Shortening substitutes

Shortening substitutes — 8 options, ranked, with the exact amount

Also called vegetable shortening, all-vegetable shortening, baking shortening, Crisco, white vegetable fat, solid vegetable fat

Use thisBest of 8 options

Use Butter

1 cup + 2 tbsp for every 1 cup shortening

Butter is the swap most people should make: use 1 cup plus 2 tbsp butter per cup of shortening, because butter is only 80% fat. Expect cookies to spread more and brown more, and a pie crust to taste better but be a little less flaky.

Verdict —: Tweak it
The tweak —: Room temperature (about 65-67F) for creaming, cold and cubed for pastry.
Best for —: when you want the bake to actually taste of something
Pantry —: Likely in your cupboard

Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps

But first: what’s the shortening doing?

Pick your case

Why did the recipe ask for shortening rather than butter?

You need a fat that stays in solid pieces until the oven gets to it. Lard behaves closest, butter tastes best, and half butter plus half shortening is the crust most bakers land on. See our page on shortening substitutes for pie crust at for pie crust.
Notes on butter or lard
1 cup + 2 tbsp per cup
The 117F melting point is doing that. Butter melts 25F earlier, so butter cookies spread. Swap in butter and chill the dough 30 minutes, or use half butter and half shortening. There is more on this at for cookies.
Notes on butter or stick margarine
1 cup + 2 tbsp per cup
Any solid fat that creams will do it: butter, stick margarine or a vegan butter block, each at 1 cup plus 2 tbsp per cup. If the frosting has to survive a warm room, keep at least half the shortening, because butter alone goes soft by about 80F.
Notes on butter, stick margarine or vegan butter block
1 cup + 2 tbsp per cup
Here shortening is only a heat-carrying fat and almost anything works. Use a neutral oil for frying (shortening smokes at about 360F / 182C, canola holds to 400-450F) or a thin film of oil or butter for the tin.
This is the only case where plain oil works: 1 cup oil per cup of shortening, since both are 100% fat. In pastry, biscuits or cookies it will not.

Ask why the recipe wanted shortening rather than butter. If the answer is height, flake or heat resistance, you need another solid fat and you need the 2 tbsp correction. If the shortening was only ever going to be melted, oil will do. If the answer is nothing in particular, use butter and enjoy the flavour.

Job by job2 jobs

Shortening is 100% fat with no water and no flavour, and it melts at about 117F (47C), well above butter's 90-95F. That high melting point is the point: the dough sets in the oven before the fat melts, which is what keeps cookies tall and pastry in flakes.

Fat & richnessprimary

Coats flour and blocks water from the gluten, which is literally what shortening means: it shortens the gluten strands, so the crumb is tender and the crust crumbles instead of chewing.

Aerationprimary

Being solid and plastic across a wide temperature range, it takes and holds air when beaten with sugar, which is the lift in a creamed cake and the fluff in an American frosting.

Every option, one card

Ranked · per 1 cup shortening

Shortening substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of 1 cup shortening	Verdict
1	Butterwhen you want the bake to actually taste of something	1 cup + 2 tbsp butterTweak it	Tweak it
2	Stick margarinewhen you want to keep the neutral, unflavoured result shortening gives	1 cup + 2 tbsp stick margarineTweak it	Tweak it
3	Lardpie crust and biscuits when maximum flakiness is the goal	1 cupTweak it	Tweak it
4	Vegan butter blockdairy-free baking where you also want a buttery taste	1 cup + 2 tbsp vegan butter blockTweak it	Tweak it
5	Coconut oil (refined, solid)dairy-free pastry, worked quickly in a cool kitchen	1 cup, scooped solid and packedYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
6	Unsweetened applesaucecutting the fat in a muffin or quick bread by half while keeping the flavour neutral	½ cup plus ½ cup shortening or butterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
7	Mashed ripe bananabakes where banana flavour is welcome anyway, like banana bread or spice muffins	½ cup mashed very ripe banana plus ½ cup shortening or butterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
8	Vegetable oila soft batter where the shortening was only ever melted or beaten into liquid	1 cup neutral oilYou'll taste it	You'll taste it

What changesWhat changes, option by option8 options

Butter

much better, and clearly dairy; this is the reason to make the swap

A solid fat that creams and cuts into flour the same way, but only 80% fat, so you need a little more of it and you have to manage its lower melting point.

