25 |
| Butter, without salt | 0.85 | 81.1 |
| Butter oil, anhydrous (closest entry to ghee) | 0.28 | 99.5 |
USDA's yogurt is an American product, not Indian dahi, and its milk is not the milk of Indian cattle, so read the curd row as a rough guide. The pattern is what matters. Butter carries about 25 times the fat of whole milk per 100 g (81.1 ÷ 3.25 ≈ 25) but only about a quarter of the protein (0.85 ÷ 3.15 ≈ 0.27). Per gram of fat, whole milk has about 0.97 g of protein (3.15 ÷ 3.25) and butter about 0.01 g (0.85 ÷ 81.1). Butter oil has about a third of butter's protein (0.28 ÷ 0.85 ≈ 0.33).
Put another way, 100 g of whole milk holds as much protein as about 1.1 kg of butter oil (3.15 ÷ 0.28 × 100 g ≈ 1,125 g). A tablespoon of butter oil, which USDA gives as 12.8 g, holds about 0.04 g of protein (0.28 × 12.8 ÷ 100).
Where does the milk protein go when ghee is made?
It is left behind at two stages. When curd or cream is churned, butter forms and the buttermilk is drained off, and the USDA figures above show that most of the protein does not follow the fat into the butter. When the butter is then heated, the remaining milk solids brown, settle and are strained off as ghee residue. What is left is almost pure fat.
A 2023 review from India's National Dairy Research Institute describes the traditional, or desi, method in these steps.
- Ferment. Cream is collected from milk and fermented with lactic acid bacteria.
- Churn. The fermented cream is churned with a wooden beater to obtain butter. The review notes that this method generates a significant amount of buttermilk.
- Heat. The butter is heated on an open fire until almost all the moisture has evaporated and dark brown particles, the ghee residue, appear through the Maillard reaction and caramelisation of the milk solids-not-fat.
- Settle and decant. The pan is left undisturbed for about an hour, the curd particles settle, and the clear fat is poured off as ghee.
The butter going into the pan is not pure fat. A 2015 paper on milk fats describes butter as about 80 per cent fat, with the remainder made up of moisture, milk protein and lactose. That protein is what the residue catches. One analysis of ghee residue collected across western Tamil Nadu found 24.32 per cent crude protein and 40.69 per cent fat (Selvamani et al., 2017). Our article on ghee residue and its uses sets out what else is in those brown bits.
Heat changes the protein as well as separating it. The same review notes that ghee is heat treated at 110–120 °C, and that during this ghee boiling, lactose, fat, proteins and amino acids break down into compounds responsible for ghee's flavour. So whatever protein-derived material is left in ghee has been through that heating.
Does "A2 ghee protein content" mean anything?
Very little. A1 and A2 are two forms of beta-casein, one of the proteins in cow's milk. Ghee keeps only a trace of milk protein of any kind, about 0.28 g per 100 g on USDA's butter oil figure. Whatever share of that trace is beta-casein, a label calling ghee "A2" describes the milk it came from, not a protein you eat in any amount.
We make A2 bilona ghee from Badri cattle, and we would still rather you knew this. Our article on what A2 milk is explains the single difference between the two forms of beta-casein, which sits at one position in the protein chain, and how limited the digestion evidence is even for milk. In ghee, the protein those trials studied is almost all gone.
Be wary of any listing that gives a headline "protein content" for ghee as a selling point. On FSSAI's standard, a ghee that met the minimum fat figure would have at most 0.5 g in every 100 g for protein, water and everything else combined. A higher protein figure would raise a question about the ghee, not answer one. Himdhara publishes each batch's laboratory report on the lab reports page, which is the place to check what was actually tested.
Is ghee safe for someone with a milk-protein allergy?
Do not assume so. A milk allergy is an immune reaction to milk protein, and the question is not how much protein ghee has but whether that trace could set off a reaction in you. Food Allergy Research & Education lists ghee and butter oil among ingredients to avoid. If you have a milk allergy, follow your allergy doctor's advice.
FARE, a US allergy organisation, adds two points that apply here. It warns that a very small amount of milk protein may be enough to cause an allergic reaction in certain people. And it says reactions range from mild, such as hives, to severe, such as anaphylaxis, and that milk allergy reactions can be unpredictable.
The 2015 paper that measured lactose in ghee shows how thin the evidence is. Its authors tested lactose and galactose only, and say plainly that they did not measure milk protein, adding only that the protein content of butter oil and ghee "should be lower than butter". The sources we found give no protein measurement for Indian ghee, and none sets a level that would be safe for a person with an allergy. A label such as A2, bilona or desi changes none of this.
Lactose intolerance is a different condition with a different answer, covered in our article on whether ghee is lactose free. Whichever applies to you, or to a child you care for, take the decision with your doctor.
Is ghee a useful source of protein?
No. Ghee is a fat, eaten for flavour and for cooking, and its protein is a rounding error. On USDA's figures, a tablespoon of butter oil holds about 0.04 g of protein, while 100 g of whole milk holds 3.15 g. Anyone counting protein should leave ghee out of the sum.
That is not a mark against ghee. Separating the fat from the rest of the milk is the point of making it, and the protein goes with the rest. If you want protein from milk, the table shows where it is: in the milk and the curd, not in the jar of ghee.
The short version
Ghee has a trace of protein and no more: USDA lists 0.28 g per 100 g for anhydrous butter oil, its closest entry, from a single sample. FSSAI requires ghee to be at least 99.5 per cent milk fat, which leaves at most 0.5 per cent for protein, water and everything else. Most of the milk's protein goes into the buttermilk at churning and into the brown residue strained off after heating, so an "A2" label on ghee says more about the milk than about anything you eat. A trace is not zero, and allergy organisations list ghee as a milk ingredient to avoid, so anyone with a milk allergy should follow their doctor's advice.
Sources
Further reading behind the figures above. Himdhara's own numbers — yields, batch results — come from our production records and the batch reports on the lab reports page.
- US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. Butter oil, anhydrous (FDC ID 173412). FoodData Central, SR Legacy.
- Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011: Chapter 2.1, Dairy products and analogues (2.1.8 Standard for Milk Fat Products). FSSAI.
- Kumbhare S, Prasad W, Khamrui K, Wani AD, Sahu J (2023). Recent innovations in functionality and shelf life enhancement of ghee, clarified butter fat. Journal of Food Science and Technology.
- Portnoi PA, MacDonald A (2015). The lactose and galactose content of milk fats and suitability for galactosaemia. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism Reports.
- Food Allergy Research & Education. Milk. FoodAllergy.org.