The best-tasting vegan butter! It's plant-based, super buttery, smooth, rich & creamy & can be made in minutes. Use it for all of your spreading, baking, and frying needs. This is a real reader favorite with hundreds of five-star reviews. No fancy ingredients are required and it's palm oil-free!
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FEATURED COMMENT
"I'm impressed! When I read all the comments & high ratings about it tasting as good as real butter, I was hopeful but still skeptical…. However, I proved it to myself today. It came out perfectly first go! Follow the well-detailed directions and you can't go wrong!"
- Clare ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ More reviews →
If there is just one new vegan recipe you are going to try this month, let it be this vegan butter. It is life-changing and absolutely tried and true. It has been one of my most popular recipes since 2015 and it comes with hundreds of five-star reviews.
Make it in your blender in minutes and then use it just like regular butter for all of your spreading and baking needs. It's unbelievably smooth, rich, and creamy, and spreads and melts perfectly. You can even use it to make vegan brown butter!
A slice of no knead sourdough bread, toast, or light whole wheat bread just isn't the same without a thick layer of butter and when you make your own you can avoid the palm oil, emulsifiers etc that are in most store bought vegan butters.
Mel x
What Is Vegan Butter Made Of?
So that you get the very best results when making this vegan butter recipe, here are some important notes on the main ingredients:
- Almond flour - This is crucial for the best buttery flavor and emulsification. Almond flour is made from blanched skinless almonds and is super fine, powdery, soft, and pale creamy yellow in colour. It has a mild, buttery flavor. Almond meal on the other hand is made with raw almonds, often with skins still on. It is coarser and grainier than almond flour, slightly stronger in flavor, and darker in color with small brown flecks throughout if the skins were still intact. For best results, you need to use almond flour for this recipe. Almond flour is found in almost all grocery stores and it will be clearly labelled on the bag that it is made from blanched almonds. I buy mine in bulk from Costco but Bob's Red Mill is a popular brand of almond flour carried in most stores in North America. In the UK you can usually find almond flour at Holland and Barrett or you can order it from Amazon.
- Refined coconut oil - Note that it must be refined (i.e flavorless and odourless) and cannot be MCT oil or liquid coconut oil. This is a crucial ingredient and without it the butter won't set.
- Dairy-free milk - For creaminess and emulsification. It should be a neutral tasting milk and it must be unsweetened and unflavored so be careful to check the ingredients. Vanilla and sugar sneak into a lot of plant milks and they really aren't good additions to savory recipes. My preferences are oat milk, soy milk, or cashew milk. I don't recommend using almond milk because it has quite a strong flavor which you can detect in the finished butter.
- Nutritional yeast - Just a touch for a buttery umami flavor.
- Apple cider vinegar - The butter needs some acid to balance the flavors and apple cider vinegar is milder than most other culinary acids which is why it's used here.
- Oil - Any neutral oil such as mild olive oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, or sunflower oil. This is what makes the butter spreadable.
- Turmeric - Used for color. It gives the butter a yellow hue. This is the only ingredient you can safely omit.
You will also need a high-powered blender.
If you have any questions check the FAQs for the most common ones, and if it's not covered there feel free to leave a comment under the recipe. I'll get back to you a.s.a.p.
Serving Suggestions
Slather this vegan butter on bread, scones, and biscuits, and pancakes, and waffles. You can also add it to all of your favorite buttery recipes like vegan mashed potatoes, vegan cream cheese frosting, and lemon curd, and use it in your vegan baking. It's great for cakes, pastry dough, etc. You can even use it to make brown butter!
Recipe FAQS
If you use unrefined or virgin coconut oil, your butter will taste and smell of coconut, not butter. Refined coconut oil has no coconut flavor or smell which is why it is essential for this recipe.
I have a few readers who use ground-up cashew nuts, sunflower seeds, or pine nuts instead of almonds. Almonds give a more buttery flavour but the results are still ok when using these substitutes.
The nutritional yeast helps with the buttery flavor and the butter is at its best when it is included so I highly recommend using it. However, if you omit it the recipe will still technically work, it just won't taste quite as good.
No. Baking yeast and brewer's yeast are completely different from nutritional yeast and will not work in this recipe.
There is no substitute for coconut oil in this recipe. Nothing else will work.
Yes, it bakes perfectly. Use it in cakes, pies and frosting etc as you would regular butter.
Vegan butter and margarine are similar but not the same. Margarine has a really distinctive flavor and a really soft texture that is not like traditional dairy butter. It is also not always vegan. It often contains milk derivatives amongst other things, even the ones that are sometimes labeled as plant-based" so be careful. Look out for ingredients like whey, lactose, and casein. Also, be wary of lecithin and vitamin D3 which can sometimes be derived from animals. My vegan butter recipe is more like dairy butter in flavor and texture than store-bought margarine.
