How to Make Homemade Coconut Butter
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Homemade Coconut Butter is a breeze easy to make in your food processor or high-powdered blender in just minutes and once you make, you'll wonder where it's been all your life. You only need one ingredient to make it, but there are lots of fun variations to experiment with as well.
It tastes great on its own but there are also loads of ways to use it. Let the homemade coconut butter making begin.
Have you seen coconut butter in recipes and wondered what it is? Or do you use it often and are just tired of paying so much for it?
Either way, you're going to love this recipe.
Let me introduce you to coconut butter and show you how easy it is to make this otherwise very pricey pantry staple for yourself.
What Is Coconut Butter?
I still remember the day that I found out what coconut butter is. I was looking at a recipe that I wanted to make and noticed that “coconut butter” was one of the ingredients. I didn't know what it was, but had to find out.
What I found out first is that it cost a mere $13.99 for a “giant” 16 oz. container on the first website I checked. Wow. Oddly, the only ingredient in that jar was — coconut!
It turns out that coconut butter is just dried coconut that's processed to make a thick butter like nut butter, but it's hard at room temperature.
Coconut butter is useful by itself, but it's used in a low-carb/keto recipes as well.
What's Best for Making Coconut Butter — Food Processor or High Speed Blender?
The high-speed blender wins hands down and here's why.
The first time I tried making coconut butter, I used a food processor. The post that I got the recipe from said that it should take about 12 minutes of whirring in total.processor. Well, I had a heavy duty processor at the time and could make four batches of Savory Hummus at a time, yielding a creamy smooth product in about 1 minute. So I figured that if any food processor was going to be able to make coconut butter, mine would.
Try as I might, it didn't work well. Now, I've done it since then and so it's possible, but just be careful about burning your food processor out because it can happen.
Meanwhile, making coconut butter in a high-speed blender like a Vitamix (you can also order one on Amazon), is a piece of cake. And though the price of these blenders is a little steep, once you see how much you can make with them, you'll see that it's totally worth it.
How Much Can You Save?
One 16 oz. jar of coconut butter costs approximately $13.99. One pound of medium unsweetened coconut, at the time of publishing this post, cost me approximately $1.75. That's more than an 87% savings.
How to Use
There are so many ways to use homemade coconut butter. How about…
- Spread it on crackers, bread or toast.
- Blended into smoothies.
- Added to hot drinks like coffee, a coffee substitute, or hot chocolate.
- Use in recipes calling for coconut butter, like Chocolate Avocado Truffles and these No Bake Brownies.
- Stirred into hot cereal like oatmeal or Cream of Rice.
- Added to curries for more richness.
- As a frosting by adding some coconut oil and sweetener.
- As a fat substitute in recipes. It does need to be softened first and will make your recipe a little stiffer, but it can work.
- As a substitute for nut butters in many recipes, depending on how much you're replacing and what the recipe is.
- Drizzled on ice cream to make a simple “magic shell” coating.
- Eat it with a spoon. Our oldest LOVES it like this.
Storage
Coconut butter keeps really well and will likely store just fine in your pantry for several months. Most likely you won't have it around that long, however.
There is no need to keep it in the fridge, and in fact, if you do, you will have hard time eating it since it gets incredibly hard at low temperatures.
Recipes That Use Coconut Butter
Here are some tasty recipes where you can use coconut butter.
- 3 Ingredient Shortbread Crisp: This really uses only 3 ingredients, and none of them is a packaged mix. Don't those “3 ingredient” recipes drive you nuts when one ingredient (or more) is a boxed mix that has a gazillion ingredients?
- Coconut Butter Fat Bombs: 3 flavors of simple healthy keto treats.
- Chocolate Avocado Truffles: Super easy and delicious. And healthy. You won't believe these are made with avocado!
Recipe Notes
After having trouble with this working sometimes and not working at other times, I have a few tips to help you get PERFECT coconut butter anytime.
- Start with less coconut. This works more consistently if you start with only about 4 cups of shredded coconut. Make that into a butter and then add 1 cup of additional coconut at a time, blending to a butter with the addition of each cup.
- Make sure that your blender is COMPLETELY dry. Even a little bit of water causes the coconut butter to not form properly.
The coconut butter will come out of your Vitamix quite warm and runny, but it will harden up as you let it sit. If you need to speed up the process, just put it into your fridge or freezer.
