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Coconut butter is healthy and easy to use, a wonderful staple to make often and to keep on hand. But it can be quite expensive to buy. This recipe is fast, easy and economical to make (about three times less expensive than buying it)! I provide both food processor and blender instructions below.
The culinary uses for coconut butter are multitudinous! 🙂 My favorite way to use this ingredient is in Paleo or grain-free baked goods (like this one)! It can also be used to make raw energy balls, truffles, as a spread, in sauces and dips and so much more.
Plus, I love when I find a food that’s perfect for so many wellness diets: Paleo, AIP, GAPS, Keto, Whole30 and Vegan diets.
Coconut Butter in a food processor or high-speed blender
Food processor
To make Coconut Butter, you simply place shredded coconut into your work bowl with the metal blade insert. Turn the motor on and wait 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your food processor, and you will have “manna.” Very magical. My Cuisinart (this one) is super fast and super quiet; so it’s a quick and easy process that is also inexpensive.
5 cups finely shredded dried unsweetened coconut yields just a teeny bit more than the 1-1/2 cups butter. Five cups of unsweetened coconut is about 16 ounces.
You can literally walk away and let the food processor turn the solid to liquid.
High speed blender
Coconut butter can also be made in your high-powered blender. I’ve used both the BlendTec (this one) and the Vitamix (this one).
If using a blender, you may need to stop and start the motor a few times to scrape down the sides … and babysit the process a bit more. It works best to use your lowest power setting. And the tamper can be helpful. Once the shredded coconut begins to liquefy, the power can be increased from “1” to “3” and eventually to “6”. But the lower power settings are necessary in the beginning.
Having used all three appliances, food processor and two high-speed blenders, I do find the food processor to be slightly more efficient at the job. The motor is less taxed. But when we moved into our tiny house last year, I gave away all the appliances I didn’t use on a weekly basis. I got rid of my food processor because coconut butter (and pastry dough) were the only things I made in it often. So now I always make our coconut butter in our blender, and it certainly works fine.
You can also buy Nutiva Organic Coconut Manna here (it’s the best priced option for already made butter).
Healthy MCTs
I can’t write about this healthy condiment/ingredient without at least briefly mentioning its health benefits! Coconut butter is truly a super food.
Why? It’s packed full of medium-chain-triglycerides — fatty acids that are small molecularly and therefore, easy to digest. Instead of being stored as fats, MCTs burn right up and become fuel, or energy, for our bodies. This process speeds up our metabolism! (Carbohydrates go through a similar process; the difference being that they produce an insulin spike.) MCTs go one step further: They help our bodies to burn fat for energy. MCTs are a great fat to assist healing and to boost the immune system.
The coconut oil in coconut butter also contains lauric acid, a compound that gets converted into monolaurin. I have purchased monolaurin alone for its pathogen killing properties. It is both powerfully anti-viral and antibacterial.
Suffice it to say, whole ground up coconut is a fabulous food, yielding energy and many wellness properties. Coconut butter is also delicious and satisfying, helping us to feel satiated, because nutritionally we are!
Print Recipe
4.75 from 12 votes
COCONUT BUTTER RECIPE
Coconut butter is healthy and easy to use, a wonderful staple to make often and to keep on hand. But coconut butter can be quite expensive to buy. This recipe is fast, easy and economical to make (about three times less expensive than buying it)! I provide both food processor and blender instructions below.
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Cook Time5 minutes mins
Total Time10 minutes mins
Course: condiment, Dessert, ingredient, Snack
Cuisine: American, Asian
Keyword: aip, coconut butter, gluten-free, keto, low carb, nut free, paleo, vegan
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 233kcal
Author: Megan
Cost: $2.50
Equipment
high-speed blender OR food processor
Ingredients
- 5 cups unsweetened coconut dried, about 16 ounces
Instructions
Food Processor: Place unsweetened coconut into work bowl of food processor, with metal blade insert. Turn the motor on and wait 5 to 15 minutes, depending on your food processor. The butter is ready when it is runny and as smooth as possible.
Blender: Place unsweetened coconut in blender. Put on lid, and start motor at lowest speed. Maintain lowest speed about 2 minutes, then increase speed gradually as it liquefies. Use tamper as necessary to keep coconut pieces processing until it moves on its own. After about 4 minutes and coconut is liquidy, increase speed to medium-high for an additional 2 minutes.
Use a spatula to scrape butter into a jar with a lid. Store in the refrigerator. The butter will harden. To soften, place jar into larger bowl of hot water and stir occasionally; or place jar in warm oven for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Nutrition
Calories: 233kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 192mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1.2mg
Toasted Coconut Butter
If you warm your coconut butter in the oven, to soften it, and leave it in the oven too long, it will become Toasted Coconut Butter, which I discovered by accident! 🙂 You can also make Toasted Coconut Butter on purpose, which turns out better 😉 by slowly toasting the dried coconut in a skillet before puréeing it. This condiment is a great alternative to nut butters and delicious to bake or cook with. Here are three photos of that process.
Have you cooked or baked with Coconut Butter before?
Here are some of my favorite recipes that use it:
- Double Chocolate Coconut Butter Cookies (GAPS + Paleo)
- Lemon Blueberry Coffeecake (AIP, nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free)
- Grasshopper Pie (Paleo, dairy-free)
- Chocolate-Peppermint Cupcakes (Keto, Paleo, GAPS, Gluten-free)
