Vegan Butter

4.86 from 323 votes

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!

a stack of 3 bread slices. The top one buttered with a bite taken out.

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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.

s slice of toast spread with melting butter

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

Why can't I use unrefined/virgin coconut oil?

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 am allergic to almonds. Is there something I can use instead?

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.

Do I have to use the nutritional yeast?

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.

Can I use baker's yeast or brewer's yeast instead of nutritional yeast?

No. Baking yeast and brewer's yeast is completely different to nutritional yeast and will not work in this recipe.

What can I use instead of coconut oil?

There is no substitute for coconut oil in this recipe. Nothing else will work.

Can I bake with it?

Yes it bakes perfectly. Use it in cakes, pies and frosting etc as you would regular butter.

Is vegan butter the same as margarine?

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.

Can I use MCT/liquid coconut oil?

No. The recipe will not set when made with liquid coconut oil.