Dairy

Vegan substitute for Butter

Key facts

Replaces
Butter
Category
Dairy
Options here
4 tested swaps
Easiest swap
Vegan block butter — 1:1

Options, ratios and best uses

Vegan block butter

1:1

Choose a block, not a tub, wherever lamination matters.

Best for: pastry, buttercream, spreading

Refined coconut oil

1:1 minus 15% liquid

Refined has no coconut taste; solid at room temperature.

Best for: shortcrust, cookies

Olive oil

3/4 of the butter weight

Use mild oil in sweet bakes.

Best for: sautéing, focaccia, cakes

Cashew cream

1:1 in sauces

Blend soaked cashews with water to double cream thickness.

Best for: creamy sauces, mash

Tips

  • Keep vegan butter fridge-cold for flaky pastry
  • Add a pinch of salt when swapping unsalted
  • Brown vegan butter gently — it burns faster

Avoid

  • Using tub spreads in laminated dough
  • Ignoring the water content of spreads

Questions people ask

Can I make croissants with vegan butter?

Yes, with a high-fat block butter (80%+) kept cold; laminate quickly.

Is coconut oil healthier?

It is high in saturated fat — olive and rapeseed oil are better everyday choices.

Related swaps

Reviewed 2026-09-16 by the Veg.ac editorial team · Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with a link back.

Go deeper

What you are actually replacing

Swapping Butter well is a food-science problem before it is a shopping problem. The original ingredient is doing a specific job — binding, aerating, browning, adding fat, adding salt or adding structure — and the best replacement is the one that does that same job, not the one that sounds closest on the label. Once you can name the job, the choice between Vegan block butter, Refined coconut oil, Olive oil, Cashew cream becomes obvious.

How to choose between the options

  • Start from the dish, not the product. A swap that is perfect in a cake can be wrong in a sauce.
  • Match fat and water content first; texture failures are usually a moisture problem, not a flavour one.
  • Season and taste at the same point in the recipe where you would have tasted the original.
  • Expect the first attempt to be about eighty per cent right, and adjust one variable at a time.
  • Keep one reliable default in the cupboard so the swap is never a reason to abandon a recipe.

More questions people ask

What is the closest all-round replacement for Butter?

There is rarely one universal answer, which is why the table above splits by use. For everyday cooking, pick the option listed as best for the dish type you cook most often and keep it as your default; use the others when the recipe depends on a property your default lacks.

Will anyone notice the difference?

In mixed dishes — sauces, bakes, stews, doughs — almost never once the seasoning is adjusted. In dishes where the original ingredient is the entire point and eaten plain, the difference is more noticeable, so it is worth choosing the highest-quality option there.

Do these swaps cost more than Butter?

Whole-food options are usually cheaper; branded processed replacements are usually more expensive. Cooking from the cheaper end most of the time and keeping the branded product for convenience meals keeps the weekly cost roughly flat or lower.

Are these replacements nutritionally equivalent?

Not identical, and that is fine. Some are lower in saturated fat, some are higher in fibre, some are fortified. Judge the swap by the whole day's eating rather than a single line on the label, and check fortification if the original was a main source of a nutrient for you.

Keep exploring

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