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Learn how to make your own vegan butter at home! This vegan butter smells and tastes exactly like real dairy butter! It is spreadable, melts, and is perfect for baking. Plus, it’s cheaper than store-bought, and you know exactly what is inside!
🧈 Introduction
After camembert, blue cheese, and yogurt, now comes butter. It’s starting to feel like a real creamery here!
The recipe was supposed to be released long ago, but I kept tweaking it because I was not fully satisfied with the texture.
I tried many recipes for vegan butter but couldn’t find one that smells, tastes and spreads like real dairy butter. So I had to make my own version. I don’t claim to have created cultured butter, though, since there are already recipes that rely on yogurt to give the butter a tangy flavor. Anyway, this butter is flavorful, has the perfect texture, and is soy-free, dairy-free, and palm oil-free. Did I mention it also melts like real butter?
After researching how butter is made, I found out it’s actually a fermented product. Did you know that? I didn’t. But we know making fermented food is easy, right? So, ready to make your own butter?
📘 Why Make Your Own Butter?
There are several advantages of making your own vegan butter from scratch:
- Ingredient control: Did you know that over 80% of vegan butter available in supermarkets contains palm oil and flavorings? By making your own butter, you know exactly what you put inside, meaning no palm oil, flavorings, or preservatives. And you can flavor it! Add chives and garlic for a savory spread or cinnamon and raisins for a sweet treat.
- It’s a fun process! Don’t be scared to try it. This recipe is straightforward. The only thing is that it requires some patience, like any fermented recipe.
- Save money: Vegan butter alternatives can be quite expensive and not available everywhere, especially if you live in a small town. You can make your own butter anytime with just a few ingredients from your pantry. I quickly calculated, and the cost for 16 ounces of butter is around $5,8. This is over half the price of store-bought vegan butter!
🥥 Ingredient Notes
This vegan butter recipe requires just 7 ingredients. Here is what you will need:
- Raw cashews – We will be using raw cashews to make cashew milk and ferment it with probiotics.
- Probiotics – Acidophilus probiotics will allow the cashew cream to ferment and get a subtle tanginess.
- Refined coconut oil – Coconut oil will help the butter firm up in the fridge. Do not use regular coconut oil. The flavor would be overpowering. Instead, use refined odorless coconut oil.
- Grapeseed oil – You can also use sunflower or canola oil.
- Sunflower lecithin – Lecithin is mandatory. Without it, the cashew cream will separate from the coconut oil, and you will end up with two different layers. Definitely not what you want! You can also use soy lecithin if you prefer. Both work.
- Salt – To enhance the flavor of the butter. In my opinion, 1/4 tsp of salt is the perfect amount, but feel free to adjust to your taste.
- Carrot juice – Optional, for the color. I first tried using turmeric to give it a yellow color, but it didn’t look natural. Too yellowy. So I went back to testing, and I found out carrot juice gives it a nice beige color, don’t worry, you can’t taste the carrot! Note: You can use half of a teaspoon of annatto oil instead of carrot juice to give your butter a nice beige/yellow color.
🥣 How to Make Vegan Butter
This recipe consists of two steps: 1) Making the fermented cashew milk and 2) Blending it with the rest of the ingredients.
Cashew Milk
It starts with the cashew milk that we will let ferment to get a tangy flavor.
- Make the milk. Start by blending soaked raw cashews with water and cultures.
- Ferment it. Then, transfer the milk to a clean bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and let it ferment at room temperature for 24-48h, depending on the temperature of your house.
- Taste it. After about 24 hours, you should see some air bubbles in your cashew milk. This means the fermentation worked. Once your cultured cashew milk has a subtle tanginess, it’s ready to use!
Why Culture the Cashew Milk?
Culturing the cashew milk gives the butter a tangier taste, a more complex body, and a richer texture. It’s the secret to making it smell and taste like real dairy butter!
Making the Butter
The next and final step is preparing the butter itself:
- Melt the coconut oil over low heat. You don’t want the oil to be hot, just melted.
- Add the cultured cashew milk, melted coconut oil, grapeseed oil, lecithin, carrot juice, and salt to a high-speed blender.
- Blend for about 1 minute or until smooth and fully combined.
- Transfer to a container lined with parchment paper and refrigerate for a few hours or until firm. Alternatively, you can place the container in the freezer for about one hour if you want to speed up the process.
- Your vegan butter is now ready!
Since this butter is traditionally cultured, it won’t keep as long as margarine. You can keep the butter for up to 7 days in a fridge.
