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.
Helen says
Hi Alison, if a recipe calls for melted vegan butter can I use the butter from this recipe straight away after blending? Or do I need to refrigerate it and then melt it again? Thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hmmmm good question! I think you could just use it after blending, before it has set. I can’t really think of a reason why that wouldn’t work!
Mackayla says
Honestly did not think this recipe would come out as good as it did! My whole non vegan family loves it better than normal store bought butter. I don’t think we’ll be buying butter anymore from now on. I accidentally blended the olive oil with the butter but it still came out really good and I actually kind of enjoy the bitter taste of the olive oil. ???????? Tysm for sharing this recipe!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks so much Mackayla! 🙂
Camille says
Hi Alison,
Is there any substitute for Nutritional Yeast? Or can I actually just skip it?
I live in a province in the Philippines thus I have very limited access to special ingredients. Hope you can help! Thank you! 🙂
Alison Andrews says
You can skip it.
Camillec says
Yay, thanks!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Emma! So glad you like the recipe and thanks for the great review! Sadly there are trolls everywhere online who take offence to anything and everything! 🙂
Lisa says
Hi, can I use white vinegar instead?
Alison Andrews says
Sure, that will work!
Bianca Branson says
Hello
How can I make this thicker so that I can use it for baking cakes/cookies etc?
Thanks
Bianca
Alison Andrews says
Hi Bianca, it works great as is for baking!
Selvia says
Hi Alison, i tried this recipe and it was delicious! perfect to be spread on toast 🙂
i’m just wondering, is this butter recipe can be whisk to make buttercream? Thanks before
Alison Andrews says
Hi Selvia, yes you can use this in buttercream. 🙂
Cynthia says
Ame la idea de hacer mi propios mantequilla
En casa todos estamos emocionados.
Me pregunto: tiene q espesar como mayonesa?
O solo unir los ingredientes?
Gracias por tu respuesta
Love the idea of making my own butter
At home we are all excited.
I ask you : does it have to thicken like mayonnaise?
Or just put the ingredients together?
Thanks for your answer
Alison Andrews says
Hi Cynthia, sorry I’m not sure what you mean. If you watch the video that is with the post though, you can see that it does not thicken in the blender, it stays pourable so you pour it out into your butter dish.
Scotty Beyer says
I tried this bit it kept separating? I got all the ingredients right except I didn’t add turmeric… did I not blend it for long enough? I blended it for a few minutes on low, tried leaving it to set in the refrigerator and on my countertop… the coconut oil always sets to the bottom, and the milk, oil, yeast etc. always sit on top.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Scotty, you want to blend it on high until well mixed. It’s not necessary to blend it for a few minutes, a quick blend on high and then immediately pour out into your dish and refrigerate immediately.
Stacey K says
Made with rice milk and avocado oil it turned out perfectly.
Anne Rad says
Reading the blog & recipe it almost sounded to good to be true. However we think this butter recipe lives up to everything stated, tastes delicious, great for cooking, on toast … yum
Note: I couldn’t get my unsweetened Almond milk to curdle so used Soy milk and it still worked a treat.
Thank you Alison you’re making our journey into plant based living so much easier
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Anne!
Valerie says
Hi Alison! I’m just wondering if you’ve tried making this with homemade soy milk. I unfortunately forgot to purchase soy milk during my last grocery run and I won’t be going back just for the one item given the fact that we need to stay home as much as possible at the moment. But I will be making homemade soy milk when my machine comes in. I was just curious of your thoughts on this. I hope all is well with you and yours.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Valerie, I haven’t tried that but I think it would be fine! All the best and thanks so much, we’re all well this side! xo
Jane Wilson says
Hi Alison
Could I use homemade oat milk instead of soy/almond milk please?
Loving the look of this 🙂
Stay safe and well
Jane from sunny Scotland
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jane, other commenters have used oat milk with varying success! I think it should be fine, but there has sometimes been issues of separation occurring.
Raaheeda Abraham says
I have tried this recipe, used coconut milk with cereals in, and it was lovely. Then I used the butter to make a pastry which was filled with potato and onion and it was delicious. Even enjoyed by my meat lover guests.
Raaheeda Abraham says
Oh and thank you so much for the recipe.
Alison Andrews says
You’re so welcome! 🙂
Ruth Cripps says
I love the sound of this recipe but was wondering if oat milk as an alternative to soy or almond would still work or if anyone has tried??
CJ says
So delicious! We’re out of country, stuck at home, and, as so many of us do, we started a long series of complicated bread baking projects to help cope. Alas, we had no vegan butter in the house for our bread. But no fear, as Alison’s scrumptious recipe came riding to our rescue. As promised, it’s no-fuss, no-muss. Even better, it’s DELICIOUS! I’m not buying that strange fake stuff in the tub again. This is so much better. Thank you, Alison! Sometimes there’s nothing better than good bread and butter.
Alison Andrews says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe CJ! And I totally agree, sometimes bread and butter is just the best thing ever!