Replacing butter: The best vegan alternatives
Theresa Aicher
02/05/24
Reading time: 8 minutes
In many European countries, butter is a fundamental part of the food culture. We use it as a spread on bread, as frying fat and in cake batter.
For many people, doing without is therefore not an option. We will show you how you can replace butter to make a contribution to animal welfare and environmental protection.
Why should I replace butter?
Like any other dairy product, butter production requires the suffering of cows and their calves. The calves are not allowed to stay with their mothers because their milk is used for human consumption.
The mother cows themselves are often too sick after just a few years to be able to produce enough milk. They are then slaughtered, even if they are still far from reaching their natural life expectancy . This even happens on organic farms.
The carbon footprint of dairy products is also a problem. Around eighteen liters of milk are needed to produce one kilogram of butter. This requires many cows, which in turn produce large amounts of methane. This gas is considered to be even more harmful to the environment than CO₂. In addition , butter production consumes masses of energy and water .
Animal milk products pose disease risks
Nature intended milk for humans - but only breast milk in infancy. It is not necessary for us to consume dairy products after this. In fact, they can actually be harmful to our health. There is a suspicion that animal milk products increase the risk of developing prostate or breast cancer.
Certain dairy products, including butter , also contain a lot of cholesterol, which can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Plant-based foods are cholesterol-free and instead contain polyunsaturated fatty acids.
These can have a positive effect on health by, for example, reducing inflammation, supporting cell division and preventing vascular diseases.
Replacing butter: Three options for breakfast bread
Be careful when replacing with margarine
Many people think of margarine first when they want to replace butter. But be careful : the product is not necessarily vegan. Some varieties contain dairy products such as whey or buttermilk . Other ingredients can also be of animal origin. Omega-3 fatty acids, for example, are often obtained from fish oil . So when you shop, make sure that the margarine has the vegan label.
Vegan margarine consists mainly of vegetable fats, not all of which are environmentally friendly. Read the ingredients list carefully and avoid products that contain palm oil .
Large areas of rainforest are being cleared to grow palm trees, which means that animals lose their habitats. You're on the safe side with organic margarine .
Vegetable and nut spreads as alternatives to butter
Americans love the combination of peanut butter and jelly. You can imitate them, especially with sweet spreads like jam, and spread nut butter underneath. However, be aware of the intense flavor, which doesn't always work.
For savory bread toppings and spreads, a thin layer of tomato paste is the better alternative . This gives the bread topping a very special flavor.
Some people use avocado puree to replace cow's milk butter. Avocado is known for its high fat content and it also contains many vitamins and nutrients.
However, its carbon footprint is not good : growing the tropical fruit consumes large amounts of water, and transport causes high CO₂ emissions.
Make your own vegan butter
If none of the spreads mentioned appeal to you, you can make your own vegan butter substitute.
For this you need the following ingredients :
- 60 grams of refined coconut oil,
- 175 milliliters of rapeseed oil,
- 2 tablespoons plant milk ,
- a pinch of salt.
If you want, you can also add a pinch of turmeric. This will give the butter substitute the yellow color that we know from the original product.
The production is simple :
- Melt the coconut oil in a saucepan over low heat.
- Mix the liquid coconut oil with the other ingredients in a bowl.
- Place the mixture in the fridge for a few hours to allow it to cool down.
- Stir the cooled butter substitute vigorously again.
It's best to store your homemade butter alternative in the fridge. It will last for about a week.
Replace butter when baking and frying
High-quality vegetable oils such as olive oil are suitable for replacing butter when frying. Coconut oil is also a popular alternative.
This is mainly due to its high heat resistance : the smoke point is 200 degrees, which is why you can even use coconut oil for deep-frying.
The product is also tasteless and has a long shelf life. When shopping, make sure that you choose cold-pressed coconut oil, because the cold pressing process preserves all of the nutrients.
In baking recipes, butter is responsible for a soft, moist consistency. If you were to leave it out completely, the result would be a dry, hard cake. In principle, any other fat can be used to replace butter in a cake .
You can replace the original product with vegetable oil or margarine, for example, but you can also use a puree made from fruit or nuts.
Important : Sometimes it takes a while to find the right butter alternative for your recipe. So don't be discouraged if the first attempt doesn't suit your taste.
If the dough feels sandy, it helps to mix in a little starch. If the cake seems too hard, you will need more fat next time. With a little patience and a willingness to experiment, you will soon have the best vegan cake .
Here you will find 6 good butter alternatives for baking :
margarine
Margarine is the classic alternative to butter and can be used in a 1:1 ratio. The taste is milder, but this should not be a problem in most recipes. When shopping, make sure that the margarine does not contain palm oil and that the packaging says it is suitable for baking.
By the way : Just like oil or coconut oil, you can also use margarine to grease the cake tin or baking tray. This saves you baking paper.
Liquid margarine is ideal for batter. It also works perfectly in yeast dough. Although these can be made without fat, a little margarine or vegetable oil will give them a smooth consistency.
Vegetable oil
Oil is the perfect butter alternative for batter. The ingredient is included in sponge cakes and muffin recipes anyway. It is best to use a neutral-tasting product, such as sunflower or rapeseed oil.
The oil ensures that your dough is moist and airy. However, the fat content is significantly higher than with butter. If the recipe calls for 100 grams, it is sufficient to use 75 to 80 milliliters of oil.
Nut butter
Nut butters are particularly suitable as a butter alternative for biscuits and other shortcrust pastries . To replace butter in cakes, you can mix almond, cashew or hazelnut butter with vegetable oil in a 50/50 ratio. The resulting mixture can replace butter 1:1, but you will need a little more baking powder than usual.
Of course, you can replace not only fat with nut butter , but also nuts. This way you kill two birds with one stone.
The vegan substitute also ensures that the baked goods are juicier and in some cases even last longer. The only downside : the intense flavor doesn't suit every dough.
Coconut fat and coconut oil
The most important difference between coconut fat and coconut oil is the taste. Coconut oil has a noticeable flavor of its own, whereas coconut fat has a more neutral taste. Therefore, you should only use the oil if a light coconut flavor suits your baked goods. In all other cases, use coconut fat.
Important : Since both products are much more economical than butter , you cannot replace them 1:1. Use about 75 percent of the amount specified in the recipe.
Fruit puree
Applesauce is a popular butter substitute , but it is much more liquid than the original. To ensure that the dough retains its usual consistency, you should only use half the amount of fat specified. You can also add two teaspoons of vegetable oil to the applesauce. You may also need to bake the cake a little longer.
If you don't have any apples at home, a pureed banana can replace 100 grams of butter. This alternative is particularly suitable for cookie dough and brownies .
Since bananas contain fructose, you can also reduce the amount of sugar in the dough a little. However, keep in mind that you will taste the fruit quite strongly in the pastry. If you don't like that, you should go for apple sauce instead.
Vegan yoghurt or quark
Vegan quark or a yoghurt alternative are also suitable for replacing cow's milk butter . Plus point : They loosen the dough wonderfully. You can mix 100 grams of butter with 100 grams of yoghurt or quark at a ratio of 1:1. However, yoghurt should be mixed with a tablespoon of semolina, cornstarch or baking powder to thicken it.
Important: Some recipes require solid fats. Unfortunately , yoghurt and quark are not suitable for this. However , yoghurt or quark can be used to replace butter in a batter, for example for muffins. It doesn't matter that the yoghurt is quite runny. However, you may need to reduce the amount of other liquids in the batter a little.
