Review: Vegan Butter

The less I can taste it, the more likely I am to use it in my sandwiches

“I don’t want any of that white stuff!” My daughter protests after her dad repeatedly gouges out a clump of slivering fat and dumps it in the middle of her toast, never spreading it edge to edge. A cluster of congealed crumbs left in its wake as I try and encourage him to use less and spread it more thinly. It falls on deaf ears. Our daughter rejects his efforts even after peanut butter gets sloshed around on top because the marble effect it creates is unappealing.

She doesn’t know how lucky she is that the dairy free among us are not short of options. Whether you want an easy life with something spreadable in a plastic tub, or something that mimics the texture of butter to spread on toast, a potato or your body, there’s something for everyone. Taste wise, there’s the unmistakable flavour of margarine from many, and others that try and mimic butter more closely. It’s great to have so much choice.

For my sins I tried each option neat and then on toast. My main focus was on taste and whether they melted. The less I can taste it, the more likely I am to use it in my sandwiches. I rarely cook with butter but if I use any in baking it’s only ever a block, usually Stork (which I haven’t tested), but I can never tell the difference anyway when the fun stuff like a truck load of sugar is added.

So anyway, here we go…

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (I can)

Price: £1.60 for 500g/32p per 100g.

Ingredients: Water, rapeseed, palm & sunflower, oils, salt, emulsifiers, flavouring, acidity regulator, vitamins (A and D).

Does it melt?: Partially. Eventually.

Thoughts: It might contain 81% less fat than butter but it tastes like sh*t. Its only redeeming feature is its cost.

Rating: 0/5

Would I buy it again?: Take me back to the 90s and I’ll say no then too.

Flora Buttery

Price: £1.75 for 450g/38.9p per 100g. Suspiciously cheap.

Ingredients: Rapeseed, sunflower and linseed oils, water, coconut fat, emulsifier, faba bean preparation, salt, natural flavourings, colour.

Does it melt?: If you have all day to wait and like cold toast, yes. If not, only partially.

Thoughts: Tasting it neat has scarred me for life but I don’t know why because the ingredients aren’t that problematic. I used to use it without thought until my use was halted abruptly mid pandemic when Flora caused outrage among several tens of vegans by adding buttermilk back in for a reason I can’t find online. It’s trying way too hard to do something that other plastic pots of fat are doing with fewer ingredients. It’s tastes neither like butter nor margarine but like overly processed chemicals and an ongoing identity crisis.

Rating: 0/5

Would I buy it again?: No. And if I could go back to me pre-pandemic me I’d give myself a slap.

Vitashite. Sorry, Vitalite

Price: £2.25 for 500g/45p per 100g

Ingredients: Rapeseed, sustainable palm & sunflower oil, water, salt, emulsifiers-E471, lecithins, preservative-potassium sorbate, acid-lactic acid, flavourings, colours - annatto bixin, curcumin.

Does it melt?: I get subjected to this trash at my in-laws and while I’m grateful for any option I’m given, by the time the toast has arrived on the table, stone cold from sitting in the toast rack because they’ve been distracted by birds on the fat ball in their garden, it stands no chance. And during my experiment, also no.

Thoughts: This tastes far worse than I remember. I disagree that it’s ‘Plant Based Deliciousness’, there’s nothing delicious about it.

Rating: 0/5

Would I buy it again?: If I can avoid it, no. My daughter hates it too and she’s the boss.

Flora Plant Butter - unsalted

Price: £1.00 for 200g/50p per 100g

Ingredients: Sunflower and rapeseed oil, coconut oil, water, faba bean preparation.

Does it melt?: No

Thoughts: Finally. Something that tastes pretty good. It’s inoffensive. There are only a few ingredients, it’s perfectly spreadable for a butter and it’s a bargain. You can even scoop up the remnants smushed in the corners of the wrapper relatively easily like a true block of butter. The only downside is that it doesn’t melt. Despite that, big thumbs up.

Rating: 4/5

Would I buy it again?: In a heartbeat.

Naturli

Price: £3.90 for 450g/£0.87 per 100g

Ingredients: Rapeseed oil, water, coconut oil, Shea butter oil, Almond, salt, emulsifier, carrot juice, lemon juice, natural flavouring.

Does it melt?: Perfectly and instantly.

Thoughts: I have been loyal to Naturli for years. I love the neutral taste, the pale colour and that there’s also a block. There’s also carrot juice in it so I can convince myself it’s one of my five a day.

Rating: 5/5

Would I buy it again?: Yes. It’s reliable and delicious.

Lurpak Plant-based

Price: £4.75 for 400g/£1.19 per 100g

Ingredients: Plant oils (rapeseed/coconut/shea), water, oat, culture, salt, carrot concentrate, lemon concentrate.

Does it melt?: After a lot of encouragement, no.

Thoughts: A recent addition to the many plant butter offerings out there. It’s unremarkable enough which is a plus despite the market being saturated (sorry).

Rating: 2/5

Would I buy it again?: Only if it was my only option. But better tasting cheaper alternatives will be my go to first. That also melt.

Mergulo

Price: £3.30 for 200g/£1.65 per 100g

Ingredients: Coconut oil, cashews, soybean oil, water, natural concentrate (carrot & pumpkin), citric acid and faba bean.

Does it melt?: Yes. Beautifully.

Thoughts: This stuff is what my vegan butter dreams are made of. It’s subtle in flavour and exactly like butter in texture. The packaging was seductive and the peel back paper on the block made me squeal. The only slight downside is that it becomes a bit hard to handle as the block gets smaller and your knife ends up chasing small skittering pieces of butter around the box. Still very, very nice.

Rating: 4/5

Would I buy it again?: Absoloutely. A thin layer of something I can’t taste is my favourite thing to spend money on. (only occasionally though, because it’s expensive).

I Am Nut Ok - Rosemary and sea salt butter

Price: £4.49 for 140g/£3.30 per 100g

Ingredients: Cashew nuts, water, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, sea salt (1.5%), sunflower lecithin, nutritional yeast, rosemary (0.4%), lactic acid, live cultures.

Does it melt?: Partially but I didn’t need it to. It was a topping in its own right.

Thoughts: Absolutely delicious, decadent and a real treat. Not your butter to use every day but certainly one to use to impress.

Rating: 4/5

Would I buy it again?: Try and stop me.

I Am Nut Ok - Truffle butter

Price: £4.99 for 140g/£3.56 per 100g

Ingredients: Cashew nuts, water, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, sea salt, sunflower lecithin, truffle oil (1.5%), nutritional yeast, lactic acid, live cultures.

Does it melt?: Partially. But as with the rosemary and sea salt version, I didn’t need it to.

Thoughts: This is single handedly the reason that for the first time in my life I now like sourdough. So much so we (yes we), got through an entire loaf and jar of butter in a day. Is that normal or is it my ADHD?

Rating: 5/5

Would I buy it again?: I already have.

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So there we have it. I’m not going to lie, butter plays a more important role in my life than I like to give it credit for, so despite half of this lot being gross and some more expensive than vegan butter should be, it’s wonderful having so many options. There are even others I didn’t try.

My favourite is still Naturli as it’s a great all rounder. It tastes great, it melts, is subtle in flavour and has two versions.

For cost - Flora plant butter block is brilliant. It spreads easily, it’s a great consistency and it tastes inoffensive enough.

If you’re trying to impress and have money to burn, Mergulo has your back, as do both flavours from I Am Nut Ok.

Are there any other brands that I absolutely must try?