Covers: Fat & richness; Aeration

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup + 2 tbsp butter for 1 cup shortening
Then: chill the dough 30 minutes before rolling or baking, because butter melts about 25F earlier
Best for: when you want the bake to actually taste of something, pie crust where flavour matters more than maximum flake, creamed cakes and cookies you are happy to chill first
Texture: cookies are thinner and crisper at the edge; pastry is tender but slightly less flaky
Look: everything browns deeper and more golden, and cookies come out flatter and wider than the shortening version
Prep: Room temperature (about 65-67F) for creaming, cold and cubed for pastry.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegetarian
Contains: dairy

Add 2 tbsp extra butter per cup of shortening, because butter is 80% fat and shortening is 100%.
Chill the dough 30 minutes before it goes in the oven. Butter melts at 90-95F against shortening's 117F, which is why butter cookies spread.
If your butter is salted and the recipe already has salt, cut the recipe's salt by about ¼ tsp per stick (½ cup) used.

Half butter and half shortening is the answer most bakers settle on: butter for the flavour, shortening for the height and the flake. This page's earlier advice that butter is a straight 1 cup for 1 cup swap was wrong, and the 2 tbsp is the reason.

For a frosting that must hold its shape in a warm room, replace at most half the shortening with butter.

Stick margarine

close to shortening, slightly salty, with a faint oily background

Made from vegetable oils and water to about 80% fat, so like butter it needs the extra 2 tbsp, but it costs less and has no dairy flavour to add.

Covers: Fat & richness; Aeration

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup + 2 tbsp stick margarine (the firm block, about 80% fat) for 1 cup shortening
Then: chill the dough 30 minutes, as margarine is softer than shortening at room temperature
Best for: when you want to keep the neutral, unflavoured result shortening gives, cheap everyday baking where butter is not worth it, when the only solid fat in the fridge is margarine
Texture: softer and a little greasier; cookies spread more than the shortening version
Look: browns slightly more than shortening but less than butter, and cookies are flatter
Prep: Use straight from the fridge for pastry, at room temperature for creaming.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegetarian

Add 2 tbsp per cup, same as butter, because tub-free stick margarine is about 80% fat.
Use the firm stick or block only. Tub and light spreads run 35-60% fat and will make a wet, slack dough.
Chill the dough 30 minutes; margarine is noticeably softer than shortening at kitchen temperature.

Read the label if you need it dairy-free, because a lot of margarine contains whey or milk solids.

Do not use tub spread, and do not use it for a frosting that has to hold in the heat.

Lard

faintly savoury and porky unless it is leaf lard, which is close to neutral

Rendered pork fat, also 100% fat and solid at room temperature, with larger fat crystals that make it the flakiest pastry fat of the lot.

Covers: Fat & richness; Aeration

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup lard for 1 cup shortening
Best for: pie crust and biscuits when maximum flakiness is the goal, tortillas, tamales and empanadas where a savoury note is welcome, frying, since it holds to about 370F (188C)
Texture: flakier than shortening in pastry, with bigger visible layers
Look: the crust puffs into more distinct leaves and browns a little deeper
Prep: Chill and cube it for pastry; it softens faster than shortening does.
Suits: dairy-free, gluten-free
Contains: pork

No amount change: lard and shortening are both 100% fat, so it is cup for cup.
Keep it cold for pastry. Lard softens from about 95F, sooner than shortening's 117F.
In a sweet bake, taste the lard first. Leaf lard is mild and nearly neutral; ordinary rendered back fat has a faint savoury pork note that you will notice in a plain sugar cookie.

This is the fat American pie crust was built on before shortening existed, and it is still the flakiest option. It is pork, so it is out for anyone avoiding pork.

Fine in savoury and in most sweet baking. Avoid it in a delicate white cake or a frosting, where the pork note has nowhere to hide.

Vegan butter block

buttery, with a faint coconut or oily note depending on brand

A foil-wrapped plant-based block built to about 79-80% fat so it creams and cuts in like butter, and it brings a buttery flavour shortening does not have.

