Coconut Oil Soap Recipe: Easy 3 Ingredient All-Purpose Soap

This coconut oil soap recipe is easy to make and fantastic for a variety of soap uses. It is easy to make the bars into liquid. I use this coconut oil soap recipe as a base for dish soap, laundry soap, shampoo, and body wash.

The recipe features just three simple ingredients: coconut oil, sodium hydroxide (lye), and plain water. It is a hot-process soap, so doesn’t need to cure for six weeks like a cold processed soap would. You can start using it the next day!

Since hot-processed soap isn’t as pretty as cold-processed, it’s great for recipes where it will be melted or shredded. For gifts and bars of soap for my bathroom, I prefer to make prettier looking cold-processed recipes!

This coconut oil soap recipe is definitely my workhorse, though! I use way more of this soap than any other soap recipe I make.

 

Coconut Oil Soap Recipe

 

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For this recipe, you’ll need:

• 68 oz coconut oil
• 11.8 oz sodium hydroxide (lye)
• 24 oz water

There is no need to use raw coconut oil for this coconut oil soap recipe, which will be cooked anyway. I use organic expeller-pressed coconut oil, which is usually much cheaper. Since I also use this oil for cooking, I buy 1 or 5-gallon jugs from Azure Standard. Azure is a natural foods co-op that delivers to most of the US. You can find the oil I use here! 

Sodium hydroxide, another name for lye, can be purchased on Amazon or eBay. Be sure to buy lye intended for soap making, not the type meant for drain cleaning.

 

Although it is possible to emulsify coconut oil soap with a lot of stirring, I prefer the easier method of using a stick immersion blender. You can use the same one you already have in your kitchen, or if you plan on making lots of soap you might want to buy a dedicated soap making blender.

Finally, you will need a small scale such as a kitchen or postal scale to weigh the ingredients. This will ensure the correct proportions of lye and oil and prevent making a soap that is too strong or too weak.

 

Making Coconut Oil Soap

Since lye is dangerous to work with before it has been emulsified into soap, I try to plan my soap making for days when my kids are gone, or do it at nap time!

It’s important to wear eye protection and gloves when working with lye. Long sleeves will also help to protect your arms if any should splatter.

Lye will burn your skin but can be neutralized with plain vinegar. I always have a vinegar jug handy when making soap!

 

Step 1

Weigh the water and pour it into a glass bowl. When the lye is mixed with the water it will give off strong fumes at first, so should always be mixed outdoors. 

Before mixing the lye, put on your eye protection and gloves. Weigh the lye, then carefully pour it into the water. Slowly stir until the lye is completely dissolved. The water will begin to heat up. Leave the lye solution outdoors to cool partially, placing it in a place safe from kids and pets.

 

Step 2

Measure the oil into a 12 quart or larger pot. Melt on medium-low heat until the oil is warmed. You can also use a crockpot if you have one large enough.

Step 3

*If you took them off you’ll want to put your eye protection and gloves back on for this part.* Bring the lye solution indoors. 

Carefully pour ⅓ of the lye solution into the pot of coconut oil. Place the stick blender in the pot, completely submerged in the oil, and blend for 20-30 seconds. Add another ⅓ of the lye and blend some more. Add the remainder of the lye and continue to blend for 20-30 seconds at a time, giving your blender frequent breaks so it doesn’t burn out with all this hard work!

Blend until the coconut oil soap recipe reaches trace. “Trace” means that the oil and lye water have blended and thickened. You can check for trace by turning off the blender, lifting it out of the soap, and watching to see if the drips stay on the surface of the soap.

 

Step 4

When the soap reaches trace, remove the stick blender and place the pot on the stove on low heat.

Cook the soap on low for 45 minutes-1 hour, stirring every few minutes to ensure the soap doesn’t rise out of the pot. I work on dishes or other projects in between stirring, but don’t leave the kitchen.

 

Step 5

After 45 minutes to 1 hour of cooking time, the soap should be thick and creamy. Carefully pour it into soap molds. You can make your own soap mold by lining a cardboard box with parchment paper.

Smooth the soap out as well as you can and let it harden.

This coconut oil soap recipe gets hard fast, so it’s easiest to cut the soap after about 3 hours, when it is set and still slightly warm. Cut into any shape you desire. I cut mine slightly longer and thinner than a normal soap bar so the bars will fit in my food processor for grating.

That’s it!

 

Using Your Coconut Oil Soap

The soap bars can be used as-is. Odd as it may sound bar soap can be used for doing dishes! 

I prefer to make mine into a liquid dish soap.

 

Homemade Dish Soap Recipe

To make liquid dish soap using the coconut oil soap recipe, grate 1 4 oz bar of finished soap with a cheese grater or the grater attachment of a food processor. 

Put the grated soap in a pot with 4 cups water. Melt the soap over medium heat. Cool and add essential oils if desired. Citrus oils such as lemon or grapefruit are fantastic for the kitchen, but you can use any oils you choose or omit them altogether.

The soap and water amounts in this dish soap recipe are flexible. You can add more water if your soap is too thick, or more soap if it isn’t thick enough. It just comes down to your preference.

 

Laundry Soap Recipe

For laundry soap, grate a bar of the finished coconut oil soap recipe with a cheese grater. A food processor with a grater attachment really works well and saves a lot of time for this project. I like to mix up a gallon of laundry soap at a time.

You can use plain grated soap to wash clothes. That’s what grandma did! But this recipe is closer to the commercial laundry detergents most of us are used to.

• 4 oz grated cleaning soap
• ½ cup washing soda
• ½ cup borax or additional ½ cup washing soda

Mix all ingredients. You can add essential oils if desired. I use 2 T for a normal “large” load of laundry. 

 

Shampoo or Body Wash Recipe from Scratch

Liquid shampoo or body wash is pretty much made the same way as liquid dish soap.

Grate a 4 oz bar of soap with a cheese grater or the grater attachment of a food processor. 

Put the grated soap in a pot with 4 cups water. Melt over medium heat. Cool and add essential oils if desired. Lavender is my favorite!

The soap and water amounts in this body wash recipe are flexible. You can add more water if your soap is too thick, or more soap if it isn’t thick enough. It just comes down to your preference.