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!
Gail Dildine says
This is by far the most favorite delicious butter I’ve ever tasted. The fact that it is vegan makes that much better! A must try!
Susan says
This is my go-to recipe for vegan butter. Pour some in a small jar for the fridge and freeze the rest in a silicone sectioned container. Love it!
Vardit Peer says
I made this recipe yesterday, and I can't stop eating it. Seriously, it is so delicious. I followed your instructions exactly and it was really easy to make. I posted some pictures in Instagram. Thank you so much. I will be making more of your recipes!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it Vardit and thank you so much for stopping by to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Charlee says
Wow! Tastes and smells just like butter!! And so easy to make! Thank you so much! The best part of making my own vegan butter is NO PALM OIL!!!! <3 save the Orangotangs
A Virtual Vegan says
So pleased you are enjoying it Charlee!
Stacy says
I love this recipe! If anyone isn’t looking for a new alternative for almond flour I have found that a 1/4 cup of hemp hearts and a cup of water instead of a milk alternative works amazingly well!
Katie says
Would Cassava or Tigernut flour work? I can't have nuts or seeds.
A Virtual Vegan says
Almond flour is used because of its yellow colour and because it tastes buttery. I have never tried the flours you mention in this recipe so don't know if they would work technically, but they definitely won't taste buttery like almond flour does in it.
Thais says
Hello, Mel! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
I wonder if you ever made croissants or puffy pastry dough with this butter? I am looking for the perfect butter for this purpose!
Cheers from Brazil!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes both! It's great for all kinds of baking. Just be sure to keep it nice and cold and if the dough starts getting warm, pause and let it chill in the fridge for 10 minutes or so before continuing. Hope that helps!
Thais says
Thank you so much!
Rachel says
I made the butter according to your recipe but for some reason it separated, coconut oil is on the top and the rest is on the bottom. Do you know what might went wrong and how I can fix it?
A Virtual Vegan says
I've never had that happen and never had anyone else say it's happened to them in all the years it's been published. Maybe it wasn't blended enough or was blended too much and split because of the heat from the blender? Did you change anything at all? Like omit an ingredient? The almonds in particular. They are essential for the butter to emulsify. Also was everything cool, even the melted coconut oil?
I'd just blend it up again really well if I were you to try to save it.
Hope that helps!
Laura says
This is the 2nd time making this butter and again I am astounded at how delicious and like butter it is! Thank you!!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying it Laura!
Kathy says
Thank you for this recipe. Do you have recipe for this bread? I love the look of it in your cookbook also. I love your style.
A Virtual Vegan says
Hope you enjoy it! The bread is my standard recipe (this one https://avirtualvegan.com/light-whole-wheat-bread/) but with a handful of seeds and oats thrown in with the flour while making the dough, and then I brushed the shaped loaf with a bit of water and rolled it in some more oats and seeds before putting it in the pan. The bread recipe in my book is basically the same too, just with all white flour. Hope that helps!
Kate says
I don't have almond flour. Will I be able to use regular flour or whole wheat?
A Virtual Vegan says
Definitely not. Sorry! Regular flour won't work in this recipe and will make it gummy and taste of raw flour. Almond flour is what makes this vegan butter taste so good. It's the key to making it taste buttery and it also emulsifies it. You could make flour with raw cashews in a blender and use that as a second-best option and several people with nut allergies grind flour from sunflower seeds or pine nuts in their blender and use it though, so that's an option.
Nathaniel says
Hi Melanie (:
Was wondering whether you ever tried browning this butter?
I need a brown butter for something I am making.
Thanks!
A Virtual Vegan says
I haven't actually tried browning it. It's funny you ask though because I am testing a cookie recipe and was thinking of trying it with brown butter. I think it should be ok. If I try it I'll come back here and update you.
If you are able to get Miyoko's butter though that browns really well.
Diana says
Simply amazing
Vegan food lover says
Excellent recipe, so easy to make and so tasty, my new butter from now on.
Bill G says
Best vegan butter. Prior to refrigeration it’s whipped butter and very creamy. I think it solidifies or sets in 2 hours because that’s when I had checked mine. Did not see any amount of set time mentioned anywhere. Melted beautifully on toasted bread. I used sunflower oil as my other oil as well as sweetened vanilla flavored soy milk from Costco. Unfortunately since I had no refined coconut oil I had used virgin oil and yes you can taste the coconut flavor as stated however I didn’t mind it since I’ve used straight coconut oil instead of butter on toast sometimes so used to flavor. That was why for my first test batch I made only 1/2 cup or 1/4 of this recipe. Very pleased with final results. My next trial will be to adjust each oil by one tablespoon in each direction and I will post results. This batch had 4 T coconut to 1 T sunflower so next batch will be 3T coconut to 2 T sunflower to see if consistency remains same as well as decrease in coconut taste from using virgin oil.
Kim says
What a wonderful recipe, what a shame my son has Anaphylaxis to coconut.
I don't suppose there is something I can sub the Coconut oil with?
A Virtual Vegan says
Sorry no, there is nothing else you can use. The coconut oil is what sets it.
Tara says
I'm pretty excited to have made my first batch of vegan butter. I used pea protein milk. Seems yummy. Interested to see how long it lasts.