Have you ever wanted to make your own coconut butter but didn’t know how? This is the recipe for you. Bonus? It requires just 1 bowl, 1 ingredient, and 10 minutes. Shall we?
The 1 ingredient is shredded unsweetened coconut. I find that using desiccated coconut (buying options included below) works best. But I speculate you could also use any unsweetened shredded coconut you can find.
The next important part is equipment! I highly recommend using a food processor as the design of blenders isn’t conducive to blending coconut butter. It tends to kick up the flakes and not allow them to blend, which is how it gets creamy.
So stick with a food processor for best results. Then, it’s just blend, blend, blend until you have creamy, delicious coconut butter on your hands!
Coconut butter is:
Unsweetened
Wholesome
Creamy
Rich
Super coconutty
Delicious
& So easy to make
It’s perfect for snacking on straight out of the jar, but also pairs well with things like baked sweet potatoes, ice cream, smoothies, muffins, banana bread, waffles, pancakes, and more!
I’ve also used it in recipes to make delicious things like Vegan Fudge, Peanut Butter Fudge, Vegan White Chocolate Truffles, and Vegan White Chocolate Peanut Butter Eggs!
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #minimalistbaker on Instagram! We’d love to see what you come up with. Cheers, friends!
- 3 cups (240 g) desiccated unsweetened coconut*
- optional: pinch sea salt
- optional: 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- optional: dash stevia
- Add desiccated coconut (which I've found to work best for coconut butter) into a food processor. I have tried using a blender and have to say it doesn't work because the blender kicks the coconut up and doesn't allow it to process. So for this reason, I'd highly recommend using a food processor.
- Mix until a creamy butter forms - sometimes up to 10 minutes - scraping down sides as needed. Mine usually takes about 8-10 minutes, and I scrape down the sides 2-3 times to ensure the coconut is getting processed well.
- Once it's gone liquid and creamy, you can add things such as salt, vanilla extract, or stevia. But it doesn't need anything at all in my experience!
- Store at room temperature up to 2 weeks (sometimes more). Depending on the temperature of your home, it will likely harden once cooled. To use, you can either heat it up in the microwave, or place in a shallow pot of very hot water and it will soften. Alternatively, if placing on hot food, scoop out and it should melt quite easily on the food.
- I love putting coconut butter on things like baked sweet potatoes, bananas, muffins, waffles, pancakes, smoothies,ice cream, and oats, and especially just eating it straight from the jar!
This looks so yummy! I never imagined it was so easy to make your own. I’ll definitely be trying this! :D
hi, Do you think I could replace instead of cashew butter for vegan white chocolate? I am allergic to nuts, and all recipes calls for cashew/macadamia. So maybe this butter, ricepowder, coconut oil and cacao butter would work- what do you think? Kindly white chocolate lover ? Love all your work.
Oh, that might work! Let me know how it goes!
I’ve tried three times to make this with shedded coconut. I end up blending for about 30 minutes and nothing happens. Do you have some suggestions? I’m at my wit’s end. :-(
Hi Malory! Hmm did you use a food processor? The only thing I can think it would be is the equipment you’re using. The coconut should go through three stages on its way to turning into butter. First the texture will be finely shredded, then thin out into a grainy liquid, then finally turn into a smooth, thick liquid. The finished butter will seem runny, but when you taste it the texture will be like thick, sticky, slightly grainy peanut butter.
I also tried this and didn’t work for me either. After about 20 minutes, I had to let my food processor cool down! My only guess is that the shredded coconut I had was too dry?
I just made this for the first time. I think your processer doesn’t have enough power. I first tried with my small one that I use to chop nuts,herbs and small things. 20 minutes went by and all I got was coconut flour. I got out my big one and with in 20 minutes I had butter. I t really reduced in amount. I used a pound of coconut from the ben a it and it made about a cup. Tastes good though.
Quite possible! I have a big one, but it’s old. Thank you for the tip! x
So easy to make in a VitaMix. Used 1.5 bags unsweetened organic coconut. Took 2 minutes, tops. Going to incorporate the rest of the bag now that the volume blended down to maybe 1/4 of the pitcher. I want to add some cocoa powder ?
Just used my Vitamix and it didn’t turn out. Any tips?
Hi Paula! What did it turn out like? Let us know and we’ll do our best to help!
It just ends up soft but chunky in the Vitamix. I have one with more of a square base. I ended up moving it to my food processor and it still didn’t work. I spent about an hour! As a final attempt I added it to the blender. I think the heat from running for a few minutes did it because it finally turned to butter when I was about to give up!
