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
Anne says
I have baked vegan muffins before, but this one is the best! I used hemp milk still turned out perfectly delicious!
Julia says
Can you use regular vinegar instead of apple cider? My son is allergic to apples. Also has a dairy and egg allergy so options are limited. Thank you!
Cathy says
I think most any neutral flavor vinegar will work. If he can eat lemon I would use lemon juice. You already use the lemon for zest and the flavor will pair so nicely with these muffins.
Kate says
I have made this for several groups of vegans and non-vegans and have gotten nothing but great feed back. I double the recipe and use 5 cups of blueberries. I also top them with a streusel of vegan butter some flour and brown sugar. Sorry, I don't measure those ingredients. Yummy!!!
Rachel says
THANK YOU for this delicious recipe! Made it yesterday and my kids (5 and 2) are gobbling these up. My son is dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free (so we subbed for Bob's 1:1 GF flour), soy-free (so we subbed for rice milk), and then we switched the canola oil for avocado oil and they turned out great! Can't wait to make these again.
Melinda says
Amazing! I'm dairy and egg free due to baby having an intolerance and when I baked a cake a few weeks ago it was no good. Dense and tasted like flour. These muffins are incredible! Awesome texture and flavor. Next time I make blueberry I might sprinkle sugar on top before baking. They seemed to need just a touch more sweetness. I switched out the blueberries with chocolate chips and those are in the oven now. So happy to have a vegan baked good that is the texture of non-vegan baked goods!
Rose says
I just made these. I was so torn between the many recipes, mainly because some called for baking soda and others didn't, and because the ratios in each recipe were really different to one another. I decided on this one and I am SO glad I did! They turned out amazing! My first time making vegan muffins too. I used 2 cups of fresh blueberries and my only tweak next time will be to use a cup and a half. When I added the wet ingredients everything got really stiff and dry, I had to add more liquid. But this was most likely due to me not having a scale to weigh ingredients. Even so, they still turned out seriously delicious. Thank you!!! Oh and I used melted vegan butter instead of oil, and a little bit less sugar.
Lisa says
We’ve made this recipe 3 times in the past month using black raspberries we picked this season. The muffins are delicious! Just the right texture and the black raspberries are a perfect substitute. They also freeze well.
Ereshkigal says
Made these last Sunday and they didn't last long as they were gobbled up hadtily. The recipe is super easy and they were so fluffy and moist but not gooey. My partner said they were the best blueberry muffins he's ever had. The soy "buttermilk" gives them wonderful loft and the lemon zest lends amazing brightness without competition for tartness. Perfect recipe!
Brittney says
Wow, these are amazing!! I made these tonight with fresh picked blueberries, subbed maple sugar and instead of milk I used plain coconut milk yogurt that I watered down a bit (it’s all I had) and they are beautiful and so delicious. Thank you so much for the yummy recipe!
Lisa Hutchins says
These really ARE the best! Excellent! For high altitude adjustment where I live (7700 ft.), decreased the baking powder to 1 3/4 teaspoons and reduced the sugar by 2 tablespoons. They came out beautifully domed, full of blueberries--just perfect in every way. Thank you for an incredible vegan recipe!
Autumn says
As a non-vegan, these muffins are seriously so DELISH!!!! highly recommend trying these out.. I used coconut oil instead of canola oil and I really liked how they turned out!
PJ says
Dry good muffins and easy to make. I substituted applesauce for the oil and they turned out great
pj says
Should say very good muffins not dry
Dahlia says
I love this recipe! If you like glaze or want even more lemon flavour, I've made a glaze by combining 1.5 tbsp of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar in a bowl and whisking to combine then putting the top of each muffin into the glaze (this was exactly enough for a 1.5 times recipe or 18 muffins). Thanks for posting this recipe, it's a keeper for sure 🙂
Ali says
These are my go-to muffins. I usually do a batch of regular size and have enough left over for a batch of mini. I have also added raspberries, banana chunks, and strawberries. I use Ripple or flax milk with no issue.
Jasmin says
Heavenly! Had one straight out of the oven and immediately went for a second 😊 since we didn't have enough blueberries I split the dough and made half of it with strawberry - also delicious!
Jasmin says
Heavenly! Haf some straight out of the oven anf immediately went for a second 😊 since we didn't have enough blueberries I split the dough and made half of it with strawberry - also delicious!
Cheryl says
These muffins are amazing. I dont miss the butter nor the eggs and its flexible I only had Almond and Oat milk and vegetable oil. It still worked. Thank you
Miwa says
I just made those muffins and they are so good!! My husband and I had 3 each for our breakfast. I used maple syrup instead of sugar and turned out great. I will definitely make it again!! Thank you for the awesome recipe Sarah 😀
Valerie says
Very tasty! I made them in a mini-muffin pan, and they are great. Really appreciate that they aren't too sweet or oily. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Mareva says
Moist, not too sweet, flavorful, easy to make and bake= perfection! First time making them and I am in love. The family love them too so it’s a win-win!