Spreadable Olive Oil Vegan Butter

Thanks so much, this is a great product. I usually double the recipe, so I can fill my old store-bought container in one go - this is what I got when I added everything up (doubled it) and weighed on the scales as I went. Putting it here because I recently lost my battered up bit of paper with my original conversions on it and have been in a flap looking for it since...

140ml (140g) soy milk
10ml (10g) apple cider vinegar (I don't have coconut vinegar)
8g salt
15g lecithin granules (I don't have the liquid)
1 heaped tsp or about 2g psyllium husks

190ml (160g) coconut oil
180ml (140g) olive (canola for mild taste) oil

The vegan oil is better than the normal oil

I've made this a few times and have used pea milk instead (the guy who brought us Method cleaning products is now doing vegan mylk). I am trying to avoid soya, and found that using only coconut vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar really gives a mild taste (my stepdaughter, who is almost 9, found the apple cider vinegar version too vinegary). I too am trying to cut the salt, as I used to buy unsalted butter before, but overall, a fantastic butter/margarine alternative. Thanks for this! :)

I would like to make this, but I'm finding the measurements confusing,
e.g. 1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons + 1 teaspoon. Is it one of those measurements or each one as the (+) represents (and/plus) to me not or. I'm even confusing myself now ?.

So very salty! Will probably make again but cut the salt in half or omit altogether.

Hi Mattie, I love your butters, spreadable or not...just wondering though, have you tried vegan lactic acid in any of your butters? I've seen some recipes where this is used instead of vinegar. I'm wondering if it would give more of a "buttery" taste, it being "lactic" or is there not much difference? I know the lactic acid powder would definitely be more expensive than vinegar. Thanks for all your great recipes.

I was wondering as other people did if you can let us know what can we use to replace the soy milk, can I use almond milk, rice milk?

Hi Matt,
Thanks a lot for all the amazing recipes. Have you ever tried this butter with anything besides soya milk? Allergic to soya so was hoping for a substitute.

Thank you so much for going into detail about the science behind what ingredients were chosen - I found it extremely interesting! I made your butter and I am in LOVE! As someone who hasn't eaten meat in five years, one of the hardest things I've found about cutting out eggs and dairy entirely is all of the ingredients that have animal by-product in them. This recipe is fabulous! I love the taste of olive oil, so I didn't find it over-powering at all (my parents have been buying "rich taste" for years!). Thank you so, so much for posting all of your awesome butter recipes, I have really enjoyed reading them and learning more about what goes into the science (and taste!) of butter!

Hi, this recipe looks fab. Can anyone advise if they think I could substitute the coconut oil? I have been advised not to use it but would to make a vegan spread that I can use on a daily basis that is natural. I live in the UK and I can't find anything without added palm oil or Coconut oil Thanks in advance for any replies.

I am on my way to vegan, nearly there, but do miss my butter! Finally got around to making this O O spread. Yummo! Satisfies my yen for butter. It was an ad, "Milk separates Families" that was a deciding factor in my journey to being Vegan. I made the spread in my Thermomix,...one thing, my soy lecithin granules did not quite 'dissolve'... Next time, I will grind them first, & maybe I didn't process on a high enough speed, but hey, I'm a happy camper! Thanks so much!

This is a great recipe and a wonderful addition to our vegan pantry. It's easy to make and tastes so close to the real thing! We have avoided the synthetic vegan butters from the store so it's been a real treat to have butter on fresh bread again. Thanks!

I'd like to try this, but can you post metric quantities please. The idea of measuring out "¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon" of a solid fat makes me laugh - it would take half the morning! Just use digital scales and it will take seconds.

Mine looks like the picture, and is spreadable, but tastes like coconut oil. This is disappointing.

I'd love to try this recipe, but was wondering if you could suggest a soymilk substitute that would work well in this type of recipe. I have an allergy to soy. Thanks!

I read the reviews before I made this, and decided to use half olive oil and half canola oil. I'm glad I did - I could definitely taste the olive oil but it wasn't overwhelming. I think that if I had used all olive oil, it would have been too strong. The olive oil taste was not as strong after the spread cooled completely. I also cut the salt - I had just made the vegan butter and thought it was a bit too salty. I don't have much a taste for salt so it may be fine as written if you like things salty. As others mentioned on the butter page, I soaked the soy lecithin granules with the soymilk and vinegar, which I think made them dissolve better.

With these small tweaks, the spread is delicious. It tastes much more rich and fresh than tub vegan spread. I've used it as a spread on toast and for cooking. My husband (not vegan) uses it to cook eggs and says it's as good as butter. I'll definitely keep making this over buying earth balance!

Well I made this but unfortunately I made it with really strong virgin olive oil and neither I or my husband liked the taste much. However I then made it again with neutral tasting rapeseed oil (plus a mix of Maldon salt and sel de Guerande) and ended up with a bloody delicious spread that spreads out of the fridge. Pretty much what I've been looking for. Matty you are a splendid chap!!

I absolutely adore your butter recipes and the passionate curiosity that drives them. I have just made your olive oil butter and am about to make the miso tahini one again as it's a favourite spread and it keeps really well. I do have one request. I live in England and am used to measuring in grams and ml and find the measuring of your recipes the trickiest part. Could you show the liquids measured in ml and solids in grams? And what I'd find really helpful would be to have the coconut oil in grams as it is solid at room temperature here and I can make it liquid as I blend it with my hand held blender - that way it's still pretty close to room temperature without me having had to melt it and then cool it again slightly. Again thank you so much for sharing all your wonderful culinary experiments.

You may also contemplate that mayonaise is generally a form of Jellied Oil. Regular mayo has a bit of essence to it, but it's not difficult to think about producing homemade mayo in a way that particularly reduces the addition of other tastes. I can attest that a grilled cheese made by placing mayo on the outer faces of the bread works just fine.

I've made the coconut butter a few times and really like it. I thought I'd give this a try for something more spreadable, and even though an olive oil taste was anticipated, it was much more than "background notes". I don't think I will make this again. I did add a pinch of turmeric for color, so it looks more like butter :)

Hi Matt,

I am from near the region that produces fleur de sel and most sea salt from France in general (Guérande). I have a life-long love affair with salt (seriously, I keep some fleur de sel in my bag and eat little crystals), and until veganism happened, in a love affair with the other star product of Brittany: butter, and specifically butter with fleur de sel crystals, unmixed, for the whole crunchy delicious experience.

I've been dying to have some again - it was the best spread in the world in my opinion, and the perfect complement to jam - and I was wondering how I could modify this recipe to emulate that without having the salt crystals sink to the bottom or dissolve because of the warmth of the mixture. Does some portion of the salt have to be processed for the emulsion to happen?

Thanks!

Matty the timing is incredible. Just got done watching a program about the crap ingredients in margarine and thought I should go back to making my own...I wondered if there was a recipe out there with olive oil and vegan baking was the first place I went (having tried the lovely vegan coconut butter recipe) and this recipe was on the first page! Are you telepathic? Going to try this right now.