❄️ Freezing
You can keep this vegan butter for up to 2 months in the freezer. I recommend cutting it into small cubes and then thawing just what you need.
🥞 Where to Use Vegan Butter
You all know where to use butter, but here are a few ideas of what you can do with it:
- Breakfast: Spread on warm toast and sandwiches, top your pancakes, or even stir into oatmeal. Breakfast will never be the same!
- Use in baked goods: Perfect for Chocolate Chip Cookies! Banana bread, cupcakes, pies, caramel sauce, the possibilities are endless. Oh, and what about puff pastry?
- Make the frosting: Yep, you can use this butter to make buttercream frosting the traditional way. It will be soft and fluffy.
- Brown: I successfully made brown butter from it. You have to be careful not to burn it, though. Then, use it in cookies, sauces, etc.
- Add a flavor: Stir in risotto before serving, add to sauces, or melt on vegetables, a knob of butter will take your meal to the next level.
📔 Tips
- Do not overheat the coconut oil. To prevent separation during blending, the coconut oil should be just melted and not hot.
- Use refined coconut oil. Since coconut oil is this vegan butter’s main ingredient, you absolutely need to use the odorless/flavorless kind. Using regular coconut oil would give the butter an overpowering coconut flavor.
- Regarding lecithin: This emulsifier is what allows the cashew cream and different oils to blend together. I tried using both sunflower and soy lecithin, and both work great.
- Replacing the acidophilus: You can replace the capsule of Acidophilus with 1/16 teaspoon of mesophilic culture.
- To flavor this vegan butter: Follow the recipe as stated. Once firm, let the butter sit on the counter for 1-2 hours or until soft. Stir in your add-ins (herbs, garlic, raisins, cinnamon, or chocolate for a sweet version) and transfer the butter to a container. Place in the refrigerator until firm again.
💬 FAQ
Unfortunately, no. Lecithin is essential to emulsify the oils and the cashew milk. It prevents it from separating.
Yes, if you are short on time, you can skip this step and simply use the cashew cream. Your butter won’t taste as buttery but will still be delicious.
Yes! It melts just like real butter, so you can use it to make sauces or stir-fry veggies.
While I haven’t personally tried it, I have no doubt it will work just like regular butter!
It will keep for about one week in the refrigerator. After that, I found it a bit too tangy.
I hope you are going to love this plant-based butter! With over 75 ★★★★★ ratings, it’s definitely a must-try!
Thick, creamy, and soft, this vegan butter has the perfect texture. It’s spreadable right from the fridge and works so well in baked goods!
🧀 More Dairy-Free Recipes
Let me know in the comments if you try this recipe!
Homemade Vegan Butter (Cultured!)
Ingredients
Cultured Cashew Milk
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 2/3 cup water
- 1 capsule acidophilus (or 1/16 tsp of mesophilic culture)
Cultured Butter
- 1/2 cup cultured cashew milk
- 1 and 1/4 cup refined coconut oil
- 1/3 cup grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
- 1 tsp liquid sunflower lecithin or 2 tsp powdered lecithin
- 2 tsp carrot juice for color, optional
- 1/4 tsp salt
Instructions
Cultured Cashew Milk
- Place the raw cashews in a bowl. Cover and let them soak overnight or for at least 8 hours.
- Drain the cashews and put them back in the bowl. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, pour the boiling water over the cashews. This step will kill viable bacteria. Drain the cashews.
- Add them to a blender with 2/3 cup of water and blend on high speed until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides from time to time until everything is smooth.
- Transfer the cashew milk to a small bowl or container and stir in the acidophilus powder. Cover with a clean towel or with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for about 24 hours (up to 48 hours). The cashew cream is ready when it has a light tangy taste. You should also see some air bubbles. This means the fermentation worked.
Vegan Butter
- Melt the coconut oil over low-medium heat. Measure 1 and 1/4 cups of melted coconut oil and put it in a blender. Add 1/2 cup of cultured cashew milk, neutral oil, sunflower lecithin, salt, and carrot juice. Blend on high speed for about 1 minute.
- Line a 6×4-inch container with parchment paper. Transfer the mixture to the container and place it in the freezer for at least 1 hour or until firm. Once firm, transfer to the refrigerator. It will become softer after a few hours.
- This vegan butter will keep for up to 7 days in the refrigerator. Since this butter contains live cultures, it might get stronger in taste/smell as time passes. It will keep in the freezer for up to two months.
