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)
Leonor Yarhi wrote on March 24, 2012
Thanks a lot Susan! I w”ll do it! 🙂
Meagan wrote on March 3, 2012
How long will this coconut butter store before it goes bad?
Also, your website is absolutely fabulous.
shaina wrote on February 16, 2012
Do you know about how many cups of dried coconut you started with? I buy mine in bulk and I know 16oz dry is different than 16oz wet. Thanks!
Three Cookies wrote on February 13, 2012
I’ve never used coconut butter but planning to make some. I wonder whether the Artisana butter is made from fresh rather than dehydrated dessicated coconut? If so would it help if the dehydrated coconut was dehydrated first in water or milk?
Alex wrote on January 17, 2012
Hallo everyone,
I just made my first batch of coconut butter in my Blendtec, it worked like magic, much better then in my Kitchen Aid, I don’t know why, but never mind, it is here at last. Thanks a lot Susan! I will now have to try and experiment and see how it works instead of cocnut oil in some recipes. Keep thrilling us with your wonderful recipes!
Robyn wrote on November 23, 2011
2nd batch,,,I don’t know if I will ever buy coconut butter or oil again<3
Diana wrote on November 16, 2011
Susan, your blog is amazing, hence good name for it!!
However, I have a concern. You didn’t answer Chris query re RAW dried coconut, you just confirmed that you used dried coconut which is not, by any means, necessarily the same thing. Unless a product actually states it’s produced according to living foods principles, i.e., dehydrated below about 118°F, then it’s most definitely not going to be raw 99.9% of the time. If it’s not no the label, it ain’t so . Commercial dehydrating is almost always equivalent to cooking as temps used are very high.
Fortunately, people like Ann Wigmore have a solution. In her book Recipes for a Longer Life (c) 1978 she gives a “recipe”. She calls for extracting the coconut meat from an actual coconut (best way to go, really, when doing raw if you’re going to make something yourself from scratch) then blending with a bit of Rejuvelac (probably best to just use plain water) and then skim off the oil that rises to the top. That’s the coconut oil.
I had this book years ago and only kept a handful of recipes from it and must admit haven’t tried this but I think if in doubt, doing something like this would be preferable to using a store bought dehydrated product unless it’s a one-off, emergency type of affair. My personal opinion, only, of course!
Wonderful blog, Susan, thanks so much!! Di. 🙂
Susan wrote on November 17, 2011
Diana, Yes, if you aren’t sure your dried coconut is dried with the principles of raw food, your coconut butter will not be raw. But if you need it in a pinch, or it is a minor player in a recipe (normally it is used in pretty small quantities vs the amount of raw that is in the recipes), and you don’t mind (kind of like maple syrup) it is a much less expensive alternative to the store-bought.
kristi wrote on November 7, 2011
This looks like a great thing that I’ll be trying soon!!!
Amber wrote on October 30, 2011
I linked this post to my monthly round-up. Great job – looks wonderful!