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!
How to Make Coconut Butter
Ingredients
- 3-4 cups desiccated (or shredded) unsweetened coconut*
- 1 pinch sea salt (optional)
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 1 dash stevia (optional)
Instructions
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Add lesser amount of shredded coconut (3 cups or 240 g as original recipe is written // adjust if altering batch size) into a food processor. If your food processor is larger than 7 or 8 cups, you may have to add the additional shredded coconut (1 cup or 80 g as original recipe is written // or more // adjust if altering batch size) so there's enough content to grind and churn into "butter." In addition, we 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. It's also important that you have a good quality food processor. We recommend the 7 or 8 cup Cuisinart Prep. We've heard mixed reviews on the Ninja blender / processor being able to churn the coconut into "butter." So for this reason, we highly recommend using the Cuisinart food processor, or a similar model.
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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.
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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! If you still don't have coconut butter at this point, it's likely you either a) didn't add enough coconut flakes to the food processor ,or b) your food processor likely isn't designed for this type of recipe or isn't powerful enough. The main issue with making coconut butter tends to be an issue of equipment rather than method.
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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.
Notes
*I like Bob's Red Mill brand shredded coconut, or just getting it from the bulk bin at Whole Foods.
*Recipe makes ~1 cup coconut butter.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated with lesser amount of coconut and without optional add-ins.
Nutrition Per Serving (1 of 16 one-Tbsp servings)
- Calories: 100
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated fat: 9g
- Sodium: 5mg
- Carbohydrates: 4g
- Fiber: 2g
- Sugar: 1g
- Protein: 1g
I have a blender that has a component for blending dry grains. We use it to make powdered sugar from regular white sugar when we need to. I always think it does a great job. Do you think I can successfully use that to attempt this with the coconut?
We haven’t had success making it in a blender, unfortunately. The blender tends to overheat before the coconut butter gets creamy.
Greetings , I make keto chocolate melting cocoa butter & cocoa paste add stevita and coconut cream . It comes out good ,I use cupcake parchment and add an interior layer of org. teddys peanut butter or use silicone molds. It goes into the freezer but I am wondering what I could add to make a milk bar more like Pure Loves bars milk choc. & cups not their regular bars they are too dark.They have an ingredient listed as coconut and I wonder if I can use coconut powder not sure what type of coconut they are using but it seems to keep firm w/out freezing and milky . Do you think the powder will stay smooth and harden to a more milk choc. bar at room temp?
Hi Chris, we have an upcoming recipe for vegan milk chocolate- stay tuned! In the meantime, maybe coconut butter?
I am trying to find something comparable to SimplyNature ExtraVirgin Coconut Spread that I found at Aldi’s a few years ago. I absolutely love it on baked potatoes. I’m at the bottom of my container so I’m going to try this first with my Nutri Bullet and see what happens. Every other spread I’ve seen in stores or online have canola oil in it. :(
We aren’t familiar with that product. What are the ingredients? Let us know how it goes!
Sustainable oil blend (extra virgin coconut oil, non-GMO Sunflower oil, sustainable palm oil) purified water, sea salt, non-GMO distilled monoglycerides (emulsifier)
I haven’t found anything comparable so if anyone knows of one, please share!
Thanks for sharing! We’ll add it to our ideas list to try creating something similar.
THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!! Thank you!
Hi I just had a search too as I eat it for lunch on my rice crackers. You can make it yourself in foodprocessor. Fill up with shredded coconut than blend. I am going to try it as the Aldi store doesn’t sell it anymore
OMG! Where have this been all my life?!
