How to make vegan butter at home with NO hard-to-find ingredients! Easy, quick and you only need a whisk and a bowl. Perfect for baking, spreading on toast, frying or anywhere else you would use butter!
Why would you want to make your own vegan butter, you might ask? Well, I get comments quite regularly from people who live in countries or towns where buying plant based butter is near impossible, or very expensive.
Or maybe you are looking for a palm oil free buttery spread, which can be hard to find as well. Making your own is a big money saver, too!
I wanted to create a recipe that was super simple, quick and that works anywhere you would normally use butter. It took me several rounds of testing to come up with the perfect recipe! This dairy free butter is gloriously creamy, rich, buttery and spreadable.
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This is an overview with photos of how to make vegan butter. For the full, printable recipe scroll down to the recipe card.
How to make it
- In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup of unsweetened soy milk and 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar. Let it sit and curdle while you melt the coconut oil.
- To the bowl, add a cup of melted, warm coconut oil, along with the salt (1/2 tsp), canola oil (1/4 cup, can also use olive or avocado oil), and 1/4 cup coconut cream. Add optional tiny pinch of turmeric, if desired.
- Whisk well for a couple of minutes until smooth and pale in color. You could also use a blender or food processor here.
- Pour into butter molds <– I used these silicone molds. You could also simply pour into a glass container or two. Place in the refrigerator to harden and chill for an hour or two.
That’s it! You’re a vegan butter making pro. 😉
Whipped butter!
With just a tiny bit more work, you can make delicious whipped, fluffy vegan butter. This is a batch I made with no added turmeric, so it’s white. This would be perfect for making white frostings, such as in my Vegan Vanilla Frosting. But whipped butter is also wonderful for spreading on toast and other baked goods.
To whip, once you have whisked the ingredients, set the bowl in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes until it hardens slightly. Take it out of the refrigerator, and, with a hand mixer, mix and whip until fluffy. Place in containers and back in the fridge to harden the rest of the way.
How long does it keep?
Vegan butter will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. It also freezes really well. Simply let it thaw in the refrigerator before using.
For baking
I have tested this homemade vegan butter in all sorts of baked goods, from pie crust to cookies to frostings. It works perfectly well!
The butter is harder from the refrigerator than store bought plant based butters, so if you need slightly softened butter, such as for cookies or frostings, let it sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes before using. You could also microwave it for 15-20 seconds, but this is not ideal since some may melt, which can be especially problematic when making frosting.
Recipes to try using homemade vegan butter
- Perfect Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Vanilla Frosting
- Vegan Chocolate Cake (for the frosting)
- Best Ever Vegan Brownies
- Easy Vegan Pie Crust
- Vegan Rice Krispie Treats
How to Make Vegan Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup melted refined coconut oil *make sure to use REFINED, unrefined will taste like coconut
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup canola oil *OR light tasting olive oil, avocado oil or other neutral flavored oil
- 1/4 cup coconut cream *may omit, but it helps make the butter gloriously soft
- tiny pinch turmeric, optional for color
Instructions
- Get out a medium sized bowl. Add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar, stir and let sit for 5 minutes until it curdles.
- While the milk/vinegar curdles, melt the coconut oil in the microwave (or stovetop) until warm, but not too hot. I microwave it in a glass measuring cup, so I can make sure I have exactly 1 cup of melted coconut oil.
- To the bowl with the milk/vinegar mixture, add the melted coconut oil, salt, canola oil, coconut cream and optional tiny pinch of turmeric. Whisk well until smooth and pale in color. This will take less than 5 minutes. You could also place everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
- Pour the mixture into glass containers or butter molds. If you use 1 large container, the butter will take longer to harden in the refrigerator, small molds will be ready faster. Place in the refrigerator for an hour or two to set.
For whipped vegan butter
- This is so delicious, but just a little more work. After you have whisked the butter mixture well, place the bowl in the refrigerator for 20 minutes so it slightly hardens. Remove it from the refrigerator and, with a hand mixer, mix and whip until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add to glass storage containers and place back in the refrigerator to harden.
How to store vegan butter
- Vegan butter will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. To use for baking, slightly soften it by leaving out at room temperature for 30 minutes. You can also microwave it for 15 seconds, but some may melt that way which is not ideal.
- It freezes very well, too! Simply let it thaw in the refrigerator before using.
Notes
- It is fine to use another unsweetened non-dairy milk, but I like soy the best here. Almond, coconut, perhaps even oat milk will work okay though. Just make absolutely sure it is unflavored and unsweetened, with no sugar added.
