Substitution guide
Butter Substitutes
Butter ↔ plant-based block or 80%-fat margarine:
1:1by volume
Swap cup for cup. Using oil instead? Use 3/4 cup oil per cup of butter, and keep it to cakes, loaves and muffins — not pastry, and not recipes that start by creaming butter and sugar.
Butter is harder to replace than it looks because it isn’t pure fat. In Australia, anything sold as butter must contain at least 80% milk fat, held as a water-in-oil emulsion. The grade AA butter King Arthur bakes with is 18% water, at least 80% butterfat and 1–2% milk solids. A substitute has to stand in for that fat and that water — and, in some bakes, for the way a solid fat behaves — which is why one swap can be perfect in a muffin and fail in a pie crust.
The bakes that punish a bad swap are the ones that rely on butter being solid. Creaming — beating butter with sugar — works air pockets into the mix that lighten a cake or cookie, and oil, which stays liquid at room temperature, "cannot trap and hold air the way softened butter can" (Milk Street). In pastry, swapping oil for a solid fat like butter can leave the crust "mealy rather than flaky" (University of Illinois Extension). Cakes, loaves and muffins are far more forgiving — they are exactly where the US Canola Association says an oil swap works well.
Butter goes by the same name in Australia, the US and the UK; the differences are salt and packaging. American recipes often measure butter in sticks — one stick is 1/2 cup. European-style butters are richer than the 80% minimum, at 82–86% butterfat. Salted and unsalted butter swap 1:1, but most brands add about 1/4 teaspoon of salt per 1/2 cup, so cut the recipe’s added salt by that much for every 1/2 cup of salted butter used in a recipe written for unsalted.
Compare
Substitutes at a glance
| Plant-based butter (block or stick) | 1:1 by volume |
| Margarine (80% fat) | 1:1 by volume (80%-fat margarine only) |
| Neutral oil (canola, vegetable) | 3/4 cup oil per cup butter |
| Coconut oil | 1:1 by volume |
| Applesauce (replaces half the butter) | 1/2 cup applesauce + 1/2 cup butter per cup butter |
| Plain nonfat yogurt (replaces half the butter) | 1/2 cup yogurt + 1/2 cup butter per cup butter |
- Plant-based butter (block or stick): King Arthur swaps vegan butter 1:1 for dairy butter and says its testers "couldn’t find a recipe where we wouldn’t recommend using vegan butter". Most are sold unsalted because they’re made for baking, so treat them as unsalted butter.
- Margarine (80% fat): Full-fat margarine has "a similar 80:20 ratio as butter" (University of Illinois Extension), so it swaps cup for cup. A tub spread is not the same thing: Nuttelex Original, for example, is 63% fat, and Illinois Extension warns that tub margarine "is not ideal for baking" because it has more water and less fat. Check the fat per 100 g on the label before baking with one.
- Neutral oil (canola, vegetable): The US Canola Association’s baking chart swaps 3/4 cup oil for each cup of solid fat and says the conversion "works well for cakes, loaves and muffins". Oil stays liquid at room temperature, so it can’t be creamed with sugar to trap air, and in place of butter it makes pastry mealy rather than flaky.
- Coconut oil: King Arthur substitutes coconut oil 1:1 for butter in bread, pie crust, pastry and cake, expecting only "slight flavor and textural differences". Dairy-free, but it brings a flavour of its own.
- Applesauce (replaces half the butter): For reduced-fat baking, University of Illinois Extension replaces half the fat with applesauce and keeps the rest. Applesauce adds moisture, so other liquids may need reducing, and baking time may be about 25% shorter — start checking early.
- Plain nonfat yogurt (replaces half the butter): Illinois Extension lists nonfat yogurt alongside applesauce as a replacement for half the fat. Like applesauce it adds moisture, so ease back on other liquids and check for doneness early.
Converter
Scale this swap to your recipe
Scale this swap
Enter how much butter your recipe calls for.
= 1 cup Plant-based butter (block or stick)
King Arthur swaps vegan butter 1:1 for dairy butter and says its testers "couldn’t find a recipe where we wouldn’t recommend using vegan butter". Most are sold unsalted because they’re made for baking, so treat them as unsalted butter.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is the best substitute for butter in baking?
How much oil do I use instead of butter?
Can I use spread or margarine instead of butter?
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted?
Why is butter so hard to replace in pastry and cookies?
More conversions
Sources: Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code — Standard 2.5.5 Butter (legislation.gov.au; "no less than 80.0% m/m milkfat"); King Arthur Baking — Butter for baking (grade AA: 18% water, 80%+ butterfat; European-style 82–86%; salt per 1/2-cup stick); King Arthur Baking — How to bake dairy-free (vegan butter 1:1; coconut oil 1:1 in bread, pie crust, pastry and cake); US Canola Association — culinary applications (solid fat to canola oil baking chart); University of Illinois Extension — Functions of fats in the kitchen (butter and margarine 80:20, creaming, oil in pastry, tub margarine, half-fat swaps); Milk Street — When can you substitute oil for butter? (oil "cannot trap and hold air the way softened butter can"); Nuttelex Original Spread — nutrition information (manufacturer, Australian retail; 63 g fat per 100 g)