Nut and seed butters make my face break out. Then coconut butter idea came along. I only had a bag of 8.8oz of shredded coconut, so I had to use something small, but strong and sharp, to blend it… found my Magic Bullet. With patience,
1) I filled up the cup, blended a little bit,
2) when there’s room, I added some more coconut, blended again,
3) then when there’s more room, I added more coconut … repeat until I emptied the bag (or until my cup was full)
4) finally, last hurrah of blending, until every coconut bits were liquified
5) And…I got coconut butter! I’m so excited. It couldn’t be easier. Bad points- I blended it too long on my final hurrah; it’s coconut milk. Now I have to wait for it to cool down and solidify a bit. (I would add pics, but I don’t know how : )
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Lang. We are so glad you enjoyed it! Feel free to use the hashtag #minimalistbaker on instagram for us to see the photo. Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
I spent over half an hour doing this in my Breville 12 cup mixer workhorse (BFP660). I used the 14oz Great Value sweetened flaked coconut I bought from Walmart (with all the additives : Ingredients: COCONUT, SUGAR, WATER, PROPYLENE GLYCOL (SUSTAINS FRESHNESS), SALT, SODIUM METABISULFITE (TO RETAIN WHITENESS)).
After about 10 min, I saw that I wasn’t going to get past the finely shredded phase, so I plopped in a heaping Tbsp of unrefined coconut oil (44g). After about another five minutes of processing, it was looking a little better, but not getting far. By now the flakes, that took up almost the whole bowl in the beginning, were shredded down to taking up only 2-3 cups. I thought maybe the blades didn’t have enough material to work with. So I got out the mini-bowl (3 cup?) for the Breville, and started processing in that. Only seemed a tiny bit better. Plus, I sliced off the end of my silicone spatula twice, trying to keep the coconut falling down into the center instead of climbing the sides. (I was putting the spatula through the opening in the pusher.) At about the 20-25min mark, when I was thinking of giving up soon, I decided to put in a couple Tbsp of hot water. This produced a noticeable result after a few more minutes. The mixture was finally starting to look a little like coconut butter. After about 30min (total), I added two more tablespoons of hot water. After a few more minutes, it started looking even better, and even resembled coconut butter. I never got it quite to the consistency of Artisana’s coconut butter (which is almost perfectly smooth), but I got it close enough for making Millionaire Cranberry Salad. Actually, my final product looks very much like the picture in the top of the page with the hand, spoon, jar, and measuring cup of dry, shredded coconut.
In the future, I think I’ll start with the hot water very early on, after the coconut has shredded down a lot, and will probably switch again to using the small processing bowl once the coconut has compacted down in the large processing bowl. I’m wondering if it’s lack of moisture that kept the coconut from turning mushy. Or maybe the preservatives are interfering???
But despite the final result not being very smooth, it is still quite yummy and doesn’t have that uncomfortable texture that I find in flaked coconut.
Hi Sylvia, sorry to hear it was more challenging than expected! But way to problem solve! We think the issue is probably the size of the container. We like to use an 8 cup food processor for this batch size in order for there to be enough volume to get it into a butter.
Hi!
I tried it, using the coconut flakes already sweetened because it was the only one I had it in my house. It didn’t worked, I put it in the processor for like 10 mins and never made it as a butter ? also tried with the raw natural coconut and didn’t ? if you could help me. Please!
Hi Michelle, it sounds like maybe your food processor isn’t powerful enough. Would you mind sharing which one you used?
Thank you for posting this information. I have trouble digesting shredded coconut and wondered if a food processor would make it smaller. I’m glad to know that it will.
Hey! I made this and it turned out great. The second day I went to go use it, and it got really, really hard. Any tips for softening it up? I was thinking of putting it back in the food processor and adding some coconut oil.
BTW: made a frosting with the coconut butter, maple syrup, and coconut flour. Really yummy.
yes! It firms up at room temperature. Simply add a little water to a saucepan and bring it to simmer, then place glass jar in there without the lid on until it melts. OR, take the lid off and microwave in 20 second increments until it’s runny again. No need to reblend or add oil.
So, everyone – if you have a food processor use that. If you have a stick blender, use that. If you have a coffee grider, use that.
You can use anything to blend your butter. Don’t be so stuck on a recipe’s rediculous suggestions that you give up!
