Creamy and super buttery homemade vegan butter! Easy 7-ingredient recipe that is spreadable, melts fabulously on toast and is great for baking and frying.
I can’t even tell you how pleased I am about this homemade vegan butter!
It is just perfect! It’s wonderful on bread, for spreading (and melting) on toast, you can use it for baking, for frying, for whatever you would usually use your vegan butter for!
And it’s homemade!
It has a wonderfully buttery flavor and takes all of about 5 minutes to make (a little longer to set 
).
Why make your own vegan butter?
Now you might be asking: why do I want to make my own vegan butter when I can just buy some?
Well here’s the thing – a very common question I get asked on my baked goods that use vegan butter is: ‘Where can I find vegan butter?’ because a lot of countries don’t seem to have great availability for this.
Or it might be that you don’t love all the ingredients in the brands that are available to you, or maybe you’re like me and are just delighted when you can make your own things!
How to use vegan butter
I wanted to make sure that this vegan butter is good for various uses, so I tried it for frying and fried up some mushrooms with some spring onions and it was perfect (and delicious!).
And then I wanted to make sure it was good for baking, so I creamed it up with some sugar and made some vegan oatmeal cookies with it, and they were perfect!
And as you can see I’ve been spreading it on bread and toast and just enjoying it all the ways one tends to enjoy butter!
The one place I didn’t love it was using it in a frosting. This is because it gets very soft/melty at room temperature and very hard in the fridge. This is of course because the base is coconut oil and this is what coconut oil does!
Store-bought vegan butters tend to not get super hard in the fridge, and also tend to not get ultra runny in hot temperatures which is why they work better in frostings. So for this reason it isn’t ideal in a frosting and I’m going to stick with the store-bought variety for that. But you definitely can use this for frostings in a pinch.
And for everything else – this vegan butter works great!
So much buttery flavor!
I mentioned above that it has a buttery flavor, well truth be told I have not tasted dairy butter in a lot of years!
But comparing the flavor to vegan buttery spreads on the market, it compares very favorably. It’s damn good I must say.
The buttery flavor comes about from the vegan buttermilk – apple cider vinegar mixed in with unsweetened soy milk or almond milk, I tested both and both worked great – and a little nutritional yeast.
Refined coconut oil is very neutral in flavor yet perfect in texture, so it enables this vegan butter to take on the other flavors added to it.
How about that texture..
It does get very hard in the fridge, so it’s more like a traditional butter in that sense, if you want to spread it on bread or cream it up with sugar for baking, it’s best to let it soften slightly out the fridge first.
Spreading on toast is of course fine as is and it doesn’t need to soften first.
You’ll also find the texture of it tends towards crumbly when it’s still hard straight from the fridge, but this doesn’t have any impact on the result once spread. And to avoid this, let it soften a bit first.
Homemade Vegan Butter Q&A
How long does it keep in the fridge? This is of course a fresh homemade product, so while the oils in the vegan butter are long lasting (the base of this is refined coconut oil), other ingredients such as the non-dairy milk, are not.
It keeps for up to 2-weeks in the fridge, though it’s at it’s best for around 10-12 days.
Can I freeze it? Yes, if you’re going to want to use it for longer than 2 weeks then freeze the excess and only keep on hand what you are going to use. When you’re ready to use the frozen portion, just pop it in the fridge where it will thaw and get ready for use.
What can I use instead of canola oil? I found the canola oil to have a very neutral taste and to work well for this, but other options are avocado oil or olive oil. If you are going to use olive oil though then don’t blend the olive oil in. Blend everything else and then stir the olive oil in. Olive oil can tend towards a bitter taste when blended too long.
Can I use extra virgin coconut oil instead of refined coconut oil? Extra virgin coconut oil can be used but the flavor just wasn’t nearly so good when I tried it. It ends up with a coconut flavor. And I like coconut flavor, so it’s not like I had something against that.
The blend of flavors wasn’t as nice and it didn’t taste as buttery as it does when you use refined coconut oil. Also after only around a week in the fridge, it had got a sort of whitish look to it, like lard, rather than like butter. You can definitely try that though if you have an issue with using refined coconut oil, just know that the result is not as good.
What is the nutritional yeast for? It adds buttery flavor. However, it’s only used in a small amount so you can omit it if it’s an ingredient you have an issue with. You will lose some buttery flavor but that’s all.
What is the turmeric used for? The turmeric is just for color. So you can omit it, but it’s great to add it for a more buttery look. Make sure you only use a small pinch though. I tried it with a 1/4 tsp and oh my, the color was luminous yellow, like the color of those highlighter pens!
If you love homemade things, then you will love this homemade vegan butter! It is:
- Creamy
- Buttery
- Spreadable
- Melty
- Great for baking or frying
Use it anywhere you would use a vegan butter! Keep it covered in a glass butter dish in the fridge where it will keep for up to 2-weeks – the italics there are because I tested this all the way up to day 15, and it still tasted okay but there was just something in the taste that was saying, hmmm, maybe this is past its best days!
I would say it has a fridge life of up to 14 days but really it is at its best for around 10-12 days. If you know you won’t use it that fast, then keep around only what you’ll use right away and freeze the rest.
This vegan butter would be great in these recipes:
- Vegan Garlic Bread
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Pound Cake
- Vegan Bread Pudding
- Vegan Apple Crisp
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
So what do you think of this vegan butter? Let me know in the comments! And if you make it, let me know how it worked out! And please rate the recipe as this is super helpful.
