Follow this easy tutorial on how to make coconut butter at home, and you’ll never need to buy another jar of coconut butter ever again.
Have you ever tried coconut butter?
People say it’s one of the most delicious foods in the world, even if you don’t like coconut!
The smooth taste and melt-in-your-mouth texture will make you feel more like you’re eating shortbread than actual coconut.
I could easily go through half a jar of coconut butter in a day, and there have been times where I’ve done just that. But at an average of $10 or more for a single jar, buying coconut butter on a regular basis can be pretty expensive!
To save a ton of money in the long run, the simple solution is to make your own homemade coconut butter, which will yield the same amount of coconut butter for a fraction of the cost.
The only ingredient you need is shredded coconut. Just throw it into the blender and watch as it magically turns into butter.
Homemade Coconut Butter – Tips & Tricks
Be sure to use regular, unsweetened shredded coconut, because low-fat or added-sugar varieties don’t tend to work as well.
I recommend using at least 12oz for best results, and the recipe for how to make coconut butter will work in either a food processor or a high-speed blender like a Vitamix or Blend-tec. Some readers have reported good results making a smaller batch with an immersion blender or Magic Bullet. If you try one of those methods, definitely let me know how it goes!
Every now and then, you might encounter a bag of coconut that just doesn’t want to turn into smooth coconut butter. If that happens, I’ve found adding a few tablespoons of coconut oil to the blender fixes the issue. Coconut butter is solid at room temperature but will turn to butter again when gently heated. If your coconut butter ever seems too dry when you’re trying to melt it, stirring in a little coconut oil will help in that situation as well.
The video above shows how to make coconut butter, if you’re a visual person like I am.
Also please feel free to ignore the fact that I can’t even get the coconut into the food processor when it’s right under the bowl. You can probably guess how good I was in basketball growing up.
Once you’ve made your own coconut butter, the possibilities are endless.
You can use it as frosting
Eat it straight from the jar with a spoon
Blend a spoonful into to Banana Ice Cream
Freeze it in candy molds
Or sweeten as desired and stir in cocoa powder to make chocolate coconut butter
For answers to common questions about coconut butter and coconut oil, be sure to visit the Coconut Butter & Coconut Oil FAQ Page.
How To Make Coconut Butter
How To Make Coconut Butter
Ingredients
- 12-16 oz shredded, unsweetened coconut
- optional, 2-4 tbsp coconut oil
- optional, sweetener of choice
- optional, cocoa powder if desired
Instructions
Blend the coconut in either a food processor or high-speed blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. It can take anywhere from 3-18 minutes, depending on desired smoothness and your machine. If your coconut just doesn’t seem to want to turn into smooth butter for some reason (climate, elevation, or just a naturally-lower-fat bag of coconut), add a few tbsp coconut oil to the blender, and that should fix it! After it’s done, you can sweeten or add cocoa or other flavors as desired. Stored in a covered container, leftovers will last a few months and need no refrigeration. Coconut butter is solid at room temperature but will turn back to butter when heated – be sure to heat it gently so it does not burn.
Uses For Coconut Butter:
Coconut butter makes the MOST amazing frosting. Try it on top of cakes, cupcakes, muffins, toast, or banana bread – and the coconut butter is so rich that you might find you don’t even need to add any sweetener! It’s especially delicious on my Healthy Banana Bread or on the chocolate version above.
Or use it as a frosting for the cinnamon roll baked oatmeal above – one bite and you’ll refuse to believe there’s no butter in the recipe. You can also stir melted coconut butter into your morning bowl of oatmeal (such as this Banana Oatmeal Recipe), or melt it right into the oats as they’re cooking.
Because it’s solid at room temperature, you can use coconut butter to make all sorts of healthier no-bake desserts, such as the almond butter freezer fudge above or the vegan chocolate fudge below.
This no-bake chocolate fudge can be made with just 5 ingredients and is sweetened naturally, without any added sugar. It’s actually been one of my favorite recipes for years!
Have you tried coconut butter? If you have any favorite ways to use it, please feel free to mention them in the comment section, to give ideas to other readers.
Paige Flamm says
5th April 2018 at 10:54 amAh! I totally need to try this!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Emily says
5th April 2018 at 11:26 amI definitely need to try making my own! I love throwing some on top of toast with cinnamon as a quick snack.
xo,
Em
http://www.organicallyemily.com
Linda @ the Fitty says
5th April 2018 at 12:05 pmIt’s good enough to even EAT IT STRAIGHT WITH A SPOON!
Nina says
5th April 2018 at 12:20 pmI love this idea! OK, I really love all your ideas!!!!
Abby says
5th April 2018 at 1:47 pmSo what is a serving ?? if I missed it I apologize…. can’t wait to make this, I’ve never heard of Coconut Butter and am a hugh coconut lover. thanks
Jason Sanford says
5th April 2018 at 1:51 pmFor the nutrition facts, it says it’s based on per tbsp, but for the yield, the servings will vary based on how much coconut you use (12 oz or more).
