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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Dave says
Grumpy_Old_Vegan here! This recipe is the best vegan butter I've ever tried. It spreads like, well....butter. Taste is amazing and makes the perfect sandwich!
Thanks, not so grumpy now!
Melanie McDonald says
Ah, hi Dave. Good to know your real name off Instagram! I'm so pleased you're enjoying the recipe, and thank you for coming back to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Rebecca says
This vegan butter is absolutely delicious and ridiculously easy to make!!! I don't have a blender, so I thought I would try using my immersion blender and it turned out perfectly :) I'm so excited I happened upon your website! Thank you for posting delicious, easy to make vegan food. I appreciate how you go to great lengths to explain each ingredient with clear instructions! I will be ordering your cookbook SOON!!! :) :) :)
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you enjoyed it Rebecca, and thank you for coming back to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Kim says
Thank you so much for this recipe. While I haven't made it yet, can you just explain why you shouldn't fry or saute with it because of the almond flour in it? And if that is the case, is it okay to make it without the almond flour so I have some on hand for that purpose? I just wanted to understand why, but other than that I'm going to try and make it this week. Again thanks so much.
Melanie McDonald says
When fried/sautéed, the almond flour forms weird little lumps. I have no idea why when it's completely undetectable in the spreadable butter. It tastes fine, just looks a little funny. I still use it that way because it doesn't bother me but it's not perfect, hence the disclaimer and alternate instructions. Hope that helps!
Jen Keck says
This turned out great for me in spite of me forgetting to blanch the almonds to remove the skin before making my almond flour. Taste is good and it works in everything I've tried it with. Trying to bake with it today.
And I used my food processor and it turned out fine.
Sam says
Hi! I would like to try this recipe, but my son has a lot of allergies, including nuts, so I can’t use any type of nut or sunflower seed like the FAQs suggest. Could you just use all purpose flour instead?
Melanie McDonald says
The recipe has only been tested with the options given. It definitely won't work with regular all purpose flour though. It would just taste of raw flour and it would make it too thick. Sorry I can't suggest anything else.
Theta Ciriello says
This tastes better than butter to me! I made it with avocado oil and coconut milk -
Only think that would have helped me more is how long to mix till “velvety” - and I have VitaMix - wondered how “thick” it should be when finished.
Margot says
I made this tonight. It is delicious & as quick & easy to make as you said. I used my old Moulinex blender & had no problems with overheating. The butter was quite set (but soft) inside the blender (it's still Winter here). I used a scraper to remove it from the lower part of the blender & put it in plastic tubs. I used So Good brand soy milk & followed your recipe to the letter. It is perfect. I had to stop myself eating it off the scraper. I can imagine using this straight from the blender for (UK style) scones with jam & cream, or even as cream with a layer of jam in the centre of a sponge cake, provided they were all eaten immediately. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Melanie McDonald says
I'm really pleased you're enjoying the butter Margot, and thanks so much for coming back to leave a review. It's much appreciated!
Jennifer says
For some reason, my vegan butter remains really runny - it doesn't solidify
Melanie McDonald says
It can't fail to set if the measurements are correct, you didn't sub any ingredients, and its chilled. Are you sure you used the correct coconut oil? Just regular refined coconut oil is required (the stuff that's hard in a tub), not fractionated coconut oil (which stays liquid and doesn't set). Hope that helps!
Ron says
I was a little worried about the almond flour in this, but it worked beautifully. The butter is smooth and tasty. This is now my new vegan butter recipe favorite.
Paige says
I'm scared off my the process of making refined coconut oil. Is it really ruined by using normal coconut oil?
Melanie McDonald says
Yes, you absolutely need refined coconut oil for this recipe. I'm not sure what you mean by "making refined coconut oil" though. You just buy refined coconut oil from the shops. It's not possible to make it yourself.
Brittany says
Will this mold into a stick butter or is it more of a spread?
TIA
Melanie McDonald says
Yes it will. It sets just like butter.
Brittany says
The recipe is awesome!
Bonnie says
I have all the ingredients on hand except for almond flour. Can I substitute pecan flour?
Melanie McDonald says
It will technically work but the flavour won't be as good or as buttery. Almonds are mild and buttery which is why I use them here. Pecans have a much stronger, distinctive taste.
Nirmala says
I haven’t made your vegan butter, but I have used 2 other vegan recipes. Both did not use almond flour. I’ll definitely try your recipe.
I’d like to suggest that instead of turmeric, use a drop or 2 of yellow food color.
Melanie McDonald says
I would never recommend using yellow food coloring. Turmeric is used intentionally. You can't taste it because it's such a small amount, it's completely natural, and it's something most people have in their spice collection. Yellow food coloring (and many others) contain ingredients like FD&C Yellow 5 and Red40 which are tested on animals. Some food colourings are even made with bugs.
HH says
I would not do that, turmeric has MANY health benefits beyond just being for color in this recipe. Yellow food dye/coloring is not good for you in any way.
Peggy says
What will happen if I leave out acidity please?
Mel says
Can I sun avocado oil for the coconut? Trying to up the omegas.
Melanie McDonald says
The recipe won't work without the refined coconut oil. It's what sets the butter.