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.
Ryan says
This tastes just like regular butter to me! I have yet to try baking with it but it tasted amazing on breads and bagels!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Ryan! So glad you’re enjoying it.
Belinda says
Hi would like to know if I could use oat milk instead of the soy milk
Alison Andrews says
Hi Belinda, I haven’t made this with oat milk, but if you read the other comments, others have done so, with mixed results.
Daisy D. says
Soooo good! I ate some with freshly baked bread and it melted so perfectly and was absolutely delicious.
Alison Andrews says
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Daisy!
Amrita says
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?
Alison Andrews says
Yes it should do.
Cassandra says
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?
Alison Andrews says
The coconut oil can’t be substituted, but you can use avocado oil instead of the canola oil.
Kaila says
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!!!
Alison Andrews says
Awesome Kaila! Yes it’s super economical, thanks so much for sharing!
Diane says
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.
Alison Andrews says
I haven’t tried it, but it could work great!
sue says
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
Alison Andrews says
You could make the homemade buttermilk with lemon juice instead. 🙂
Amanpreet Kaur says
Hey instead of apple cider vinegar can I use lemon juice? And can I skip nutritional yeast
Alison Andrews says
Yes and yes. 🙂
Christopher says
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!
Alison Andrews says
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.
Amy says
Recipe looks great! If I freeze it, how long can I use it after I defrost it?
Alison Andrews says
If you freeze it right away then after thawing it would have the same shelf life as if it hadn’t been frozen, so 12-14 days.
Stephanie J says
Hi Alison,
Stumbled upon your website,looking for vegan recipes for my family.
Awesome recipes. Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Stephanie!
Anthony says
Love your recipes!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Anthony!
Beverley says
I have only left 4 stars as I haven’t made it yet and I am about to have a go – could not get canola oil and the girl in the health food shop looked at me as thou I was mad when I asked poor soul. She could not help with the other items I wanted so I left smiling to myself as I must have seemed like the customer from hell to the poor youngster.! I am using rapeseed oil instead having done some research and found it is apparently very similar. Going to try to make a half quantity recipe in case I don’t like it. I will also use almond milk instead of Soy milk as I understand there may be a problem for people with hypothyroidism – I am one of this unhappy crowd. I am NOT a vegan and have no intention of becoming one but I believe we should all be cutting down on meat and dairy consumption to a lesser extent. I am interested in vegan recipes after my son accidentally bought me a tub of vegan ice cream (I would have been very suspicious of this if I was going to choose an ice cream) and I actually had to eat it as it was so expensive and I found I liked it! From Emma’s comment It seems that vegans and carnivores feel mutually aggrieved. As a meat eater, I feel a certain amount of resentment as I am actually on the receiving end of a lot of negativity about my heinous crime of eating meat. I rather dislike the evangelical crusade of many vegans and the guilt trip many of them try to put on us when I try not to be too critical of the opposite faction. There is no monopoly on goodness. I have a point to make here: actually, the way to make people save the planet is just to encourage the reduction of meat eating. You would put less folks’ backs up and take them with you rather than creating a stubborn refusal. I have decided to reduce my intake and who knows, I might even go further but being bashed continually will turn me off. Mutual respect and goodwill will move us forward together. I have not found any prejudice here thank goodness (I would simply pass the site by if that were the case). It is just a good natured enjoyable piece of cookery writing. Thank you.
Alison Andrews says
Hi Beverley! My motto is always ‘eyes on your own plate’. I am not a fan of food judgement, which is rampant in the world for every reason under the sun. What you are doing in reducing consumption is fantastic! Hope you enjoy the butter recipe! 🙂
SPB says
I also added butter beans to provide a level of protein. I used olive oil as I will not use canola due to the preparation. I found it worked really really well, however, you have to make sure that you puree it so that it is as smooth as possible.