What size vitamix container did you use? And 1.5 bags of Bob’s red mill? Thank you!
Mine did not work in the Vitamix! now i have a blob…and no ice cream to put it on
Hello!
The trick is how big or small is your food processor. I tried to make 3 cups per your recepie, but I was having the same issues. After some online research, I doubd out that I need to add at least 7 cups to my 8 cup ninja food processor.
Did you accidentally use sweetened coconut? It does not work–must be unsweetened.
Who knew it was this easy! Forget buying 15 dollar jars!! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! Glad it worked out!
Would coconut flakes work?
That’s what I used…in a vitamix… no go.
Oh boy! Funny how I didn’t think of using this butter —sooo fast, about 4-5 min—as icing after I used it in your pb/ab fudge recipe! Because I love lemon with carrot muffins/cake, I added lemon zest and a little juice (plus the salt & vanilla options) and wow! Hard to not just eat it instead of put it on the cake!
So THANK YOU for both the Carrot Cake recipe and this icing..and Happy Birthday!!
well, found my new obsession. Cant stop licking the inside of my food processor!
Also, I used Bob’s Red Mill’s flaked coconut and it worked great!
Would love to try making this with some chocolate as well! YUMMMMMMM
I used my Blendtec Twister jar for this and it took less than a minute.
It is so delilcious!
My kitty kept bugging me while I was washing the jar…he liked it too!
This is amazing!! Thanks for the recipe.
I just used my food processor to make this. At first, it felt like nothing was happening, but about 5-6 mins later, the flakes started to break down and a little bit longer… we have butter!!
Thanks for the recipe. Will be making this again x
Lovely! thanks for sharing, Monika!
I used unsweetened shredded coconut flakes from trader joes and a food processor, but it didn’t work for me. :( Blended for 20+ minutes and all I had was very finely chopped coconut. Any suggestions? Maybe it was the coconut I used?
Hmm, sounds like it may just be an issue with your food processor. What brand and model is it? Maybe it’s not powerful enough or perhaps you didn’t add enough coconut flakes to help it form into a butter. Also, as I mentioned in the recipe, desiccated coconut really works best. Perhaps try that next time?
How long does the coconut butter keep in the fridge? Can I freeze it?
Hi Jodi! Store at room temperature up to 2 weeks (sometimes more). Depending on the temperature of your home, it will likely harden once cooled. To use, you can either heat it up in the microwave, or place in a shallow pot of very hot water and it will soften. Alternatively, if placing on hot food, scoop out and it should melt quite easily on the food.
Over 20 minutes with a Ninja food processor and still not working, sadly I give up.
Just made this recipe and it literally took 6 minutes with my food processor I used the shredded coconut from the bulk bins at Whole Foods. I have a Cuisinart Prep 9 food processor! I literally got super liquid coconut butter!
I have been processing my coconut for about 20 minutes, it’s just gotten very hot and very fine. I took the tube out of the drop shoot to let all the steam out. Is this happening and not turning to a “butter” because my local store bins only had sweetened coconut? The only unsweetened coconut was a dry powder. Please help!!
I made coconut butter and it’s delicious! But I made it in my Vita-Mix, using the tamper as if I were making nut butter. It took about 2 minutes.
Hi Dana.
Sadly, my first attempt with dessicated coconut and a 600w food processor was a failure. Perhaps my unit didnt have enough power. But hey, i remain hopeful and will try it again.
How about freshly grated coconut ? What do you think ?
Thanks.
do you think a Vita mix would do the job??
Hi Kourtney! Yes, others have had success in using their Vitamix!
Have you happened to notice if anyone has said what kind of pitcher they are using on the vitamix? There is the regular one and then there is one for grinding, etc. Hoping it’s the regular one :-)
Wow this was easy! I forgot the pinch of salt and wished I had of remembered… but I was just so excited! Now I don’t have to go hunting for coconut butter! BTW I had organic non processed coconut flakes on hand so it worked out great!
I made this in my Cuisinart 8c Food Processor tonight with a bag of Let’s Do Organic shredded coconut. Took a little over 10 minutes to make! So good. And so much cheaper than buying it from the store.
Hi! Thanks for posting, I’m excited to try it and sure hope my old processor works :-) I’m wondering how much butter to expect from 3 cups of shredded coconut?
It worked for me but at a certain point I had to move it from my large food processor to my mini one as the blades were spinning above the coconut.
This recipe worked like a charm. Thanks so much! Couldn’t find this in 3 stores that I tried. Now I don’t need to anything more than just buying the coconut.