No. The recipe will not set when made with liquid coconut oil.
Recipe
Vegan Butter
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240 mls) refined coconut oil , it must be refined NOT unrefined
- ½ cup (50 grams or 8 tablespoons) almond flour
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (150 mls) dairy-free milk , must be unsweetened & unflavored. See the post above for my fave milks to use.
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 pinch ground turmeric , optional but helps make colour a little more yellow
- ¼ cup (60 ml ml) neutral liquid oil , such as light olive, canola, vegetable, or sunflower oil.
RECOMMENDED EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
Please see the recipe notes before proceeding if you intend on using this butter for frying/sautéing.
- Gently melt the coconut oil. I put it in the microwave on defrost for about 20 seconds but you can also stand the jar in some hot water. Measure it when it's liquid and not solid, then set aside for a few minutes to cool to room temperature. Do not use it while warm or hot.
- Place the almond flour, milk, salt, nutritional yeast, vinegar, and turmeric into a high speed blender and blend until completely smooth. Touch the blender jar and make sure the contents aren't really warm or hot. If they are wait until they are at room temperature again before moving onto the next step.
- Pour in the refined coconut oil and olive oil then blend again until completely emulsified. It's important not to let the contents of the blender get warm/hot so blend in short bursts and give it a break for a minute or two in between if you can feel it getting warm.
- Pour the liquid butter into a container, cover and refrigerate until set.
- Let the butter soften at room temperature for a few minutes before spreading for ultimate creaminess and ease of spreading.
NOTES
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Shannon says
Made this butter and love it! Works well in recipes calling for vegan butter including icing. Also love the fact I can make it at home and the biggest thing is.....it does not contain palm oil. This is me......doing my happy orangutang dance......!
Keep up the wonderful work! You are such a sweetheart!
A Virtual Vegan says
Ha ha ha! You made me laugh then at the thought of you doing a happy Orangutan dance!!! It should be a rite of passage for anyone making this recipe ;)
I'm so glad you are enjoying it and thank you so much for coming back to leave feedback. I really appreciate it Shannon!
Pippa says
Hi
I’m intolerant to yeast - is there an alternative you can suggest for the vinegar and nutritional yeast ?
Thanks
A Virtual Vegan says
You could use a drop of lemon juice instead of the vinegar. You might need to use less though so that the lemon flavour doesn't come through. And there isn't an alternative for the nutritional yeast. You can just omit it. It wont taste quite as buttery but it will still be good.
Suee33 says
Most likely – you might only react to Fortified Nutritional Yeast – I can only eat un-fortified Nutritional Yeast found on Amazon. I get sick from sprayed on chemical vitamins on most NY. Hope this is helpful, I was delighted to discover why I felt crummy after eating the regular NY!!
Scott says
Can you use rice flour instead of almond flour?
A Virtual Vegan says
I have never used rice flour to make it so I'm not sure how it would turn out. Even if it does technically work, it definitely wouldn't taste as nice. The almonds are what gives it it's butteriness. I also wonder if it might end up slightly gritty? If you try it and it works well let me know. I'd be interested to know!
Kim says
I Wouldn’tbrecommend rice flour. It has a very different texture profile. More like regular wheat flour.
Anne says
Finally got 'round to making this today. I'm so HAPPY! It's fantastic. Can't wait to try some baking with it. No more palm oil, no more plastic packaging. The texture, the taste, the simplicity. 10 out of 10. Even my husband is impressed. Thank you for this wonderful recipe Mel.
A Virtual Vegan says
That's wonderful Anne! I'm so glad you are both pleased with it and thank you so much for coming back to leave feedback. I really appreciate it!
Carla says
This looks like a great recipe! I just have a problem though: I cannot eat any yeast whatsoever, nutritional yeast included.
Is there a way to replace it?
Or can I just leave it behind?
Thank you so much!
A Virtual Vegan says
Just omit the yeast. It helps with the butteriness a bit but the difference is negligible so it will be fine without!
Nessa says
Your first paragraph states, “can be used in any way you would use real butter,” but your last paragraph states, “Do not use this butter for frying... broiling/grilling.”
Well, which is it?
A Virtual Vegan says
It can be used in any way you would use real butter except for frying, broiling and grilling. The first sentence above the picture is just a very brief summary of the recipe. I can't fit everything about it there otherwise it wouldn't be a brief summary. I mention in several places it is not suitable for frying or broiling.
Michelle says
Loved this vegan butter!! So easy to make and tastes amazing!! The only thing I didn't like was how hard it is and difficult to spread. So I tweeted the recipe a little.
First I used soy milk (I know it was advices against but it's all I had at the time).
Second I used canola oil (remains liquid when refrigerated unlike olive and coconut oil) with the coconut oil. I used 1/4 canola and 3/4 coconut.
