The perfect vegan blueberry muffins! These muffins are soft, sweet, perfectly moist, and filled with fresh blueberries in every bite. Made with a hint of lemon to take these muffins to the next level.
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This post was originally published on March 2, 2015. Last updated on July 13th, 2020
My first baking job was the best job I’ve had to date. Well, with the exception of this job. In my time as a baker, I fell absolutely in love with the process, the environment, and the practice of baking and patisserie.
I originally published this vegan blueberry muffin recipe over 6 years ago. Since then, it has become the most popular recipe on my website, BY FAR. You people LOVE these vegan muffins.
I get it. These vegan muffins are soft, perfectly moist, and flavored with a hint of lemon. Beyond that, they are wildly versatile. Take a look through the comment section of this recipe and you'll learn how to make these muffins gluten-free, without refined sugar, soy-free, and so many other ways!
With all the love these vegan muffins get, I figured it was time to give them a new look.
Recipe Video
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
I love this recipe and I think you will too! These vegan muffins are moist, rich, and bursting with blueberries and lemon zest in every bite. They are the perfect morning pastry or a midday snack.
Ingredient Notes
- Non-Dairy Milk – I recommend soy milk because it curdles the best. Almond milk will often curdle but not as well. This may affect the overall texture of the muffin.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – This is my vinegar of choice when making vegan buttermilk (vinegar + soymilk) but white vinegar, white wine vinegar, and lemon juice are great alternatives.
- All-Purpose Flour – For healthier flour options, you can use 1:1 gluten-free flour blends, buckwheat, or spelt flour.
- Granulated Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements. For a healthier sugar alternative, I recommend coconut sugar.
- Oil – This recipe calls for canola oil because it creates the best texture without added flavor. If you want to avoid hydrogenated oils, try avocado or melted coconut oil. Olive oil also works but adds a slightly savory flavor. If you want to eliminate the oil altogether, swap it out for the same amount of applesauce.
- Fresh Lemon – If you don’t like lemon, this can be omitted.
- Fresh Blueberries – If you don’t have fresh blueberries, check out my Tips & Tricks to find out how to replace them with frozen berries.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One – Combine the Ingredients
To start, we must first make our “buttermilk”. To do this, mix together soymilk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and set it aside for 5 minutes to curdle. Once it’s curdled, whisk in the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and lemon zest.
Pro Tip: The curdled milk helps give these muffins rise and texture. While other types of non-dairy milk will do, I find that soy milk curdles the best.
In a small bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. That’s the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk until it’s well combined and set aside. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until all the flour is evenly hydrated.
Step Two – Fold in the Blueberries
Once the batter is made, we want to gently fold in the blueberries. The goal with folding is to get the blueberries fully incorporated into the batter without overmixing the batter or breaking apart the berries.
To do this, use a wooden spoon or plastic spatula and fold the batter from bottom to top in a “C” shape.
Step Three – Bake the Muffins
Scoop your batter into a greased muffin tin. Fill each muffin mold about ¾ of the way full and bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Pro Tip: I find that using an ice cream scoop is the cleanest and easiest way to get the batter into the muffin molds. With an ice cream scoop, you can ensure the muffins are equally sized as well.
Remove the muffins from the oven and let them cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping out to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Serving And Storing
Serving - Serve these vegan muffins immediately. They come out of the oven warm, buttery, and hard to resist!
Storing - Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these muffins for up to 2 months. To thaw, pull the muffins from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for several hours.
Tips And Tricks
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Do not overmix your batter. Overmixing allows the gluten to develop and too much gluten will give you gummy and dense muffins.
- If you are using frozen berries, thaw the berries in a colander by running them under room temperature water. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes for any excess water and juice to run off them. Pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to your batter.
- Fill muffin tins about ¾″ of the way full. Any fuller than that and they will overflow.
- Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the tops are golden brown.
- Make sure to let the muffins sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping them out to a wire cooling rack. Otherwise, the muffins may fall apart.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. While I choose soy milk because it curdles so well, many people have had success with almond milk, oat milk, and cashew milk as well.
For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 Baking Flour Blend. (<<affiliate link)
Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for additional applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
If you are using frozen berries, thaw the berries in a colander by running them under room temperature water. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes for any excess water and juice to run off them. Pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to your batter.
I recommend coconut sugar. Other readers have replaced the sugar with ½ cup maple syrup or simply reduced the sugar by 25%-50% with great success. Check out my complete guide to vegan sugar for more ideas.
If you want to make this muffin batter in advance, store the batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
To bake the muffins, preheat the oven and bake according to the instructions. However, these muffins may take a few minutes longer to bake since the batter will be chilled. The muffins will also be slightly denser as the baking soda begins to activate once it’s mixed into the batter, causing it to be slightly less potent.
Do you still have a question? If so, make sure to check out the comments below. This recipe has over 500 comments, including answers to frequently asked questions, common substitutions, and more!
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Healthy Vegan Banana Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
And make sure to check out all my muffin & pastry recipes.
Vegan Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup + 2tbsp. granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tbsp. canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1½ - 2 cups fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside to allow milk to curdle.