Video
Notes
- Do not overheat the coconut oil. To prevent separation during blending, the coconut oil should be just melted and not hot.
- Use refined coconut oil. Since coconut oil is this vegan butter’s main ingredient, you absolutely need to use the odorless/flavorless kind. Using regular coconut oil would give the butter an overpowering coconut flavor.
- Regarding lecithin: This emulsifier is what allows the cashew cream and different oils to blend together. I tried using both sunflower and soy lecithin, and both work great.
- Replacing the acidophilus: You can replace the capsule of Acidophilus with 1/16 teaspoon of mesophilic culture.
- To flavor this vegan butter: Follow the recipe as stated. Once firm, let the butter sit on the counter for 1-2 hours or until soft. Stir in your add-ins (herbs, garlic, raisins, cinnamon, or chocolate for a sweet version) and transfer the butter to a container. Place in the refrigerator until firm again.
- Recipe inspired by Miyoko’s VeganButter and Nutcrafter’s Bettah than Buttah, as well as traditional butter-making techniques.
Nutrition
About the Author
Thomas Pagot is the founder, photographer, and recipe developer behind Full of Plants. He created the blog in 2016 as a personal cookbook for vegan recipes. Through years of recipe development, Thomas has successfully grown Full of Plants into a trusted resource for plant-based recipes.
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Recipe is great! Slight sunflower seed taste from the lecithin but I think it tastes great. I used the other half of the cashew milk to make a 2nd batch. With miyokos being $5.99 per small box of butter I’m saving about $2 each batch using this recipe and buying raw cashews and coconut oil in bulk. So it’s worth the savings for me since it doesn’t take that long to make and not a lot of active time preparing. WHEre do you buy your raw cashews from? Thank you for concocting!!
Thanks for your feedback Heather! I found that the sunflower seed flavor goes away after a day or two. If you don’t want it then use powdered soy lecithin, you won’t taste anything. I think that powdered sunflower lecithin might have a more neutral taste but I have never tried.
I’m happy to hear you are saving money 🙂 It’s true that buying artisan vegan cheeses/butter can be quite expensive.
As I’m experimenting a lot, I’m also buying cashews in bulk from a European website (around $9 per pound).
I saw this on a group,I absolutely love it and have just gifted a friend almost 1 portion as her and her daughter are vegetarian – I have made cakes with it, adore it on crackers – life has changed for the better now we no longer have to have nasty plastic stuff – thank you, first recipe that actually looked doable and is awesome.
Great! Happy to hear you also had success by baking with it!
Thanks for your feedback Maz!
Hi Thomas, thanks for your inventiveness and this great recipe! I’m trying it again today with hemp seed oil to get all the good omegas. It’s delicious!
Hi Michaela, thank you!!
I have a question, its pretty hot here in israel at summer.i left it overnight and it looked kind of too much sower in the morning. Can it be possibly ruined by the temperature?its about 25-26°here
It turned out too sour and the texture is not perfect, may be it went wrong because it was too hot here? 25-26 °. Should i put it in the fridge next time for 24 hours or more? Why is it too sour taste and smell? Is it ruined? Also, my lecithin is very thick ( i bought online and i opened it was very thick like honey)may be it didnt work and thats why i havent succeed with the texture?
Yes, the temperature is the problem. What you could try is leave the cashew milk at room temperature for 2-3 hours and then place in the refrigerator for 36-48 hours. Then taste to check if it has a yogurt flavor.
Liquid sunflower lecithin is always very thick in texture, a bit like molasses. This is normal. I guess it’s a temperature problem again. Make sure the coconut oil is just melted, not hot as it can make everything separate.
It’s a possibility yes. Maybe you have a ceiling or a small refrigerator that you could put on the lowest setting so it’s not too cold?
I love it. It’s as good as Miyokos and a snap to make. Thank you for all you do.
Thanks Ray!
Hi Thomas. I made this yesterday and it was fantastic! I don’t use spreads often at all but sometimes I miss that buttery flavour.
I froze it in little portions and I’m thrilled with it. Great flavour, great recipe.
Thanks for sharing!
Moya
Thanks for the feedback Moya!
is it normal for a purplish color on top cultured cashew milk?
No it’s not, I would recommend starting again. Maybe you aged it at a too warm temperature.
Thank you for your reply. My house is continuous at temp of 74-75 degrees in my house, too warm? I have used the acidophilus strength that you recommended. Will attempt to culture cashew milk again.