I didn't notice any congealing of the soy milk during the first blending stage. But when I added the canola/coconut oil to the blender and turned it on, it thickened right away.
After refrigerating overnight, the consistency remains like softened butter. Much more spreadable. I have not tried baking or frying with this new recipe. I'm just very happy with the improved consistency.
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad that you are enjoying it and that you managed to tweak it to suit you better!
Donna says
Oh my goodness, I have been waiting to make this for the last 2 weeks........I love love this I use it every morning, I will definitely add this recipe to my book look all I can say is it makes me happy!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you are enjoying it! Feed back like this makes me really happy.
Ashley vn says
I LOVE this recipe. It is truly delicious. Have you had success using it as a butter replacement in baked goods, etc without issues? I haven't tried that yet.
Butter was something that I truly miss and didn't want to support the vegan ones that use palm oils.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thats awesome. I'm so glad you are enjoying it. It does work perfectly in baked goods and for things like frosting. Have fun experimenting!
Jennifer Unangst says
I am new to all of this and this was delicious and tastes great!! I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk so I'm not sure how it would taste with cashew milk...I'll try that next time. This is awesome!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed it Jennifer.
Kayla K. says
I have a question before I make this, and hopefully someone who has can answer: does it get really hard and unspreadable being stored in the fridge like regular butter does? I’ve recently decided to make the jump from vegetarian to vegan, but my husband is very hesitant. So I’m trying to find good replacements for our household to prove to him that veganism isn’t as bad as he’s thinking. Currently we leave our butter out on the counter in a butter dish (I know, shame on me) that way it’s soft and spreadable. How about with this butter?
A Virtual Vegan says
This butter does get hard in the fridge. I usually take it out about 20 minutes before I'm going to use it unless it's going on something hot. You could make it less hard by upping the amount of olive oil and reducing the coconut oil but I haven't personally done that so I'm not sure on exact quantities.
Rachel Simpson says
This recipe is absolutely brilliant. Butter, for me, has been the hardest thing to replace as shop bought margarines taste so gross (and palm oil, ugh). Your recipe has saved the day! It was easy to make and I've even been eating it straight up on toast. No way would I do that with shop bought stuff.
For anyone wondering, I made this in my Nutribullet without too much trouble (though it's a little more annoying removing and replacing the lid when there's liquid inside). I used half a teaspoon of Maldon sea salt, but next time I'll use a little less (maybe Maldon tastes saltier?. A little over a quarter teaspoon would be enough for me I think.
I'm never buying margarine again!
A Virtual Vegan says
That's awesome Rachel. I'm so pleased you are enjoying it! I couldn't go back to store bought vegan margarines again after eating this either. I love Maldon salt. I used to use it all the time when I lived in England. I don't often buy it here because it's pretty expensive. Was it the flakes or crystals? There is a chance they are saltier than regular ground sea salt. I tend to buy Bob's Red Mill salt and that's what I used when creating the recipe.
Rachel says
It's the Maldon flakes I'm using. It's good stuff :)
Patricia says
This stuff is AMAZING. I am on a 30 day plant based diet and was a bit sceptical about this... I love butter... don’t judge me lol.... but WOW. Just wow. It. Tastes. Like. Butter. I’m floored. Thank you for making this experience so much easier ????
A Virtual Vegan says
Good for you, and I'm so glad that my butter recipe is making it easier for you. I loved butter before I was vegan too, which is why I created this recipe. There really is no need to go without anything when you are plant-based. Almost everything can be 'veganized'. I hope you enjoy your 30 days and consider carrying on after that!
Philippa says
Hi, I am uk-based and made with local cold-pressed rapeseed oil as it has a mild flavour and deep yellow colour - worked really well! I love this recipe, thank you. :-)
Philippa says
Meant to say, I used oatmilk successfully, too...
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you are enjoying it Philippa!
Molly says
Can I use cashews instead of almond meal? Really looking forward to trying this!!
A Virtual Vegan says
You can but the flavour is much better with almonds.
Heather Reader says
Hi Mel
I'm planning on making this as I so rarely use margarine, and it is freezable so when friends visit, I will have some spread to hand. My question is as you say to use as you would marg/butter for cooking/baking does it work well if used to make butter icing for frosting? I'm guessing yes but wanted to be sure lol.
Cheers and Happy New Year :)
Hev
A Virtual Vegan says
Happy new year to you too! This butter recipe works perfectly for frosting. It hold up really well. I used it in this cake recently: https://avirtualvegan.com/earl-grey-vegan-cake-lemon-frosting/ and the frosting piped perfectly but I did need to refrigerate the piping bag every so often during frosting as my hand heat made it a little too soft for it to hold it's shape. That probably would happen with store bought alternatives too though and if you were just spreading it on and not taking ages piping patterns like me you wouldn't run into that problem.