Alexa says
16th January 2019 at 9:34 pmIt will still be the same nutrition per tbsp, no matter how much coconut you use. You will just have a different total yield.
Cassie Thuvan Tran says
6th April 2018 at 12:23 amCoconut butter is actually something I have NEVER tried on its own! I know, I know, come at me, sue me, I understand. LOL! Definitely have to try making my own coconut butter. It looks so yummy!
OH LA LATKES says
6th April 2018 at 3:26 pmOh my! Thank you for sharing this. It’s so hart to come by coconut butter where I live, so I’m going to make my own from now on!
E || OH LA LATKES
Adaora says
8th April 2018 at 12:14 pmOh my words, Katie, am short of words. You’re just the best. Thanks alot for the recipe.
Sandi says
10th April 2018 at 12:04 amI love making my own coconut butter, and I actually like it best when I toast the coconut lightly first. The flavor is much richer, and being warm when I put it in the food processor, it turns into butter much faster. Toasted, with pumpkin pie spice, is AMAZING!!!
Deni says
27th January 2020 at 10:25 pmCreatuve and GENIUS IDEA!
Nina says
11th May 2018 at 1:52 amHello Katie, I have never been able to find a definitive answer to the question … what is the difference between creamed coconut and coconut butter? Creamed coconut is readily available here in the UK in solid blocks and is a fraction of the price of coconut butter, but it can be used in exactly the same way, with the same results. Do you know the difference?
Jason Sanford says
11th May 2018 at 8:08 amCoconut butter has more of a texture like peanut butter. Coconut cream would be like dairy cream.
Paul says
11th November 2019 at 9:04 amPlease note that coconut cream is not the same as creamed coconut.
Jason Sanford says
11th November 2019 at 11:59 amInteresting, just looked that up and it looks to be my mistake. So it sounds like creamed coconut (but not coconut cream) is the same thing as coconut butter. Sorry for my confusion.
Jen says
5th June 2018 at 8:13 pmOk, I tried to make this in a Blendtec blender. I blended it on high speed for about 2-4 minutes, scraped down the sides, and had to add 2T of coconut oil because it wasn’t blending all the way. 3 minutes later, it finally creamed and looked smooth like butter. When I tasted it, it was dry and gritty and tasted something awful. I added liquid stevia and still didn’t taste very good and I love coconut! What did I do wrong? Please help- I was so looking forward to this!
Jason Sanford says
6th June 2018 at 3:24 amHmm since the only ingredients were coconut and coconut oil (which are the ingredients in coconut butter), then it sounds like either your oil or coconut were bad or you might just not like coconut butter. Have you ever tried store-bought coconut butter before? It doesn’t taste like coconut (in the sense of coconut cream pie, mounds bars, etc.), but more like shortbread.
Jen says
6th June 2018 at 8:43 amThanks, Jason! Maybe I need to try some store bought coconut butter to see if I got it right!
Sharon says
17th June 2018 at 5:18 pmHow long will it stay good in a jar on the counter? I may no eat it as fast as you do!
Jason Sanford says
18th June 2018 at 8:53 amIt lasts for months!!
Kay says
26th September 2018 at 12:54 amFor the shredded coconut, is it fresh or dried? Can i use fresh shredded coconut?
Jason Sanford says
27th September 2018 at 3:23 amIt means dried. If you experiment with fresh definitely let us know how it goes!
Jason
Kay says
17th October 2018 at 12:55 amUpdate on my coconut butter! So, i actually tried making Bounty the other day and the recipe called to use only 1/2cup shredded coconut and when i tried to process it in the food processor to make the butter, it was just tossed about and nothing was happening. Im not sure if its because theres not enough coconut.. But anyway, i had some young and firm fresh coconut flesh at hand (less than 100g) and i tossed that in the processor together with the dried coconut. They bonded together quite well! But im also not sure if the outcome is what coconut butter actually looks like (i cant find any coconut butter where im from) but it does look like the images above!
Annalisa says
25th October 2018 at 11:46 amIs the coconut butter supposed to still be gritty after it turns to the runny stage? I continued to pulverize it for a while to try to reach a smoother consistency but I think that was as far as my cuisinart would take it. It doesn’t make perfectly smooth hummus, so it could be my food processor. My nutri ninja makes wonderfully smooth hummus but takes more liquid. I did not attempt to try it for a smoother consistency. I used 15oz unsweetened dried coconut, then after it started to get smooth I added 2 T coconut oil and a packet of sweet leaf stevia. It tastes yummy but has not solidified after sitting in a jar on the counter. Did I do something wrong? I want to make recipes using the coconut butter but your fudge looks creamy smooth and this still has little bits and appears runny compared to your jar of coconut butter. Thanks for your help!
Jason Sanford says
26th October 2018 at 3:17 amHmm, mine usually gets pretty smooth in the food processor. Maybe re-soften it and blend in the nutribullet?