I have a wonderful hand crank food processor, put my coconut in it and it just churned this into pulp. Nothing more, just pulp. Blended in a coffee grinder and I got the butter consistency I wanted.
Long story short. Use whatever you have. I’d probably have made my butter in seconds rather than hours hand cranking if I didn’t want to follow the recipes instructions of ‘only use a food processor’
Hi. Sounds great and can’t wait to try making the coconut butter. Just wondering, at the beginning of the post you say “Just one ingredient” but there are four. Am I missing something?
Hi Randie, only 1 ingredient is required. The rest are optional. Hope that clears up the confusion!
Sadly, after 45 minutes, still nothing but shredded coconut. I added water, milk, and coconut oil. Still nothing but wet coconut.
Max, may I ask what brand of food processor or blender you used? I’m wondering if it’s an equipment issue…Either that or perhaps the coconut flakes were the issue?
same here, i have a powerful food processor, tried for half an hour until machine got too hot. all i had was very finely cut coconut. I added some oil, nothing, then water and got a gritty paste. certainly not butter. I dont think this is even possible.
Hi Stephanie, sorry to hear that happened! Did you modify the recipe at all? We find that making smaller batches can cause this issue as there isn’t enough in the food processor to keep it blending. Or perhaps you have a larger food processor?
I have a magimix 5200xl and i used 300g of coconut , which gave a depth of about 2″, which is sufficient for the blender to work on comfortably.
Hmm, we aren’t familiar with that blender. How does it do with nut butters?
Hi. How long will this butter last in the fridge?
I don’t find it requires refrigeration, but I suppose you can. It keeps for 1 month or more!
Guessing my processor is not powerful enough or maybe the blades are tired. I ended up with something that was more like mashed potatoes. I gathered from the comments not to expect anything like super creamy butter but I don’t think I even got close. Sad. I was hoping to pour it over the no bake carrot cake balls, guess I’ll just dip them or something… It tastes great! But I’m worried about serving to someone who didn’t see me make it because of the weird texture.
Can I use Frozen coconut to make coconut butter?
We don’t think that will work as it will have too much liquid. Hope that helps!
This turned out amazingly. I was hesitant to try it because of all the reviews saying it didn’t work. I did it with my Hamilton Beach Food Processor and only took about 5 minutes. So glad I tried it because I haven’t been able to find coconut butter very easily. Tastes wonderful! Now I can make that Tropical Fat Bomb I’ve been anxious to try.
I read in many recipes that it isn’t recommended to use a Magic Bullet or similar blender but that’s exactly what I used and it came out unbelievably great! The only thing I did was half the recipe and it worked perfectly. I used Bob’s Red Mill shredded coconut and added a 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract when it started acting like it was too thick and it only took about 10-15 minutes. Thanks so much for this recipe as I am a huge coconut lover. (my only problem with this recipe is that it never lasts long after I make it)
Hi. I’d like mine to have a deep browned flavor. If I toast the shredded coconut first do you think it will still turn into the right consistency?
Thanks,
Jen
Good question! We haven’t tried and don’t know for sure.. but if you experiment with it, report back on how it goes! Good luck!
Hello Jen,
I am surprised it wasn’t mentioned in the above reply in February 2019, but there is a very similar recipe to make coconut butter using toasted, unsweetened, flaked coconut–right here on Bakerita. I just looked at it and plan to make it real soon. Good luck!
It’s been a while but I believe I’ve made coconut butter using your recipe. I was wondering though, if I could toast the flakes first as I’ve tried a coconut butter made from toasted coconut (store-bought) in the distant past and it was scrumptious. Thanks in advance!
Sue Lerdo,
Please see my reply, just above, to Jen’s question, which was essentially the same question as yours. You can probably go to the Bakerita recipe index to search for it. I can’t wait to make the toasted coconut version myself! Good luck.
