How to Make Coconut Butter

Coconut butter is a lovely vegan alternative to dairy butter, and can be used in such a variety of recipes – but it’s very, very expensive to buy. Homemade is cheap, easy, and well worth trying!

I usually make a batch when I want to make these chocolate coconut bars, but coconut butter also makes a great icing for cookies (or cakes and cupcakes, when mixed with some other ingredients). It solidifies at room temperature and holds things together nicely, much like coconut oil, but rather more flavourful.

If you’re a fan of coconut, it’s delicious on toast, especially with a bit of raspberry jam. You can blend cocoa powder into the butter for chocolate coconut butter, or add spices like vanilla, cardamom, and cinnamon. It’s flexible and can easily be adapted however you like.

Ingredients

Just the one – coconut! You may want to add some coconut oil, see below for more on that.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Coconut: any dried coconut – not fresh or frozen – unsweetened and raw. Toasted coconut can be used but I find the flavour very strong indeed.
• Add-ins: if adding something dry like cocoa, I recommend adding the oil as outlined in the recipe card. Smaller amounts of things like spices won’t require this.

Step by Step

1. Add coconut: add the coconut to the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment.
2. Mix: blend on high speed for a few minutes, until the coconut starts to break down.
3. Scrape down: once the oil begins to release from the coconut, it’ll start to move up the sides of the blender and stick slightly. Scrape down the sides with a spatula or butterknife as frequently as needed. This is what it’ll look like after about five minutes.
4. Keep mixing: continue blending, leaving the small opening of the food processor open to allow any steam to escape. After about ten minutes in total, you should have a smooth coconut butter that drizzles easily.

If you can’t see the recipe video, please watch it here on YouTube instead.

Recipe Notes

Different types of coconut all blend a little differently, and some can be a touch dry for coconut butter. To make up for this, you can add a tablespoon or so of coconut oil. It should go in at about the 5-minute mark, once the butter is heating up and the oil will melt – but only add it if things seem dry and very crumbly, and you’re not seeing much oil release from the coconut.

Just about any food processor can be used for this recipe. I have the cheapest full-sized version on the market and it works fine, if a bit slowly. I’m not sure about other types of mixers or blenders, like a bullet blender, but it might be possible to use another tool.

Please not that coconut butter does solidify at room temperature, and may need to be softened or melted before use. I place the jar over a radiator before using, but you can zap it in the microwave briefly, or heat carefully in a dish of warm water.

How to Store

Storage: coconut butter will keep for about two weeks at room temperature, and can be refrigerated for longer storage, but will become very hard when chilled.

Freezing: transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to three months. If it separates when thawed, whiz it up again in the blender for a few seconds.

Expert Tips

• Make the full batch: don’t try to reduce the recipe! Any less and it won’t blend in a standard food processor. You can add more coconut to make a large batch, but not less. It only makes about a cup in the end anyway, not that much.
• Use any dried coconut: you can use any size of shredded or flake coconut to make coconut butter, as long as it’s unsweetened and raw.
• Add extras: jazz it up with a tablespoon of cocoa powder, or add vanilla powder or extract, cinnamon, a pinch of salt – whatever you like with coconut.

More Coconut Recipes

Chocolate Chip Coconut Banana Bread
Three Ingredient Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream
Coconut Panna Cotta
Blueberry Almond Muffins

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