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.
Hello, can the milk be substituted for anything else like coconut milk?
Hi Nikki. Yes you can, you can maybe have a bit of an coconut after taste though.
Hi Alison
Just a quick question, is it ok to use grapeseed oil instead of canola oil, will it have the same results, would I need to add it at the end similar to using olive oil?
thanks
Sure you can Melissa.
Which blender do you use for such purposes?
Hi Tina. We use the Vita Mix blender.
Hi Alison, I’ve been making this recipe and it’s really good, but it does not “whip up” or “cream” for me like butter does when I mix it with sugar, for example to make cookies. It stays rather melty and goopy. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Justin, Did you use it straight from the fridge or did you leave it out at room temperature before using it in your cookies?
Nadine, I have done both, but normally use it cold. What temperature do you recommend?
I suggest using it from the fridge. Good luck!
I started using this recipe in 2020 and am just getting back into it. I always preferred creaming it before storing. it felt much more buttery this way.
I thought there used to be a note about using it for buttercream, but I can’t find it anymore. Have you tried it for buttercream?
Hi J. We’ve tested this vegan butter in baking cookies etc., but not for buttercream.
Is there anything I could substitute for the apple cider vinegar, like white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice? I’m allergic to apples.
White wine vinegar should work too Elle.
could I use copha instead of refined coconut oil !?!? ThankYou
Hi Vesna. We haven’t tried that before, so I’m not sure if it will do the same. The coconut oil is what makes the vegan butter set.
The first time I made it I used 1 cup refined coconut oil. It tasted good but took forever to use as spreadable. The second time I did the half and half method with the refined coconut oil & a blended oil of canola and avocado. It was spreadable and tasted really good. The third time I made as I did the second time. It’s had a difficult time setting. Oil seems to pool on top. I’ve emptied the oil a couple times now. It tastes alright but do you have any idea why it’s not setting up this time like it did before?
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Linda. Thanks for the great rating. Not sure what happened the third time you made it. Di you use the same amount of coconut oil as before?
Hi, I was googling for a gut friendly vegan butter recipe and found this. By the looks of the ingredients it seems it would be, could you confirm please? If it’s so, this will be my go to butter 🧈🙌🏼
I am not a vegan I do enjoy making and eating vegan meals. I tried this recipe and it was delicious. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks for your great review Paul!
The first time I tried this, I used oat milk because it was what I had on hand, and it didn’t turn out right (it did not curdle when I added in the ACV). This time I used soymilk like the recipe says and it turned out great! So FYI for anyone else out there- does not work with oat milk:)
Thanks for sharing Caro!
thanks. I wondered if oat milk any good. so now I know .
hi can you use rapeseed or grapeseed oil for this with the coconut oil thanks
I’m trying to make this now. I’m using unsweetened almond milk instead of soy and it’s not curdling with the apple cider vinegar. What should I do?
I saw your comment as I was reading the reviews. I am planning to make this with almond milk too, so I googled the answer. Apparently it works best if the almond milk is at room temperature before adding the vinegar.
I used avocado oil instead of canola. the butter comes out rather white milkish rather than the yellow shown on your photo, is that as a result of my substitution or is there something else missing?
Hi Cecilia, sound like you maybe forgot to add the turmeric powder which give the butter its color.