Create a DOM element and set it’s innerHTML
to the HTML string you have, then you can parse it’s HTML component.
var _html="<html><body><p>1. Heat the butter<br/>2. Add the onions<br/></p></body></html>";
var el = document.createElement('html');
el.innerHTML = _html;
var _el = el.getElementsByTagName('p');
alert(_el[0].innerHTML);
solved How to get the details from an HTML