Homemade Vegan Butter

Homemade Vegan Butter - It Melts!

Are you tired of spending more than your fair share at the grocery store because you purchase vegan products?  If you're like us, we try to purchase vegan as much as possible plus we have to purchase gluten-free products.  So you can imagine our grocery bill.

One of my Foodie Bucket List items was to figure out how to make vegan butter that tastes, melts, and does everything else that real butter does but without all the added chemicals or those really difficult-to-pronounce ingredients.

DH and I have been using Earth Balance for our creamy butter spread.  The ingredients are all pronounceable and it has a nice flavor.  It also acts just like margarine - creamy, spreadable, makes great grilled cheese sandwiches, and works in baked goods.  The price at our local grocery store is $4.49 for a 15 ounce tub.

Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

Although we found a great product, we weren't really loving the price.

The vegan world is small but it's growing thanks to people like JL over at JL Goes Vegan and Mattie at Vegan Baking.  Mattie explains the difference between real butter and vegan butter.  I know, that sounds like it would be self-explanatory but really there are fats and curdling to consider.  Even if you never venture into the kitchen to make vegan butter, Mattie really does a nice job explaining how different non-dairy milks work and why it's important to understand.  This explanation also helped me understand why one non-dairy milk was referenced in a recipe over another.

Homemade Vegan Butter on Toast

I've made a few changes to Mattie's original vegan butter recipe.  I use Almond Milk instead of Soy Milk; Sea Salt instead of Salt; Lecithin Granules instead of Liquid Lecithin.  I also double the recipe since it freezes beautifully.

This is how my butter looks when I use a mold.  These hearts, plus two more not in the picture, show how much vegan butter the original recipe makes.

Homemade Vegan Butter made in a Candy Mold

Homemade Vegan Butter in a Dish

Vegan Butter Ingredients (Doubled)

Adapted from VeganBaking.Net

3/4 Cup Almond Milk
2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 teaspoons Sea Salt
1 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil - melted but cooled
2 Tablespoons Canola Oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons Lecithin Granules
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum

Directions

• Mix the almond milk, apple cider vinegar and salt.  Set aside for about 10 minutes.  Lightly mix and allow to curdle.
• Melt the coconut oil (if stored in the refrigerator) and allow to cool.  You want the coconut oil at room temperature.
• In a blender add all ingredients and mix for at least 2 minutes or until all ingredients are combined.
• Pour into molds or line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.
• Allow to cool in refrigerator for a couple hours or in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Note:
* 1/2 Tablespoon = 1 1/2 teaspoons
* This recipe yields about 4 cups

Apple Cider Vinegar, Almond Milk, Sea Salt

Coconut Oil, Canola Oil, Lecithin Granules, Xanthan Gum

Apple Cider Vinegar, Almond Milk, Sea Salt added to Blender

Almost Completely Blended

Blended!

See how smooth the butter is?!  Pouring onto a cookie sheet

Resting before going into the refrigerator.

Sliced into about 1" squres and about 1/8" deep

Each patty nicely covers one slice of toast.

Look at that beautiful melting of vegan butter!

Ready for a slice of toast?  Make mine gluten-free, please!

This past July 4th, I declared Independence from store bought vegan butter or any other kind of butter!

Here's the breakdown of my cost per double-batch:

Ingredient	Size	Price	Grand Total
Store Brand Almond Milk - Original	64 fl. oz.	$2.99	$.28
Store Brand Apple Cider Vinegar	1 gal	$3.83	$.10
Xanthan Gum - Bob's Red Mill	8 oz.	$14.65	$.15
Lecithin Granules - Life Extension	16 oz.	$12.75	$.61
Coconut Oil - Carrington Farms	54 fl. oz.	$16.00	$2.96
Sea Salt not counted - my standard pantry item			$0.00
Canola Oil not counted - my standard pantry item			$0.00
Grand Total			$4.10

Your price may fluctuate from mine depending on what you currently have in your pantry but hopefully this gives you a good idea of cost.  You may want to use regular salt instead of going out and buying sea salt or try vegetable oil if you don't usually have canola oil on hand.

My equivalent is $1.92 per 15 ounces as compared to $4.49 per 15 ounces of store-bought vegan butter, as mentioned above.  That's a nice savings!

Where I shopped for the items in this recipe: Costco, Aldi, Publix, and Walmart.

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P.S., I was not compensated in any manner for this product review.  Also, the findings and my opinions are of my own, however DH did double-check my math.  :-)

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