- In a larger bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, canola oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Add soy milk/vinegar mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Be careful not to over-mix - a few lumps are okay. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Spoon into muffin tins, filling each cup about ¾ full. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from heat and allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.
Video
Notes
- Can I use something other than soy milk? Yes. While I choose soy milk because it curdles so well, many people have had success with almond milk, oat milk, and cashew milk as well.
- Can I make this recipe gluten-free? For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 Baking Flour Blend.
- Can I make these muffins oil free? Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for additional applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
- Can I use frozen berries? If you are using frozen berries, thaw the berries in a colander by running them under room temperature water. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes for any excess water and juice to run off them. Pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to your batter.
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- If you are using frozen berries, thaw the berries in a colander by running them under room temperature water. Let the berries sit for 30 minutes for any excess water and juice to run off them. Pat them dry with a paper towel before adding them to your batter.
- Make sure to let the muffins sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping them out to a wire cooling rack. Otherwise, the muffins may fall apart.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Taylar says
Hi! I am so excited to make these and was wondering if I substitute coconut oil in place of the canola oil, do I measure the coconut oil as a solid or melt it first before measuring? That always confused me. Thank you so much.
Sarah says
Yes, you can make that substitution. Measure it in its liquid state.
Kris says
I made this yesterday. I didn’t have a muffin pan so I used a 8 x 8 pan. It worked perfectly. I also didn’t have lemon zest but subbed orange zest. It was delicious!! This is a keeper.
Beverley James says
Fabulous ! Made these this afternoon and they were amazing. I used more lemon zest, less sugar and frozen blueberries. Will be making more !
Martina says
I never buy canola oil, is there another option for an oil to use? Maybe coconut oil? Just wondering. These muffins look amazing!
Sarah says
Coconut oil works!
Stephanie says
Omg omg omg, these are sooooo good!
I just made them for the first time and they were perfect. I will make them over and over and over again!
LaWinda says
Made this today. Replaced the oil with unsweetened apple sauce and used coconut milk in place of soy milk. Delicious and will definitely make again.
Kezia tha Baker says
I was a little skeptical going into it, but I saw how well the recipe went together and gave it a go. I love the vegan buttermilk idea, I only had coconut milk though. They turned out GREAT! The lemon was perfect! The batter actually tasted so good ^.^ I was surprised. I thought they might be dense from the oil instead of whipped butter/sugar for the base, but once again I was delightfully surprised. These rose very well, have a great flavor, and don't even taste vegan! The only down I will say is that they are a little dense, but not in the way I thought.
Hannah says
looks wonderful! can the batter be made in advance?
Sarah says
I wouldn't recommend it but if you must, you can make it in advance and refrigerate it for 1 day.
Stephanie says
You can always mix the dry ingredients together and leave it on the counter with the wet ingredients in the refrigerator, then all you have to do is mix the two together. I do this all the time for breakfast recipes because my morning brain cannot be trusted to think and measure accurately!
Brittany says
Thanks for the recipe! I made some changes and they were delicious! I subbed almond milk in, did half maple syrup and half sugar for sweetness, used whole wheat flour, and added a squirt of lemon juice as well as a dash of cinnamon and pumpkin spice. I also sprinkled the tops with raw sugar and cinnamon! They weren't quite as pretty as yours, but they were more nutritious!
Goldie says
I usually don't write reviews but I stumbled upon this recipe while searching for something to do with all my blueberries and needing something to bring to my cousins for desert. I must say these were such a hit! My fiancé and I are also both addicted! It is so moist and flavourful but it was so easy and simple! I made mini muffins because thats the only muffin container I had, but it still came out perfect (just cooked it a little less time). I also had some left over batter and I just poured it into a loaf pan and made a delicious loaf as well! Thank you for this recipe 🙂 Will definitely be adding it to my recipe book! 🙂
Lorna says
What does it mean by 104 g +2 tablespoons granulated sugar..why would it have 2 different measurements? It also says 56.45 ml + 2 tablespoons canola oil? Also can I substitute coconut oil for the canola. Thanks for the help
Sarah says
The recipe card was written funny making the unit conversions messed up. I fixed it now. And yes, coconut oil can be used instead.
Maggie Cupper says
You have a wonderful blog and such beautiful photos! I also like to photograph food
Dani says
I didn't have milk so I substituted with water blended with peanuts (homemade peanut milk??) and I also didn't have lemon zest or vanilla. I also used gluten free flour too and added a VeganEgg (from Follow Your Heart) for the hell of it.
I didn't want to drive to the store and release CO2 into the atmosphere so I made do with what I had on hand!
They turned out ugly but tasty! 🙂
Beth says
Just made a batch of these with my daughter and they were super simple and turned out beautifully fluffy and delicious. The lemon zest adds a bright flavor that balances out the sweetness. I'm sure we'll be making these again soon!
Naiya says
My batter is kind of thick. Is this normal?
Sarah says
It should be fairly thick - definitely not pourable batter.
Rohima says
Please help, when trying to pull out the muffins they just go stuck. Thr top seemed fine but the inside just fell apart 🙁
Sarah says
Sounds like the muffin tins needed to be sprayed a bit more and you tried to pull them out too quickly. Next time, let them cool at least 10 minutes before trying to remove them from the muffin tin.