75°F is a bit warm but it should be okay. Make sure everything you use (bowl, blender, etc) is very clean. Also, pouring boiling water on the cashews and letting sit for 1-2 minutes helps kill possible bacterias.
I love this recipe, it’s easy and it tastes DELICIOUS. Unfortunately mine separated a bit when setting…is there anything I can do to try and stop this when I make it again?
Thanks Belinda, glad to hear you like it!
Do you place it in the refrigerator or freezer to cool? Also, make sure your coconut oil is just melted, not hot.
Thanks for the recipe! Why do you refer to the dairy products as “real” and “natural”? Ist your cashew butter unreal and unnatural?!!
I refer to dairy butter as “real” because the name butter officially describes something made out of dairy milk, which is not the case here with vegan butter. So to differentiate the two I refer to the dairy butter as the real one.
Hola, voy a hacer esta mantequilla para los clientes de nuestro restaurante y le pondremos el nombre de la “Butter Thomas”.
Muchas gracias por compartir tu conocimiento.
Really delicious! Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback Birgit! 🙂
Hi Thomas—Thanks for sharing this recipe! Curious if you’ve ever tried using rejuvelac in place of the acidophilus probiotic?
Hi Sheena, not in this specific recipe but I did try for some cheeses and cream cheeses. It works pretty well!
I would recommend using 3-4 tbsp of rejuvelac and use a bit less water when blending the cashews.
Thanks Thomas! I’ll let you know how it goes when I give it a try. : )
I was wondering about using rejuvelac also. Did you try it?
@Kelly Stevens: I’ve made this butter with rejuvelac many times using the measurements that Thomas recommended and it’s worked very well. Hope that helps!
Do you recommend vacuum packing the butter? And what about the cheeses? Would they go bad if vacuum sealed?
Hi John,
I’m not sure what you mean, why would you want to vacuum pack the butter?
Regarding the cheeses, I have never tried but I think it could work if you want to keep them longer without freezing them.
I just thought I might be able to vacuum pack the butter or some of the cheeses to keep them fresh in the fridge instead of freezing them. Sorry if it was a silly question, I’m new to this. I’ve ordered the culture and penicillin and I’m so excited to try this! Thank you so much for publishing all these amazing recipes, I will forever worship your work 😀
Ah, got it! I honestly have no idea as I don’t have a vacuum sealer. It might be worth trying though. Apparently, some people are vacuum sealing dairy butter so I don’t see why this wouldn’t work with this one 🙂 Let me know if you try it!
This looks really amazing !!
How long do you think it is possible to keep it to consume after it is done ?
Thanks! About 7 days!
I am doubling this recipe and plan on freezing the extras until needed. I soaked 1 cup of cashews, which once soaked, yielded 1 1/2 cups. So does this mean I would be tripling the recipe??
Also, I doubled the water when I creamed the cashews and then used two capsules of probiotics in stead of one. Was I correct in doing so?
When it has fermented, will I only measure out the 2/3 cup from what I have made, in order to make a single batch?
Sorry about the 50 questions! Just want to make sure I understand before the complete assembly.
Thank you for your assistance.
No, it’s 1/2 cup (1 cup if doubling) *raw* cashews, so you measure it before soaking.
Yes, if you double the recipe you use double the water and 2 capsules probiotics.
Then, you will measure 2/3 cup of the fermented cashew cream and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. You will have some cashew cream leftover that you can use in curries, sauces, or use to make another batch of butter.
This butter is absolutely amazing! The only change I made was that I used homemade rejuvelac instead of the acidophilic / mesophilic cultures.
It is large recipe and so makes waaaaaaay more butter than I will use in a short period. I let it set in the freezer then chopped it up into 16 blocks and froze them individually. I think the next time I make the recipe (in at least 6 months!) I think I will just pour the mixture directly into an icecube tray.
Thanks for the feedback Jack! Glad you like it 🙂
It makes about 16 ounces of butter. Since I don’t eat butter for breakfast I also freeze it in small portions, then you can stir it in your sauces or pasta at the last minute and it will melt easily.
I LOVE this recipe! I doubled the quantity to save time and I just cut off chunks and keep the rest in the freezer.
Once the cashews are fermented it’s actually a really simple recipe.
It has a really great taste which all my non-vegan friends loved it when they were staying with me.
I had some left over fermented cashew cream, which is delicious and makes a great base for a sauce.
I have just received the cultures in the post to try the camembert recipe, I can’t wait to give it a go!
