Butter of the Month: Miyoko's Creamery

Unboring Rating – 4 cows (out of 4 cows)

“What butter do you feature in your inaugural Butter of the Month blog?” It was a tough call, but we ultimately landed on a vegan butter. Vegan butter??? Hey, this is the Unboring Blog so you better get used to it because that’s how we roll.

This is the best vegan butter on the market. Period.

The folks here at The Unboring Granola believe we have the best tasting granola on the market so we must give props to Miyoko’s. The butter delivers on authenticity, richness, texture, and overall taste. The product is actually labeled as ‘cashew and coconut oil’. That description certainly doesn’t do this product justice. The decision to “infuse” coconut oil with cultures added to cream made from cashew milk is a clever and borderline genius creation. It’s something that nearby Michelin-starred chefs might have concocted in their own kitchen labs (Miyoko’s is based in Sonoma County).

The cultured-butter flavor profile is definitely the “X factor” that elevates Miyoko’s butter from being a boring vegan butter to an Unboring vegan butter. The butter performs well as a spread on your favorite crusty bread. Just tear off a piece of bread and slather it on. The salt level is refreshingly assertive without being overly salty. The butter performs equally well in heated applications such as caramelizing your favorite vegetables like Brussels sprouts or asparagus spears. As a side note, we won’t comment on performance in baking applications given the variance in the baker’s experience, recipes, contexts, and applications. There is simply no one-size-fits-all way to evaluate butters that will satisfy all possible baking applications.

The butter has a firm creamy white color that resembles goat’s milk butter. The texture of the butter isn’t as dense as dairy-based butters. During our photo shoot, this butter began to sweat noticeably quicker relative to its dairy-based brethren. So you might not want to leave this butter as a brick on a plate or cutting board during your dinner party. Rather, you should fill a ramekin with the butter so it will still look appealing even as it softens.

Miyoko’s Butter markets itself as ‘European Style Cultured Vegan Butter.’ Since this is a vegan butter, the concept of butterfat here needs to be reimagined as simply fat (organic coconut oil). After all, butter is simply composed of butterfat, milk proteins, and water (and in some cases added salt). Miyoko’s simply pulled a classic chef-move by substituting coconut oil for the butterfat. This butter is 100% plant-based. That claim may read like “somewhere plants are being modified in a petri dish in a lab” to make things like butter, cheese, and meat. We guess that’s why Miyoko’s vegan butter chose Sonoma County as its home as opposed to some obscure urban industrial park (kudos to the Miyoko’s team for that decision).

The final commentary is devoted to the matter of price and value. Miyoko’s butter is very expensive relative to even comparable premium European Style butters coming in at around $13-$15 per pound versus $7-$9 per pound. However, the premium is worth it! At last, home cooks and professional chefs with game don’t have to worry about some lame vegan butter compromising their skills. Dinner Hosts no longer have to worry about offending their vegan guests by serving a sub-par butter. Miyoko’s has empowered vegans everywhere.

Key Takeaway

We at The Unboring Granola strongly support dairy farmers. They’re an integral part of our American culture and economy. That said, we also support the plant-based movement and respect the craftsmanship behind Miyoko’s European Style Cultured Vegan Butter. The overall verdict is that Miyoko’s has delivered a vegan butter that can stand up to the best butters. And for that we have to honor Miyoko’s with our highest Unboring rating. This is truly an Unboring butter.

If you want to geek out on more info about Miyoko’s vegan butter, then visit their company’s page.

We do not receive any form of any compensation for our reviews by any of the butter brands we feature. The views expressed in our blog are solely based on our own opinions.