•Illipé butter (IB) was blended with palm mid-fraction (PMF) in different wt ratios.•Blend 75/25 (IB/PMF) was selected as it was fully compatible with cocoa butter (CB).•The blend displayed similar crystallization curve and polymorphic structure to CB.•Chocolate made with the blend had comparable properties to chocolate made with CB.•The selected blend met all criteria and can be used as commercial CBE. Cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) was prepared from illipé butter (IB) and palm mid-fraction (PMF) blends in different wt ratios. The solid fat content (SFC), compatibility, crystallization/melting thermograms and crystal microstructure of the blends were studied. Softening occurred with IB/PMF blends due to eutectic formation and resulted in blend 75/25 (IB/PMF) exhibiting SFC profile and crystallization/melting behavior comparable to CB and hence it was selected to be used as a CBE. The CBE was fully compatible with CB and displayed similar polymorphic structure (β2) and isothermal crystallization curve to CB. When it was used to partially replace CB in chocolate (5 %wt of the finished product), the hardness, SFC and the bloom formation behavior of the chocolate were not significantly different from the chocolate made with CB. Overall, the 75/25 blend met all criteria to be considered as CBE, hence, it can be used as an alternative to commercially available CBE.