Vegan Butter (Nut Free Version Too!)
This Homemade Vegan Butter is the perfect dairy-free version of butter! It’s easy to make and you can spread it, sauté with it, bake with it, use it in frosting, and yes, you can even brown it! I also have a nut-free version!
This post has been so long in the making!! 6 batches later, I present to you: vegan butter! We’ve been making vegan butter for about a year now, and not only has it saved us tons of money making it at home, but we’ve also learned how to fully customise it for the various uses that we want. Whether it’s savoury, herbed, salted, unsalted or nut-free, I’m going to address it here.
What is vegan butter?
Vegan butter is a mix of ingredients mixed/blended together to create a dairy-free version of butter in taste, look and use. There are actually several dairy-free butter alternatives already on the market such as margarine and shortening. Then there are also several brands of vegan butter sold too. You can make it at home if you want to control what goes into it, if you want to customise it for yourself, or if you just love making cool things from scratch!
After several tries, I settled on a version that used cashews for my best vegan butter yet. Why cashews? After testing almonds and other ingredients, this version gave me the creaminess texture, the best set, lasted the longest, and actually browned. Read on, because I also have an incredible nut-free version.
Tips and tricks for making the best vegan butter
- Follow the instructions. This isn’t a recipe to skip something or replace based on what you have; it just won’t work.
- Do NOT use extra virgin olive oil to make this. I usually love this oil but oh my gosh, it’s so bitter once emulsified! Use a neutral oil (sunflower, canola, vegetable, safflower) for the best results.
- Don’t use only coconut oil. Coconut oil will solidify, and will not give you the desired result
- Room temperature is best for the best quality. If you don’t use room temperature, your butter may whip up a bit like my vegan mayo and it’ll still taste delicious, but will never set like regular butter.
- You can easily make this herbed! After you’ve blended it, add in about 1 to 2 tablespoons of any of your favourite herbs, then pour into the final dish to set.
Can I make vegan butter without nuts?
Yes, you can! So you’ll make the recipe as listed and just remove the nuts. That’s literally it. It’ll stay taste great, still “set up” (because of the soy milk), you just won’t be able to “brown” with it and it won’t have the exact amount of creaminess, but will still be creamy! If you want to make it without soy milk, check my notes!
Ways to use vegan butter
I tried this for:
- Frosting
- Browning (yes! But brown it very slowly)
- Sautéing
- Melting
- Baking
- Cooking
Can I freeze this?
Yes! This freezes really well, and you may want to freeze half if you know you can’t finish this. The butter should last you at least 2 weeks in your fridge at its best. Mine lasted me about 4 weeks.
I hope you enjoy this recipe so much!!
Related Recipes
Enjoy friends! If you make this recipe on how to make Vegan Butter, please snap a photo and tag #jessicainthekitchen on Instagram! We’d also love it if you would leave a comment below, and give the recipe a rating! Thanks so much!
Vegan Butter (Nut-Free Version Too!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup soy milk, room temperature, see notes for subs
- 1 cup refined coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, or avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt , (add up to 1 teaspoon for salted butter but you can leave it out completely it only using for baking)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1/3 cup raw cashews,, soaked for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients into a high powdered blender. Ensure they are all room temperature.
- Blend for 2 minutes, scrape down sides, let rest for 1 minute then blend again for one minute on high
- Pour the butter into a container that you're fine the butter taking the shape of. Cover and allow to set completely, at least 5 hours, but preferably overnight.
- Remove from fridge, use as pleased, and put back. It's been testing for several uses including in frostings and works perfectly!
Notes
Tips and tricks for making the best vegan butter
- Follow the instructions. This isn't a recipe to skip something or replace based on what you have; it just won't work.
- Do NOT use extra virgin olive oil to make this. I usually love this oil but oh my gosh, it's so bitter once emulsified! Use a neutral oil (sunflower, canola, vegetable, safflower) for the best results.
- Don't use only coconut oil. Coconut oil will solidify, and will not give you the desired result
- Room temperature is best for the best quality. If you don't use room temperature, your butter may whip up a bit like my vegan mayo and it'll still taste delicious, but will never set like regular butter.
Can I make vegan butter without nuts?
Yes, you can! So you'll make the recipe as listed and just remove the nuts. That's literally it.Disclaimer: Although jessicainthekitchen.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, kindly note that these are only estimates. Nutritional information may be affected based on the product type, the brand that was purchased, and in other unforeseeable ways. Jessicainthekitchen.com will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information. If you need to follow a specific caloric regimen, please consult your doctor first.
Oh Jessica! What a great recipe! I loved this recipe so much! Texture and flavor are so buttery delicious.. it tastes like butter, it looks like butter.
I love to have vegan options to introduce more healthy options to my meals.
Thank you once again for sharing! 👩🏻🍳♥️
Awesome we’re so happy you enjoyed it Victoria! Thanks so much for reading!
Fantastic recipe!! Absolutely delicious on some fresh bread. Super easy & quick too with minimal clean up.
Absolutely delicious!! Fantastic on some fresh bread. Super quick & easy with minimal clean up too
Awesome what a great review! thanks so much Nicole.
Jesica, thank you very much for what are you doing. Your recipes are so good and so easy to cook , delicious food . And this recipe is just simply the best for vegan butter.
We’re so happy that you enjoyed this recipe Lidia! Thank you so much for reading and leaving such a nice comment!
Hi Jessica can I use sunflower lecithin instead of soy?
Hi Thanks so much for reading we haven’t actually tried this before so I’m not able to give you an answer.
This butter took my pie crust to the next level. It was a total hit with my omnivore family. Also love having a vegan butter that doesn’t include palm oil. This is definitely going to be a staple from now on.
Hi!
I’m on the hunt for a complete nut and soy free vegan butter. I see I can omit the cashews but you stated above that soy milk or cashew milk are crucial for the set up. Is there possibly an alternative milk to soy or cashew milk? I’ve used oat milk in the past with pretty good results!
Thank you!
Hi Mo. We haven’t actually experimented with both a soy and nut free butter yet, so I wouldn’t be able to advise you on this.
I love this recipe! The butter is so creamy and has a little hint of sweetness from the soy milk. I can’t wait to make some buttercream frosting, cinnamon rolls, cookies etc etc.
This has a really mild lovely flavour. Texture is great and its super quick and easy and make.
Thanks for recipe
Can I use a different oil besides coconut oil, since I am very sensitive to coconut oil?
Thank you
Hi Violet, sadly I haven’t had any success without coconut oil for this recipe thus far. If that changes in the future I’ll definitely update this post!
Could we use raw peanuts instead of cashews in this vegan butter recipe?
Thankyou for sharing.
Hi Salehah,
I’ve never tried it but technically you can! However peanuts do have more oil so it might produce a bit more oil in the recipe. Maybe also roast them first so they blend smoother but just a heads up it’ll have a peanut-y flavour and a slightly difference texture. Hope this helps!