Homemade Coconut Butter
I love coconut butter. You will notice that in many of my recipes, I use coconut butter instead of coconut oil. Why? Because it has a richer flavor and a better texture than coconut oil. But coconut butter is both expensive and hard for some people to find. The solution? Make your own. But be sure to read the comments at the end of the post. It is good, but it isn’t exactly like Artisana coconut butter, my favorite.
I have seen a lot of posts on making your own coconut butter. I was pretty convinced that homemade coconut butter (made from dried coconut) could never be as good as the brand I like to use which is made from raw coconut. But this post, coconut butter, inspired me to try. I will walk you though the steps.
Homemade Coconut Butter – Visual Instructions. Recipe Follows.
Place dried coconut in food processor. I have a 12 cup processor. If yours is smaller, you can adjust and make two batches.
After 2 minutes
After 4 minutes
After 6 minutes. The oils are starting to release.
After 8 minutes it is looking pretty good.
After 10 minutes it is pretty liquid.
Pour it into a clean jar and let cool. Don’t worry, it isn’t hot, just slightly warm. As it cools it will harden.
Conclusion and Tips
I must admit, I was pretty impressed. It hardened (see first picture) after sitting at room temperature for a bit. It looked like coconut butter and it tasted pretty darn good. And I am very picky about the qualities of my ingredients. What I didn’t like was that it is grainy. Even after a turn in the high speed blender, I could never get the beautiful smooth consistency of the Artisana coconut butter I was comparing it to. But in a pinch, especially in recipes that the consistency would be covered up by other textures, it could work. And oh my, it is a fraction of the cost. My 16 ounces of dried coconut made over 2 cups. Probably the equivalent to a 10 ounce jar of the Artisana.
Note: My food processor is a 12 cup KitchenAid. It is a work horse. It didn’t even bat an eye at making this. But all food processors are different. Keep an eye on yours while running it this long.
Coconut Butter
MAKES 1 Cup
Coconut Butter
- 16 oz dried, non-sweetened flaked coconut
- Place coconut in food processor.
- Process until smooth. (See above photos)
Libbi wrote on October 20, 2011
Could you do this with the fresh meat of a young thai coconut? LOVE your recipes 🙂
pietra wrote on October 20, 2011
Use a Vita Mix for a smooth ANYTHING!
Blanka wrote on October 20, 2011
I am sorry – should have said ‘rawmazing’!!!
Blanka wrote on October 20, 2011
Susan, you are simply amazing!!! I have been making my own almond and cashew nut butters after I read your post on making your own almond butter but never would have thought to try this as would have thought the coconut flakes too dry. Thank you, as always, for the inspiration!
Sweetteach wrote on October 20, 2011
Looks amazing! Could you use a vitamix instead of a food processor? That’s all I’ve got.
Susan wrote on October 20, 2011
I haven’t tried it in the vitamix but I would imagine you could. I would think you would want to use the plunger.
April wrote on October 20, 2011
This is a very interesting post. Thank you for sharing!
sarah wrote on October 19, 2011
Thanks for the recipe! I go thru 16oz. a week…this will help with cutting costs!
dee wrote on October 19, 2011
I make coconut butter and milk with brown coconuts. I use two kinds of juicers a twin gear (samson) and a single gear (champion). I take the meat out of the coconut and trim off any brown particals ( not really nessary), then put it in the champion, this makes the coconut butter. I then heat up some water ( the hot water releases more of the oils in the fiber) about two cups per coconut ( it depends on how rich you want the milk) and blend (vitamix) the fiber and water together. Once blended I put that mixture in the Samson ( I start out with the pulp discharge casing almost closed and when the milk starts coming out I open it up almost all the way) , to makes the milk . And with the left over pulp I dehydrate it and make flour. Yes, it is labor intensive but it taste so good.
LAMA wrote on October 19, 2011
really impresive! i will give a try!
i used coconut butter once, it was really good but expensive as you said. there were rumors about it being a non-healthy type of fat.
Susan wrote on October 19, 2011
Coconut oil, the raw kind, not the refined kind is a healthy fat. It is refined coconut oil, which we are not using here, that is not healthy. Coconut oil actually has many health benefits.