Described herein are variant, recombinant (β-glucocerebrosidase proteins characterized as having increased stability relative to recombinant wild-type (β-glucocerebrosidase. Also provided herein are variant, recombinant (β-glucocerebrosidase proteins characterized as retaining more catalytic activity relative to recombinant wild-type (β-glucocerebrosidase. Further described herein are variant, recombinant (β-glucocerebrosidase proteins that can have amino acid variations at one or more of the following positions: 316, 317, 321 and 145. Methods of making the variant, recombinant β-glucocerebrosidase proteins are also described as well as methods of treating patients having lysosomal storage diseases.