Ghee

Why ghee is rated low

Ghee is low at any typical portion. Butter is simmered until the milk solids separate out and are strained away, leaving clarified butterfat that is essentially pure fat, and fat carries no fermentable carbohydrate. That covers the amount you would cook a meal in or finish a dish with. Low describes ghee used as a cooking fat, not ghee as an ingredient you can stop counting entirely, and the dish it flavours is still the thing to look at.

What changes your risk

• Serving size Any typical portion reads low. That covers frying, roasting and finishing, rather than ghee eaten by the spoonful.
• What you fry in it Onion and garlic pieces sizzled in ghee and left in the pan bring their own FODMAPs into the finished dish. The FODMAPs in onion and garlic are water-soluble and do not dissolve into fat, so flavouring the ghee and then lifting out every solid piece leaves the flavour without them.
• Stacking across the meal A low rating is per serving, not per plate. Ghee is usually the carrier for something else, and the dal, the flatbread and the onion-based masala around it are what decide the meal's total load.
• Spiced, flavoured and compound ghee Jars sold as garlic ghee, herb ghee or masala ghee may carry solid pieces, onion or garlic powder or a seasoning blend, and those come along with the fat.
• Heat Cooking does not destroy FODMAPs. Frying a dish in ghee does not lower what is already in the dish, and it does not raise the ghee either.

What else works

As a cooking fat, ghee keeps company with olive oil and other plain oils, and with garlic-infused oil when you want that flavour in the pan without solid garlic. The lookalikes worth separating out are the dairy ingredients that still contain everything ghee had strained away: cream, condensed milk and evaporated milk are not a richer version of the same thing, and a curry or sauce built on milk or cream is a different question from one finished with ghee. Jarred flavoured ghee is judged by its label rather than by the word ghee on the front.

How to keep it low

Keep ghee in a sealed jar and always use a dry spoon, since crumbs and water are what spoil it. To get the garlic flavour that most ghee-based cooking wants, warm crushed garlic gently in the ghee, then strain it out completely and make sure no solid pieces are left behind, or use ready-made garlic-infused oil for the same effect. Its high smoke point suits searing and roasting, so it is useful where you would otherwise reach for a butter and onion base. When buying, read the jar: plain ghee has one ingredient, while anything spiced or flavoured is a seasoning blend you need to check like any other.

Common questions

is ghee low fodmap

Yes. Ghee is low at any typical portion, because it is clarified butterfat with the milk solids strained out.

can you use ghee on the elimination phase

Yes, at any typical portion it is low, so it works as a cooking fat during elimination. Judge the dish around it rather than the ghee.

is garlic ghee low fodmap

Only when the garlic has flavoured the fat and every solid piece has been removed, since the FODMAPs in garlic do not dissolve into fat. A jar with garlic pieces or garlic powder in it is a different product.

does cooking a dish in ghee make it lower in fodmaps

No. Heat does not break FODMAPs down, so frying in ghee does not reduce what is already in the food. It only avoids adding anything.