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
Klara says
I was little worried to bake these as i live in high altitude and already had a few baking disasters even following the recipe haha
These came out absolutely perfect and delicious!!! I doubled the ingredients and made half of it with blueberries and half with strawberries!
Thank you for this recipe !!! Will def make it all the time now 🙂
Jess says
These are incredible! I will confess to using regular milk, but that was the only modification. Such a perfect way to use an aging lemon and blueberries that are a little too mushy to eat plain. Thank you for this, so grateful to have discovered your website!
Sara says
Could I make this with whole wheat flour, and if so, would I have to change anything else?
Melissa says
Super delicious! Love them.
Leah says
Any recipe of yours that I have tried has been a success!
Quick question - With these blueberry muffins - can I use one and a half cups regular flour and 1/2 cup bread flour to make up the two cups of flour which are needed or will the bread flour ruin the muffins? Thanks!
TerryAnn says
I made these with bread flour as it was all I had- they turned out great!
Sharon says
Love these muffins!! I used almond milk instead of soy milk and it worked perfectly.
Janaki says
I am not someone who writes a lot of reviews but this blueberry muffin recipe was a hit. I made it for my husband on valentines day and he doesn't usually have a huge sweet tooth, but he absolutely loved it!! I made some crumble to add on at the top but loved how moist and soft the muffins turned out. Thank you!!
Karen Cartier says
These are unbelievably good. I recently made them for my kids and they were gone in a matter of minutes. I did change the recipe just a little bit though based on the ingredients I have in my house. I used unsweetened almond milk rather than soy milk and olive oil instead of canola oil. I will be baking these in the future!
Diane says
These are amazing muffins! I used oat milk instead of soy milk and they are delicious!
Sophie Gowers says
I made this recipe as instructed but with applesauce instead of oil and frozen blueberries that I decorated as instructed, it was so incredibly yummy the texture was perfect one of the best blueberry muffin recipes I’ve made. All of my non vegan family loved them as well and they demanded I make them again this weekend. Haha.
Lorena says
Hi! Did you replace the oil with the applesauce by gram measurement or cup measurement? Thank you ♥️
Jess says
Hi Lorena- not sure if you got your answer already, but in my experience with other recipes, you can replace applesauce for oil in 1:1 by cup measurement. A little different in texture but always good!
Jem says
Love this recipe, I used olive oil, the muffins turned out perfect and not too sweet!
B. says
Just finished eating one of these. Perfect little muffin. Not too sweet or bland. Very moist and yummy. I’ve made them at least four times. No changes although I did use half all purpose and half oat once because I ran out. Just as good!
Kate says
I made these a few days ago and they lasted about 4 seconds in my household! Today, I actually made a batch using kiwi instead of blueberries (I had some that needed to be used) and brown sugar instead of white (I was out of white) and they still came out delicious!
BradH says
Excellent. Simple. Delicious. This will be my go-to recipe for muffins. I figure a little twist here and there like maple syrup, pear spice, or even banana nut could be nice.
Karina says
These came out really good. You never know with vegan muffins, but I would make these again! I didn't have lemon so I left it out. I used frozen wild blueberries (just mixed them in, frozen) and they worked nicely. They did turn a purplish-gray color but that doesn't bother me. I also decreased the amount of oil slightly to account for the possible moisture release of the frozen berries.
I highly recommend sprinkling colored sugar sprinkles or organic sugar on top of each muffin before putting them in the oven. That extra crunch provides a lovely change of texture and (I think) helps the tops brown nicely too.
This was the first recipe I've made off of this site, and I plan on looking for other recipes here in the future! Thank you!
Hgerda says
Great recipe, delicious muffins. I made them with local wholewheat flour, sourdough starter (leaving out the baking powder) and aquafaba instead of milk. Once with lemon rind, once with orange, both good. Once with thawed blueberries, once with frozen berries, both times instead of drying them I simply coated the berries in some flour. I liked them better when I left the berries frozen (baked slightly longer), because they taste fresher and and ooze the juice in your mouth, rather than when mixing the dough. Thanks so much for the post!
Savannah says
I'm not eating vegan 100% anymore, but I had to com back for these muffins for a second time because they are the best muffins I have ever had. The consistency is perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!!