Covers: Fat & richness; Aeration

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup + 2 tbsp vegan butter block for 1 cup shortening
Then: chill it 20 minutes first, because it softens faster than shortening
Best for: dairy-free baking where you also want a buttery taste, vegan pastry that still has to hold cold pieces of fat, vegan cakes that rise from creamed air
Texture: close to butter: a little softer than shortening, so slightly more spread
Look: browns more than shortening and looks more golden at the edges
Prep: Chill 20 minutes, then cream or cube as the recipe requires.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free, vegetarian

Add 2 tbsp per cup, as with butter, because it is about 80% fat.
Buy the block, not the tub spread.
Most are salted, so cut the recipe's added salt by about ¼ tsp per ½ cup used.

The one swap here that is both dairy-free and capable of creaming, which is why it is worth buying for vegan cakes rather than reaching for oil.

Coconut oil (refined, solid)

neutral if refined, distinctly coconut if virgin

Also 100% fat and solid at cool room temperature, but it melts at 76F (24C), so it swings from hard to liquid across a few degrees instead of staying plastic like shortening.

Covers: Fat & richness
Misses: Aeration — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup refined coconut oil, scooped solid and packed for 1 cup shortening
Then: chill the oil and the finished dough, since it turns liquid at 76F (24C)
Best for: dairy-free pastry, worked quickly in a cool kitchen, bakes you want to set firm in the fridge, when the recipe just needs a solid fat and there is no butter or shortening
Texture: harder and more brittle when cool; cookies snap rather than bend
Look: pastry looks paler and the layers are shorter and less distinct than the shortening version
Prep: Scoop solid and packed into the cup; do not melt it first.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Contains: coconut

Cup for cup: both are 100% fat.
Use refined coconut oil for a neutral taste. Virgin coconut oil tastes clearly of coconut.
Chill everything, and work fast. Above 76F the fat is liquid and you get a sandy crust instead of flakes.

In a kitchen above about 76F this behaves like oil and any recipe relying on solid fat will fail. In a cool kitchen it is a decent stand-in.

It creams poorly because of that narrow solid-to-liquid window, so avoid it where the lift comes from beaten air.

Unsweetened applesauce

faintly fruity and less rich

Water, sugar and pectin with no fat at all, so it can add moisture to a soft batter and cannot do anything else shortening was doing.

Covers: Moisture & hydration
Misses: Fat & richness — not covered; Aeration — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup unsweetened applesauce plus ½ cup shortening or butter for 1 cup shortening
Best for: cutting the fat in a muffin or quick bread by half while keeping the flavour neutral, soft cakes where a damper, denser crumb is acceptable
Texture: wetter and gummier, more like a steamed pudding
Look: flatter and paler on top, with a close damp crumb rather than an open one
Prep: Stir it into the wet ingredients; it cannot be creamed with sugar.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free

Replace at most half the shortening. All of it gives a tough, rubbery bake.
Use unsweetened; if yours is sweetened, cut the recipe's sugar by 2 tbsp per ½ cup used.
Bake about 5 minutes longer and test with a skewer, because the extra water slows the centre.

Nothing here coats the flour, and that coating is exactly what the word shortening describes, so the result is tougher rather than tenderer.

Half at most, and only in muffins, quick breads and soft cakes. Never in pastry, biscuits, cookies or frosting.

Mashed ripe banana

clearly of banana, and sweeter

A fruit puree with roughly the moisture of applesauce and a flavour you cannot hide, which is either the point or a problem.

Covers: Moisture & hydration
Misses: Fat & richness — not covered; Aeration — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup mashed very ripe banana plus ½ cup shortening or butter for 1 cup shortening
Then: mash it completely smooth first, or you will get wet streaks through the crumb
Best for: bakes where banana flavour is welcome anyway, like banana bread or spice muffins, when you want to cut the fat and have overripe bananas to use up
Texture: moist and dense, with a slightly sticky crumb
Look: the crumb goes noticeably darker and can look grey-brown at the edges
Prep: Mash with a fork until there are no lumps, then whisk into the wet ingredients.
Suits: vegan, dairy-free

Replace at most half the shortening.
Use bananas with black-spotted skins; underripe ones taste starchy and will not mash smooth.
Banana is sweet, so cut the recipe's sugar by 2 tbsp per ½ cup used.

Bananas also brown the crumb, so a pale vanilla cake made this way will not look like the picture.

