A sweet and tangy lemon butter made with just 4 simple ingredients. Perfect enjoyed as a spread on toast for breakfast, added to a range of different desserts, or simply eaten with a spoon. This version uses coconut oil instead of butter making it dairy-free!
Lemon butter or lemon curd depending on where you live and what you choose to call it, is such a simple but delicious spread.
It’s super versatile, being a perfect filling for cakes and cookies, enjoyed over pavlova, or in a yoghurt parfait for breakfast. But how I remember eating it growing up was always thickly spread on toast.
Lemon butter is one of those recipes that I remember mum always making when I was young, but as I grew up and moved out of home it became something that I hadn’t had in years. But over the last couple of years I’ve learnt how to make it, as well as how to adapt it to be dairy-free so I can once again enjoy this delicious spread.
Ingredients for dairy-free lemon butter
- Coconut oil – used as a replacement for butter, coconut oil is the perfect fat to use in this recipe plus the slight coconut flavour gives the end result a tropical feel.
- Egg yolks – use the leftover whites to make a healthy breakfast scramble or whip up a meringue as all we need are the rich egg yolks.
- Lemons – we are using both the juice and the zest of the lemons to make sure this lemon butter really lives up to its name.
- White sugar – to add some sweetness but not too much so that the tanginess of the lemons still shine through.
How to make lemon butter
Most recipes for lemon butter will ask you to use a double boiler to prevent the eggs from scrambling but if you’re anything like me, then you might be looking for something a bit simpler.
So for this recipe all you need is a small saucepan and a whisk.
This lemon butter comes together quickly so you’ll need to make sure you’re watching the pot and continuing to whisk.
Add all of your ingredients to the saucepan and heat over medium- low heat, whisking continuously until the mixture starts to thicken. Once it’s thick remove from the heat and continue to whisk for another couple of minutes until smooth.
As we are heating everything directly over the heat (and we really don’t want scrambled eggs), make sure that your heat is not too high and use the whisk to make sure you’re scraping the bottom and sides of the pan as your mixing.
You can set the lemon butter aside to cool in the saucepan before using otherwise pour it into a clean, sterilised jar and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
And if you have any passionfruit lying around, might I suggest that you add the pulp of one or two of this lemon curd for a truly delicious tropical version.
Homemade lemon butter also makes a really lovely gift, just put it in a jar and grab a square of fabric, an elastic band and a little ribbon and you have something super cute and delicious that anyone would love to receive, whether for Mother’s Day, a birthday or a thanks for watering my plants while I was away.
More lemon recipes:
Pistachio Cardamom and Lemon Loaf Cake
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (Dairy-Free)
Lemon Layer Cake
Dairy-Free Little Lemon Cupcakes
Homemade Lemon Butter (Dairy-Free)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 4 egg yolks
- zest of 2 lemons
- ⅓ cup lemon juice about 2-3 lemons
- ⅓ cup sugar
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a small saucepan on the stove over medium heat. Continually whisk together until mixture becomes thick. As soon as it starts to thicken, take off heat and continue to whisk for another few minutes. Set aside and let cool. Store any leftovers in a jar in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
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Linda Ash
The taste is ‘out of this world’ good. My only concern is, will it turn rock-hard in the fridge with coconut oil? This is the first time ever to make this recipe, I measured out the 1/3C of sugar but added it slowly, tasting it after each little addition, I only used about 1/4C which has left a sharp lemon tang, which I love in my lemon meringue pies.
Sally
Thanks Linda, so glad you enjoyed this recipe! It will certainly firm up a little to be a bit thicker than if it was at room temperature, but no it wont go hard in the fridge.