Making Homemade Vegan Butter is quick and easy, it’s perfect for all your dairy free baking. With just a few simple ingredients, you’ll have a creamy, buttery vegan spread ready before the toast pops out of the toaster!

I love making my own dairy free butter because I can control what goes into it. Obviously, this is not a health food but it’s a healthier alternative to shop bought vegan margarine and butter due to the fact that it’s free from artificial colours and other additives.

Even though I follow a mostly oil free diet, I still, occasionally, enjoy the simple pleasure of melted butter on hot toast.

I also love baking and some recipes just aren’t the same without butter. This is the perfect vegan butter for dairy free baking, I’ve used it in in these gluten free Anzac biscuits and these easy chocolate peanut butter bars as well as many other cakes and cookies with great success.

Things to love about this recipe

• quick and easy
• easily nut free and soy free
• vegan and gluten free
• preservative free
• free from artificial flavours and colours
• palm oil free

Is palm oil bad?

The reason I actively avoid palm oil is that unsustainable palm oil is a major cause of deforestation in tropical climates. Deforestation destroys the natural habitats of endangered species such as orangutans, rhinos and elephants. You can read more about it in this article by wwf-Australia.

Why make your own butter

• Vegan butter that is good for baking, is surprisingly hard to find and making your own is really easy. This recipe is 80% fat which is what’s needed for successful baking.
• Many butter alternatives are not made for baking, some are not very tasty, a lot contain palm oil.
• I love having a dairy free butter that has no artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.
• Need this butter to be nut free, no problem just make sure your oil isn’t made from nuts and you have nut free vegan butter!
• Can’t have soy products use almond milk or oat milk instead.
• Melts perfectly on toast. 😋

What is vegan butter made from?

refined coconut oil:

It’s essential to use refined coconut oil, sometimes called deodorized coconut oil, for this recipe or your butter will taste entirely of coconut oil. The label of your coconut oil will state whether it’s refined or deodorised. If you already have coconut oil and aren’t sure, then smell it. Deodorised coconut oil won’t have any coconut smell. Unrefined coconut oil has a very strong taste and smell which will overpower all other flavours in this recipe.

olive oil or another oil of your choosing:

I like to use extra virgin olive oil, even though you can taste it, I like the flavour it brings. Obviously this is not for everyone and when I don’t want the olive oil flavour I use macadamia oil or almond oil. Use a neutral flavoured oil if you prefer. Canola oil is a good choice especially if you plan on frying with your plant based butter. Due to it’s low smoke temperature, Extra Virgin Olive Oil is not the best choice for frying. The beauty of this recipe is that you can choose which oil best suits your needs.

soy milk and apple cider vinegar:

Mixed together, the milk and vinegar, create a vegan buttermilk which adds to the buttery flavour and creaminess. The apple cider vinegar adds a little acid to the mix and rounds out the flavour profile.

salt:

I mean I love salted butter for all my buttery needs. Use as much or as little as you like, it really is just for the flavour.

turmeric:

Used here to replicate a traditional butter colour. The amount of turmeric added is minimal and doesn’t affect the flavour, leave it out if you prefer.

How to make homemade vegan butter

• To begin, in a small bowl, mix the milk and apple cider vinegar to make a thick buttermilk, now to this add in the turmeric and salt. Adding the turmeric to the buttermilk rehydrates it and quickly releases the full colour.
• You need to add enough turmeric that it’s ever so slightly more yellow than you want the finished butter to be. The colour will be diluted once added to the oils.
• If you skip this rehydrating part and just add the turmeric to the oils while whisking you may find that you add too much turmeric. As the turmeric will take some time to release its colour, it’s easy to think ‘just a little more, and another pinch’ and then before you know it, you have a fluoro yellow butter! 🙄
• I found that the easiest way to make vegan butter that is good for baking is to simply soften, not melt, the coconut oil and whisk everything together.
• So, in a large mixing bowl, whisk the softened coconut oil, then add in the buttermilk mixture whisking to thoroughly combine.
• Continue whisking and add the oil a little at a time whisking well after each addition. Taste and adjust flavours to suit your preferences.
• Now transfer to a dish with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate.
• Alternatively transfer to a butter mould, or for freezing transfer to a silicone ice cube tray and just pop out a frozen butter cube as needed.
• That’s it, it’s the quickest way to make vegan butter at home.

What can I use dairy free butter for?

• You can use this homemade vegan butter anywhere you would normally use a dairy butter. I have tested it in cakes, biscuits/cookies and slices and found it worked perfectly in each recipe.
• Just like dairy butter this vegan butter is hard straight from the fridge and needs to soften a little before easily spreading it on bread or toast. It melts into hot toast and English muffins like a dream.
• Use your homemade vegan butter made with olive oil to make the BEST garlic bread you’ve ever had!
• I haven’t made buttercream with this butter yet, and will be sure to update the post when I do. I would leave out the turmeric if I planned to make vegan buttercream from this recipe. If you get the chance to try this in buttercream or any other icing/frosting before I do, please let me know. I love hearing how others have used my recipes.

How long does homemade butter last?

The key factor in determining how long your butter will stay fresh is the milk. I find soy milk stays fresh for about a week after opening and this is how long your butter should stay fresh. Although, I’ve had some homemade butter made with soy milk in the fridge for about ten days and it’s still good.

Try spreading this creamy and delicious vegan butter on:

Apple and Cinnamon Loaf (that’s the bread in the pics)

CONTACT

If you have any comments or questions on how to make vegan butter at home, please leave a comment in the comments section below!

If you made this easy vegan butter and share on Instagram, I would love to see it, please tag me @sweeterwithdates and #sweeterwithdates