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
Rachel says
These turned out awesome even with substituting with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and lemon juice. So moist, fresh and light! Really enjoyed it. Great, easy recipe!
weezie-j says
i only had 1 1/2 cups of bob's gluten free flour mix, so topped up the other 1/2 cup with almond, substituted canola oil for coconut oil, cane sugar for white sugar, and it was very runny, not sure what I did wrong, had some tapioca flour in the cupboard so threw some of that in until it had a thicker consistency... fingers crossed, in the oven and smell great.
Lisa says
Turned out delish! I did use almond milk instead and whole wheat flour and spelt flour. I also added a cup of oats and a 1/2 cup of apple sause, and half of a squeeze lemon. Thankyou for sharing your recipe! They turned out amazingly fluffy!
Genevieve M says
Even my non-muffin loving daughter ate 5 of these over 2 days! Great recipe!
Hannah Styczykowski says
Do you have a rough estimate of what some of the nutrition facts are including g of Sugar and Fat?
Kayla says
I was really excited about these and was trying to make them a little healthier so I subbed almond milk, almond flour and coconut oil. They completely fell and turned to mush. What did I do wrong? I want to try again.
Sarah says
Almond flour is not an adequate replacement for all-purpose flour. You would need to use a gluten-free flour blend to make that work. The almond milk and coconut oil should be just fine, thought.
Samantha says
This is, by far, my favorite vegan muffin recipe. We have a handful of over-ripe bananas. Would it be possible to turn this into a banana muffin recipe? I don't trust other vegan muffin recipes because this one is too delicious. If you think it's possible, do you have any suggestions on how much banana to use? Thank you so much for this awesome recipe either way!
Corrie says
These were very delicious! I'm not a vegan, but have used a lot of different recipes for friends with food allergies and this is a keeper! I did sub full fat coconut milk since that is the only dairy free milk I had, and they were very yummy! Thanks for the recipe!
Sarah says
I'm glad you enjoyed them, Corrie!
Chris says
Delicious, I used KAF gluten free flour blend, almond milk and coconut oil, all the same measurements and added a tsp, of orange extract and they are the best gluten free vegan muffins I've ever made/had. I look forward to trying out more recipes of yours.
Sonia says
Such a great recipe! It came out moist and fluffy, just what I was looking for.
I used a round cake pan instead of a muffin pan and made a streusel for the top -- I inadvertently made a very delicious blueberry coffee cake!
The recipe is very forgiving- I used almond milk (instead of soy milk), lime zest (instead of lemon zest) and lime juice (instead of vinegar) and it was fantastic.
Thank you!
Maja says
Amazing muffins! They didn't last long 😀 I was wondering if I can put chocolate chips instead of blueberries. Or would it be to dry? Thank you!
Sarah says
Yes, you could sub the blueberries for chocolate chips no problem.
Raksha says
Loved your site. Lovely images.
Sarah says
Thank you very much Raksha!
Betsy WYATT says
So today marks my 7th time baking them in a month. My first 3 batches were Blueberry. I subbed coconut milk (I can't do soy due to thyroid problems) and coconut palm sugar. They were amazing. The next 2 times (blueberry again) I did just a 1/4 c of oil (avacado) and they came out even better (fluffy ?). Today was experimenting day! I made cherry/coconut /pecan. They are just lovely. About 1/4c pecans, same ratio of cherry as blueberries and 1/8c coconut shreds. Subbed the vanilla extract for coconut extract. I also made a batch of vanilla plum. I was out of vanilla extract (hence the coconut extract above) and too low on coconut milk so I used a 5.3 fl oz container of vanilla coconut yogurt and some coconut milk. I was just shy of a cup. I did not add vinegar or the lemon and they were incredible to today's batches but have on all my blueberry ones. ?? Thank you so much! !!!
Sarah says
Thank YOU for sharing all these variations. I'm sure people will love to try some of your ideas.
Kathy says
These are delicious! I used almond milk instead of soy and left out the lemon zest & vanilla (but only cause I didn't have them).
Shannon says
Great recipe and perfect for Great Lent potlucks (which has been challenging for me to find.) I did slight subs of grapeseed oil and coconut milk as its what I had on hand. I'm trying blackberries next for church potluck. Thanks for sharing!
Josephine says
This recipe looks amazing!! I cannot wait to try them.
Has anyone tried to make with a little sourdough starter? Would half a cup of starter work with this recipe instead of using the apple cider vinegar? I would still use the milk....