I don't know why, but I've been craving butter lately. Now that I think about it, I think it's really because I've been seeing a wave of genius dairy-free butter recipes going around the web {thanks Pinterest!} and I'm really amazed at how creative and yet how simple some of these recipes are. Making your very own dairy-free, vegan, raw, and paleo butter couldn't be easier.
I'm also often struggling with all the extra ingredients in commercial non-dairy butter spreads — many of them are filled with things I would personally rather go without whenever possible, so making my own butter is a great alternative.
Being able to use organic ingredients when making your own dairy-free butter is a great bonus too. There are so many recipes out there, and many of them are quite similar. I thought I'd share some of the ones that are more unique here in case you want to give any of them a try and in case one may suit you better than another (or in case you like variety, like me ;) ). I think my favorite by far is the paleo Whipped Dairy-Free Butter recipe — it's so incredibly easy!
Dairy-Free Butter Recipes from Around the Web
- Bryanna’s Vegan Butter: Homemade Palm Oil-Free Vegan Buttery Spread
- Regular Vegan Butter - Coconut Oil Base {Good for Baking}
- Homemade Vegan Butter (Palm Oil-Free, Soy-Free)
- Whipped Dairy-Free Butter {Paleo & can be made raw with cold pressed olive oil}
- Dairy/Casein-Free, Soy-Free and Corn-Free Butter
Kathy M Kelley says
Hi Audrey..
I have just found out that I am Gluten intolerant.. dairy , soy, coconut, And almond intolerant.. And can not have white or brown rice among other products as well..
Most of the substitutions for all the above are made with one or more of the products I can not have.
Do you have recipes for butter etc.. that can be done without any of the above items??
All my friends tell me I’m pretty much screwed.. lol..
Audrey says
Hi Kathy, ooh that's a toughie! Because most use soy or coconut as a base. I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I do plan on updating this page sooner or later with some more options I've come across over the years and if something suitable comes up I'll keep you posted.
Joshua Howard says
I've never tried to make vegan butter at home, but I'll definitely try one. These natural home-made products are definitely better than the ones full of chemical. I usually buy earth balance, but I don't believe that it's really healthy.
Audrey says
There's also the fun of creating something from scratch at home, isn't there? :) Hope you find one you like amongst these.
meg says
Great article! Happy to have found a recipe I actually have all the ingredients for yay!
Audrey says
Perfect, glad to have helped :)
Liz Page says
I want to sign up for your newsletter as I am intolerant to many foods. I really enjoy baking and find JJ Virgns paleo inspitrd all in one shake is really helpful - no stevia taste- for rhings I make. Lots of energy!
I am askng to sign up for the newsletter.
Audrey says
Hi Liz. Sorry for the delayed reply. I just tried adding you to the mailing list but it says you already subscribed and then unsubscribed which means I can no longer add you in manually myself. If you want to subscribe still, you can do so through the "never miss another recipe" box higher up on this page.
Pat Woods says
I have frozen ICBINB and have baked with it. I think it is great. Recently I noticed info on the containersaying- not recommended for freezing, frying and baking. I'm wondering what the explanation is for that.
Audrey says
Hi Pat. I'm not sure to be honest. I've never personally used ICBINB (though I've used other similar products), but if I had to guess I know that some fats don't fare well in baking. For example you can make dairy free white chocolate with cacao butter, but if you tried to bake with this white chocolate it would simply melt into a puddle. Other fats have a low burning point, which means they are too sensitive to be heated up for something like frying at a higher temperature. Some, like flax oil for example, actually become toxic when heated. Some blends will separate at a certain temperature as well... I'm not sure what's in ICBINB atm, but I imagine the reason is something to do with the performance of the product. On their website they just say something like "for best product quality we don't recommend freezing," so it doesn't sound "dangerous" to me -- more like maybe it doesn't perform as well as you'd expect from a butter substitute under those conditions.
Meaghan says
Hello! I'm looking for coconut free, vegan butter recipes that I can use my Red Palm oil (fair trade!! -Nutiva Co.) in as an ingredient. could I possibly swap out the coconut oil for the palm oil in one of your recipes? OR could you direct me to a recipe that you may know to help me out?? Thanks in advance!! :)
Audrey says
Hi Meaghan,
I'm sorry, I don't have much experience baking with palm oil in particular. My understanding is that it doesn't congeal / set in the same way coconut oil does, so wouldn't be a good substitute for coconut oil in raw recipes -- but this is just hypothetical understanding.
You can do a simple test -- put a dab of the palm oil you have on a freezing surface (ideally like a metal cookie tray you had sitting in the freezer for at least 15 mins) and see if it solidifies instantly -- if it does, then you're good to use it in place of coconut oil. If it doesn't firm up instantly then it's not a good substitute for coconut oil.
My understanding is that most likely it won't harden the same way coconut oil does, but who knows -- it's easy enough to do a simple test as described above so you know for sure.
In terms of using it to make butter specifically, I'll be honest I haven't come across any recipes for some as nearly everyone who shares recipes tries to come up with palm oil-free recipes instead. Maybe reserve it for other uses? :) Otherwise you could always use it in combination with coconut oil in some of these recipes (using palm oil in place of olive oil) as a compromise?
Miriam Shane says
I just made Miyoko's artisan butter and found it tasted like the sunflower lecithin or more specifically, like rotten plastic! Does all sunflower lecithin have this smell/taste? It ruined the "butter"...and I have a lot of it! I would love to know if this is just a one-off and if there is a better substitute for the lecithin/emulsifier?
Audrey says
Hi Miriam,
Hmm... I'm not sure if it's the specific lecithin or if something go awry in the making, or maybe you're just very sensitive to that particular taste so you're picking it up more..?
Did you use liquid lecithin or powdered? I know some people say liquid has a much stronger taste / smell. You can apparently use the powdered kind in this recipe, but the quantity is a bit different -- something like doubling or quadrupling the amount of dry-to-liquid.
Also, not sure if you've seen Miyoko's video for this recipe, but there are of tips and questions answered in the comments there in addition to what's addressed in the video -- maybe you'll find that helpful, and you can even leave questions there specific to that recipe. I saw someone mention for example that en-er-g egg replacer worked for them in place of the lecithin in this.
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHQGGAY0vo8