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 favourite 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
Ingredient Notes
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 flavour 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 flavour. 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 flavour and darker in colour 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 flavourless 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 flavour.
- 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 colour. 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 in cakes and 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 flavour and the butter is at it's 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 is completely different to 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 flavour 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 labelled 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 flavour and texture than store bought margarines.
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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NUTRITION
This recipe was originally published on March 15th 2015. I've added new photographs & some new content and now I am republishing it for you. The actual recipe remains the same. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you for following A Virtual Vegan!
Paul Henry says
Really really good. Very buttery. Highly recommend
H M says
I made this (twice), and I'm sorry, but it was beyond horrible. Initially, before it set up, it tasted okay, but not at all like butter, which I was fine with because I didn't expect it to do that. However, after sitting in the fridge overnight it assumed a horrible flavour that I can't even describe other than to say that it was like something that was spoiled. All of my ingredients were organic and totally fresh (and totally expensive so what ended up being a 2x failure really made me mad). I then tried making it without the nutritional yeast because in the original recipe I found the amount required to be WAY too strong, especially combined with all that salt but it didn't improve the taste at all - and I LOVE nutritional yeast in many things, just not the way it shows up in this. I even tried adding a bit of honey to it to improve it but had to throw out both batches as being inedible. I've found a recipe that doesn't use almond flour, nutritional yeast, vinegar or salt and I'm going to try that next. I was SO hopeful that this recipe would work because I'm having to give up all dairy. But, NOPE. I even had my husband try it thinking that maybe it was me, but he was appalled at the flavour and couldn't believe I was able to even try to choke it down.
SUSIE says
HM - you must be doing something wrong. I have made this following the exact recipe at least once a month for the last couple of years. It’s absolutely delicious, everyone I give it to loves it. Even my husband who is a butter snob thinks it’s good
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. I can't help but think that either something went wrong when you were making it or something was wrong with your ingredients. This is one of my most popular recipes and has been made literally millions of times since it was published back in 2016. In all that time this is the first time the recipe has ever had a bad review. When made correctly it really does taste like store bought vegan butter. Very like Earth Balance if you have that wherever you are in the world.
I'm more than happy to troubleshoot with you.
You mention the nutritional yeast but there is such a small amount that you really can't taste it in the finished product once it's all set and cold. Did you perhaps use too much or use a different kind of yeast by mistake? Brewer's yeast or baking yeast for instance would give it a really bad flavour. What brand of nutritional yeast did you use?
Also are you absolutely sure that you used refined coconut oil as stated in the recipe? If you use unrefined by mistake that alters the flavour considerably.
And lastly what brand and type of plant milk did you use to make it and was it definitely unsweetened?
Shayn Ong says
Can I use brewers yeast instead of nutritional yeast?
A Virtual Vegan says
Definitely not. They are totally different. Brewer's yeast will not work as a substitute for nutritional yeast in any recipe.
Michelle says
Hi Mel
Thank you for all your amazing recipes.
Do you have a nut free Vegan Butter option you have trialed that is just as good as this one?
Thank you
Michelle
A Virtual Vegan says
I don't have a nut-free version but I do have readers who use ground sunflower seeds, pine nuts or hemp seeds instead of the almonds and they say it works great!
Vero says
Really, really good recipe.
Laura says
I have to admit I was sceptical about how this was going to taste, but boy was I pleasantly surprised! This tastes EXACTLY like butter. I think I did something wrong because it's not as creamy as I would like, but all in all, super delicious! And super easy, which is a big plus!
Shera says
Hi I noticed you use it to make your cake frostings. How is it when used in a frosting? Does the frosting hold well at room temp with this butter?
A Virtual Vegan says
It depends on the temperature in your house. In the winter when it's cool it tends to be fine. In the summer when it's really warm it can get a bit melty. To be safe I tend to store the frosted cake in the fridge then take it out an hour or so before we are going to eat some so it all comes to room temperature. Hope that helps!
LeeAnn says
Wow- this is so simple to make and so good! I used plain oat milk and whirled it all together in my Vitamix. The plant based butter I normally buy is $5/$6 block so this is a wonderful alternative. Can't wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it LeeAnn!
Whisperin Pints says
In your Notes, you mention using cashew milk, which I have on hand. I also have raw cashews on hand, but no almond flour/meal. Are the nuts, flour, meal interchangeable?
A Virtual Vegan says
Almond flour is what I recommend to make the butter. It's what gives it its buttery flavour.
Deanna Ceasar says
How long can this keep in the fridge?
A Virtual Vegan says
HOW LONG DOES IT KEEP? - The butter will keep well for as long as your milk is good for. Homemade milks don’t last as long as store bought milks so as a result if you use them your butter will not last as long. With homemade milk the butter lasts approximately 4 days. With store bought it lasts 2 to 3 weeks.
FREEZING - This butter freezes very well. Just be sure to wrap it well first. If you know you will only need a tiny bit at a time then invest in a silicone ice cube tray and set the butter in there. Then when it’s hard you can pop it out and store in a freezer bag in the freezer. Just remove each little block an hour or so before you want to use it. (I copied and pasted it from my post to save having to type it all out).
Melané Fahner-Botha says
Hi Melanie, I have made this before and it's hands-down the the best on the net BUT (isn't there always a but? ❤️) I wondered if it could be made with smoothe white almond paste? I have not been able to get it really smoothe in the blender and that leads to a grainy consistency which is not a success on the stove as it hasn't blended and therefore the Almonds clump together and get brownish... Have you tried it this way at all? The taste is still the best of all, truly.
A Virtual Vegan says
Definitely don't use almond paste. It's way too sweet so would be really unpleasant in this recipe, and it has water added which could affect how the recipe turns out too.
I've never experienced any graininess when making this recipe. Are you using very fine almond flour and blending it for long enough? I'd suggest blending it for longer. It should come out completely smooth pretty easily because almond flour is really fine and soft. It isn't really grainy to start with. And when the finished butter is spread on bread (or whatever you're putting it on) it's totally undetectable.
You mention it not being a success on the stove. I do mention in my post that this butter is good for everything except frying/sautéing. That will be the case no matter what you do because of evaporation in the pan. The liquids will evaporate with the heat leaving the solids behind and no matter how well it's blended and how undetectable the almonds are when you make the butter and eat it spread on something, they are still present and can't physically dissolve. So when evaporation occurs during frying/sautéing you will see traces of them. That's why I don't advise using it that way. Even if you used almond paste that would happen.
Hope that helps!
Rita says
There is a big difference between 1/2 cup and 8 tablespoons of almond flour. Which is it?
A Virtual Vegan says
Half a cup is the same as 8 tablespoons. There are 16 tablespoons in a cup.
Brandy Dearborn says
Delicious!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe! I am super impressed!!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! I'm really pleased you are enjoying it!
sargam says
thank you for creating this recipe! Can I use the leftover almond pulp (blanched) that remains after making almond milk instead of almond meal?
A Virtual Vegan says
I wouldn't, no. You want the full flavour from the almonds. That's what makes this butter recipe "buttery". If you've made milk with it all the flavour will have seeped out and they'll be tasteless.
Michael says
Amazing recipe! Thanks for sharing it with us Melanie.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Michael. Glad you enjoyed it!
Patricia says
So delicious. I make it weekly!
Ali says
Used it for baking cookies. Perfect!
Maryam says
Hi everyone
I would love to know if I could use any other kind of flour because because the person I'm making this for has an allergy from almond
Thanks
A Virtual Vegan says
Ground fine raw cashew nuts work well too and some readers with nut allergies use ground up sunflower seeds with success.