Updated Review! Otherwise known as dairy-free, non-hydrogenated margarine (yikes! I know, the “M” word), Earth Balance Buttery Spreads have dominated the dairy-free and vegan butter alternative scene for quite some time. And for good reason…
Recently upgraded with a new look and shape in cute and sturdy square tubs. Earth Balance Buttery Spreads come in an array of varieties to keep almost everyone happy: Original, Soy Garden, Soy-Free, with Olive Oil (also soy-free), Organic, and Omega-3.
Among our team of reviewers, we’ve sampled all but the Omega-3. We have found that each acts as a slightly salty butter sub that bakes, cooks and spreads like margarine, but with natural ingredients and without hydrogenated oils. In fact, I think Earth Balance Buttery Spreads have gained quite the following with health-oriented consumers who aren’t even on a dairy-free diet!
Earth Balance Buttery Spreads are sold in almost every grocery store I shop in, but the Original, Organic and Soy-Free varieties seem to be the most readily available. Of those, I typically purchase the Soy-Free, because I do a lot of “free-from” recipe testing.
As you can see, it is whipped to near perfection. It has a wonderful consistency that is soft, but solid at room temperature. It melts just as it should when it hits the pan or oven. Though I usually bake with oil rather than butter alternatives, I love Earth Balance Soy-Free in oatmeal cookies. It also makes fantastic dairy-free caramel, delicious homemade frosting, and is a flavorful base for dinner sautes.
Sarah is partial to Soy Garden or the Original, because of the slightly higher smoke point than the Soy-Free. This enables her to make her higher heat baked good recipes, like popovers and brownies. She also finds the Soy-Free to be a touch softer and saltier than the others.
Hannah actually thought the Soy-Free spread could use a pinch more salt when used simply as a spread. Still she was impressed by how well it performed in all types of recipes. Her Ginger Snap cookies, for example, baked up perfectly with it in place of margarine. The only change was the texture – it was close, but just a touch cakier.
Between the lot of us, we’ve enjoyed the Earth Balance Buttery Spreads when making Simple Toast and “Butter”, Snickerdoodle Blondies, Mylk Chocolate Frosting, Vegan Butter-Poached Potatoes, Browned Butter Vanilla Cupcakes, Vegan Girl Scout Samoa Cookies, Popovers, and Gluten-Free and Vegan Iced Nog Bread.
The Facts on Earth Balance Buttery Spreads
Price: $3.99 to $4.99 per 13- to 15-ounce package
Certifications: Earth Balance Buttery Spreads are Certified Kosher Parve. One variety is Certified Organic. They are also labeled as vegan, gluten-free, and non-GMO, but I didn’t note any certifications.
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, Earth Balance Buttery Spreads are dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free (take note that they do use pea protein, though), vegan / plant-based, and vegetarian. Select varieties are also soy-free. Nonetheless, check with the company on their manufacturing processes for all varieties if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. Processes and labeling are subject to change at any time for any company / product.
For More Product Information: Visit the Earth Balance website at www.earthbalancenatural.com.
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What Others Are Saying ...
Was wondering if it is still the best
Thanks for keeping your info up-to-date! When I tried Earth Balance “margarine/butter” a bunch of years ago, it was vastly superior to anything else I tried. After years, it eventually found its way into most stores but the price has remained high. I finally decided to see if the competition may have caught up – which brought me here first. Your latest comment (3 days ago) tells me you do not think so. I don’t bake, I only use it to butter toast, and not for sandwiches. I’ve been buying the original, or organic. I see I should also try the soy-free and omega 3 (despite the negative commenters here), when or if about the same price.
I should also try the Earth Balance “dressing/spread/mayonnaise” if it’s available for a good price – I do not believe I’ve ever noticed it in a store.
