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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Sara says
I’m really liking the look of this butter, it looks and sounds amazing.
What is the reason you say not to use say milk. Does it affect the recipe negatively?
A Virtual Vegan says
The only reason I don't advise soy milk is because there is vinegar in the recipe and soy milk curdles when it comes into contact with vinegar. The chances are slim as there isn't much vinegar but if someone is a little heavy handed with it they could end up with lumpy curdled butter.
Jill says
Is there a good substitute for the apple cider vinegar? I'm having trouble guessing its role in this recipe, which makes it hard to determine a good substitute.
A good friend of mine has recently had to switch to a super-restrictive diet to control her migraines. Dairy (e.g., real butter) and apple cider vinegar are both on the list of things she has to avoid. All other types of vinegar are fine, though.
A Virtual Vegan says
It just needs a little acid to balance the flavour. You could probably use a little white wine vinegar instead. Even a tiny bit of lemon juice might work. I have only used apple cider vinegar myself though so can't guarantee how well the flavours will balance with substitutes. You could also omit it. It won't make a huge difference and will still be good.
Donna N says
I no longer eat butter ( unless I go out to eat at a high-end restaurant) and I have never had the desire to eat vegan or any other non-dairy butter, but I'm curious and willing to give this recipe a try.
Rhedd says
Delicious, just like butter. Much better than the store bought stuff. Thank you
Liz says
Unbelievably delicious! You won't even miss the dairy version! My super-picky family LOVES this butter! We use it on everything from toast to corn on the cob...and it makes for rather tasty/HEALTHIER mashed potatoes! Honestly, this has saved me from straying from the vegan track! I cannot thank you enough!
A Virtual Vegan says
Oh Liz, that makes me so happy and thank you for stopping by to leave feedback. I really appreciate it!
Andrea Sear says
Do you think this would work in puff pastry/crossiants? Trying to make vegan crossiants and the current vegan butters in the UK don't cut it.
A Virtual Vegan says
It does. It's really nice and hard like real butter so works really well. A friend of mine runs a bakery that makes some vegan goodies and she makes this butter by the gallon to use there!
Andrea Sear says
Thanks for relpying! Going to give it a go and let you know how I do :)
Kwame says
I am so happy to have found this recipe for vegan butter that does not have emulsifiers, however I am unable to create it for the simple reason that I cant find refined coconut oil can I use vegetable oil instead.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm sorry but you can't use vegetable oil. It needs to be an oil that solidifies or the butter won't set. Refined coconut oil is generally easier to find than unrefined, here at least. If Amazon deliver to your area they will have it for sure. Depending what you are going to use the butter for, you could get away with using unrefined. When spread on things like toast with jam or pancakes/waffles, banana bread etc (sweeter things) the coconut flavour works. It's just if you want to use it for more savoury things it's a bit unpleasant. I hope you manage to try it soon!
Lisa says
FYI...I just picked up refined coconut oil (Dunn's River) at Walmart
A Virtual Vegan says
So glad you got some!
Andrea says
I am terribly lazy and just chuck all the ingredients in at once - I don't even use non-dairy milk, I throw in 1.5 tablespoons of cashews plus 5 tablespoons of water. The first time I did this, I just hoped for the best. I have a fairly standard Kenwood blender.
My lazy method works well. We are not vegetarian nor vegan, but my husband has a slight dairy intolerance, and we avoid meat / animal products as much as is practical at home. I split one batch into two containers, and they definitely freeze well. I am very impressed with this recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
I like the sound of your lazy method. So glad you are enjoying the recipe!
Josefine says
Hi. I Hope it's okay that I ask but I am really curios (and lazy aswell!) Did you use cashews AND the almondflower when you replaced milk?
Donna says
Well it’s taken me more than 6 months to comment and I should have done it sooner! This is THE BEST VEGAN BUTTER EVER!!! it’s actually what helped me stay vegan after my initial months of turning vegan and missing butter. I have given this recipe t9 s9 many people who are all now loving it also having turned vegan and missing butter as shop bought is rank????. Thank thank so so much I love it ????
A Virtual Vegan says
Better late than never! Thank you Donna. I'm so glad you are enjoying it and thank you for sharing it with others and for coming back to leave feedback. It's much appreciated!
Marie says
I'm allergic to most nuts. It seems I can eat cashews as long as they were not processed with other nuts. They are hard to find but are out there. Anyway can I use cashew milk an raw cashews for the almonds to make this butter recipe??
A Virtual Vegan says
You can. The butter will work the same, however almonds give a more buttery flavour so you will lose a little of that. It will still be good though. Hope that helps!