I used my Cuisinart foot processor and I was getting coconut flour for after what seems like forever. I added a little bit of water slowly and got butter almost instantly.
I just made this and I agree with others who have said it’s difficult to not just eat it by itself. Lol I’m planning to try it on the cinnamon roll oatmeal tomorrow morning. It took me about 20 minutes to make, but I only had 1 bag of shredded coconut (about 2 cups instead of the suggested 3 to 4 cups), so I had to do alot of stopping and scraping. Next time I’ll use 2 bags and I think that will be much quicker and easier.
Hi! I make my own coconut milk. Can I use the pulp from the process to make the butter? Do I need to dry it out in the over first?
Hi Camila,
We aren’t sure it would work to use the pulp since some of the flavor may get lost. Hope that helps!
I’ve just made it and it came out perfect! I have a regular food processor and it took 30 minutes to get the right texture..
The R-oreos are really delicious!!! perfect recipe!! Thank you!
3-4 minutes in my nutri bullet, turned out perfect! 2-3 cups of coconut gave me 1/2 cup of butter. Yum! Thanks
Whoop!
I was excited to find the carob bar recipe you have, but I got nervous when I saw I would need this coconut butter for it. My food processor is tiny and barely functional- its better suited for more liquidy things like pesto. I saw some of the comments that reccommended using a VitaMix so I tried using my magic bullet. It would get stopped up after a few seconds so it took a while to get it nice and creamy, but it worked! Thanks for the recipe. :)
Hi,
I just made this today! It’s incredibly easy but takes patience! I have a Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro 2000W Food processor which I was able to successfully make homemade almond butter twice before. Into the food processor, I add 500grams of dessicated coconut because my food processor is a bit big (has 3.7L capacity). It probably took me a lot longer than 20 mins but that’s because I only process for 30 seconds each time then stop. So there were a lot of breaks. But it works! I’ll post the photos in Instagram and tag #minimalistbaker. Thank you for this recipe! Altho, I didn’t add anything extra after. Oh and I think I got more or less 450grams of coconut butter as a result.
Hi Dana! Do you have any suggestions on making other types of vegan butters? I’m not a fan of coconut butter for the texture. Thanks! :-)
Not quite yet, Ashley but be on the lookout for more as we are always adding new recipes to the site :)
I thought I would leave a comment that might help someone else. So it did take me like 20min to get the shredded coconut to turn into coconut butter. It wasn’t working for me at first but I noticed if you add between 1-4 tablespoons of coconut oil that it turns liquidly pretty fast.
This is what I had todo as well. I mixed mine in my food processor first but it was taking forever so I changed and used my Vitamix instead which I should have used in the first place. I think it turned out, since I’ve never had coconut butter before I’m unsure of the texture. It was creamy but not real creamy like butter!
Welllll……first I tried it in my commercial vitamix….no luck. Moved it over to my KitchenAid mixer and have been at it for over half and hour and I still only have a pasty cornmeal. Would LOVE to know what I could podsibly be screwing up?
Sorry to hear that, Lisa! We have had the most success with our food processor and would recommend using one if you have.
I followed directions using organic shredded coconut. It broke down into small shredded particles but never even slightly got creamy. I finally resorted to adding about one Tbs of milk (don’t have coconut oil). My Kitchen Aid food processor has 5 speed settings plus pulse. It still didn’t get creamy, just made lumps from the milk. The processor got hot to the touch and the coconut started to steam. I think I burned out the motor. Don’t know what to do with the semi-processed coconut.
Janice, sorry you had trouble with your coconut butter. Sounds to me like it was a problem of your kitchen aid processor (although I know people who have had success with some of their models). I can only speak for my 7-cup cuisinart, which churns perfect coconut butter every time.
I personally had no trouble making it in a blender. I did two and a half cups of coconut flakes in a personal sized attatcement for my ninja blender. I also added one or two tablespoons of coconut oil, that seemed to help.
Thanks for sharing, Virginia!