I have tried this veggie with some of the chocolate recipes. The only desiccated coconut I could find was low fat. Do you think that prevented it from turning into butter?
Hi! That may have been what it was from!
Do you think this would work with a magic bullet? I only have a tiny 2 cup food processor and a ninja which does not work as a food processor.
What kind of horsepower mixer do you need at a minimum for this? I have a 450 hp.
Turned out great for me!!! Thanks for the idea.
I used my Cuisinart food processor and it worked like a champ :)
Didn’t work for me either. Used my 64 oz Ninja (Blender/food processor/bullet). It’s brand new and after 6 minutes it finally shut itself off. I did stop and scrape down the sides twice. I let it cool down then kept on with the blending/scraping/blending/scraping and seems like it might be starting to get somewhere but never anything more. Then tried small food processor. No. Tried Bullet. No. Tried Ninja blender. Yes! Finally! Will use the blender next time
UPDATE: The coconut butter I ended up with is WONDERFUL! My Ninja food processor is SUPER powerful (I’m almost afraid of it!), but I think it’s too big and the coconut ended up under most of the blades so all it was doing was kicking up the coconut and not really able to blend it. When I switched to the Ninja blender, it had a smaller base and that kept all the coconut together with the blades so that worked. It’s so yummy! I will try again. I put it on toast which was wonderful. This morning I made a fruit bowl (papaya, yougert, almonds/cashews/walnuts, coconut, granola and drops of coconut butter. The drops of coconut butter in the mix put it over the top. THANK YOU !!
I tried this tonight in my 64oz. I saw your comment, have you tried again? I’d love too but don’t want to waste
I used Bob’s Red Mill Shredded Coconut and it turned out very dry, not a bit creamy. I added a little coconut oil and, it is as creamy as can be. It is definitely not good to eat by itself, I’ll have to try mixing it in something.
Sorry, this was a very expensive epic fail. I have a high powered professional food processor and Vitamix and after using both for 30 minutes, just dryclumps. Back to the store for me. This one beat me.
So strange. I’ve never had coconut butter not work. A food processor is the way to go. How many cups is yours? Mine is 7 and using 3-4 cups coconut flakes works every time. Perhaps if your model is bigger add more coconut?
Worked perfectly in my VitaMix. Used 3 bags of unsweetened organic coconut, dash of kosher salt and splash of vanilla. Took 3 minutes…MAX
Leslie, did you just use the regular vitamix pitcher?
Nola,Yep I did. I have a Ascent Series and used the standard pitcher.
I made it in my processor and it turned out more like a paste and even when i extended the process, it maintained a paste. What could have gone wrong?
Maybe your processor did not have enough power. I recently used a NutriBullet and it worked perfectly. The best part is that I did not purchase the expensive NurtiBullet. Someone threw it away where I live and placed it on the “free” table.
Hi! I love your beet cupcakes and make them all the time!
I am currently looking for a white “chocolate” option for a vegan cake pop. Can I dip the vegan cake pop in this coconut butter and have the same result (or as close as can be) to a dipped cake pop?
Thank you for all you do!
Hi Paige! We haven’t tried it, but if you do let us know how it turns out!
Worked like a charm!
I have been processing my coconut for about 20 minutes, it’s just gotten very hot and very fine. I took the tube out of the drop shoot to let all the steam out. Is this happening and not turning to a “butter” because my local store bins only had sweetened coconut? The only unsweetened coconut was a dry powder. Please help!!
I used my food processor in low and for longer. Got it creamy and then when I added maple syrup it went back to crumbly coconut!
Any ideas why?
When it was creamy it was delicious though!
Hi!
I just made this. Only had Tjoes coconut but it worked fine. Amazed how these dry crumbs turn to butter. Now to make something with it….thinking the carob bars you posted. ?
I found out that if you rub coconut butter on your body before doing it in the bed your next child will have the wisdom of Gandhi and The tits of kasturba.
I just made this in my ninja food processor. Came out great. 2 bags of unsweetened coconut flakes in the larger size processor for about 8 mins. Thank you so much.
I just made some coconut butter a few minutes ago and it is so wonderful and creamy. I tried using a mini food processor in the past and it did not work very well. Someone in my apartment complex placed a NutriBullet blender on the table we use for things we no longer want and I grabbed it. It worked and making my own is so much cheaper than buying it like I did years ago. I am so very pleased.
I found out that if you rub coconut butter on your body before doing it in the bed your next child will have the wisdom of Gandhi and The tits of kasturba.
