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.
Stephanie says
Do you have a substitute for the coconut oil? I am to avoid all coconut products, yes, even the oil. Would a refined cocoa butter work?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Stephanie, the coconut oil is a crucial ingredient here, I don’t think anything else would work.
xandy says
ummmmmm all that bread in the photos is gorgeous where did it come from??
Alison Andrews says
I think it’s a sourdough bread, we just bought it locally. 🙂
Jeanette H says
I can’t tell you how much I love this butter! I like the flavor even better than regular butter. And wanted to share that I have no problem keeping it out on the counter top, covered of course, in cooler weather. It keeps quite nicely even for two weeks because coconut oil doesn’t go rancid. It is much easier to use at room temperature than solid in the fridge. I find now I rarely use regular coconut oil for my sauteing because I love this so much!
Alison Andrews says
Hi Jeanette, so happy you like the recipe and thanks so much for sharing! 🙂 I agree, this is great for sautéeing!
Kathryn says
Hello 🙂 I’m going to try this! What oil can I use instead of canola oil, as I don’t have any… thank you!!! Xxx
Alison Andrews says
Avocado oil, olive oil, we have tips about using olive oil in the notes. 🙂
Lisa says
I love it, thanks for sharing ,I made it with avocado oil instead, cuz I use avocado for everything!
Alison Andrews says
Wonderful! Thanks for the amazing review! 🙂
Pym says
Cheerio. Unfortunately I just bought unrefined.
Alison Andrews says
I was totally joking – refined is better since it doesn’t have the coconut flavor so it takes on more buttery flavor but unrefined works fine too, just has a coconut taste.
pym says
so i cant use uncouth coconut oil? only refined?
Alison Andrews says
Hahaha! Definitely only the very upper class kind. ??
Harriet Wilkinson says
I put all in a blender as stated and it’s all a curdled mess! Any tips??
Alison Andrews says
Blend it until smooth, pour it out into a dish and immediately refrigerate.
Diana says
is this recipe the vegan equivelent to “unsalted butter”, I just wanted to know because the recipe contains salt in it
Alison Andrews says
Hi Diana, there is salt in it, which is for flavor so that it’s delicious as a spread. If you specifically need an unsalted version you could easily leave out the salt.
Nicky says
What does the nutritional yeast do and can it be substituted for something else?
Alison Andrews says
It adds buttery flavor but you can leave it out.
Brandon says
O, i also used “homemade” macadamia milk (made from macadamia butter and water) instead of almond milk and it came out great. Because you can keep this in the fridge and maintain spreadability the taste trumps butter as well.
Alison Andrews says
Oh interesting! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Brandon says
This is amazing. Tastes great with better spreadability than butter. Thanks for the recipe. I noticed the start of some mould spores on mine after about a week despite keeping it in the fridge. Could this be because i left it outside one day, or do you perhaps know of a preservative i could use?
Alison Andrews says
Hi Brandon, I don’t know of a preservative, but I suppose it could be because it was outside for a day. Mine didn’t have that issue, and it was refrigerated the whole time, so maybe the day out was the cause. So happy you like the recipe! 🙂
Katie says
Could you use oatmilk instead of soy milk?
Angharad Bradley says
I’d like to know this too. Have just made with sweetened soya milk but haven’t yet tasted it. My other option was unsweetened oat mil, but would that curdle in the same way?
Alison Andrews says
I’m not sure if oat milk curdles or not. You could try it and see! 🙂
Nada says
Thanks
That is amazing
Christopher Worrick says
Our son is allergic to dairy and pea protein (amongst other things) so most store vegan products are not for us. This recipe works well and is very easy! It tastes pretty darn good in my opinion. Thanks so much!
Alison Andrews says
Thanks Christopher! So glad it worked well. 🙂