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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November says
Hi. Why refined coconut oil? I use raw organic cold-pressed (unrefined). Why wouldn't that work?
A Virtual Vegan says
If you use unrefined or virgin coconut oil, your butter will end up tasting and smelling of coconut. It will not taste of butter. Refined coconut oil has no coconut flavor or smell which is why it is essential for this recipe.
Mary says
Can you use oatmilk or so delicious unsweetened coconut milk?
A Virtual Vegan says
Any unsweetened milk except soy is fine. Just bear in mind that the flavour of the milk will impact the flavor of the butter. I'm not sure how coconut-ty So Delicious coconut milk is. Oat Milk is probably more neutral and would be my choice out of the two.
Janet Paula says
I plan on making this recipe tomorrow but have a big problem. My daughter won't eat anything made with coconut., even without the coconut taste. I know you stated that nothing else will suffice. But, I would like to try it with melted cocao butter (and a little more fattening). Do you think it would work and should I try it using 1 cup of melted cocao butter or perhaps a lesser amount?
Thank you very much for any help you can give me.
A Virtual Vegan says
Refined coconut oil has absolutely no coconut taste or smell so unless your daughter sees you make it she will your daughter will have absolutely no idea it's there.
I personally wouldn't use cocoa butter. The butter won't taste so buttery and will end up tasting a little like white chocolate. If you are going to use it though, I can't advise on the amount to use as I haven't tried it myself. You might need less as it tends to be a little harder than coconut oil when set.
Janet says
Thank you so much for this. I was stunned to find store-bought Earth Balance "vegan" butter was not Vegan at all. Has palm oil and we all know how the habitats of Orangatans are being decimated by Palm Oil plantations. Thanks for your good work.
PB318 says
I use a lot of unrefined coconut oil. Your recipe emphasizes refined coconut oil. I am very curious, what happens when you use unrefined coconut oil?
A Virtual Vegan says
It has to be refined coconut oil or the butter wont taste like butter. It will taste and smell like coconut.
JP says
OMG!! You are a GENIUS! I was missing butter and although have tried several store-bought vegan alternatives, none of them tasted quite right to me and I really didn't like all the ingredients either. I just made a batch of yours and felt compelled to write a comment straight away - your butter is amazing. The taste and texture is spot on!
I only just found your blog and now look forward to trying more of your recipes - I'm making your baked macaroni cheese for dinner tonight. Thank you so much.
(from a Canadian living in the UK to a Brit living in Canada)
A Virtual Vegan says
Aaaww thank you so much. I'm really pleased you are enjoying it. I hope you enjoy the mac and cheese just as much!
Alison says
Omg this tastes amazing! I couldn’t be bothered to go to the shop to get some dairy free spread and I came across your recipe. I didn’t have almond four but I did peel almonds and ground them, also I didn’t pay attention to the bottom part of recipe that said about making sure it didn’t split until I’d put everything but the coconut oil (which I added slowly) in the blender. Well lucky me it worked a treat anyway! This is lucious, rich, creamy, tasty and simply brilliant! I will never buy store bought again! Thanks ever so much!!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm thrilled you are enjoying it so much Alison. Thank you for leaving a review. I really appreciate it!
Elisheva says
Second time using this method and Im a fan for sure. So fast and simple. Last time whisked first step and unless you’re almond mealnis already fine ground it comes out a bit grainy still delicious though. Also I used extra virgin olive Oil and folded it in at the end to avoid bitterness. Came out well. I used it in banana immediately and it was a win a winner.
This time I blended with my immersion blender the dry ingredients then fully blended the coconut oil and light olives oil. Creamy creamy. Oh! I absent mindedly used a tablespoon of acv !! But it’s still great????♀️ This recipe is so variable and that’s why it works. Thanks so much for sharing.
Sabrina Barry says
Can the vinegar be omitted or substituted?
Maybe with lemon juice?
A Virtual Vegan says
You can omit it but for optimium flavour, some acid is needed. Lemon juice should be ok.
Bob DeCosemo says
Well done Mel.
This is honestly the first time I've ever made a comment on any blog/recipe page, but, my wife just made this today and it really is excellent.
Many thanks.
Bob
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much Bob! I'm honoured that mine is the first recipe you've commented on.
Christopher Pearce says
Hi there. I want your thoughts on something about this lovely butter recipe or yours. Your recipe calls for refined coconut oil which seems to be a common ingredient in a lot of Vegan butters. However, a single tablespoon of coconut oil contains nearly 15g of saturated fat which is the maximum recommended daily intake. A single tablespoon can be used just spreading a single slice of bread or toast. As refined Coconut oil is tasteless and odourless it seems that it's role in this recipe is merely like Tofu - it is a medium to be flavoured by the other ingredients. Why not leave it out? I have taken your recipe, omitted the Coconut Oil and merely blended the other ingredients before adding plain Olive Oil and have ended up with a very easy-to-spread buttery spread. I admit I have reduced the Nutritional Yeast a hint - like 3/4 tsp instead of 1 tsp (or 1 1/2 rather than 2) or else it tends to be a bit too strong.
I have not tried this beyond being a spread for toast and bread but wondered if you felt there was any merit in a much lower-fat version of your recipe. Also, I feel you have the means to test this better than I can.
I would be really interested in your thoughts!
Chris. (UK)
A Virtual Vegan says
If you omit the coconut oil it doesn't set like cow's milk butter, which this is replicating. It would stay really soft. Also it would be no good for baking etc if the coconut oil wasn't in it. You usually need a hard fat to bake with or to make frosting with. It also probably wouldn't have the correct fat content to replace regular butter like for like in baking recipes. My butter as it is, does.
Without the coconut oil it wouldn't melt either which is of huge appeal when spreading on toast or putting on something hot like a baked potato or pancakes.
The premise of my blog, and the reason it's so popular, is that all the recipes I develop and post are as good, (or better) than their non-vegan equivalents. That's the premise of what I do. So posting a butter recipe that didn't melt or set like regular butter isn't something I would be interested in testing. Sorry! Any recipe that happens to be low fat, here on the blog is kind of accidentally that way, or that way by default, as a lot of plant-based recipes tend to be. I'm of the everything (vegan) in moderation school of thought. I don't eat much butter at all, but when I do I want to really enjoy it!
I think I saw a low fat vegan "butter" on another blog recently actually, but can't remember which one. It was made of corn and had great reviews. You might want to see if you can find it.it sounds like it might be something you'd like!
Sarah Cunningham says
Can you taste the coconut oil at all?
A Virtual Vegan says
Refined coconut oil has no coconut taste or smell so as long a you use that as specified in the recipe, no.
Denmark says
Thank you for sharing this wonderful vegan butter recipe!
Michelle Pazmiño says
Hi I am a fan of your recipes. I have a question about this one. Why does it have to be refined coconut oil and not unrefined? Isn’t the virgin version better in nutritional content? Thank you for inspiring us to eat better!
A Virtual Vegan says
It has to be refined as otherwise the taste and smell of coconut would overpower the buttery flavour.
Christopher Pearce says
Many thanks for a fabulous recipe. I am not a vegan but I love a mostly plant-based diet and am hugely keen to be able to make healthy staple food stuffs at home. This is a winner recipe. Tried it for the first time today. It has a unique but very convincing buttery taste and texture and will be my go-to from now on. You are a star and keep sharing!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you so much Christopher! It's comments like this that make the long hours of recipe testing worthwhile!
Alyssia Grakowsky says
Going to give this a try! Very excited! Can I use avocado oil instead of olive oil? Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
You could use avocado oil instead.