Your coconut butter will become spreadable around 76 degrees, but you can use a knife or apple corer to get it out of the jar if it's colder than that in your home.
NOTE: Occasionally, for some reason, the coconut butter just doesn't quite work out well. If that ever happens to you, just add a few things to the blender and you can have these fabulous No-Bake Coconut Cookies instead!
Variations
Here are some fun flavors to try by adding the following to the coconut before it's done processing, or after while it's still liquidy.
- Spiced Honey: Honey plus any of the following: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ginger, and salt.
- Maple Vanilla: Maple syrup, vanilla extract or vanilla powder, and a dash of salt.
- Chocolate/Cacao: Cocoa or cacao powder and salt. Stir in some cacao nibs after processing for a chocolatey crunch.
- Nutty: Add some nuts to the mix. Anything goes!
- Pumpkin Spice: Pecans and pumpkin pie spice.
- Fruity: Dried fruits like goji berries, raisins, dried cranberries, and more.
- Toasted: Toast the coconut first for depth of flavor and add some salt while you're at it.
Special Diet Notes
For Those With Nut Allergies: Note that coconut is not actually a nut, but some allergy groups classify it as such since it's a food that more people are becoming allergic to. Sadly, allergies are becoming more and more prevalent these days.
More Great DIY Pantry Staples
- Homemade Rice Milk
- Easiest Coconut Milk
- Homemade Powdered Sugar or Powdered Sugar Substitute
- Easiest Almond Milk
- Homemade Sunflower Seed Butter
- Powdered Egg Replacer – works amazingly well in most recipes that call for eggs.
Easiest Homemade Coconut Butter
Ingredients
- 7 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (approximately 1.25 pounds)
- 1 teaspoon coconut oil (optional for blending ease)
Instructions
High Powered Blender Instructions
- Put the coconut (and coconut oil, if using) into the Vitamix (or other high-powered blender). Of course, you can try to use less. I just found that this is a great amount to get it blending well in the Vitamix to produce a wonderful consistency quickly.
- Turn the motor of your Vitamix on and quickly work the speed up. Run the machine on High while using the tamper to keep the coconut moving through the blades (or follow directions for your blender)
- Run the machine on high for about 1 minute.
- After a brief rest, process the coconut on High again for up to 1 minute until it is of the desired consistency.
- Pour into a glass jar for storage.
Food Processor Instructions
- Put the coconut shreds (and coconut oil, if using) into a food processor.
- Turn the food processor on and process until the shreds make a butter, taking breaks as needed for the machine to cool.
Notes
- Start with less coconut. This works more consistently if you start with only about 4 cups of shredded coconut. Make that into a butter and then add 1 cup of additional coconut at a time, blending to a butter with the addition of each cup.
- Make sure that your blender is COMPLETELY dry. Even a little bit of water makes things problematic.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Oct 29, 2012
I have a Vita Mix, I bought back in 1977 and brought home in my suitcase on a plane. I am 88 now and it was one of the best investments I ever made, Had one little leak in the faucet years ago and sent it in and it came back looking brand new. I never thought about making coconut butter with it but need to stop using butter so much…so thank you for sharing this among the many other wonderful ideas and recipes you have made available.
You’re welcome!!! The coconut butter isn’t an oil to cook with, by the way, it’s more of a sweet spread and is used in some dessert recipes. Kind of like a thicker alternative to nut or seed butters :).
Hi, I made coconut butter using the flesh of one coconut and also the water from it, I have an Omega VRT 350 juicer and it’s a breezing… coconut butter is soooo good… I stored it in the refrigerator but didn’t last long… 4 days and it was gone…. almond and coconut butter banana sandwich … sublime !!!
Yum!!!
Just did this today and it turned out wonderfully! I used my regular old blender and did it in about 4-5 minutes with some careful side-scraping while it was blending. You saved me about $5 with this post, and even better, I had a ton of fun making this. DIY projects always make me feel so accomplished. I think this holiday season I might make some coconut butter for my family. Thank you!! 🙂
:-). So glad you liked it! Isn’t it a great feeling! Nice gift idea :-).
Has anyone tried this with frozen shredded coconut? It’s moister than the dehydrated flakes, and I’m wondering if it might be easier to turn into butter.
