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.
Above – Watch the video how to make coconut butter!
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
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.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
Have you made this recipe?
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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.
Use it as frosting for my Coconut Bread or these Easy Cinnamon Rolls.
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
Ah! I totally need to try this!
Paige
Emily says
I definitely need to try making my own! I love throwing some on top of toast with cinnamon as a quick snack.
xo,
Em
Linda @ the Fitty says
It’s good enough to even EAT IT STRAIGHT WITH A SPOON!
Nina says
I love this idea! OK, I really love all your ideas!!!!
Abby says
So 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
For 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
It 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
Coconut 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
Oh 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
Oh my words, Katie, am short of words. You’re just the best. Thanks alot for the recipe.
Sandi says
I 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
Creatuve and GENIUS IDEA!
Nina says
Hello 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
Coconut butter has more of a texture like peanut butter. Coconut cream would be like dairy cream.
Paul says
Please note that coconut cream is not the same as creamed coconut.
Jason Sanford says
Interesting, 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
Ok, 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
Hmm 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
Thanks, Jason! Maybe I need to try some store bought coconut butter to see if I got it right!
Sharon says
How long will it stay good in a jar on the counter? I may no eat it as fast as you do!
Jason Sanford says
It lasts for months!!
Kay says
For the shredded coconut, is it fresh or dried? Can i use fresh shredded coconut?
Jason Sanford says
It means dried. If you experiment with fresh definitely let us know how it goes!
Jason
Kay says
Update 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
Is 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
Hmm, mine usually gets pretty smooth in the food processor. Maybe re-soften it and blend in the nutribullet?
Annalisa says
Update: the coconut butter did solidify! PTL! But still has little bits in it. Is that normal? ?☺️
Raina says
I don’t have a scale… How many cups of coconut would this recipe convert to?
Alexa says
I used 8oz of coconut, and it made about 3/4 cup.
Becky W says
Wow 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!
Kinz says
Same thing happened to me with room temp agave. Fed doesn’t like cold liguid lol
Nicola says
Wow! 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
So 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
Hmm, 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
I 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
This 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
Can I use fresh coconut to make coconut butter?
Jason Sanford says
Be sure to report back if you experiment!
Megan says
How much sweetener do you use? Is sugar ok? IF I add it(doubtful), would 1tbsp be enough?
Jason Sanford says
Yup, sugar (and that amount) works!
katharine says
I 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
Hi 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
Hmm 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
I 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.
Laurie Parker says
I recently started a Keto diet and have been trying out a lot of different ingredients. I just made coconut butter using a 12 oz bag because that is all my processor would hold. It took close to 15 minutes of blending including g scraping time before it came together – probably because my processor is not heavy duty! It was interesting to see the transformation and I’m now looking at your recipes to see what I can make with it. Thank you, Katie! I appreciate your expertise and am proud to have had you for a cul se sac neighbor!
SheriO says
This stuff sucks all the spit out of my mouth. Even with butter and coconut oil added, it is moist looking and creamed, but sucks all the spit out of my mouth. DRY
Jason Sanford says
That is how coconut butter is supposed to taste. You didn’t do anything wrong.
mel says
can i add normal oil if i dont have any coconut oil?
Zeljka says
Hi. How do you use the coconut butter as a glaze. I couldn’t get it to melt. I put some in a pan and put it on low heat but it wouldn’t melt just started to burn. Thanks.
Jason Sanford says
Melt it very slowly! Katie’s recommendation is to put it in the oven after you’ve baked something and the oven has already cooled down somewhat. You want to very gently warm it so it doesn’t burn. If you lived in a super humid/hot environment, it would already be soft!
Michelle says
Hi! Is shredded coconut the same as dehydrated coconut? Will it work with dehydrated coconut in shreds?
Thank you!
Emma says
I tried making this in my food processor for 20 mins to no avail. Popped the desiccated coconut into my nutribullet and it blitzed it up into butter in a minute or so! Success!!
cindy3539 says
My turned out “grainy”. I don’t know if it was supposed to turn out completely smooth or not but, mine didn’t. It is very tasty though! Tastes like the inside of a mounds candy bar! TFS
Amber M Dimico says
I’ve had that same problem. It had been recommended to me to use wide coconut chips instead of the desiccated coconut.