Thanks Thomas, you are a legend.
I’m happy you liked this butter recipe Jenna!
I do the same, keep small portions in the freezer, then add it directly to sauces or curries.
Thanks so much for your feedback!
You are amazing. Now I can really say it “I can’t believe it is not butter” LOL. And it tastes so amazing. Thank you very much. You are a genius
Thanks for your feedback Bernardo! 😉
What about using a carambert mesophilic strain for this? It’s supposed to give “butteryness”
https://www.thecheesemaker.com/mesophilic-starter-series-mm100-101/ this one? the Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis biovar diacetylactis may make it even butterier with the diactyl production
Sure, this will work. There are many aromatic cultures that can be used to improve the flavor of cheeses.
How much mesophilic would you recommend? 1/8, 1/16?
1/16 tsp is enough.
Thanks so much for this recipe! We are not vegans here, but I really enjoyed this butter recipe. It works really well on toast, and in my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I also followed another commenter’s suggestion and used sustainably sourced red palm oil rather than carrot juice since I didn’t have any carrot juice. I made them into sticks and froze them in a bag, so that I can just take one out as I need it. I’m can’t wait to be able to use these for someone who can’t do dairy and misses butter. I can’t say enough how amazing this recipe is!
Thanks for your feedback and rating! I’m so glad you liked this butter, it’s even better that this is coming from a non-vegan 😉
I have yet to try red palm oil but will definitely try it soon! Thanks for sharing!
any alternatives to Lecithin? cocoa butter??
I’m afraid there is no alternative to lecithin, it keeps the oil and cashew cream from separating.
What’s the reason for using refined as opposed to unrefined coconut oil? Did it not come out right with the unrefined coconut oil? Let me know!
Unrefined coconut oil has a strong coconut flavor, not something you want in butter.
You can buy Biona coconut oil and it doesn’t have any odour.
Have you ever tried making vegan butter without oil?
I haven’t, in my opinion, butter without fat will never taste like butter.
hello
Can i substitute the cashews with something else? I’m allergic to cashews
hope i can get a reply on my email
Thanks
Hi, you could try almonds or macadamias but I’m afraid the result won’t be as smooth.
Hi – coconut oil has had a lot of bad press recently so I was wondering if there was a healthier
alternative oil that we could use?
Hi Janet,
I’m not really paying attention to what the news are saying about X or Y ingredient as it keeps changing. You could use deodorized cocoa butter if you want to avoid coconut oil.
This is AMAZING ! I’m newly vegan and have been trying out all sorts of spreads, but here in France there’s not a great deal of choice. Made the butter this morning and it’s now in little packets in the freezer. Love it, Thankyou !
Thanks Bev! Can’t agree more, the butter alternatives in France are not that great, plus they are usually too soft. Happy to hear you liked this one!
I have made vegan butter before but this is the first time I tried it with the cultured cashew milk…. WOW! what a wonderful difference adding that one step makes. Thank you for a great idea and recipe. I am off to the store to stock up on popcorn. 🙂
Thanks for your feedback Sherri! 😉
I a little confused about the quantity for the butter. Do you double he recipe fir the butter, because it is double the amount specified to use for the butter. Or do you di something else with the rest of the cultured cashew milk? Thanks much in advance!!!
You make more cashew milk than needed, you can use the remaining milk for another batch of butter or simply use as a cream in other recipes. I recommend making more cashew milk because otherwise, it’s too hard to blend.
Hi!
I was just woundering of how this butter holds up in the room temp, will it get soft?
And I guess it will be quite firm in the fridge?
Hi,
Yes, it gets softer and spreadable at room temperature. It’s harder in the fridge. If you are looking for a spreadable butter right out of the fridge I would recommend increasing the amount of neutral oil.
Hi Thomas, thankyou for this recipe. My cashews are soaking as I type ready for butter making tomorrow. The probiotic capsules I bought contain 2 billion probiotics. It’s not just acidophilus but also bifidus. Will it still be ok to use and how much? Thanks again.
Hi Charlotte,
I’m afraid I haven’t tested with all the probiotics available so I cannot predict the results. If your capsule contains 2B, then I would probably just use half of one as it should be more than enough.
Let me know how it goes 😉
Thankyou for your reply. I ended up going onto town and getting the same probiotics you use. Our kitchen temperature is quite cool. I will put my cashew/probiotic mix in the fridge in the morning before work. That will be 42 hours culturing. I will let you know how it turns out.