It bakes, cooks, and spreads
As of yet, we haven’t found a brand that can touch this butter alternative. It bakes, cooks, and spreads just like a good margarine, but with natural ingredients and without hydrogenated oils. There is a variety for almost everyone, but despite their slight ingredient differences, all have a similar salted butter taste and consistency that works well in everything from cookies to frosting to savory sauces.
78 Comments
its delicious. I just recently found it . I hate butter because I am dairy free person due to old age digestive. I eat non dairy and gluten free. nothing wrong with me but just the age, at some point you cannot handle certain foods anymore like when you were younger. I visited my daughter few weeks ago, she is a health fritz young person at 20 years old, eats very healthy and I found in her fridge the earth balance butter spread, tried it with some gluten free crackers…. I just love it, came home and ran to trader’s joe to get it right away.
That’s great Mary! So glad you found a buttery spread that is good for your appetite and your digestion! I love that they have it at TJ’s, too 🙂
I’ve read all the glowing comments…but the Earth Balance soy free sticks I bought smelled off and mad the worst chocolate chip cookies ever..they wen directly into the garbagealong with the remaining sticks of DB I bought the sticks at Whole Foods and the date said they were fresh. Never again!
We have been using the Organic Earth Balance for years, ever since it came on the market. It is delicious and takes the place of butter very well and I like to think it is very heart healthy. However over the years products can change and I would like to know if we still get a good daily dose of Omega 3s in one tablespoon and not too much Omega 6s in a tablespoon. I trust it is still heart healthy and actually using good oils, palm fruit being “good” for our hearts? Thank you.
Hi Sylvia, that is a good question! They have the Omega 3 buttery spread, but it really doesn’t say online how much omega 3’s are in it. The largest component of their vegetable oil blend is palm fruit oil (not kernel oil), which is reportedly healthier due to it’s lower saturated fat profile.
If you plan on baking then I recommend the soy free sticks. No weird flavor at all and I bake all the time with it, even gluten free, dairy free cakes, cookies, etc.
I just tried the Omega 3 Earth Balance and it’s disgusting. I threw out my toast. How can a vegan product taste like fish? Apparently, I’m not the only person who has noticed this. Ick. Maybe I’ll try one of their other formulations, but this tasted gross.
Thanks so much for sharing your feedback Erica!
It can taste like fish if it’s rancid.
Someone gave me a jar of refined hemp seed oil and it tastes and smells like fish, also. It was properly sealed, etc., so I am wondering what’s going on.
Earth Balance has discontinued Soy Garden. There are no soy only (no canola oil), no transfat alternatives.
Are you sure Albert? It is still listed on their website – http://earthbalancenatural.com/product/soy-garden-buttery-spread/.
How well does this product work in a low iodine diet?
I would address that question to the company Monalisa.
I use the soy free one and it works well for my needs. The only thing negative is that it has palm fruit in it. Do you think I could use it to make Carmel corn?
Yes! I think it should work well for caramel corn! We’ve tried it with success.
I am just learning about this vegan plantbased thing. In particular it’s dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s principle of no oil in your food. So this earth balance is no good for PBDiet? I just tried this now in the original flavor and i like it. Im no vegetraian/vegan and i eat dairy once in awhile.
I was tasked with hosting a gluten free, dairy free, low sugar brunch to satisfy all of my families dietary restrictions. Scouting the menu was challenging… choosing Earth Balance Olive Oil spread was effortless!
That’s awesome!
I’ve been a regular consumer of the Original Earth Balance for about 3 years and both my boyfriend and I love it! We are not completely dairy free, but largely so, and this product leaves nothing to be desired in a dairy free “butter.” It’s fantastic in my book! I will add that we primarily use this as spread (toast, bagels, etc) so I can’t weigh in on how it holds up with cooking or baking.
It works pretty well in baking, too, Kellie, but have you tried it on popcorn? I do a 50/50 of buttery spread with coconut oil and it’s delish! Doing part coconut oil keeps the kernels from getting soggy.
I haven’t tried that but I make stovetop popcorn fairly often so I’ll remember this for next time. Thanks!
