Out of Butter, one case

Palm oil free butter alternatives

5 options, ranked, with the exact amount

Use thisBest of 5 options

Use Palm-oil-free vegan butter block

1 cup for every cup of butter

Butter itself contains no palm oil; the products sold in its place often do, including most stick margarine and vegetable shortening and many vegan butters. The palm-oil-free alternatives are a vegan butter block made with coconut oil or shea butter (1 cup per cup of butter), refined coconut oil (1 cup plus 2 tbsp water or milk per cup) and, where the recipe melts the butter, canola, sunflower or olive oil (¾ cup per cup). Read the ingredient list every time, because recipes change.

Verdict —: Tweak it
The tweak —: Chill it 20 minutes before creaming; these blocks soften faster than dairy butter.
Best for —: creamed cakes and cookies
Pantry —: Special trip

One casethe full butter card

Every option, one card

Ranked

Butter substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of 1 cup butter	Verdict
1	Palm-oil-free vegan butter blockcreamed cakes and cookies	1 cupTweak it	Tweak it
2	Refined coconut oildairy-free pastry and biscuits, kept cold	1 cup + 2 tbsp water or milkYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
3	Canola, sunflower or olive oilbrownies, muffins and quick breads	¾ cupYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
4	Gheefrying and searing	¾ cupYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
5	Lardpie crust and biscuits	1 cup + 2 tbsp water or milkYou'll taste it	You'll taste it

What changesWhat changes, option by option5 options

Palm-oil-free vegan butter block

close to butter, with a faint coconut or oily background that varies by brand

A firm block that gets its hardness from coconut oil, shea butter or cocoa butter in place of palm oil. Choose one with about 11 g of fat per tablespoon, the same as butter, and it creams, rolls and spreads the way butter does. Nothing else on this list does all three.

Best for: creamed cakes and cookies, pastry and pie crust, kept cold, frosting, spreading on toast
Prep: Chill it 20 minutes before creaming; these blocks soften faster than dairy butter.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Where it fails: Tub versions are softer and wetter; they slump in pastry and will not cream. A block from the same brand can still contain palm oil, so check each product.

Most are salted. If the recipe says unsalted butter, cut the added salt by about ¼ tsp per ½ cup used. Some are made with cashews or almonds, so check if you avoid nuts.

Refined coconut oil

neutral if refined, clearly coconut if virgin

A single-ingredient fat that is solid below 76°F (24°C), so it can stand in where butter has to be cold and firm. It is 100% fat and butter is about 80%, which is why the 2 tbsp of liquid goes in with it.

Best for: dairy-free pastry and biscuits, kept cold, no-bake bars that have to set firm, cookies you want crisp
Prep: Scoop it solid for pastry and chill the dough; melt it only when the recipe melts the butter.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Where it fails: Creaming. It goes from hard to liquid across a few degrees, so it cannot hold air the way softened butter does, and a cake that rises from creamed butter bakes up dense.

Canola, sunflower or olive oil

flatter, with no dairy note; olive oil adds its own flavor

The swap for any recipe that melts the butter. Oil is 100% fat and butter about 80%, so ¾ cup does the work of a cup.

Best for: brownies, muffins and quick breads, pancakes and cornbread, sautéing and roasting
Prep: Stir it into the wet ingredients and leave the recipe's other liquid alone.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Where it fails: Anything creamed and any pastry. Oil cannot hold air or stay in cold pieces, so cakes come out flat and crusts sandy.

Buy an oil named for one plant. A bottle labeled only vegetable oil is a blend, and in some countries that blend includes palm oil.

Ghee

nuttier and more concentrated than butter

Butter with the water and milk solids cooked out. It is dairy, it contains no palm oil, and it keeps the butter flavor at frying temperatures.

Best for: frying and searing, brushing on flatbread, rice and vegetables, melted-butter recipes where you want the dairy taste
Prep: In a batter, add 2 tbsp water or milk per cup of butter replaced.
Contains: dairy
Where it fails: It is not dairy-free and it will not cream. Check the tin: vanaspati, also sold as vegetable ghee, is hydrogenated vegetable oil and is usually made from palm.

Lard

savory and faintly porky unless it is leaf lard

Rendered pork fat: 100% fat and solid when cold, which is what a flaky crust needs. It does the job vegetable shortening does in pastry without the palm oil.

Best for: pie crust and biscuits, frying
Prep: Keep it cold and cut it into the flour as you would butter.
Where it fails: Not vegetarian, and wrong for frosting, shortbread or anything where butter is the flavor. Shelf-stable blocks are often partly hydrogenated; read the label.

Tips for substituting butter

4 tips

Read the ingredient list, not the front of the pack. Palm shows up as palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm fruit oil, palm olein or palm stearin.
Pick the fat by what the recipe does with the butter: a block for creaming, cold coconut oil or lard for pastry, liquid oil where the butter is melted.
Coconut-based blocks and coconut oil soften within a few degrees of room temperature. Chill cookie dough before it goes in the oven, or the cookies spread.
On bread or toast, olive oil is the simplest palm-free choice.

Questions

5 questions

Does butter contain palm oil?

No. Butter is churned cream, sometimes with salt. The products that usually contain palm oil are the ones sold in its place: stick margarine, baking sticks, vegetable shortening and many vegan butters and tub spreads. Spreadable butter blended with oil is usually made with canola or olive oil, but check the label.

Why do so many margarines and vegan butters use palm oil?

Palm oil and palm kernel oil are solid at room temperature without hydrogenation, so they give a spread or a baking stick its firmness. Palm-oil-free products get that firmness from coconut oil, shea butter or cocoa butter, which is why they soften faster in a warm kitchen.

How do I spot palm oil on a label?

Look for palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm fruit oil, palm olein and palm stearin in the ingredient list. Strict avoiders also check emulsifiers such as mono- and diglycerides and added vitamin A palmitate, which can be made from palm oil. A front-of-pack claim such as plant-based or dairy-free says nothing about palm.

What is the best palm-oil-free butter substitute for baking?

It depends on the method. For cakes and cookies that start by creaming butter with sugar, use a palm-oil-free vegan block, 1 cup per cup of butter, chilled 20 minutes first. For pie crust and biscuits, use cold refined coconut oil or lard, 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water or milk per cup. For brownies, muffins and quick breads that melt the butter, use ¾ cup canola, sunflower or olive oil per cup and leave the other liquid alone.

Is shortening palm oil free?

Usually not. Most vegetable shortening sold today is made from palm oil or a blend that includes it, so check the ingredient list. Refined coconut oil and lard do the same job in pastry: 1 cup plus 2 tbsp water or milk per cup of butter.