Erinn says
Apart from cashew milk. Could you use rice milk????? There are not that many choices where I live. I can find soy, almond (which you've said can't be used) rice, and hazelnut.
Thank you. And great recipe
A Virtual Vegan says
I haven't ever tried rice milk. I would imagine it would be ok as it must be pretty neutral. Almond works ok, it's just you can detect the flavour a little. If you are ok with that you could use it. Hope that helps!
Ellie says
This looks good, I’m going to try it. I bought some vegan butter at wholefoods and it’s great but it has soy lethicin which I don’t want. Do you have any vegan and gluten and gra8. Free recipes? I don’t eat grains or gluten and I eat low carb.
Ellie says
I forgot to ask if I can make this with a bucket blender? I also have a sunbeam small drink blender that I make whipped cream in, would that work?
A Virtual Vegan says
I have no idea what a bucket blender is but I would imagine the small drink blender would be fine!
A Virtual Vegan says
I hope you enjoy it. I do have quite a lot of gluten free recipes. There is a gluten-free section in my recipe index here https://avirtualvegan.com/category/recipes/gluten-free/ . Of those quite a few are grain free too. I don't avoid gluten and grains though so they are more accidentally gluten and grain free rather than intentionally so. These cookies are one recipe that springs to mind as being gluten and grain-free https://avirtualvegan.com/super-seedy-power-cookies/ .
Heather says
I cannot have dairy and I'm in a 3rd world country so I cannot buy any dairy free butter here. I SO miss butter! My friend gave me this recipe and I'm so excited to try it! However, how do you get the skins off of almonds, haha, and why does the coconut oil have to be refined? I cannot get refined coconut oil here, only unrefined. And do you have any idea of oatmilk will work? I cannot get many dairy free milks here either. Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
Hi Heather. Ok firstly, if you can't buy ready made almond meal/flour and have to use whole almonds with skins, to remove the skins, cover them in boiling water. Leave for about 5 - 10 mins. Drain and you should be able to slip the skins off with your fingers easily. Then let the almonds dry thoroughly before grinding them up. You could put them on a tray in the oven on a really low temp to hurry that up. Honestly though, if you are only making it for yourself and have a half decent blender, the skins wont affect the taste. They will just make the butter look a bit mottled. If you are ok with that then you don't need to bother skinning them.
As for the coconut oil, you really should use refined coconut oil. If you don't the butter will taste and smell of coconut. That's ok if you are eating it on toast or pancakes etc, or baking sweet things with it, but if you want it with more savoury things the coconut flavour kind of gets in the way. If you use unrefined coconut oil it will really taste like butter. it's kind of uncanny actually.
Oat milk will work to make it. The only problem with using homemade milk is that it doesn't stay fresh for long so neither will the butter. If you make it with home-made milk I recommend you keep the finished butter in the freezer and just take out small amounts at a time to keep it fresh. I use a silicone ice cube tray.
I hope that helps and I hope you get to try it soon!
Sandra Maestas says
I love this recipe, but wanted to know if this will work with oat flour and coconut flour. I wanted to try and make this for a group of kids but they have a nut allergy: Do you think it will work out if I replace those two ingredients?
Thank you
A Virtual Vegan says
I have personally never tried it with any other flour. I use almond flour because almonds have a buttery flavour. If you use anything else it won't taste as buttery. I'm not sure what two ingredients you want to replace? Obviously the almonds because of the nut allergy but what is the other one? I have a few readers with nut allergies who make this and they use ground sunflower seeds or pine nuts in place of the almonds. Almond flour isn't a very absorbent flour but oat flour is and coconut flour is ridiculously absorbent. I think if you used either of them, particularly coconut flour it might get a bit claggy and thick. As I said though I haven't tried it so don't know for sure. It is possible that you could blend it all up without almonds or a replacement for them and set it really quickly in the freezer before it has a chance to separate. It would be a case of trial and error though I'm afraid. I do plan eventually to make a nut-free recipe so watch this space!
Marie says
Can't wait to try this! I don't have a blender that will grind the almonds fine enough, though. I recently bought Bobs Red Mill 'super fine' almond flour. Do you think that will work? It's fine as powder, not like their other version which is a little gritty.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm not sure how good it will turn out without a blender. The speed of the blender is what emulsifies it all together. You can try it though and whisk it with all your might. If it doesn't turn out well enough to spread on things you could use it up in something baked so you wouldn't have to waste it. Good luck!
Jasmine says
This turned out really well! The only store-bought vegan butters I've liked all have palm oil in them... This recipe is a life-saver as it alleviates some of the guilt I felt buying those butters. It satisfies in the same way as anything store-bought.
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you are pleased with it Jasmine and thank you for coming back to let me and other readers know. It's much appreciated!