- If you don't have apple cider vinegar or can't eat it, you can substitute lemon juice or white vinegar.
- There is no substitute for REFINED COCONUT OIL, it is what makes the butter. Unrefined coconut oil will make your butter taste too much like coconut.
- I really like the coconut cream in the butter. It doesn't make it taste like coconut, but it adds a creaminess and softness. You can skim the top of a can of full fat coconut milk to get only the cream, or use a can of coconut cream.
I’ve tried this recipe a couple of times now and just ended up with butter that tasted like apple cider vinegar. I found an even easier recipe that doesn’t bother curdling the non-dairy milk and it works and tastes much better and also has a better consistency. This one dries so hard I have to practically chisel it out of the bowl.
Is the soy milk supposed to be separating from the oils? I’ve been mixing it for a while and it’s still not mixing together
No, you want it to be completely emulsified (together). If you’re having trouble by hand, put it in a blender and blend.
I have to omit to lemon juice and/or vinegar. Is there another option that might act as an emulsifier? I made it without either and it tasted great but it wasn’t quite as cohesive as it could have been
I noticed violife butter says not to freeze, but your recipe freezes well. Have you had any trouble with frozen store bought vegan butter? I am wondering if i should use my frozen violife butter for your creamcheese frosting or make a batch of your butter.
Oh interesting, I’m not sure why you couldn’t freeze it, but I’d go by the package to be safe. I don’t think I’ve frozen store bought vegan butter actually, so I’m not sure.
This may be a dumb question but I always get confused about coconut oil measurements. Do I fill a cup of solid coconut oil and then melt or melt oil and then measure. I was getting ready to make this but now I’m confused and don’t want wasted ingredients if I use the wrong measurements!! Thank you Nora!!
Hi Poonam. You want to have exactly 1 cup of melted coconut oil. I always use a glass measuring up so I can see the amount as it melts. I hope that helps! Enjoy!
Thank you. Unfortunately I started to make the recipe but the almond milk would not curdle. I ended up not going through with the rest of the recipe as I was worried it wouldn’t turn out right. Hopefully I will figure it out as a Nora recipe is never a fail in my house!
Almond milk can have a hard time curdling, but honestly it will probably work fine anyhow, even if you don’t see curdling. That’s why I usually prefer soy milk, it curdles well.
The first time I tried this recipe, it came out perfectly. Today when I tried this recipe, the top part got hard and there was some liquid milk at the bottom of each piece. I melted it and whisked it and put it back in the fridge. The same thing happened. It tastes fine so I think I will throw out the liquid and keep the yellow part. I wonder if it was because of the pink (Himalayan) salt I used instead. I tried to be fun.
I thought this butter was very good. I just had it spread on toast but I bake a lot and I am going to bake some things with it and comment again. I am also going to try to make it whipped. My only question is all the other recipes called for nutritional yeast. What is the difference when you use that in the recipe?
I tested it with nutritional yeast and just didn’t care for it personally. I’m glad you enjoyed the butter, and yes please report back. Thank you!
The whipped version is great! I am not a vegan but I bake at a soup kitchen for the volunteers and a few are vegan and I brought them some and they loved it. Next I will bake with it. Thanks!
This butter is seriously SO good. It’s rich and creamy and melts so perfectly! We’ve used it just on toast and waffles so far but man, it is delicious! I used cashew milk instead of soy and I used regular coconut oil. In my opinion it tasted just fine! It took a lot longer to firm up but it’s very hot where I live and the kitchen is pretty toasty. If you want dairy free creamy rich butter with a great taste give this a try!
Hi Nora. Does the whipped butter have to go in a glass jar? And I ordered some silicone butter molds and could the unwhipped butter go in to those to harden?
Thanks for your patience with my obsession with your recipe. It is just so good!
I’m glad you are asking questions to get the recipe just how you like it! I have used silicone molds as well as glass containers, and both work well. Thank you for sharing your awesome review!
Can you use coconut oil that’s already oil and not the solid kind? Thanks, BTW, this sounds liek a treasure.
I wouldn’t; if the coconut oil doesn’t ever firm up I’m afraid the butter won’t either. I hope you enjoy the recipe! But yes, I’d use refined, regular coconut oil.
Coconut allergy and no substitutes??
Unfortunately, not for this recipe, sorry. Coconut oil is unique because it hardens when cold. Without it, the butter won’t firm up. I haven’t found a good substitute for this particular recipe.
