Vegetable Ghee substitute

Best substitute

Vegetable shortening (Crisco, Trex, Dalda-style white fat)

Use the same amount by weight as the vegetable ghee you are replacing

Best for nankhatai

Close match

Vegetable shortening is the correct swap, weight for weight, because it is the same kind of product under a different name and behaves identically in nankhatai, khari, samosa dough and mithai. Real ghee also works weight for weight and tastes considerably better, nutty and milky and rich, though it is softer at room temperature so doughs go slack faster and it is no longer vegan. Refined coconut oil is a good vegan alternative if your kitchen is cool enough for it to stay solid. The one thing to understand is that vanaspati is not ghee. It is a hard neutral fat designed to imitate ghee's look and firmness, so what a recipe calling for it actually wants is a hard neutral fat.

Other vegetable ghee substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Real ghee
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
A straight functional swap and a large flavor upgrade.
What changes
Ghee gives you a nutty, faintly caramelized, milky richness that vanaspati was designed to imitate and never achieved, so halwa, barfi, parathas and biscuits all taste more like the special-occasion version. Two things change. Ghee is softer at room temperature, so a rolled dough goes slack sooner and you will want to chill it between stages, and biscuits spread a little more. And it is a dairy product, so the dish is no longer vegan or suitable for anyone avoiding milk fat. For parathas and for anything fried, ghee is unambiguously better.
Best for
parathas, halwa, barfi, mithai, biryani, tempering spices, shallow frying
If a family recipe specifies vanaspati on purpose, it may be because the plainer taste is what that sweet is supposed to have. Ghee changes the character, usually for the better but not always toward tradition.
3Palm shortening
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The closest match in composition, since vanaspati is typically hardened palm oil or a palm blend.
What changes
It is firmer at room temperature than Crisco-style shortening and has a higher melting point, which matters in a warm kitchen and in any recipe where the fat has to set, such as barfi or a rolled biscuit dough. Neutral in flavor. Handles like the real thing straight from the tin, with no chilling needed. The only drawback is that it is a baking-supply item rather than a supermarket one in most places.
Best for
barfi, mithai, biscuit doughs, flaky parathas, warm-kitchen baking
This is the substitute to look for if your shortening keeps going soft on you.
4Refined coconut oil
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
A workable vegan option with one important limitation.
What changes
Refined coconut oil is flavorless and firmly solid below about 76F, so in a cool kitchen it behaves like a soft shortening and gives good short, crumbly biscuits and sets barfi properly. Above that temperature it turns to liquid, and a mithai relying on the fat to set will simply not set. Virgin coconut oil works the same way physically but tastes distinctly of coconut, which suits a coconut barfi and clashes with a plain nankhatai. Chill the dough and the tray.
Best for
vegan mithai, biscuits in a cool kitchen, coconut barfi, dairy-free parathas
Refined rather than virgin unless you want the coconut flavor. If your kitchen is over 77F, use palm shortening instead.
5Unsalted butter
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight, and hold back a little of the liquid
Delicious and widely available, but it changes the bake in three predictable ways.
What changes
Butter is fifteen to twenty percent water, so the dough is wetter and gluten develops more, making biscuits crisper and snappier rather than sandy and short. The milk solids brown, so pale biscuits like nankhatai come out golden instead of ivory. And butter melts far lower, so the dough spreads more in the oven and needs chilling. Excellent for parathas and for cakes, less faithful for the crumbly biscuit textures vanaspati is prized for.
Best for
parathas, cakes, rich biscuits, shallow frying
Reduce any added water or milk by a teaspoon or two per hundred grams of butter, and chill the dough before rolling.
6No good substitute: liquid oil where the fat must set
Taste and texture differ
Worth being blunt about, because it is the mistake people make.
What changes
In barfi, in a firm halwa, in nankhatai and in any flaky layered dough, the fat is solid at room temperature and that is the point. It coats flour without hydrating it, it keeps layers separate, and it sets the sweet as it cools. Swap in sunflower or vegetable oil and barfi stays a sticky paste that will not cut, biscuits spread into greasy discs, and layered pastry loses its layers. If liquid oil is genuinely all you have, choose a recipe designed for oil, such as an oil-based cake or a besan halwa, rather than fighting this one.
Best for
knowing which recipes cannot be rescued
For frying alone, liquid oil is fine. It is only structural roles that fail.

