We compared 5 different vegan butters to see side by side which is the best in taste and ability to hold up over time. Check out our vegan butter review and taste test.
Today we’re comparing vegan butters! In this vegan butter review and taste test, we grabbed 5 of the most popular vegan butter brands and put them to a side by side test.
We compared these for both taste, but also the ability to hold up in a frosting using the exact same recipe.
We know that there are way more than 5 different vegan butters, but in efforts to not clog all our arteries at one time, we only went with these.
Do you have a favorite that we should try in another video? Let us know!
If you love taste tests, make sure to check our our other ideas!
Make sure that you leave a comment below letting us know what other types of taste tests we should do!
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Watch our vegan butter taste test:
PSA:
We know that everyone has different taste buds. What we may think is the best, may completely vary from what you actually like.
You may ultimately think our best is the worst and that’s okay. We created this video as hopefully a starting point for people and we can only go off our opinion.
What vegan butter brands did we try?
The brands that we tried for this video are:
- Miyoko’s
- Melt
- Earth Balance (original)
- Flora
- Country Crock Plant Butter (avocado oil)
I will be upfront that we had tried all of these before. However, we had never tried any of them side by side with other brands which we believe is really important when it comes to taste testing.
How did we do the vegan butter taste test?
This one was different than other taste test videos that we do. We did spread each of them on toast and do a taste test that way, but we also wanted to see how it would hold up.
Often times in baking, we haven’t noticed a big difference when making something like cake. However, we thought comparing in frosting would show a big difference. So we used the exact same recipe to show you what would happen and then gave tips at the end of the video on how to figure out fixing it if that’s the vegan butter brand you could find.
What are the vegan butter brands?
Country Crock Plant Butter with Avocado Oil Review
Thoughts: This one seems to taste the closest to butter that we remember.
Country Crock also has a lot of different varieties of their plant based butters.
Allergens: None, but there is a may contain soy label.
Ingredients: Blend of Plant-based Oils (Palm Fruit, Palm Kernel, Canola and Avocado Oil), Water, Salt, Pea Protein, Sunflower Lecithin, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Natural Flavor, Beta Carotene (Color).
Price: $3.99
Where to Buy: Country Crock Store Locator
Melt Organic Salted Butter Sticks Made From Plants Review
Thoughts: There’s a strong oil taste to this one, compared to some of the others, but it’s still something we’d eat on toast on other uses as well. It is a creamier tasting one and Larisha compared the flavor to margarine, almost like an artificial taste.
It did not work well for our frosting taste test, but we did give tips for making it work in the video.
Allergens: Coconut
Ingredients: Expeller-pressed Organic Oil Blend (Coconut, Hi-Oleic Sunflower, Sustainable Ethical Palm Fruit†) Water, Sea Salt, Sunflower Lecithin, Organic Natural Flavor, Tocopherols, Organic Annatto Extract Color. No Artificial colors or flavors.
Price: $5.99 per package
Where to Buy: Melt Store Locator
Flora Plant Butter Salted Review
Thoughts: For the taste part, it’s creamy and one of the best overall tastes out there. There’s a little hint of sweetness in this one as well and you also can get the salt flavor.
Flora does also have an unsalted version.
Allergens: None
Ingredients: Palm kernel and palm oil, water, sunflower oil, salt, pea protein, sunflower lecithin, lactic acid, natural flavor, annatto (color), vitamin A palmitate.
Price: $4.99
Where to Buy: Flora Store Locator
Earth Balance Original Review
Thoughts: Overall, you can’t go wrong with Earth Balance when it comes to just normal use. It has a smooth and subtle taste.
Earth Balance has 10 different versions of their plant based butter, including a soy free version. They do also have their original and soy free versions available in sticks, though they are harder to find.
It did not work well for our frosting taste test, but we did give tips for making it because we have used it numerous times for frosting.
Allergens: Soy.
*Have a soy free version.
Ingredients: Natural Oil Blend (Palm Fruit, Canola, Soybean, Flax And Olive Oils), Filtered Water, Contains Less Than 2% Of Pure Salt, Natural Flavor (Plant Derived From Corn, No Msg, No Alcohol, No Gluten), Pea Protein, Sunflower Lecithin, Lactic Acid (Non-Dairy) And Naturally Extracted Annatto For Color.
Price: $3.99
Where to Buy: Earth Balance Store Locator
Miyoko’s Creamery European Style Cultured Vegan Butter Hint of Sea Salt Review
Thoughts: This is the most expensive vegan butter out of the ones that we tried, but also have a very clean, esasily pronounced ingredient list which is something to keep in mind.
There is a hint of sweetness, a little savory and a hint of salt. We like the taste of this one. The color is very light, almost like the color of cream cheese.
While we do agree that it’s a great option and the taste is great, when comparing it to the other, we just don’t notice a big enough difference to justify the higher than all the others price tag it comes with.
Miyokos also now has an oat milk variety.
Allergens: Cashews, Coconut.
Ingredients: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Cultured Cashew Milk (Filtered Water, Organic Cashews, Cultures), Filtered Water, Organic Sunflower Oil, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Sea Salt.
Price: $6.29 per package
Where to Buy: Miyoko’s Store Locator
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Who was the winner?
Overall with taste, you really can’t go wrong with any of them.
When it comes to just taste, Larisha said that Miyokos is overall just too expensive, and Melt had too much of an artificial taste. Flora is a higher price than the other but overall the sweetness and salt combination makes it one of the best. Country Crock tastes the most similar to traditional butter. And Earth Balance is a great all around taste.
Andrew says Country Crock, Flora and Earth Balance are all #1.
Frosting Test: The Country Crock, Flora and Miyokos were the best options in our frosting test that we did in the video.
Overall if we could only pick one, it would be Country Crock because of the cost, taste, and overall ease of using.
Our next pick would be Flora. Note that we like the taste of Flora better, but the cost is more than double for the same amount.
Mariela
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this comprehensive test and review! While we are not vegan, our son was diagnosed with a dairy allergy at 4 yrs old and we have had to either eliminate or substitute dairy for the last 12 years. We have always home-made his birthday cakes but never found a decent butter substitute for frosting that didn’t taste awful (Earth Balance, ugh) or just failed to set up properly (hello Melt), so we always defaulted to non-dairy dark chocolate ganache – delicious, but boring year after year. I tried the Country Crock based on your review and can now say that I finally found a way to make delicious non-dairy buttercream! It’s especially good when made with organic tapioca based confectioner’s sugar. If I can find Flora, I’m going to try that next. Thank you for helping me expand my non-dairy baking options!
p.s. I am also in the Philly metro area 🙂
LarishaBernard
Hey local-ish friend! We’re so glad to hear that you found something that works for your family! We love to hear that. Heads up b/c we haven’t updated this post yet, but Flora is no longer sold in the US, a similar but slightly different one is sold by their sister company Violife
Miranda Mccoog
Thank you! You’ll see me here commenting on all your “best” posts little by little as I slowly try to go to a vegan version of pescatarian (doesn’t exist but that’s what I’m aiming for). Now to hunt down country crock vegan butter!
LarishaBernard
Hope you find it!
Pat
Thank you for your review and comparison. I’m really in the minority. I’ve never liked Earth Balance even for baking. It’s always has an odd taste to me (all of the different options) even in baked goods. I’d use all the others with Country Crock being my favorite for baking and Miyokos my favorite to spread. I’d probably like Flora also but haven’t found it around here yet.
Tracy
I absolutely agree with you! I love Country Crock and Earth Balance, and generally use both interchangeably. And I’m so happy you both agree!