I tried this in my food processor (Oster) and made it in 5minutes. Thanks.
I just CANNOT get passed the stage shown in that second picture.
I’ve gone through, now, 2 different food processors and it’s just not working for me.
I saw somewhere else that sometimes you get a bag that just won’t breakdown , so you add a couple tbsps of coconut oil. Tried that as well. I just can’t get it passed the weird grainy, sticky stage.
Do you have any suggestions for me?
Took me an our and the kitchen is a mess but i got it?. First tried in my kitchenaid blender until smoke came out ?. Then i put it in a kind of nutribullit with the grinder blade and it was ready in less then a minute ?
Greetings from the Netherlands
My two cents: it’s a matter of quality coconut shreds. Do yourself a favour and grab some high-quality organic shredded coconut from the Whole Foods bulk bin section (a~$1.50 for a cup) and you’ll be amazed. I just got some and within 3 minutes in my $29.99 Ninja food processor, I had a delicious coconut butter. No issues at all!
I tried making this with my Vitamix and it turned out to be too dry..? Is it because I use the more dry bulk section shredded coconut? Should I use the more moist coconut in the bag?
That may have been part of it, but we also have not had success with a Vitamix for this recipe 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. We recommend using a food processor like this one.
I just made it with coconut flakes! Delicious! You can still taste a little bit of grain but it’s still really good! Now I just don’t know how to eat it ?
Hi Joanna! 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! Hope this helps!
There are several fat bomb recipes and other Keto recipes that call for coconut butter as well.
I have fat bombs on my To Do list today :)
Wow, who knew. Thank you for this. I picked up a 500g bag of natural coconut flakes yesterday for next to nothing, around $2,25, so I thought I would give it a go in my Nutribullet. It turned out perfectly! I used the milling blade and filled my cup to capacity with the flakes. Once it got to paste stage, I emptied it into a clean bowl and repeated the first step until I had enough paste to fill my cup 1/3. I then switched to the regular blade and let it run into a beautiful smooth butter.
Thanks for sharing, Sam!
Thanks so much for the recipe and inspiration! I used 2 cups coconut in the 4-cup workbowl included with a 12-cup Cuisinart food processor. Had to scrape frequently, but the recipe worked well!
I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this when I made it – thanks so much for publishing it I live in a small community and was finding it difficult to purchase. Now I will continue to make my own as it is much better than the stuff I did eventually find to buy
The Ninja blender works perfect for this. The food processor does not. I have the Ninja Kitchen System that includes both the processor and the blender.
Thanks, I have tried twice in my ninja food processor And never got cream, I also have the blender and will give it a try.
I am wondering why you would put it on ice cream?
We love it on our ice cream, but if that isn’t your jam, feel free to put it on muffins, waffles, pancakes, smoothies,ice cream, or oats!
Just grabbed your recipe from Mama Eats Plants. It worked great in the vitamix for me! Well… I should say the end result was great. All I could find was one 8oz bag of unsweetened coconut at the store, so I think it took a little longer. I had to scoot down the flakes from the 4 corners of the vitamix almost constantly as it blended (I did low speed option at about 50%). Also found it helpful not to add all of the coconut at once. It took about 10-15 minutes of this before it turned into butter. Lastly- Don’t refrigerate it! It turns into concrete;)
Q: Does this have any grit or texture, or is it completely creamy? Thanks.
I’m no expert, but I found it to be buttery the first day… but when it hardens, it is a little grainy. Delicious nonetheless:)
Thanks!
Worked like a charm in my vitamix. I used the Trader Joe’s organic unsweetened coconut flakes. In be beginning I used the tamper-thing to smush around the coconut flakes, and then just let the blender do it’s thing once it got to stage two.
(For reference I started in my Ninja bullet/cup blender because I didn’t want to pull out my vitamix and it wasn’t looking promising. After switching to the vitamix I had coconut butter in 2-3 minutes.)
