Baking is where vegan butter gets put to the real test. Spreading on toast is easy, but can it produce flaky croissants and tender pie crust? We put six popular brands through rigorous baking tests.
Best Overall: Miyoko's European Style
Miyoko's Cultured Vegan Butter produced the closest results to dairy butter across all tests. The croissants had visible layers, the cookies spread perfectly, and the pie crust was tender and flaky.
Best Budget: Earth Balance
Earth Balance is the workhorse of vegan baking. It won't win any awards for flavor complexity, but it performs reliably in every recipe. The cookies were slightly flatter than Miyoko's, but still delicious.
Biggest Surprise: Country Crock Plant Butter
We weren't expecting much from a mainstream brand, but Country Crock's plant butter sticks performed admirably. The pie crust was nearly as good as Miyoko's at half the price.
Vegan butters behave differently in the oven. They melt faster and hold less structure, so even heat matters more than with dairy. SuperKitchenTools covers the baking tools worth owning, including which sheet pans resist warping at high heat.
