List of vegan alternatives for butter

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vegan-butter
A few months before I switched to my vegan diet, I had no idea what I was going to replace with a lot of ingredients. I have loved food all my life, and I give it the priority that it demands. Also, being a foodie entailed that I was a busy cook. Also, a finicky cook who would lose it if an ingredient that the recipe demanded could not be found.
So there, you know how I may have felt when I realized and knew for sure later on that butter is not vegan! I mean, it gave me nightmares; how could I go about cooking without butter?!

With time, I realised that butter was replaceable in a vegan diet!

Butter is essential fats. There is no reason to panic because plants are an excellent source of fats. There is so much to discover when you radically change your thought process. I have learned to cook more nutritious food. Is it tasty; of course, yes! I wouldn’t want to go back to my old diet at all.

Here is a list of all the things that I replaced for butter in my cooking for the finger-licking table that I lay each day:

1. Olive Oil

This is my favorite salad dressing. But olive oil (not the virgin variety) can be used for stir-frying and making sauces. It gives it a wonderful and tasty base. I love fried garlic in olive oil.

2. Sunflower Oil

Sunflower oil has a high smoke point and is the most ideal oil to use for shallow frying. You could use it and recycle it probably just once.

3. Sesame Oil

Sesame oil was an experimental choice, and boy! Was I floored? It lent a particularly good flavor to my Asian cuisine. Check out my next blog on Asian vegan recipes.

4. Coconut Oil

Have you seen coconut oil’s texture at room temperature? Isn’t it similar to butter? Well, that also means that it is a very good replacement for it. The standard measurement to use coconut oil is to mix three-fourths of coconut oil with one-quarter of warm water, mix it well and add it to the recipe. Mixing it well is an important step that you must not overlook.

Got a craving for a sandwich?

Craving for a sandwich but wondering how you could make one without slathering butter all over the bed? Let me tell you that adding nut butter or tahini or the humble chickpea paste ‘humus’ will not just replicate the butter thing on your toast, but it will give you a burst of flavor in your mouth. You have to give it a try!

Vegan butter off the shelves

There are a lot of specialty stores and dedicated stores, both online and brick and mortar where you can buy vegan butter, cheese and margarine. There is so much to choose from that you will be spoilt for choice.

What does vegan butter contain?

Unlike normal butter, which is made from animal milk, vegan butter is made from vegetable oils. You can pick it up from any dedicated store or a supermarket near you that caters to vegan customers. It can come in the form of tubs and sticks with out of the world flavors like olive oil, garlic, and a lot of tasty herbs.

You could even make vegan butter at home

Margarine is what is called as vegan butter. It is a cheaper alternative to butter, and with more and more people turning to veganism because of their religious and nutritional priorities, supermarkets across the country have been selling more margarine that animal butter.

You could try your hand at homemade butter if the market varieties disappoint you a bit. You will need apple cider vinegar that you will need to mix with almond oil and nutritional yeast. Let it sit. Add coconut oil for a luscious base.

You could add a pinch of turmeric to get a yellow tint a la the normal butter. But it is an entirely optional ingredient. It sits well in the refrigerator for a little about two weeks. You could freeze it if you need to use it beyond two weeks.

It is best to remove it from the fridge and let it soften before you spread it on the toast or use it in baking. If you want to get more creative with your vegan cooking, check out our reviews on the best vegan cookbooks.

Happy baking you, folks!

Erica Fredericks

Erica Fredericks

Love to cook and explore new delicious vegan meals. Big believer in spirituality and finding ones inner peace. I don't believe in forcing my views upon another, but enjoy sharing my views on living a healthy and happy life.

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