Annalisa says
25th October 2018 at 12:13 pmUpdate: the coconut butter did solidify! PTL! But still has little bits in it. Is that normal? 🤔☺️
Raina says
15th November 2018 at 2:10 pmI don’t have a scale… How many cups of coconut would this recipe convert to?
Alexa says
16th January 2019 at 10:52 pmI used 8oz of coconut, and it made about 3/4 cup.
Becky W says
12th January 2019 at 3:11 pmWow wow wow! This is delicious! I didn’t know coconut butter was a thing! I used my Blendtec Twister jar that comes with an insert that you spin while blending. It clears the sides and pushes the food into the blades. My coconut butter was all finished in less than a minute!
I made it so I could put the coconut butter in a frosting for some of Katie’s brownies with black beans. When I tried to sweeten it with maple syrup, however, it seized up and became thick like almond paste. Maybe it doesn’t like the added liquid or the syrup was too cold. But I still managed to spread it on the brownies and it was so tasty!
Nicola says
15th February 2019 at 1:15 amWow! Sorry, I don’t have an actual answer, Nina, but your question/comment just took me back about 30 years. I never got my Jamaican (ex-)mother-in-law’s recipe & directions for West Indian style “Rice and Peas” but another woman showed me how, starting with that same creamed coconut — I think it came wrapped in foil, or foil+paper (the way butter & margarine are sometimes packaged) with an outer box, about half the size of a 4-stick (1 lb.) package of butter, but didn’t need immediate refrigeration.
I left this page, and went down an ADD rabbithole — I mean, I did a search for the different types of coconut products– and “got lost” looking at several different websites. Here are 2 that explain it well: https://www.kindearth.net/what-is-creamed-coconut-versus-coconut-butter-and-coconut-cream/
and https://www.type1kitchen.com/creamed-coconut-coconut-cream-coconut-milk-what-is-the-difference-and-how-to-make-one-from-the-other/#comment-4878
Carolyn says
9th July 2019 at 6:34 pmSo I tried this in the vita-mix last night with dried coconut. It whizzed it on High for several minutes, dutifully pushing the 6 cups of dried coconut flakes into blades… but it was a dry mess. I added coconut oil… not really helpful. Then I added water and coconut oil and that made it better – but it never became runny like the coconut butter in the jar. Anyone else run into this? My coconut was very dry – should I reconstitute it in water before blending?
Jason Sanford says
10th July 2019 at 9:59 amHmm, what brand of coconut did you use? And what kind of climate are you in? Also just in case you didn’t see this: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/06/30/coconut-butter-and-coconut-oil/
Carolyn says
12th July 2019 at 4:50 pmI used nuts.com Unsweetened Coconut Chips – they are larger pieces, like shaved coconut instead of grated. I live in a cooler climate in Alaska, but it was about 80 degrees the day I made it (and no a/c, because… well, Alaska). I’m going to try mixing it with more coconut oil and see what I get. But right now, sitting in the pantry, it’s the consistency of library paste.
Julia says
25th July 2019 at 5:42 pmThis was IMPECCABLE – added a dash of vanilla extract & cacao powder…literally tastes like frosting (but 10 times better for you, and without all the added sugar). Thank you!
Robert says
5th August 2019 at 7:14 amCan I use fresh coconut to make coconut butter?
Jason Sanford says
5th August 2019 at 2:25 pmBe sure to report back if you experiment!
Megan says
12th October 2019 at 2:56 pmHow much sweetener do you use? Is sugar ok? IF I add it(doubtful), would 1tbsp be enough?
Jason Sanford says
12th October 2019 at 7:50 pmYup, sugar (and that amount) works!
katharine says
13th October 2019 at 10:41 pmI guess I am one of the people that this didn’t work for. I bought bulk at a health food store. It was flakes rather than shredded. I have now added a lot of coconut oil and my Cuisinart keeps heating up. The coconut mush is warm. I have been working now for way more than 13 minutes. It tastes bad-oily and dry. I am very dissapointed ): Do you think that maybe its just that some people end up with old dried coconut? Or maybe old food processors can’t cut. Mine tastes ok before processing.
Antje says
21st November 2019 at 11:49 amHi Katie,
sometimes your recipes refer to ‘video above’ but I can’t see a video anywhere. This is one of those cases…. I swear I am not blind! (and I can often see your videos). Any idea? Thanks!!!!
Jason Sanford says
21st November 2019 at 12:47 pmHmm that is very strange, do you have an ad blocker? What browser are you using? Hopefully we can figure this out as to why it’s not showing for you!
Jason (media relations)
Jessica brady says
28th January 2020 at 6:07 pmI am not sure what’s going on but this didn’t turn out good at all. It mixed this first with a good processor for like 20 min. Added about 2 or 3 tablespoons of coco oil because it would not get soft. Since it got stuck on the sides in the food processor every 10 sec I moved it into a magic bullet. Well it worked almost fine until I added coco to make chocolate. Now it’s a dry mess again. Not smooth at all and I didn’t use much coco powder.