Just about every supermarket or natural food store sells vegan butter. It’s delicious on toast or English muffins. Countless dairy-free recipes also call for it. It’s also among the most common ingredients in vegan baking.
You can buy dairy-free butter in many forms: tubs, sticks, whipped. Some brands are formulated with soy, others with olive oil, and still others with coconut oil. You can also buy varieties flavored with garlic and herbs.
Butter alternatives have come a long way since the 1970s. Back then, most contained low grade partially hydrogenated oils that were even worse for your heart than butter. On top of that, most of these products contained artificial flavors and colors, plus some dairy-based whey for good measure.
Today’s vegan alternatives are better tasting and much healthier. They are also made from higher quality ingredients. Most of these products are cultured just like dairy-based butter, so they deliver the same complex and tangy flavors you crave.
Vegan Butter Brands
- Califia Farms: Plant Butter
- Earth Balance: Spreads & Buttery Sticks (Many varieties—we recommend their “Organic Whipped Buttery Spread”)
- Melt Organic: Butter Made from Plants (tubs & sticks)
- Milkadamia: Buttery Spread
- Miyoko’s Creamery: European Style Cultured Vegan Butter
- Nuts for Butter: Salted Original Just Like Butter
- I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter: Vegan Spread
- Wayfare: Dairy-Free Salted Whipped Butter
- Wild Creamery: European Style Butter Alternative
Any of these brands provide great flavor. But can also go minimalist: coconut oil or olive oil taste marvelous when spread on toast or warmed bread.
If are up for a challenging kitchen project, we’ve got the best vegan butter recipe on the planet.
Serving Suggestions
Dairy-free butters are delicious on:
- Toast, bagels and English muffins
- Steamed or grilled vegetables
- Baked potatoes or baked sweet potatoes
- Popcorn
- Pancakes
Also add a little bit the next time you’re cooking a rice-based dish.
