Easy Homemade Dairy Free Butter - Vegan / Plant Based Buttery Spread
Have you ever tried making your own plant based, dairy free buttery spread at home? You might be surprised to learn this recipe for plant based, dairy free buttery spread is very simple to make! All you need is a measuring cup, a blender, and a container to store it in. It is more cost effective than buying store bought vegan butter, you can make it as you need it in batch sizes of your choosing, and you can tweak the flavors to add a bit of sweetness or saltiness as you please.
Easy Homemade Dairy Free Butter - Vegan / Plant Based Buttery Spread
Homemade plant based dairy free buttery spread on a hot poppy seed bun
Like most dairy allergic kids and their families, I grew up eating whatever butter substitute was available at the time and safe for my allergies. This changed over time as brands added new ingredients, re-branded and changed production facilities, or pulled their dairy free options that they had available. I rarely had the option of choice between brands or flavors, which was fine with me. I can make anything delicious in my kitchen! Even the horrible, grainy, dirt-like hemp oil “butter” that I once spent nearly $10 on and then had to force myself to finish so as to not throw my money away. It really is a wonder I didn’t start making my own vegan butter sooner.
We would go through periods of time where I baked with shortening or lard mostly (I enjoy baking with both!), if we were in between brands of dairy free butter or seeking out a new brand. Whenever we stumbled upon a change of packaging with our tried and true brands, there’d be a moment of uncertainty when we checked the ingredients yet again to see if it was still safe or if things had changed. At one point there was a mainstream brand that made several flavors of dairy free buttery spread that were safe for me, they were reasonably priced, and they were available at all of the grocery stores in our neighborhood. Bless! Unfortunately that didn’t last long and, seeing as they were more of a plant based company than a food allergy company, they began adding soy and pea protein to all of their blends for extra protein. But for a brief moment, all was well…
If you enjoy learning how to make your own staple ingredients such as dairy free butter, homemade oat milk, and more, click on the image below to head to my Allergy Friendly Staple Recipes landing page where you can find all of these treasured recipes in one place.
What makes my recipe for dairy free buttery spread so good? Let me tell you! It’s creamy and smooth, has a a beautiful balance of acidity and saltiness, and does not taste overpoweringly like any one type of oil. It firms up nicely and doesn’t melt too quickly, and actually does look like the taste and texture of dairy butter, making it a great substitute if you are used to dairy butter. You can cook with it, bake with it, put it on toast, and basically use it any way that you would use regular butter or store bought vegan butter.
I recommend watching the short video tutorial above before starting this recipe so that you can get a visual for how it should look at each step of the process, and to see my nifty way for melting coconut oil without scorching it. If you want your plant based, dairy free buttery spread to have a dash of sweetness, you can add 1 tsp of honey or maple syrup to give it a soft hint of sweetness.
Ingredients for Easy and Homemade Dairy Free Butter
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp cornstarch or other starch powder
How to make Easy and Homemade Dairy Free Butter
Melt the coconut oil by spooning it into a glass or cup and then placing it in a warm water bath. The coconut oil should melt into a liquid within a couple minutes. The coconut oil should not be hot.
While the coconut oil is melting, add the olive oil, sea salt, vinegar, and cornstarch to a blender and blend until frothy and opaque.
Add the melted coconut oil and blend again for one minute, or until frothy and pale looking.
Pour the mixture into a reusable container or jar with a lid and refrigerate overnight (8 hours min).
Makes one batch of dairy free butter
If you’d like the recipe for my vegan “eggy” poppy seed buns pictured above, click the image below or click here for my “Eggy” Poppy Seed Buns (plant based, egg free, dairy free).