Mollie says
Coconut butter is so delicious! It costs me around $4 to buy a pound of unsweetened coconut in bulk. I never can get it out of a jar easily, so I let the coconut butter harden in a flat pan, then break it up and eat it like shortbread. I eat so much of it, probably 8oz a day. You would think I would pack on the pounds but I’m actually very skinny. I follow a high fat (especially saturated fat), high calorie (2500-3000), low carb diet and avoid PUFAs. Coconut butter is a staple food for me.
Tania says
I have a question before I make this, but I’m very excited to try it! When I buy coconut butter in a jar it’s brutal to get out the right amount because it’s so solid. Does the homemade version stay softer? I live in Toronto, Canada and it’s winter here. Or should I be pouring it into little muffin tins with wrappers so I can better measure out? Any tips you could provide would be appreciated 🙂
CCK Media Team says
We like to place the jar (or a small amount) in an oven that’s just been turned off after baking something else. As the oven gradually cools down it will gently heat/melt the coconut butter (whereas microwaving would heat it too fast). And this also doesn’t waste energy since the oven would be cooling anyway. We do this with store-bought or homemade coconut butter.
Tania says
Can I just say how much I LOVE this recipe?!?! My only issue is getting everything to blend in the blender. Maybe the food processor would work better? You don’t get the vortex because the batter is a bit thicker. I tried putting liquids first into the blender the 2nd time. Still a bit of a pain. But MAN are these delicious! Closest to regular pancakes I’ve had. Thank you!!
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Brianne M Markin says
Girl, I am not going to lie. I was more than a little skeptical about this process. But, then I was like, when has Katie steered me wrong before? Amazing! Making a new soup recipe that called for creamed coconut. Glad I realized it was NOT the same as coconut cream before I made a giant batch for soup exchange. Anyway, I thought, well this is worth trying and it worked! Making a double batch so I can make the cinnamon roll oatmeal next week for spring break!
CCK Media Team says
So glad it worked well for you! Just you should probably know that this stuff is dangerous – it’s hard to stop eating 😂
Megan says
Thanks for the tip on adding coconut oil! I had much better success after adding a little into my blender with my coconut.
Christalynn says
Oh my goodness I just made this and wow! Never spend copious amounts of money on coconut butter again this tastes better anyway! Can’t believe I’ve been missing out this whole time lol. Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
Wonder Jorge says
Amazing recipe, thank you. Will coconut powder work?
Sapphire says
Gosh, I wish I liked this. It being said that even people who don’t like coconut would like this…I just don’t see it. I don’t hate coconut, but I’m not a big fan, either. My results, as logic would dictate, tasted like coconut.
It also managed to defeat both my Vitamix and Cuisinart food processor, and I had to add a pretty substantial amount of coconut oil to smooth it out. And then, even after blitzing it in the Vitamix, which would have liquefied anything else including, I don’t know, diamonds, it was still gritty. Sigh. Thankfully, my husband likes coconut more than I do, so that whole bag of (shredded, unsweetened) coconut won’t go to waste.
I’m pretty bummed. I was really hoping this would meet my vegan frosting needs when every other recipe I’ve found requires vegan butter (rarely have) and/or a mixer (don’t have).
Rita Mansukhani says
Hi Katie, I just finished making the coconut butter with the above recipe . It has come out perfec, a little Creamy little crunchy. Thank you for above recipe. I want to make a dessert tomorrow for which I made this butter
Kigia Valbuena says
This didn’t work for me because my food processor isn’t very powerful. I gave up after 30 mins haha it was very frustrating!
