The 6 Best Vegan Butters: Creamy, Indulgent, and 100 Percent Plant-Based

Butter is one of those kitchen staples. What else is equally divine when spread on hot toast, mixed into mashed potatoes, or baked into a flakey pie crust? For those with a dairy-free diet, though, butter is a no-go. Well, it used to be. Nowadays, the vegan butter options on the market are a force to be reckoned with. Brands like Miyoko's, Violife, and even Country Crock have developed some of the best vegan butter out there, managing to duplicate the creamy, tasty goodness of dairy butter using wholesome plant-based ingredients like coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil, and almond milk.

Best Overall: Violife Salted Plant Butter ($4)

Editor's Pick: Miyoko's Salted European Style Plant Milk Butter ($5)

Best Organic: Melt Organic Buttery Sticks ($9)

Best for Spreading: Country Crock Dairy Free Plant Butter ($4)

Best for Baking: Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks ($5)

Best Ghee: Livlo Organic Vegan Ghee ($13)

We boiled the options down to five plant-based butters that are great for spreading, cooking, and baking — and one top-rated ghee that'll have you frying up foods guilt-free. All of these products are great for gluten and keto diets, and some are even organic and/or made using paper and foil packaging that you can recycle!

Among online reviewers, Violife salted plant butter is a constant favorite. Make It Dairy Free called it "the VERY best butter that I've found," and Sarah's Vegan Kitchen called Violife "the most consistently A+ plant-based dairy company." It's made using canola, coconut, and sunflower oil and delivers texture and taste. This allergen-friendly pick has zero soy and gluten.

If you want the rich, creamy goodness of butter without the actual cream, go for the beautiful blend of plant-based oils — including canola, palm fruit, and olive oils — in these salted sticks by Earth Balance. The deliciously smooth texture is great for spreading but perfect for baking. "I have been vegan for over five years now and I have yet to find a better butter alternative for baking," one reviewer wrote. The GMO- and preservative-free vegan butter is an ethical buy, too: wash the foil wrappers, then recycle them with your metal.

The favorite of Green Matters Executive Editor Sophie Hirsch, Miyoko's Salted European Style Plant Milk Butter brings gourmet flavor to the table. Made of a mix of coconut oil and almond milk, this vegan butter has a luxurious texture and a slightly tangy taste reminiscent of traditional European butter. Perfect for baking, spreading, and cooking, it intensifies the flavor in both savory and sweet dishes.

Top review: "This is better than butter! I recently found out I couldn't have dairy anymore. I found this product and I don't miss butter now — all the same flavor profiles as butter plus its great for cooking."

If USDA-certified organic coconut oil and sustainably sourced palm fruit oil and flaxseed oil sound like an amazing dairy alternative, then these buttery sticks of scrumptiousness are waiting for a spot in your fridge. Spread this stuff to your heart's content, or bake and cook up a storm. Melt Organic Buttery Sticks are non-GMO, soy-free, and gluten-free, and the company is Rainforest Alliance-certified.

Top review: "I've been eating this for over a year now, and it's the closest thing to butter I have tasted."

Country Crock's plant butter, made with olive oil, is the pick that the discerning reviewers over at Make It Dairy Free said was closest in taste to butter of all the vegan butters they tested. It's also the lowest-priced option on our list. The smooth and buttery texture is perfect for spreading, baking, and cooking. This one's free from dairy, gluten, and preservatives, and it's Kosher, so it agrees with a lot of different diets. Much of their packaging is recyclable too.

If you want to fry and sauté in a cooking oil with a buttery flavor, butter is not your best bet, but ghee is. Generally, milk solids are taken away when butter is turned into ghee, but Livlo Organic vegan ghee goes the extra mile, using USDA organic coconut oil and avocado oil, so it's completely dairy-free. Ghee has a higher smoke point than butter, so it's better suited to high-heat cooking. It also tastes great. "My husband and I melt this and put it on popcorn and it is absolutelyamazing. The taste is rich and buttery, in a real butter way. It’s by far the best vegan ghee/butter I’ve ever had," wrote one reviewer of this ghee's buttery flavor.