Half at most, and only where banana belongs in the finished flavour.

Vegetable oil

the same blank nothing shortening gives

The same 100% fat as shortening but liquid, which means the amount is right and the physical state is wrong for everything shortening is usually chosen for.

Covers: Fat & richness
Misses: Aeration — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup neutral oil for 1 cup shortening
Best for: a soft batter where the shortening was only ever melted or beaten into liquid, greasing a tin, and frying
Texture: in a batter, moister and a bit denser; in pastry or cookies, sandy and greasy with no layers
Look: cookies spread into thin greasy discs, and a pie crust comes out solid and pale rather than puffed in leaves
Prep: Stir it into the wet ingredients; there is nothing to cream.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free

Cup for cup on fat, so no arithmetic. The problem is not the amount.
Do not use it in a recipe that creams the shortening or cuts it into flour cold. There is no ratio that fixes a liquid fat in those recipes.

The earlier version of this page called oil a straight 1:1 swap without saying that it destroys pastry and creamed cookies. It is only a swap where the fat was going to be liquid anyway.

Only for batters, greasing and frying. Never for pastry, biscuits, cookies or frosting.

Don’t swap it here

4 cases

Pie crust, biscuits or any dough where you cut cold fat into flour, and the only fat you have is oil.Use butter, lard, stick margarine or cold refined coconut oil. If you have none of them, make a crumble topping or a soda bread instead, both of which are fine with oil.
A frosting or piped decoration that has to hold its shape in a warm room, and you want to swap all the shortening for butter.Keep at least half the shortening and use butter for the other half, so you get some flavour and keep the structure.
Deep frying in butter or margarine because the shortening ran out.Fry in a refined neutral oil with a smoke point above 400F (205C), or in lard, which holds to about 370F (188C).
Replacing all the shortening with applesauce or mashed banana.Cap the puree at half the fat, and only in muffins, quick breads and soft cakes.

Safety

2 notes

Allergen
Shortening itself is dairy-free and usually all-vegetable, but the swaps are not: butter and most margarine contain dairy, lard is pork, and coconut oil is a coconut product. Check the label on shortening too, because a few products are animal-fat blends.
Diet
US shortenings were reformulated after the Food and Drug Administration ruled that partially hydrogenated oils are no longer generally recognised as safe, so today's tubs are not the high trans-fat product older recipes and articles describe. Read the nutrition panel on the tub in front of you rather than relying on either claim.

If it went wrong

4 fixes

The cookies you made with butter instead of shortening spread into flat wide discs.Butter melts about 25F earlier, so the dough slumped before the structure set.Chill the rest of the dough for 30 minutes, scoop it cold, and space the cookies further apart. For the batch after that, use half butter and half shortening.
The pie crust came out hard and pale rather than flaky.The fat melted into the flour before baking, which happens if you used oil or let a solid fat warm up.You cannot re-flake a baked crust. Next time freeze the cubed fat for 10 minutes, use ice water, and stop mixing while you can still see pea-sized lumps of fat.
The buttercream went soupy and started weeping.All-butter frosting in a room above about 80F.Chill the bowl 20 minutes and rewhip. If it is still slack, beat in 2-3 tbsp shortening per cup of frosting to raise its melting point.
The dough is dry and cracks when you roll it, after swapping shortening for butter.You matched the volume without adding the extra 2 tbsp, so the dough is short of fat.Work in 1-2 tsp of cold water at a time until it just holds together. Rest it 20 minutes before rolling.

Measure it

6 measures

1 cup shorteningabout 190 g (1 tbsp is about 12 g)
Shortening composition100% fat, no water, no flavourButter and stick margarine are about 80% fat, which is where the extra 2 tbsp in every swap comes from.
Shortening to butter1 cup shortening = 1 cup + 2 tbsp butterAnd in reverse, 1 cup butter = 1 cup shortening + 2 tbsp water or milk.
Melting pointshortening about 117F (47C); butter 90-95F (32-35C); lard from about 95F; coconut oil 76F (24C)This single number decides whether cookies stay tall or spread, and whether a frosting holds in a warm room.
Smoke pointshortening about 360F (182C); lard about 370F (188C); canola 400-450F (205-230C)For deep frying, a refined neutral oil has more headroom than shortening does.
Sticksa baking-shortening stick is ½ cup, the same volume as a stick of butterWhich is why the sticks are interchangeable by count as long as you add the 2 tbsp when moving to butter.