Thanks for the recipe! I was curious about coconut butter, but didn’t want to buy a whole jar from the store. Glad I could try it out with a couple of dollars worth of coconut flakes instead.
Made this as a frosting for the carrot cake (also from this website) and it complemented the flavours perfectly. I added a bit of coconut cream, to thin it (probably the food processor I have is less powerful) and also some agave syrup, as my friends like their sweets, sweeyt! :) everyone loved it. Thanks for sharing!
This didn’t work for me at all. I have a very efficient food processor, blended it for 30 minutes and finally gave up.
We’re sorry to hear you had some issues with this recipe, Penny.. 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!
I made this today in my 9-cup Cuisinart food processor. I used about 3.5 cups of shredded unsweetened coconut from the bulk bin at my local natural food store. It took just under 10 minutes. Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing, Mandy! Hope you enjoyed :D
Just made this and it turned out perfectly! Followed all of the instructions and after about 8 minutes I got a thick, creamy coconut butter! So excited to use this and to be able to make it at home so easily and inexpensively.
I dusted off my old food processor which, to be honest, I had forgotten about! I am thrilled with the results and it didn’t take as long as I thought it would! Excited to look for recipes to use it in! Thanks so much ?
I used my Vitamix, it worked great! I did have to add a small amount of coconut oil, as it was too dry. It is yummy and so easy to make and took less than 5 minutes. Thanks for the great recipe, I’m sure I will make it again.
I purchased a fresh coconut. If I shred it myself, to your knowledge, will it make coconut butter?
We have not tried, and can’t say for sure. If you give it a try though, report back!
Just made this using a vitamix! Took maybe 5-8 minutes! So yummy!
Yay! Thanks for sharing, Kayla!
Hi. I just discovered your site! I’m so excited to try your recipes. I have a question…I HATE coconut. I do use coconut oil which doesn’t seem to have a strong coconut flavor at all. What can I use instead when recipes call for coconut flakes? Thank you so much. I’m ready to eat healthy with easy recipes!
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!
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!
This is the one I used (the 16 oz chopper bowl with about 1 cup of high-quality coconut) and it worked like a charm within 3 minutes or so: https://www.amazon.com/Blender-Processor-450-Watt-Smoothies-QB1004/dp/B004XK4N9C
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?
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 did the same process with fresh coconut which was firm, but not dry. I cut it into 1″ chunks and
threw it in the food processor. I also wanted it to be creamy; therefore, I threw it in my Vita-Mix and
added some coconut oil. It needed to be tampered quite a while to get to the creamy stage.
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).
This was absolutely delicious and easy to make!
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..
I used the NutriBullet with the milling blade, works pretty fast.
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.
Hi, can I use fresh coconut or should it be dry n desiccated from a packet?
Hi Shruti! We recommend desiccated unsweetened coconut.
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 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!
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.
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!!!
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!
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!
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!
Hi
Has anyone mentioned a magic bullet working?
Also can we freeze this?
Love your recipes!
Hi! We haven’t tried and can’t say for sure, but if you do, report back!
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!
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!
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
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…
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!
Could I use larger coconut flakes for this recipe ?
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!
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
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
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 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.
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 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!
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!!
Worked like a charm!
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!
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.
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’ve just made it in my regular vitamix pitcher and took 2 mins tops on high speed. It’s nice and creamy/smooth, but quite liquidy. Do you think I overblended it? It is supposed to be smooth? Or have some texture/thickness?
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?
I have found that adding a tbsp of coconut oil can help get it going in the right direction.
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.
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
Ninja not worky for this.
Turned out great for me!!! Thanks for the idea.
I used my Cuisinart food processor and it worked like a champ :)
What kind of horsepower mixer do you need at a minimum for this? I have a 450 hp.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Purchased less than $5.00 of organic unsweetened shredded coconut from the bins at Whole Foods. Broke out the big Cuisinart food processor. Less than 5 minutes later and only one scraping, I have beautiful, creamy coconut butter. Thank you for this simple recipe!