What is Vegetable Ghee?

Vegetable Ghee is a firm cream-colored hydrogenated vegetable fat sold across South Asia as vanaspati and under brand names such as Dalda, made to look and behave like dairy ghee even though it is a shortening rather than a dairy product.

Cooking tips

Vanaspati is not ghee, despite the name vegetable ghee, and the distinction changes what you should buy. Ghee is clarified butterfat with a strong nutty flavor. Vanaspati is hydrogenated vegetable oil formulated to match ghee's firmness and pale color while tasting of almost nothing. If a recipe says ghee, use ghee. If it says vanaspati or Dalda, it wants a hard neutral fat.
Dalda is a brand rather than a product, and the company now sells refined oils and other fats under the same name, so a recipe saying Dalda from an older cookbook almost certainly means the tinned hydrogenated fat rather than whatever bottle currently carries the label.
Weigh solid fats rather than measuring them in cups. Vanaspati recipes are written in grams because the fat is sold in tins, and how hard you pack a cup of shortening can change the amount by a third, which is the difference between a short crumbly biscuit and a greasy one.
The reason old mithai and bakery recipes specify vanaspati is often deliberate: the plain, slightly waxy neutrality is part of the flavor people remember from a particular sweet shop or biscuit. Upgrading to browned ghee makes the sweet richer but less like the original, so decide which you are aiming for.
Many people search for a vanaspati substitute specifically because they want to avoid partially hydrogenated fat and its trans fatty acids. If that is your reason, real ghee, palm shortening and refined coconut oil are all reasonable choices, and modern non-hydrogenated vegetable shortenings exist too, so it is worth reading the label.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave vegetable ghee out?

No. In every recipe that calls for it, the fat is doing structural work: shortening a biscuit dough, keeping pastry layers separate, or setting a barfi as it cools. Take it out and you get a hard flour paste or an unset sticky mess. You always need to put something in its place, and vegetable shortening weight for weight is the closest thing.

Is vanaspati the same as ghee?

No, and this is the most common confusion. Ghee is butter that has been simmered until the water evaporates and the milk solids toast, so it tastes nutty and milky. Vanaspati, sold as vegetable ghee, is hydrogenated vegetable oil, usually palm based, engineered to look and feel like ghee and to be much cheaper. It is essentially a shortening. Using real ghee in a vanaspati recipe works well and tastes better, but the reverse swap loses all the flavor.

What can I use instead of Dalda outside South Asia?

Vegetable shortening, meaning Crisco in North America or Trex and similar white vegetable fat in the UK, used weight for weight. It is the same kind of product and needs no adjustment in nankhatai, khari, samosa pastry or mithai. Palm shortening from a baking supplier is even closer because it is firmer. Real ghee is the tastier option if dairy is not an issue.

Can I use oil instead of vegetable ghee?

Only where the fat is simply a cooking medium, such as frying a samosa or tempering spices. Where the fat has to be solid, which covers biscuit doughs, layered parathas, khari and any barfi or set sweet, liquid oil will not work. It hydrates the flour instead of coating it, so biscuits spread and go greasy and barfi never firms up. Use a solid fat there, even if it means chilling coconut oil to get one.

Is butter a good substitute for vanaspati in nankhatai?

It works and tastes rich, but the biscuits change. Vanaspati and shortening are water free, which is what gives nankhatai that sandy, short, melting crumb and its pale color. Butter brings water and milk solids, so the biscuits come out crisper, snappier and golden brown, and they spread more in the oven. Chill the dough well and expect a good biscuit that is not quite the classic one. Ghee is closer in spirit if you want a dairy version.

Related substitutes

More oils & fats substitutes

Vegetable Ghee substitute

Other vegetable ghee substitutes

2Real ghee

3Palm shortening

4Refined coconut oil

5Unsalted butter

6No good substitute: liquid oil where the fat must set