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 an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
What about using a ninja? I’m like a lot of people who cannot afford a vitamix. Thanks from Emmett, Idaho
Hi there. I don’t know as I have never had one, but this post might be helpful. https://testkitchentuesday.com/2013/04/16/can-you-make-coconut-butter-in-the-ninja-blender/ I know – they are pricey but they save so much money. We bought one when we had very little money and I was scared, but so thankful afterwards.
recipe sounds simple if it were all there,like all other incomplete recipes out there,yours is the same incomplete,may be obvious to you but not to someone who has never heard or made it before,this may sound like a stupid question but, i want to get it right,so, HOW MUCH BUTTER?
a recipe normally list all ingredients not half, can you list it for me please
Hi there. I am sorry for taking so long to respond. I have been so busy. The only ingredient is the coconut – does that help?
I tried this with a “fresh” coconut with my Blendtec. Do not attempt, it was a big waste of time. The “fresh” is in quotes because I bought two coconuts from Whole Paycheck, and one of them was bad. So maybe the other one was getting ready to go bad. Anyway, it looks like it’s the cookies for us.
UGH! So sorry. It would be a totally different product as the unsweetened coconut is dehydrated. I think I need to make cookies too actually so you’re in good company.
I tried making coconut butter in my Vitamix once before and it didn’t work. I bought a jar and just ran out (my toddler loves it on mashed sweet potatoes), so I was going to buy more, but you’ve inspired me to try making it again. I’m really glad I found this, because I bought a massive bag of shredded coconut at Costco, and I was a little worried I couldn’t use it all before it expires. I actually prefer coconut flakes. 🙂
It lasts pretty long and you cd put it in the fridge or freezer too. I am going to need to redo this post – start w/ 4 cups and then make that into butter and go from there adding 1 cup at a time. Works much better!
Did the cookies work out with fresh coconut in the blendtec? I am trying to figure out what I can make with these two fresh brown coconuts, that is easy.
Hello, I made it yesterday and left it out of the fridge but it became solid and it’s not cold at all in my house..
Why did it happend?
Hi there. It turns solid at a pretty normal temp. May I ask why you linked to another site’s coconut butter? Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything. Thanks!
I did?I’m really sorry..I guess I made a mistake looking around for the recipe…
Thank you for your answer and for your recipes
Sure thing – thanks!
Thought I might mention this in case some people are not using organic coconut so as to save money. A while back in the Asian countries, the coconut trees started to die in the plantations. It was becoming epidemic and they could not find a way to fight it. It was a fungus of some sort I believe. They finally found that injecting formaldehyde into the tree killed the fungus. This is a regular occurrence now, to do this. However, it is not allowed for use in the producing of organic coconuts.
Oh no. Yuck. I wonder if there is any remainder of the formaldehyde in the coconut oil – do you know that?
How about using a Kitchenaid blender? Anyone ever try that? The coconut butter sounds delicious!
I don’t think that would work- sorry.
I haven’t read the comments all the way down, so perhaps I’m repeating things, but I too had difficulty making this work with my VitaMix. I am using the 5200 series (previous to current model as of Oct 2014) with a wet container. I used 7 cups of dried unsweetened coconut that I purchased from the bulk bin at Whole Foods. It also turned brown on me and never liquified and I had to add about a tablespoon of coconut oil to salvage it. It pretty much now has the same consistency as my commercial coconut butter except mine is now tan colored. I also experienced that it made my container leak. The last time this happened to me, I called vitamix and they sent me a new container since it is still under the 7yr warranty. This is my almost brand new container now, so I was bummed. This time, I just stuck a wooden spoon in the blade and hand torqued the black ring on the bottom and it doesn’t leak now. I could have torqued it with a wrench to help it be tighter. So far so good. I think I will try again with my branded bulk coconut from the buying club and if it doesn’t process in a couple minutes I will stop. I think it all depends on the fat content and if you find a product that works, stick with it. The bulk bin at Whole Foods might change. Good luck!
I have a new method I am trying out and hope to post about soon – and hopefully will make a video too! Thanks!
Hi Jessica
I am just wondering if you live in Michigan
because I also order from Country Life Foods.
I live in Fowlerville and have been enjoying reading so many
If your posts and recipes. I haven’t made anything yet
But I really want to!!
I’m not sure who Jessica is :)?
I make “Monkey Butter” with coconut butter. 14 oz crushed pineapple (I grow my own pineapple) about 4C sliced bananas (I grow my own), I cup coconut powder (I made my own) 1 1/2 c coconut butter 1 1/2 T lemon juice (used bottled but would have used real if I had on on hand). Cook and kinda stir/mash with a whisk. As it continues to cook it starts to thicken nicely, no need even for pectin. I put it in recycled containers and freeze. It has to be frozen or left in the fridge once opened. I have a friend who uses this mixed with tapenade as a salad dressing or on fish!
NUM! A little too high in carbs for me but sounds lovely!
Did you use the dry container or wet container on your vita mix when making the coconut butter.
Regards
Deborah
I only have wet containers in my home :).