Questions

8 questions

Can I use butter instead of shortening, and how much?

Yes, and it is usually an improvement in flavour, but not cup for cup. Use 1 cup plus 2 tbsp butter per cup of shortening, because butter is about 80% fat and shortening is 100%. Then chill the dough for 30 minutes: butter melts at 90-95F while shortening holds to about 117F, so without the chill the cookies spread and the crust slumps.

What is the difference between shortening and butter in baking?

Two things. Composition: shortening is 100% fat with no water and no flavour, butter is about 80% fat, 16-18% water and 1-2% milk solids. And melting point: shortening holds its shape to about 117F (47C) while butter is soft by 90-95F. That is why shortening cookies stay tall and pale and butter cookies spread wider and brown more.

Can I use oil instead of shortening?

Only if the recipe was going to melt the shortening or beat it into a liquid batter, in which case use 1 cup oil per cup of shortening since both are 100% fat. In pie crust, biscuits or creamed cookies it will not work at any ratio: flakes need solid pieces of fat that survive until the oven melts them, and creaming needs a solid fat that can trap air.

Can I use lard instead of shortening?

Yes, cup for cup, because lard is also 100% fat and solid at room temperature. It makes flakier pastry than shortening, which is what American pie crust was originally built on. Leaf lard is mild and close to neutral, while ordinary rendered lard carries a faint savoury pork note that you will notice in a plain sugar cookie but not in a savoury pie.

What is the best shortening substitute for pie crust?

Half butter and half lard, or half butter and half shortening if you still have some. Butter brings flavour and browning, lard and shortening bring the flake. Whichever you use, cube it, freeze it 10 minutes, use ice water, and stop mixing while you can still see pea-sized pieces of fat in the flour.

Is there a vegan or dairy-free substitute for shortening?

Shortening is usually already dairy-free and vegan, so check the tub before you replace it. If you need an alternative, a vegan butter block at 1 cup plus 2 tbsp per cup creams and cuts in properly, and refined coconut oil works cup for cup as long as you keep it and the dough below 76F (24C).

Is shortening the same as vegetable shortening or Crisco?

In a recipe, yes. Shortening, vegetable shortening, all-vegetable shortening and the Crisco brand all mean white, solid, flavourless fat that is 100% fat and melts around 117F (47C). A very small number of products are animal-fat blends, so check the label if that matters to you.

Does shortening contain trans fats?

Older articles say yes, but US shortenings were reformulated after the Food and Drug Administration ruled that partially hydrogenated oils are no longer generally recognised as safe. The tub on the shelf today is a different product from the one those articles describe, so read the nutrition panel rather than trusting either claim.

Tips for substituting shortening

10 tips

Butter is the swap to make, but not cup for cup: use 1 cup plus 2 tbsp butter per cup of shortening, because butter is only 80% fat.
Then chill the dough 30 minutes. Butter melts at 90-95F and shortening at about 117F, and that gap is why butter cookies spread and butter crusts slump.
Half butter and half shortening is the standard compromise for pie crust and cookies: the butter brings flavour and browning, the shortening keeps the height and the flake.
Lard is the one cup-for-cup swap, since it is also 100% fat, and it makes flakier pastry than shortening does. Leaf lard is mild; ordinary lard has a faint savoury note.
Oil is only a swap where the shortening was going to be melted anyway. In pastry, biscuits or creamed cookies a liquid fat cannot make layers or hold air.
For a frosting that has to survive a warm room, keep at least half the shortening. All-butter buttercream starts to slump around 80F.
Applesauce or mashed banana can replace half the shortening in a muffin or quick bread. All of it makes the bake tough and pale.
Shortening smokes at about 360F (182C), so for deep frying a refined neutral oil at 400-450F gives you more room.
A baking-shortening stick is ½ cup, the same volume as a stick of butter, so you can swap stick for stick and add the 2 tbsp.
Vegetable shortening, all-vegetable shortening and Crisco all mean the same thing here: white, solid, flavourless 100% fat.

Source — US Food and Drug Administration final determination on partially hydrogenated oils (2015)

Baking drawer All ingredients