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.
I’m definitely going to try this recipe. You hit all the right notes in your article and tests. I’m not vegan but find vegan food to be genuinely delicious, filling and cheap.
I do bake so a butter alternative has been a missing piece of the jigsaw.
And as a side note from a non-American, thank you for also using metric as well as ‘cups’. Most Americans don’t realise but ‘cups’ isn’t an exact measurement and differs between countries – the australian cup is slightly more than the US cup. So including gms and ml is really welcome. Thank you!
I need to know if I can substitute any other oil instead of coconut? I don’t eat coconut, palm or soy products. thank you I really want to try this!
Hi Constance, unfortunately without the coconut oil the butter won’t set.
made this vegan butter. So easy, so good it will be a staple from now on.
Thank you Cyndy!
I will make the butter this weekend!
Yay! 🙂
I made this butter twice now, used both soy milk and then almond milk along with refined coconut oil along with sunflower oil and everyone loved the taste. It does have a run off of liquid even though the taste is good. What is the cause of this run off?
A few comments after making this vegan butter…
1) It is not creamy or super buttery, as stated in the headline. But since having to go dairy free it is an acceptable alternative.
2) The consistency is hard and crumbly. It does not melt easily. Even on warm toast fresh out of the toaster, it is hard and won’t melt.
3) In comparison to the commercially manufactured vegan butters I’ve tried, even with it being hard, crumbly, and won’t melt, it is still better.
I will next try the version mentioned in this article that makes it spreadable and hope it works out. I may also increase the nutritional yeast to try for more flavor.
I will keep using this recipe because it’s the only alternative I’ve found that comes close to real butter.
Thanks for sharing and for your review. We appreciate the feedback. 🙂
I would like to add some liquid soy lecithin, but I don’t know how much and when to add it.
I just tried this and also ended up with a curdled mess!😬 Any advice…I measured carefully and used a blender.
Hi Helen, how long did you mix it for? You do need to blend it very well to get as smooth as possible and the mixture comes together.
Hi! Can I ask for the consistency and taste of the butter? Mine turned out sour coz of the buttermilk? And it also weeped like an overwhipped whipped cream. I tried to whipped it to homogenize but separated again. I tried the spreadable type coz will be using it for baking. I also omitted the turmeric. Thanks for the guidance.
Hi there! I’m not sure what happened there, did you use a blender to mix the ingredients?
Hi. tried it few days ago and
had the same problem other had. It was too stiff, to the point where i had a hard time cutting through it. Also, after a few days in the fridge, it had a verry strong sour smell to it, and i was afraid to eat it because of it.
Do you know what might have happened? thanks.
Hi there, I tried this out and all I ended up with was a curdled mess! Any advice as why this happened?
Hi Kristy, did you mix it with a blender?
Hi,
Can I make this with coconut butter. Its ingredients are desiccated coconut and cold pressed coconut oil .
I have a jar in my fridge and don’t know what to do with it .
Hi there! We’ve only tested this recipe with refined coconut oil as is very neutral in flavor yet perfect in texture, so it enables this vegan butter to take on the other flavors added to it.
Can we substitute vegetable oil for the canola oil?
That should be fine Debbie! 🙂
I just made this vegan butter today and I love it! I didn’t have any refined coconut oil so I used virgin. Also I used canned coconut milk instead of soy milk. I can of course taste the coconut, but I love it, it’s very tasty and creamy. Thank you for the easy lovely recipe! 😊
Awesome Tania! So glad you enjoyed the recipe and it worked out with your substitutions!
I make my own almond milk because vegan milks are not available in my country. I blend the almonds in water and just strain it. Can I use that in this recipe or does it have to be the processed packaged milks? Thanks a lot!
Hi Ammarah. I’m not sure. We haven’t tested the recipe with that specifically.
What other milk can also work? Need to be dairy, soy, bean and nut free. Would oat milk work?
Hi Elsie, if you read the other comments you’ll see that oat milk has worked for some and not others, it can affect how well it all mixes together.
I have used Mushroom milk, which is now my favorite non-dairy milk, and it worked fine for vegan butter. It does, however, give the butter a brownish color and not diary butter yellow.
Thanks for sharing and your great review Thomas!