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?
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.
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!
do you think a Vita mix would do the job??
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 :-)
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.
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.
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!!
Over 20 minutes with a Ninja food processor and still not working, sadly I give up.
Ninja processor is your problem. Use a regular food processor
The issue is that when using flakes of coconut they tend to get blown to the sides, and or below and above the blades. What I found worked good was to use the FP for 5 min stirring the mixture from the sides. Then switch to the individual Single serve cup to get the weight of the flakes to be forced down. That’s when the magic happens. I did have to scrap the sides once or twice. So, if you are having issues, it is probably not the fault of the equipment, but the weight of the coconut. Hope this helps. If you go straight to the individual single serve it could make your Ninja work to hard.
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.
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?
Possibly. Might just have to add some coconut oil or creamer coconut for a little liquids to use.
Not a lot a a time. Tablespoon most and see what happens. Then add more if needed
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!
This is amazing!! Thanks for the recipe.
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!
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
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!!
Would coconut flakes work?
That’s what I used…in a vitamix… no go.
I use flakes, that I buy in bulk that still have the brown peel-like stuff around the edge, in my vita-mix. It takes about 2 minutes. After a minute or so, I hold the tamper down on it, moving it now and again to a different side. I think that the heat has something to do with it working. There has to be enough coconut to cover the blades even after it’s been chopped into little teeny pieces. I end up with about a cup of delicious, almost liquidy coconut butter. I chill it to make a semi-hard candy — mmmm good. (It’s the same way I make nut butters.) My only problem is that it takes about ten minutes to get it all out of the blender. For that, a food processor would be lots easier.
I heard flakes actually make a better product. Less gritty.
I would encourage a good processor and NOT a blender on steroids (vitamin). Not a good set upofor this process
Who knew it was this easy! Forget buying 15 dollar jars!! Thanks for the recipe!
Yay! Glad it worked out!
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
Okay, so I see this thread is old, but last (and first) time I made the Raw Oreos I was at my daughter’s in Florida and all she had was a blender. It was just okay–but the flavor was great! Today I tried it again at home using my Black & Decker food processor and only got like what another poster identified as crumbly “coconut flour.” Then I broke out the Vitamix (which I had avoided using because Dana emphasized a ‘food processor’) but after about 15 minutes on high it got super hot, it started smelling like burning plastic and roasted coconut – so I settled for a pasty version. Nothing like the runny creamy butter pictured. Used unsweetened organic coconut threads from Frazier Farms…super frustrating. :(
Also used the B&D for the ‘cookie’ but it’s really crumbly. May soak the almonds next time. Any input on that? The taste is good. (Don’t over-salt!)
I have a commercial Vitamix and am having a significant amount of trouble getting the coconut to turn into “butter”…just letting my blender cool off for a bit then I will try some more!
Add a teaspoon of coconut oil (refined if you want less coconut flavor). Blend more, should start getting better. I’ had to add up to 3 teaspoons.
Depends in the type, age, of flakes as well as how good the machine is.
I have a mediocre machine and do 12 oz bag of Publix greenwise unsweetened and it takes between 7 and 12 minutes.
Good luck.
I started with blender, switched to food processor, finally added coconut oil and that was the trick for my older machine (easily 12 years old) It’s now in the garbage, the processor not the butter so I will buy a new unit and try again.
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.
I wonder if using a small amount of coconut oil or coconut cream would help the ineffective equipment out?.?. After all when making pesto you need to add oil until it blends smooth. Just a thought.
Yes, I use coconut oil, spoon or drizzle som in a little bit at a time. Let it work and make sure you are scraping down the sides often.
I also used my new black and decker processor and got nothing but crumbly coconut could it be because I bought the coconut atbulk barn.
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!
This looks so yummy! I never imagined it was so easy to make your own. I’ll definitely be trying this! :D