One dusty boi
Hey everyone! So after some frustration like some people commenting I decide to give it a different approach after some research. It was not working in my Ninja food processor so I switched to the Ninja full sized blender and added two and a half bags (18 oz total) of the unsweetened shredded coconut and I FINALLY got it to work! Definitely try adding more and using a blender and seeing how it works. I love mine!
Only a NINJA blender will work because the blades go all the way up the blade stick.Regular blenders only have a blade spinner down at the base. There may be another brand that has the blades all the way up but I don’t know.
I’ll try, I tried my 64oz tonight. Thx
Would this recipe work in a Thermomix? It’s like a high speed blender but it can also make good nut butters etc
We have not tried using a Thermomix, and cannot say for sure. If you give it a go though, report back on how it goes!
Could I use larger coconut flakes for this recipe ?
Howdy from Texas! I used the super cheap Walmart unsweetened coconut and it was SOoooooo dry when nothing was going according to the instructions I added a Tbl coconut oil,wet pour kind and 2Tbl h2o and wa laa butter!
Massively frustrating. I have been trying for 35minutes in a good quality Kenwood food processor, which has now stopped working altogether. I really hope it’s just overheated and will come back to life again. Epic fail.
My processor came back to life thank goodness. But it didn’t work in the Ninja either, which overheated pretty quick, so I stopped for safety to my Ninja.
Jenny, what size is your food processor? Sometimes the trouble with making coconut butter is that there isn’t enough coconut flakes to fill up the food processor bowl and it needs more volume to churn into butter. Try adding more coconut flakes. Otherwise I fear your food processor may not be powerful enough…
Desperate to make this!…However when I tried, I put in the MagiMix food processor for in excess of 20minutes, and still nothing, just finer dessicated coconut! Puzzled. Any tips would be so welcome…x
I just tried to make this for the carob bars recipe. It looked like it was working well at first, I had liquid butter after processing for ~5 minutes. I then added a pinch of salt, and dash of vanilla and maple syrup, processed for 30 more seconds and it turned into a dough-like texture which did not melt when I tried to heat it up. Not sure if processing for too long dried it out or if the added ingredients caused it.
Update: added ~1 T liquid coconut oil and it returned to usable texture. Carob bars turned out pretty good!
Amazing! Genius! Inspirational! Made this in my Vitamix from a 340g bag of coco shreds and now I have a stunning mason jar filled with delicious coconut butter that only cost $3.79! My life is changed!
Just wondering..Inhave leftover sweetened shredded coconut. That’ll work too right?
I’m not sure if it would work with sweetened coconut as we have only tried with unsweetened!
I was a little afraid to try your recipe after reading some of the comments, but I went ahead and made it anyway, in my Cuisinart food processor, and it worked like a charm! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Glad you liked it, Tina!
I made a half recipe and the lower volume took forever in my food processor (but I only had 1.5c coconut and needed butter so I persevered) I added 1/4tsp vanilla extract and a drop of stevia towards the end of processing and it came together beautifully. Now ready to add to my pre-long run smoothie! Thanks Minimalist Baker! (How bout a Runner’s recipe line up? Pre run fuel, recovery dinners, snacks? I have No Meat Athlete cookbook, but everything so far is bland or blah. ) TIA ;o)
Great idea, Kirstyn! Adding this one to our request list!
For those who have a hard time getting past the grainy texture and on to smooth… Add 1 tbsp coconut oil. The extra fat content makes ALL the difference!!!
Took some work but figured it out. I used a Vitamix. The smaller container does not work. I used organic coconut flakes dry as a bone to start. I put the vanilla in with the coconut a pinch of salt and a pinch of natural pure cane sugar after just a small bit of mixing. I started with a small amount about three once’s of coconut in the small container but the blades were missing the coconut so I transferred it to the larger container. Tamping it down is highly effective and it took time to get the right consistency I found that being patient but tamping it a lot helped.
Hi! can I use fresh shredded coconut?
Hi! We haven’t tried using fresh and can’t say for sure, but if you try, report back on how it goes!
Had great success. Took about 6 minutes or less. I used “SWAD” brand 14oz. coconut powder (product of Sri Lanka) that was about $5 & change purchased locally at a store that deals in multi cultural foods. I chose this brand because it was the lowest in salt, sugar & had a higher fat content & no additives to retain color.
I used a nutribullet, filled about 1/2 way. Pulling it off & on the machine every 10 or 15 seconds & shaking down the product. At this point it was still a little granular in texture until I added coconut oil, a little at a time, until the product was pourable (consistency of thick molasses). Used a total of about 10 oz. of coconut powder with about 1 teaspoon of oil added. Plan to see how it works out in peanut butter fudge with a little sweetener added to the mix &/or chocolate. Thanks for the guidance.