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Homemade Vegan Butter
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Total Time: 5 mins
- Yield: ~275g/9.7oz Block of Butter
Description
Creamy and super buttery homemade vegan butter! Easy 7-ingredient recipe that is spreadable, melts fabulously on toast and is great for baking and frying.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) Refined Coconut Oil (Melted)*
- 2 Tbsp Canola Oil* (See Notes)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) Unsweetened Soy or Almond Milk
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Nutritional Yeast
- Small Pinch Turmeric
- 1/2 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Add melted refined coconut oil to the blender jug along with the canola oil.
- Add the apple cider vinegar to the unsweetened soy or almond milk and stir in so that it curdles into buttermilk and then add it in.
- Add the nutritional yeast, small pinch of turmeric and salt.
- Blend very well until smooth.
- Pour out into a butter dish and refrigerate until set.
- Remove from the fridge to thaw for a few minutes if using on fresh bread or creaming with sugar for baking.
Notes
*Must be refined coconut oil not extra virgin coconut oil.
*Avocado oil is a great option to use instead of canola oil. Olive oil also works but bear in mind that high speed blending can cause olive oil to become bitter. If using olive oil, add it in at the end and mix in without blending.
*Lasts up to 2-weeks in refrigerator. If you need it to last longer, freeze the excess and only keep what you will use within 2-weeks in your fridge.
*Inspired by Fork and Beans.
- Category: How to, Gluten-Free
- Method: Blend
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tsp
- Calories: 39
- Sodium: 22mg
- Fat: 4.1g
- Saturated Fat: 3.1g
Keywords: vegan butter
Hi! Great recipe. Is there any substitute for coconut oil in this recipe? I would really love to make the same without coconut oil. Also, can I skip using nutritional yeast?
★★★★★
Hi Aditi, no there is no substitute for coconut oil in this recipe as that is what allows it to set. You can skip the nutritional yeast though.
This is the BESTEST homemade Vegan Butter recipe! Just tried it and it looks and tastes like butter! Can’t wait to bake with it. So easy to make and tastes better than the store-bought Vegan butter. I did use about 1/8 Tsp of turmeric for color (read you used 1/4 tsp and was like yellow hi-liter) so mine might be an in between yellow color so next time will use a pinch as recipe states and see how that turns out. Thank you, Alison, for all your hard work in testing and getting it PERFECT and for sharing this wonderful creation. Blessings
★★★★★
So happy to hear it was a success! Thanks for the great review!
Tastes really good.
The only problem I had was that the mixture separated in the fridge and the nice yellow went to the bottom and the coconut went to the top. Therefore to use it and get the buttery taste I had to let it melt at room temperature and remix and use.
Attempting to reset it again now.
Any idea where I went wrong? I followed the recipe.
★★★★
Hello, can I use coconut milk instead of almond or soy? I’m allergic to all milks except rice and coconut milk.
Thank you!
Yes that should be fine, it won’t curdle into buttermilk but that’s okay, you can still use it.
This tastes just like regular butter to me! I have yet to try baking with it but it tasted amazing on breads and bagels!
★★★★★
Awesome Ryan! So glad you’re enjoying it.
Hi would like to know if I could use oat milk instead of the soy milk
★★★★★
Hi Belinda, I haven’t made this with oat milk, but if you read the other comments, others have done so, with mixed results.
Soooo good! I ate some with freshly baked bread and it melted so perfectly and was absolutely delicious.
★★★★★
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Daisy!
Hi, I don’t have cream, so I’ve been looking for vegan butter recipes. Can I substitute the plant based milk for normal milk? Will it have the same results?
Yes it should do.
Above you mentioned we could use avocado oil as a substitute, now can that substitute the coconut oil? Or do we need two separate oils?
The coconut oil can’t be substituted, but you can use avocado oil instead of the canola oil.
One of the things that has frustrated me about vegan cooking is cost, those butter substitutes are expensive! I am furloughed from work now and just enjoying finding recipes to try and I am So Thankful to have come upon this recipe! It was easy, I used rice milk and vegetable oil because that is what we had, and it came out perfect! This is so delicious, and according to my calculations, it was less than $1.25 (I had a jar of coconut oil from the dollar store) to make approximately two “sticks” worth. The taste is just amazing, now it is all we can do to not spend the rest of the day making toast! Thank you soooooo very much!!!
★★★★★
Awesome Kaila! Yes it’s super economical, thanks so much for sharing!
Have you tried using maple syrup for a Honey-butter type flavor? I miss the honey butter on biscuits and thinking this might be an alternative.
I haven’t tried it, but it could work great!
Hi id love to try this but as I have IBS I follow a low fod map diet so can I leave out the apple cider vinegar or is there an alternative to this I can use?
Thanks
Sue
You could make the homemade buttermilk with lemon juice instead. 🙂
Hey instead of apple cider vinegar can I use lemon juice? And can I skip nutritional yeast
★★★★★
Yes and yes. 🙂
HI! I made this recipe and thought I followed the instructions perfectly… however, my butter seems grainy and it’s almost separated/watery after being in the fridge overnight. Did I not blend it long enough, maybe I put it in the fridge too long? I did have to double up on the recipe because my blender is much wider than most. I will that that I did use a tiny bit on some bread this morning and the taste in the small amount right out of the fridge was really good, however as it comes back to room temperature it seems to be separating even more. I would love to use this product, but any help or advice you have on how to get this product to a usable state would be most welcome.
Thank you so much!
Hi Christopher, did you make any substitution of ingredients like using a different plant milk for the homemade buttermilk? We tested this recipe again last week and could not replicate this issue, so I don’t know what might cause it. You can let it soften at room temp and then re-blend and see it that helps.