This butter is great as a spread, but did not work in baking. I made a batch of GF crescent rolls using my store bought plant based butter. (1/2 cup melted). And it turned out great. I then went to make another batch this week with this butter and it did not work. The dough was so sticky you couldn’t do anything with it. Needless to say it went in the trash. Very disappointed as I was hoping to use it for baking things like that.
Sorry it didn’t work for your gluten free crescent rolls. I haven’t ever tried it in that, but it’s worked for me in frostings, cakes, cookies and more.
Sorry I just seen good for baking and didn’t think about GF may be different because of flour. I let my family try it at Easter and my niece who is dairy free also but not GF really liked it. My brother also liked it(he’s not dairy free. I had some left so I told my niece she could have it if she wanted. She told me she’s almost out of her store bought so she will take what I have. She wants recipe!
Can this butter be used to make vegan butter cream frosting for cakes?
Yes, it works well in frosting.
Thank you so much for this recipe! Do you think cashew cream would be a good sub for coconut cream?
I’ve never tried it but it might work well. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turned out. Enjoy!
Does it have to be soymilk or would oatmilk work?
Oatmilk will work, but make sure it’s unsweetened and unflavored, or your vegan butter will taste sweet.
Does the nutritional information contain the optional coconut cream?
Yes it does.
The consistency is perfect. My only issue is that it still tastes quite vinegar-y once hardened in the fridge. Will this mellow out with time? Is there something else I could do?
Given that everyone else gives this recipe top praise, I am going to try it again only using lemon juice. Hopefully, that will improve the flavor.
I am currently staying away from soy and oat milk. Is there another milk I can use for the vegan butter? Almond or cashew ?
I have used almond milk before and it worked well! Enjoy!
Omg, I have followed your recipes forever but I can’t find vegan butter without sunflower so I’ve not made treats unless coconut oil was an optional swap. Even then, everything is slightly different. We are i digressed, we have anaphylaxis to sunflower in my house, so this recipe is a life saver! I wonder if you or anyone tried making this with coconut or hemp milk? I have to stay away from soy per my MD right now…. Anyone?
Hemp or coconut milk will work just fine here, just make sure it’s unsweetened and unflavored. 🙂 I’m so glad this recipe is so helpful to you! Hope you enjoy it and use it often.
I fricking LOVE this butter! I’m ecstatic to not buy the chemically ladden plant butter that is much too expensive. It tastes delicious and all my recipes have come out brilliantly. Once again Nora, you are the GOAT!
Hi Susan. Thanks for your awesome feedback and review! It’s so encouraging! I appreciate you using my recipes! Wishing you happy cooking!
This is so great to hear! Have you tried it with hemp or coconut milk? Per my MD I must stay away from soy right now.
This butter is perfect! I double the recipe and use it for everything. I made a brownie batch and the flavour was perfect. Better than real butter. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome! So glad you are loving it! Thanks for sharing your fabulous feedback and review!
I made this exactly as the recipe said and I just did not like the flavor. To me it just tasted like the oil (not the coconut oil). It didn’t work for me. Sorry.
Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you!
My ‘butter’ separated in the refrigerator. Not sure what I did wrong? Any suggestions? Can I still use the solids?
I’ve never had this happen and it’s hard to know why it separated without being there. It could have something to do with the temperature of the ingredients, or maybe the butter wasn’t emulsified enough (whisked well enough). Make sure your coconut oil is warm but not super hot when melted. You should be able to use the solids but they will likely taste and spread differently than the solid (not separated) butter.
I had come in here to ask Nora the same exact thing. I made a new batch and made sure everything was room temperature before mixing it up and it did NOT separate at all! Woo hoo! The key is having everything at the same temp. 😉
When the ingredients are mixed together, should the coconut oil still be warm or should it be cooled to room temperature? Also, should all of the other ingredients be at room temperature?
Yes, the coconut oil should be warm when you mix. It’s helpful if the milk is also at room temperature, but it can be a bit cold as long as the coconut oil is warm. Hope that helps!
Hi! I’m wondering if it’s possible to replace soy milk with coconut milk? Ty!
Yes, you can!
I absolutely love this vegan butter. It was so easy to put together in my food processor. Thanks for a terrific recipe!
(My only comment is that the recipe didn’t yield 32 servings of 2 tablespoons per serving. It yielded half of that. There are not enough ingredients to yield 64 tablespoons.)
Thanks for your feedback and review!