My 17 month old is lactose intolerant so this had made cooking a little difficult for me to adjust to. I did a blind taste test for my husband and teenager made a dish with our normal butter and then the same thing but with Earth Balance buttery spread. They couldn’t tell the difference! Happy to say I am able to cook the same meal for the entire family that tastes great and doesn’t upset my little one.
That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing your Earth Balance taste-test Tiffany!
Love, Love , Love this!! My kids & I really can’t tell the difference and its sooo smooth!!
I use Earth Balance butter for everything since I stopped eating dairy. We used to fluctuate between the Original and the Soy-free but we decided we like the Original better (and I feel better about it since I switched from soy milk to almond milk!). We have used it for everything and it usually works really well but I do have a warning. My husband insisted that it had a weird taste sometimes and I didn’t really believe him but I have now recognized what he meant. It does not work well for butter-based baked goods. For example, we made some shortbread cookies to play with a friends cookie press and they cookies looked great and had a great texture but they tasted strange. If you are using this in baked goods, having a separate dominate flavor is helpful. Also, this butter does not work all that well things like pineapple upside down cake. It is my husband’s favorite and we have tried to get the top to come out correctly numerous times and we just can’t get it to taste quite right. This turned into a long post but really we are really happy with this butter and we have had mostly success in using it!
I’ve heard that “weird” taste comment from a few people with this product, so I don’t think your husband is off base.
My boyfriend is lactose intolerant so we bought this the other day. It works well for most of my cooking needs. However, being a dairy lover myself, I tried using it on a grilled cheese today, I could definitely tell the difference
That’s so interesting – thanks for your feedback Britne!
As a soy-free vegan, I can’t tell you how happy I am that Earth Balance has a soy-free, vegan product. I love the taste and use it almost every day!
I’ve only tried the Soy Free one so far but the butter flavor is amazing. It’s not a 1:1 copy of butter as its slightly sweeter.
P.S. Soy contains a lot of Estrogen and if you’re a guy or you worry about your estrogen hormone levels, you should cut out as much Soy as possible. Also, soy is poisonous when eaten raw.
P.P.S Alisa, the contact form is broken (clicking submit doesn’t do anything), can you fix it? I have a unique allergic experience i need your thoughts on.
Hi Jordan, our new contact form is now live and functioning!
To clarify, soy doesn’t contain estrogen. I would read up a little more on this and the actual studies. Nonetheless, it is a personal choice by many to avoid soy. Thanks for the input!
I like the Earth Balance flavor better than butter or traditional margarine. A friend told me about this. (My first mistake after my allergy diagnosis was a margarine.) I found varying varieties at the different grocery stores. I found the sticks at Natural Grocers. I saw about the mac and cheese in a magazine, so I will be excited to see that review.
That’s high praise Stephanie! The mac and cheese review will be posted before the year is up!
I love this company’s products. They just came out with a vegan mac and cheese and it’s absolutely delicious. In fact, I have yet to have had anything I didn’t like from them.
Hi Lindsey, so glad you’ve discovered their other products, too! Our review of their mac and cheese products will be up at the end of the month!
I used to be able to buy this at walmart and sam’s club, Now this year I have been told that both of these stores no longer carry this brand. Do you have any suggestions of where to buy it? I live in central TX.
Hi Francine, I would see the Earth Balance website – they have a store locator.
Hi! I found this at my local Safeway grocery. In the stores that have a natural section this is normally where Earth Balance is found. In a Safeway without a natural section it is found with the butters, and margarine. Hope this helps!
Earth Balance Butter – in sticks tried for first time and it tastes as good as or better than butter!! I am a newbie to Vegan….long time vegetarian. Erin
Hi Erin,
The sticks and the spread are very similar – I’ll be doing a review on those soon!
I am so thankful and appreciative of this wonderful product! Its the only Dairy free margarine that I know of but it tastes just like butter! Its exceptional in cooking and baking!