Hi, can I use fresh coconut or should it be dry n desiccated from a packet?
Hi Shruti! We recommend desiccated unsweetened coconut.
Ugh!!!!!
I spent over an hour with this. I followed two or three suggested tweaks because it just wasn’t panning out.
In the big scheme of things it would’ve been easier to just order coconut butter from amazon for $13 ( since my local TJ and Wholefoods don’t carry this and I’m not about to run all over town looking for it) because I just wasted an hour and $9 worth of ingredients on this task. Huge let down.
I still love your site but I’m not trying anymore recipes that call for ingredients I don’t normally use or have to DIY just to add to the recipe. I really wanted to try to make your raw Oreos but I’m over that now. I’m a single mom. Just don’t have time or money to waste like this.
Hi! We are sorry to hear you didn’t have success with this recipe. If you get a moment, we’d love to hear more about what didn’t work for you so we can offer tips. Hope to hear back!
Hi,
Thanks for reaching out !
So I started with the exact measured unsweetened coconut flakes. Spent about 45 minutes on just trying to get to stage 2. Then I noticed someone mentioned filling up their FP rather than just using the suggested measured amount of coconut. So I added 4 more cups of coconut to my 8 cup FP. after a lot of overheating and about an hour, the coconut seemed to be getting softer. Not quite a liquid but I gave it a few more minutes and I was finally to liquid stage. Then I added sugar and vanilla and it went right back to clumpy and never returned to liquid again. I sprinkled in maybe 3 tbsp of sugar and a tablespoon of vanilla.
So I ordered some coconut butter online from Amazon for $13 and the jar made 27 cookies with enough butter left over to put on a croissant or two. Definitely don’t want to buy that again because that’s expensive but I have to say the cookies are delicious! Better than Oreos! Still I added vanilla and sugar because I didn’t like the taste of the unsweetened coconut butter I was aspiring to make. If you can help sort of my kinks that would be great because I’d like to make these again.
I used the NutriBullet with the milling blade, works pretty fast.
From reading all the comments, here are some tips toward successful coconut butter dreams:
Do use dried unsweetened coconut high in fat.
Do use coconut low in sugar (to avoid clumpiness)
Do use more coconut flakes to weigh down the blender/processor to force more coconut into the blade.
Do use coconut oil to help weigh down the flakes and/or smooth out the butter if needed.
Do not use sugars that tend to crystalise under certain temp conditions to avoid crystalisation/clumpiness (ie cane sugars, maple sugars, etc). I don’t use any sweeteners..
This was absolutely delicious and easy to make!
I’m interested in knowing if you can refrigerate it after you make it. Thank you very much.
Hi Joann! We recommend storing at room temperature, where it will last for up to 2 weeks (sometimes more).
Quite literally just finished making this. Ive never liked icing, but my life changed the first time I tried coconut butter as a replacement. Once again this method proves homemade always beats store bought! So delicious and I feel good knowing exactly what the ingredients are. Thank you! I did make one change; I started with a food processor and that would have been enough but when I was done I wanted it to be just a little more creamy so I threw it in the high speed blender for a couple more minutes and it came out perfectly. I had two appliances to clean, but oh well!
Thanks for sharing your changes, Licia! We’re glad you enjoyed the recipe :D
I used my vitamix and it turned out great. I also used unsweetened flakes, not dessicated. Who knows! It may be the brand of coconut you use that makes a difference?
I had issues making the coconut cream I ran my Ninja food processor on and off for almost 30 minutes and finally gave up.
We’re sorry to hear you had some issues with this recipe, Jenny.. Sometimes the trouble with making coconut butter is that there isn’t enough coconut flakes to fill up the food processor bowl and it needs more volume to churn into butter. Try adding more coconut flakes. Otherwise I fear your food processor may not be powerful enough… We use this one and have had success with it!
Thanks, Dana, for your wonderful, inspiring blog! I’ve tried many of your recipes and all have turned out great. Just made the super seedy sunflower seed butter a couple weeks ago and now the coconut butter. Really amazing! Thanks for your instruction. I’m not sure if the coconut I used was dessicated or not but I used a Cuisinart Pro Classic food processor and it took less than 15 minutes, including scrape time. So easy! Results were perfect-as described-and now I never have to pay for the overpriced stuff in the store!! Thanks so much!
We’re glad you enjoyed this recipe, Maria!