Cultured Vegan Butter

5 from 13 votes

This cultured vegan butter, inspired by Miyoko's cultured plant-based butter, is great for spreading, cooking, and baking. It's entirely vegan (dairy-free), gluten-free (grain-free), and soy-free.

Prep Time13 30

Servings: (1-Tbsp.) servings

Calories: 98kcal

Equipment

Ingredients

1/2 cup cashews , soaked*
1/2 cup water
1 probiotic capsule **
1 1/4 cups butter-flavored coconut oil , melted***
1/4 cup sunflower oil
1 tsp. liquid sunflower lecithin ****
1/2 tsp. salt , or to taste

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Blend the cashews. Add the soaked cashews into a high-speed blender together with water and blend until completely smooth. You will end up with thick cashew milk/cashew cream.
Add the live cultures. Pour the cashew milk into a sterilized glass bowl and add the live cultures. Using sterilized non-metal utensils, stir the live cultures into the cashew milk. Metal self-sterilizes, i.e., it kills bacteria, including the good bacteria. so avoid metal bowls and utensils. Make sure the probiotics are well mixed in so the good bacteria are evenly spread throughout the milk.
Let the cashews milk culture. Cover the bowl with the cashew milk with a piece of cheesecloth, and let the cashew milk culture at a consistent temperature for a few hours. The time will depend on the strength of the probiotics, the number of strains the probiotics contain, and the temperature at which the milk is culturing. I used 50 billion probiotic capsules with 20 different bacterial strains, and let the milk culture at 77°F/25°C for 12 hours. You can let the milk culture for up to 18 hours, depending on how strong you want the tangy flavor to be.
Blend. Add the cultured cashew milk, melted coconut oil, sunflower oil, sunflower lecithin, and salt into a blender and blend until just combined. Don't blend the mixture for too long. If it heats up too much, it might split.
Chill. Pour the liquid butter into silicone ice cube tray (or a butter mold) and freeze it until firm, 1-2 hours. Then transfer to a refrigerator to set completely.
Store. Transfer the butter into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 7 days. For longer term storage, freeze for up to 3 months.

Notes

*Soak the cashews in water for at least 8 hours (or overnight) so they soften up and are easy to blend. To quick-soak cashews, pour boiling hot water over the cashews and soak for 1 hour uncovered. When the cashews are done soaking, drain the water and rinse the cashews thoroughly.

**I used 50 billion probiotic capsules with 20 different bacterial strains, including Lactobacillus bulgaricus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Bifidobacterium lactis.

***You can substitute the butter-flavored coconut oil for refined coconut oil, which is for Miyoko uses in her plant-based butter.

****You can substitute the 1 tsp./5 ml liquid sunflower lecithin for 2 tsp./5 g powdered sunflower lecithin.

*****Nutrition information is approximate and may contain errors. Please, feel free to make your own calculations.

******Prep time doesn't include soaking the cashews (~ 8 hours).

This recipe has been inspired by Miyoko's cultured vegan butter.

Nutrition