Jasmine says
I don’t like to leave a bad rating if a recipe didn’t work for me because maybe there isn’t anything wrong with the recipe. Maybe it’s me! If it worked fine for other people, It could be my tastes that are off. That said, I am not a kitchen novice. I’ve made almond butter before, and I feel like this is the same basic concept. I used a 7 oz. bag of organic, unsweetened flakes and weighed 5 oz. from another bag (same kind). I’ve never had coconut butter, so I can’t attest to what it’s “supposed” to be like. However, I could NOT get this to blend up smooth and creamy. I turned the food processor on while I was carrying in groceries, putting them away, and doing other things. It ran for at least 20 min. I really didn’t want to add more ingredients than necessary, so I didn’t initially add the oil. After it became apparent it was going to stay dry and crumbly, I did finally add 2 tbsp. coconut oil. That was a bit too much, it was pretty runny, I should’ve started with 1. Still, it did not get smooth and creamy. Yes, it is now spreadable, but it is still gritty. I’ll still use it, I just don’t think my results were what they were supposed to be. I’m guessing the coconut flakes were too dry? Perhaps I should have added the oil initially?
Marie says
Can I use unsweetened coconut flakes? I can’t seem to find shredded coconut
CCK Media Team says
Hmm we would think so but haven’t tried. They’re going to get processed down anyway so it shouldn’t matter how big they start (flakes or shredded). Be sure to report back if you try!
Paige says
My favorite thing is cashew coconut butter with cinnamon, vanilla, and maple syrup😍😍
Karen says
O.M.G. I am in LOVE! I’m so glad I found this recipe and your site. I just made a batch of coconut butter with shredded coconut (more like grated) and flakes 50/50. It turned out amazing and filled a pint mason jar. I practically licked the Cuisinart bowl clean, it was that good! I’m looking forward to using it many ways. Thanks for sharing!
J. C. says
I use coconut oil instead of butter in a lot of recipes due to my husband’s dairy allergy, and it does work pretty well for most things. Does anyone know if this would work better? Or is it closer to a peanut butter spread equivalent?
CCK Media Team says
Hi! Coconut butter is closer to peanut butter in texture than peanut oil or coconut oil. Here’s more about coconut butter: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/coconut-butter-and-coconut-oil/
Karina says
Great pointers on how simple it is to make such a delicious coconut butter. I have to admit I purposely stopped to “scrape off the sides” a few extra times just so I could get another taste of this heavenly mixture.
I did have a smaller amount of coconut to begin with (140gr) so decided to use my nutribullet (similar to magic bullet) since my vitamix bottom would have been too big for this quantity, and it still turned out perfect. I did add just 1 teaspoon of coconut oil midway and because I prefer to feel a rougher texture, it came out exactly as I wanted.
Note however that if nutribullet or magic bullet is used it might need to be the 900 watt one. This is what I used and am not sure the 600 watt will work the same.
Domenica says
Absolutely delicious!
I used the oil, oat milk, and vanilla lactose free yoghurt. I didn’t use the vanilla essence because of the flavour in the yoghurt. I didn’t put any topping on it and it is still super delicious.
Love this! Will definitely make this again.
Sophie says
This is a very problematic recipe. I must have eaten about a quarter of the mixture just while I was making it, and once it was done I just kept eating more. 3 cups of flakes and desiccated coconut reduces to a pretty small amount. I used 1 1/2 cups of flakes (which I lightly toasted), and 1 1/2 cups of regular desiccated. (I actually added one teaspoon of icing sugar too.) It did take a while for the mixture to become soft and damp in the food processor, but I was patient; I let it whiz for a few minutes and left it for a while to make sure nothing over-heated, then let it whiz for a few minutes more, several times over. I will try not to make this again, because all it is for me is a way to eat an obscene amount of beautifully fatty, calorie-rich yumminess within moments.
CCK Media Team says
We have the same problem 😂
Lauren says
I have made this several times now. I buy the Bob’s Red Mill coconut from Sam’s Club. I do 12oz coconut, 1 tbsp coconut oil and two packets of stevia. Comes out perfect and fills up a Bon Maman jam jar.
I use this in my morning protein smoothie. Thank you!
CCK Media Team says
Thank you so much for trying it!
ransomedbyfire says
I wonder if date paste could work instead of coconut oil to help it blend.