Do you mean just shredded that’s been frozen? It shouldn’t be more moist unless there’s added water.
When I first saw Coconut butter I wondered about it. I read the ingredients, (dried coconut) and realized it was probably made the same way as nut butters. I bought a jar on sale and tried it to see if it was something I would want to make.
the first jar lasted perhaps six months or even up to a year, because I’m not using bread due to a wheat allergy. But last month, I finally got busy and began grinding some unsweetened coconut (different sizes of flakes) in my old Osterizer Kitchen Center. I did it two or three cups at a time, and stopped the blender to scrape down and make sure the big pieces got pulled down into the blades. after it was moving well and should have begun turning into butter I added a small amount of coconut oil. maybe 2 tsps worth. it immediately began to turn to coconut butter. I ran it for maybe ten minutes after it began to turn, to smooth it out. it’s still a bit grainy, but not unpleasant. I also added a tsp of stevia to it, to bring out the coconut flavor. After this, I kept grinding til on the third batch I had to stop it and let it rest so the motor wouldn’t overheat. after a half hour, I came back and finished, and the stuff in the blender was still pretty hot. it went pretty quickly.
I bought my coconut from the Mennonite store here in our area, and I think I paid about 4.50 for a pound last time I got some. I will continue to make it at home, I feel it’s worth my time and effort, and especially since discovering that it makes a great thickener for soups and sauces. I even make my gravy with coconut butter as the thickener.
after I started to wonder what it would be good for besides eating off a spoon.
Love the spoon comment – it is soooo goood!
Do you have an Asian or Hispanic store near you? A lot of times, they carry creamed coconut or coconut cream, which is the same thing as coconut butter, but significantly cheaper. I pay $1.49 for 6oz. Of course, it’s not necessarily organic, so to get organic coconut butter, it’s much better to do it this way! I get scared of processing things like this in my Vitamix, lol. I know it’s silly, but still 🙂
:-). If the Vitamix can handle nuts it can sure handle this, right? I do have one near me and never thought of it. Thanks!
Yes, I am down with cheapo! I just contacted the company on the coconut chips. They said the 3 pound bag is packaged there at their facility so may be an issue with contaminants, but the 25 pound bag may be fine. I asked them nicely to please look deeper. Yes agreed on the hefty price of $12-13 per rather tiny jar of coconut butter. REEEdiculous.
I have dehydrator already but will keep you in mind if I ever need another one. Thank you.
hi there! I was wondering what your thoughts were on making homemade coconut butter from whole coconuts? I try to avoid all potential allergens and many of the shredded coconut products I’ve seen are not dedicated as such. I love how you are so cheap, woops, hahah, I mean frugal. Me TOO! I am with you there.
So back to the coconut. Do you think I would have to dehydrate it first or will it be ok to work it all wet and straight away from the shell? What do you think the cost efficiency would be?
Thanks!!!!!
Thanks for the cheapo encouragement :). You can make it w/ fresh coconut but you will need to dehydrate it first in the oven or dehydrator (my dehydrator offer now has free shipping if you’re interested). I think it’s going to depend on the cost of the coconut but I think $12 per jar is waaay too much so you should be able to beat that. I will say that I get my coconut in a huge 25 lb bag and there are no cross contaminants. You might be able to find something like that as well :).
Hi Jenaca (and everyone else reading!) I just wanted to let you know to keep blending. I make my coconut butter in a cuisinart food processor and it takes about 30 minutes. I usually turn it on and go play with my kids. Yes, it gets hot, but I’ve never worried about the motor burning out. I left it on for 45 minutes the first time. At about the 15 minute mark, it’s still the shredded coconut, but you just have to keep going and the sweet, cheap coconut butter will be yours! Also, I’ve noticed that it turns out creamier if you use the bigger flaked coconut rather than the shredded. I don’t know why, but I’ve done batches with both and that’s what I’ve observed. Take care all!
Just a heads up for others, I tried to do this with a Ninja, and I got aaaallllllmost to the coconut butter stage, but after blending for 15 minutes in 5 minute increments so that my motor wouldn’t overheat, I’ve only gotten very, very finely ground coconut. I can actually form it into balls with my hands, but I can’t get it quite to the butter stage. I’m still going to eat it in some sort of recipe, but unfortunately I think this is one of those things you just need a Vitamix for!