Substituting Real Butter For Dairy-Free Is Way Easier Than You'd Think
Adhering to a plant-based diet is easier than ever these days thanks to the wide range of vegan alternatives that are easily accessible. Vegan butter is just one example of a great product that offers the same flavor benefits as real butter without the inclusion of dairy. When it comes to many cooking and baking recipes, you can easily swap out the real thing for a vegan version without much hassle.
In most recipes, you can use the exact same amount of vegan butter as you would the conventional stuff without negatively impacting the result. This is true of delicious baked goods like cakes, cookies, and even pie crusts, which must be flaky and buttery to complement the soft, sweet filling within the pie. With vegan butter, you don't have to worry about tricky maneuvers like converting measurements and amounts, as you can use the same portion as you normally would. And with so many different varieties of vegan butter out there, you're sure to find a brand that works amazingly in all kinds of recipes.
Ingredients you'll often find in vegan butter
While there are many brands of vegan butter available on store shelves, most contain a similar selection of ingredients. Instead of dairy products, vegan butter often contains some sort of vegetable oil, which can be derived from soybeans, coconuts, sunflowers, and palms. Some varieties of plant butter are made with olive oil, as well as ingredients like salt, water, and soy lecithin, a soy-based additive that's included in food to stop it from separating.
Generally, vegan butter contains a lower concentration of saturated fat when compared to real butter. However, you must check product labels to verify the specific amount of saturated fat, as it can vary from brand to brand. Also, it's worth noting that plant-based butter is not the same as margarine, although they do share some similarities. The main difference is that margarine typically consists of vegetable oils, while vegan butter can also be made with nuts and seeds.
More tips on using plant-based butter
Checking out different brands of plant-based butter is recommended before you start incorporating them into recipes. Flavor variety is more likely with vegan butter due to the added ingredients which wouldn't necessarily be present in conventional butter brands. For example, some recipes include ingredients like nutritional yeast to enhance flavor. In this case, you may find that one brand offers a more desirable flavor as compared to another version. You may also select different kinds of vegan butter for different uses, such as a spread for toast versus plant-based butter for baking cookies.
While it's pretty easy to substitute vegan butter for the real thing in recipes, you might also want to use bona fide vegan recipes at first. These recipes are designed with plant-based ingredients in mind, which means they're likely to offer the best quality in terms of flavor and texture. Over time, you'll become more adept at adjusting recipes, but sticking with classics ensures you're fully satisfied with the outcome of your plant-based recipes when just getting started.