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.
You can pretty much use it anywhere you would use a regular dairy butter.
So Much Buttery Flavor!
It has a wonderful buttery flavor and everyone who has tried it agrees that it tastes like real butter. It really does.
And comparing the flavor to other vegan buttery spreads on the market, it compares very favorably. It’s just 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 a lot 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 ¼ 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 Is Great In These Recipes:
- Vegan Garlic Bread
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Pound Cake
- Vegan Bread Pudding
- Vegan Apple Crisp
- Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Homemade Vegan Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup Refined Coconut Oil (240ml) Melted*
- 2 Tbsp Canola Oil See Notes*
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Soy Milk or Almond Milk (80ml)
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 Small Pinch Turmeric
- ½ 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. Add the buttermilk to the blender.
- 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.
Video
Notes
- The coconut oil must be refined coconut oil and 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.
- Storing: This lasts up to 2 weeks in the fridge. If you need it to last longer, freeze the excess and only keep what you will use within 2-weeks in your fridge.
- Make it soft and spreadable: This butter recipe above comes out a lot like a traditional butter in that it’s very firm straight out the fridge and needs to soften first before it becomes spreadable (unless you’re spreading on toast, in which case you’re good to go!). This makes it great for the purposes that a regular butter is good for. However, if you want to use it mostly as a spread (that also works for baking and frying) and want it soft and spreadable straight out of the fridge then adapt the first two ingredients of the recipe as follows: ½ cup (120ml) Refined Coconut Oil and ½ cup (120ml) Canola Oil or Avocado Oil (OR ¼ cup (60ml) of each canola oil and avocado oil) and then follow the rest of the recipe exactly as it is. This results in a soft, spreadable vegan butter that still works great for baking and frying. Thanks to one of our readers for experimenting with the recipe and coming up with this adaptation.
- This recipe makes one 9.7 ounce block (275g) of vegan butter.
Marlo says
Do you think this would work with plain ol vegetable oil? And thanks for the recipe can’t wait to try it!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Marlo, to replace the canola oil, sure. But not to replace the coconut oil as the coconut oil is the crucial ingredient here allowing this to set. 🙂
sherry neiman says
Will try using cashew milk.
Kat says
Has anyone tried this with canned coconut milk?
And if so, did it taste coconutty?
(I don’t like the coconut flavor, but normally when cooking with coconut milk the flavor goes away (but this is not cooked, so I’m concerned). Mom can’t have soy or almond milk and the canned coconut milk stays fresh longer.)
Jane Sanford says
Lovely and tasty.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Jane! 🙂
Katherine Rathmell says
Hi would oat milk work?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Katherine, I don’t think so, from other comments it seems it might cause the butter to separate.
Leeanna says
I made it – and it was good, the only problem it separated on the bottom when sitting in the fridge = did I do something wrong? Thanks
Alison Andrews says
Hi Leeanna, it needs to blend very well preferably at high speed if you have that setting on your blender. Other commenters have noted that using a more powerful blender prevented this issue from occurring. You can definitely still make it even without a high speed blender, but that might cause the separation issue. Another possible reason is using something like oat milk. From other comments it seems oat milk may not be a good fit.
Katherine Massey says
I have one small problem with this recipe. It’s the over whelming vinegar smell. Is there anyway to change that? Like lemon juice instead?
Alison Andrews says
I have never noticed that! But you can try lemon juice instead. 🙂
Linda E. Brown says
Thank you for that. I can now give the butter a try! I have spent an hour though just searching for my glass butter dish, and of course it was in the last place I looked!! Never made anything with coconut oil and stuff, so have been getting in supplies. I am vegetarian but have a lot of issues with allergies, just found your site a few days ago and I am overwhelmed with all the lovely recipes, I just need to get started.
Alison Andrews says
So glad you found our blog! Hope you’ll get lots of ideas here, and hope you’ll love the vegan butter! 🙂
Linda E. Brown says
How do I melt the solid coconut oil from the jar/tin please? Can I use Sunflower oil instead of Canola oil? Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Linda, if you just stand the whole jar of coconut oil in a bowl of hot water that should melt it pretty easily. Sunflower oil should be fine instead of canola. Hope you like the recipe! 🙂
Maureen Jaeckel says
Which refined coconut oil do you use?
Alison Andrews says
We have a link in the recipe card to a Nutiva brand, but you can really use any brand so long as it is solid coconut oil. Refined is optional but removes the coconut flavor so works best. 🙂
Chantel Shaw says
Hello Alison,
What is the ACV for & can it be omitted or substituted to suit a vinegar-free diet? Thx in advance!
Alison Andrews says
It makes a homemade vegan buttermilk when mixed with the soy or almond milk. You could try using lemon juice instead.
Jonny A says
Thanks for posting!
Can’t wait to try it!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Hope you love it! 🙂
Carl says
I just made this a 2nd time as it really tastes great. This time I decided to try and make it a bit more spreadable though and made the following adjustments: a whole half cup of sunflower oil instead of 2tbsp canola and also increased the plant milk to half a cup (I used hemp seed milk.) All other ingredients same as in the original recipe. Came out great! Same fantastic taste pretty much but spreads perfectly on toast 🙂
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Carl! 🙂
Jae says
I used oat milk too and had the same problem. This last time I put the blended mixture in a metal bowl and whisked it with a hand mixer every once in awhile while it cooled but before it hardened keeping it out of the fridge. It was a super buttery texture until I put it in the fridge and later tried to thaw it. It worked a lot better on toast though, no separating. I think maybe making a half batch and not refrigerating it with the whisking method might work best. I also put in 1/4 tsp less apple cider vinegar but I’m not sure if that had any impact. Let me know if you try it!
Cat says
Eeep! I used oat milk as my almond milk was out of date… My mixture is now separating as it cools and hardens. Is oat milk a no go? I’m guessing it is… Oops!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cat, sorry to hear that! Oat milk wasn’t something I tested with this recipe.
Sharon says
I made it using unrefined coconut oil and homemade soy milk. It came out very tasty. The coconut flavor was a nice touch since I had actually been looking for a coconut spread.
Alison Andrews says
So glad it turned out well! Thanks for the wonderful review Sharon. 🙂