Easy To Make: Coconut Butter

Making your own Coconut Butter is easy and fast. You can make a batch in less than 10 minutes including your clean up time … up to 15 minutes if you use a food processor.

All you need is some unsweetened coconut flakes, a bit of coconut oil and a high speed blender or a small but powerful food processor.

Here are the ingredients for a batch

Ingredients

1 lb (450 g) unsweetened coconut flakes

Pinch of salt

Melted coconut oil, Melt about 1/4 cup (you may not use it all)

Instructions

Put the coconut flakes into your blender or food processor. Add about one tablespoon of coconut oil and a pinch of salt. Put the cover on and turn your blender on. Depending on your machine, you might want to do this in 30 second spurts so as to NOT burn out your motor.
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Within a minute or two the coconut will begin to clump up. Stop your blender and scrape the sides down with a spatula. Keep on doing this until the coconut has turned to butter.
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This is a judgement call … IF your blender is struggling … add another 1/2 tablespoon of oil. You want to add as little oil as possible to get a nice thick and creamy butter.
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When you have reached the butter stage, store it in an airtight container, preferably glass.
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Food processors are not as good at grinding as blenders. It make take longer to get to the butter stage. Don’t give up, it will take a bit of patience and persistence, but it will get there.

Here’s a great little video showing you how easy the process really is. In this video the presenter is using a Vitamix blender which is an extremely powerful blender. The more powerful your blender is, the faster and easier the coconut butter is to make.

If you are going to be making coconut butter more than once you should be getting bulk bags of coconut instead of the tiny ones they sell at your local convenience store.

I ALSO prefer to use flakes instead of small shreds or ground. Why? I find it doesn’t dry out into hard grains of sand, and keeps fresh much longer! Of course I wouldn’t have that problem if I put it in airtight containers instead of leaving it in the bag.

Bob’s Red Mill Flaked Coconut (Unsweetened), 12 Ounce (Pack of 4)

Suffice it to say that in my family, the 4 pack above wouldn’t last very long, so we save a huge amount by buying in BULK. Last time I made a purchase I figured I saved over 40% by buying bulk.

As soon as my order is delivered, I divide it up into one pound lots and then pack it with my Food Saver Vacuum Sealer. The last pack is as fresh as the first one with the Food Saver.

Bob’s Red Mill Flaked Unsweetened Coconut, 25 Pounds

One of the “tricks” of making Coconut Butter fast and easy is the appliance you use. Your first choice should be a powerful blender. IF you have to use a food processor, it is easier with a small to medium one. If the basket is too big, nothing happens. If there is no power, nothing happens … or you get a bit of a tasty mess (use it in cookies or pancakes).

I’ve used my Nutribullet for a batch. You have to take the container off the unit, turn it upside down and shake it vigorously to move the ingredients down … if it still doesn’t move take the cap off and scrape down. Repeat till you have butter.

NutriBullet 12-Piece High-Speed Blender/Mixer System, Gray

The Vitamix is definitely the easiest, fastest and most powerful appliance to use. Though I’ve tried other appliances and they work, they are definitely MORE work that this amazing work horse. The tamping stick makes it even easier. A Vitamix Blender will last decades and is a definite investment in your kitchen. You will save a lot of time, cutting some tasks down to half the time.

Vitamix 5200 Blender, Black

Here’s a small food processor I did one batch with, just to see if it would work. It WORKED, but it took twice as long. Taking the lid off and scraping down the sides was easier than the Nutribullet.

Cuisinart CH-4DC Elite Collection 4-Cup Chopper/Grinder, Die Cast