Our homemade margarine is made with simple ingredients, it's 100% vegan, and it can be whipped up with a hand blender in about 5 minutes.
It's perfect to make cakes, cookies, and crunchy preparations, and it can also be used as a spread on bread and toast. See how we use it in our vegan cannoli or in our vegan angel wings (Italian Chiacchiere).
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Sunflower oil: we like to use sunflower oil because it has a light flavor and it is easy to find. You can replace it with any vegetable oil of your liking. Keep in mind that if you use coconut oil your margarine will be harder, more like a vegan butter.
- Soy milk: perfect thanks to its emulsifying properties. I would not replace it with any other plant milk for this recipe.
- Lemon juice: helps both the flavor and the emulsion. No seeds.
- Salt: to make it taste better. Just a pinch.
Equipment
You'll need an immersion blender and a tall and narrow container that can fit the blender.
Tips
- Milk at room temperature. In my experience, this margarine thickens best if the ingredients are at the same temperature.
- Start with the milk. You need to always start with the milk and lemon in a container before adding the oil. The other way around won't work.
- Add the oil very slowly. This is essential when you are trying to make any kind of emulsion - margarine is an emulsion of a liquid and a fat. If you add the oil too fast your margarine won't thicken.
- Blend in a tall container. For best results, blend your ingredients in a narrow and tall container. This way it's a lot easier for the emulsion to thicken.
- Move the blender up and down while blending. This movement will help the margarine to form.
Storage
Store your vegan margarine for up to 5 days in an air-tight container - something like a mason jar - in the refrigerator.
Questions & Answers
An emulsion is when we put together two or more liquids that would otherwise never get together - like oil and plant milk. The same process happens when we make homemade vegan mayo.
Yes. Use whatever oil you like. But we recommend using an oil with a neutral flavor.
Soy milk works the best due to its protein content. You can try with another plant milk but I can't guarantee the result. Updates: we've tested with different oat, almond and pea milk, and we have not seen it work. So, we can only recommend soy milk.
Yes, but your margarine will turn into vegan butter as coconut oil is saturated fat and will solidify when put in the refrigerator.
Where can I use my vegan margarine?
- You can use your vegan margarine in preparations that call for margarine or butter. Cakes, cookies, pancakes, and other crunchy preparations.
- You can also use your vegan margarine as a spread on toasted bread and in sandwiches.
- We love to use it in our vegan Sicilian cannoli and in our Angel Wings (Italian chiacchiere).
- Add a creamy element to your pasta, for example in this refreshing lemon pasta.
Recipe
Homemade Margarine
Equipment
- Hand blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup sunflower seed oil
- ½ cup soy milk
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- In a tall and narrow container (something like a tall mason jar with a wide opening) add the soy milk at room temperature, the lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
- With a hand blender, start blending into the soy milk. Then add the oil in a steady stream, very slowly. NOT all at once. Keep blending at all times.
- Drizzle the oil very slowly while blending and while moving the blender up and down into the soy milk.
- Keep adding the oil, very slowly, until you run out of oil. Blend while moving the blender up and down until you reach a thick, creamy, consistency.
- Store the margarine in the refrigerator in a glass jar for up to 5 days. Use for cakes, biscuits, cookies, and crispy preparations. You can also use it as a spread on toasted bread.
Nutritional Values
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Chloe
Hi, I had a question regarding your homemade margarine recipe, I was wondering if you can freeze the margarine in order to extend its shelf life?
Antony
I will try it
Natalie
Can this be made with a regular blender?
Nico
Hi Natalie, yes you should be able to do it but might need to double the quantities depending on your blender size.
Juanita Hudson
I will try your recipies thank you!
Nico
Thank you Juanita 🙂
monika
A note for anyone thinking this can be made with milk other than soy.
The answer is NO.
Nico
Thanks a lot for the message Monika. Im sure a lot of people are thinking just that 🙂