Wake up to something special. These vegan strawberry muffins are perfectly tender and moist for a fresh and seasonal breakfast pastry or daytime snack. A hint of lemon takes these muffins to the next level.
It's strawberry season! Do you know what that means?
Strawberry recipes are coming your way! You see, the thing is, Oregon has the BEST strawberries in the world. Every year, when the strawberry season hits, I simply cannot help myself.
What are some of my favorite strawberry recipes?
I'm glad you asked.
Well, there's Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream, Strawberry Shortcakes, and, one of my go-to breakfasts, Strawberry and Cream Overnight Oats. But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
This year, I'm kicking off the strawberry season with a fan favorite: Vegan Strawberry Muffins.
Recipe Video
Ingredients & Substitutions
I love this recipe and I think you will too! These vegan muffins are moist, rich, and bursting with strawberries and lemon zest in every bite. They are the perfect morning pastry or a midday snack.
Here is everything you need.
- 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.
- Baking Powder & Soda
- Salt
- 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.
- Vanilla Extract
- Fresh Lemon - If you don't like lemon, this can be omitted.
- Fresh Strawberries - If you don't have fresh strawberries, check out how to use 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.
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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 Berries
Once the batter is made, we want to gently fold in the strawberries. The goal with folding is to get the strawberries 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. I find that using an ice cream scoop is the cleanest and easiest way to get the batter into the muffin molds. Additionally, with an ice cream scoop, you can ensure the muffins are equally sized.
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.
Remove the strawberry 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 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.
- 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.
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.
Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for additional applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
Yes! 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.
For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
More Vegan Muffins Recipes
- Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Banana Nut Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
Vegan Strawberry 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 + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 heaping cup fresh strawberries sliced thin
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 strawberries.
- Spoon into muffin tins, filling each cup about ¾ full. Bake for 20-22 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.
Video
Notes
- 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 
Leah Moskovits says
These came out looking beautiful and were easy to make! The only criticism was that we thought they could be sweeter, but we seem to be the only ones to think that! I see someone added nutmeg -I will try that next time -they need some more flavor, but on the whole, I'm excited to have a new recipe! Thank you!!
Jackie says
Amazing! I didn’t have soy milk and used almond milk instead. My 5 year loves them! Simple ingredients that we mostly have on hand so it’s simple to throw them together. These will be one of our go-to breakfasts from now on.
Robert Hersey says
Exactly what I did too.
Mat says
These turned out great! I am not much of a baker but had a craving for muffins and had just gone berry picking so I wanted to give this a shot and they are excellent. Moist, delicious, everything you could want in a muffin.
L says
I’ve made this muffin recipe about 25 times over the last year (about twice a month sound about right). It is my go-to muffin recipe. I primarily make it with blueberries, as I find the strawberries make the muffins a little wet. I made them for the first time last week with frozen blackberries and OMG... out of this world delish! Thanks for such an easy, ingredients always on hand, moist and delicious muffin recipe!
Katie says
Can I substitute the oil with applesauce?
Sarah McMinn says
Yes, I believe that should be fine.
Jessica says
Do you thaw the blueberries or blackberries?
Sarah McMinn says
No, you can use them frozen.
Cheryl says
Let me preface this by saying I do not dole out praise lightly, but these muffins are FANTASTIC! I like to think of myself as an accomplished baker and definitely a baked goods snob. Since my daughter became vegan a couple of years ago, I have tried quite a few vegan dessert recipes, most of which I find not as good as baked goods made with butter and eggs. However...these are incredible, and not just for being vegan, but simply awesome as muffins go (and trust me, I have baked my share of muffin recipes and then some). Kudos!
Angie says
Delicious muffins. I made an extra half batch because I wanted the muffin tins to be full, but I i didn't need to. The recipe fills up a 12 muffin tin right up to the top. I didn't have the zest or vanilla on hand, and used melted butter instead of oil, but they still turned out soft and full of flavour. Definitely A keeper.
Trisha says
The strawberry muffins tasted delicious! Great recipe! The only change I made was substituting unsweetened applesauce for the oil in the recipe.
Nicole says
Do you think I could use frozen sliced strawberries?
Sarah says
Sure. The color will bleed into the muffins a little but it will still taste great!
Kate Black says
I made these muffins yesterday and love them! Thanks for sharing .
Brandy says
These muffins are so moist and delicious. Perfect amount of everything!!!
Lindsey says
Thanks for a great recipe! I'm new to vegan baking and love a recipe that uses ingredients I typically have on hand. I substituted the soy milk for coconut-almond milk (what was in the fridge), added about 1/8 tsp of nutmeg, and sprinkled raw sugar on top. They came out so sunny and delightful. Looking forward to trying other recipes from your blog. Thanks!
Brytanny Howard says
Did anyone try this gluten free ? Maybe using Bob red mills one to One flour ? This recipe looks fantastic but I’m gluten free!!
Sarah says
I think Bob's Red Mill one-to-one would work. That is typically what I use when I do gluten-free baking.
Becky C. says
Great recipe! I had an over abundance of strawberries so wanted to try this recipe. I used olive oil and substituted a combination of almond milk and cashew milk (it’s what I had on hand). I couldn’t help myself, added sliced bananas and chopped walnuts too! My husband ate two before they cooled off! Will definitely make these again.
Sarah says
Sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!
Pam says
Hi, do you know the cook time for mini muffins.
Sarah says
I would start with 12 minutes and check them after that.
Frances says
Can you freeze these muffins?
Sarah says
Yeah, that would be fine.
Saher says
I just made these muffins and they are fantastic! Soft, moist and deliciously zingy thanks to the lemon zest. I used coconut oil and coconut sugar in the same quantity as stated in the recipe and I will definitely be making these again!
Thank you for this recipe, I will be checking out the others on your site 🙂
Sarah says
I'm so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for your review!
Channing says
How long do you let the milk out to curdle?
Sarah says
Just about 5-10 minutes
Jackie says
This recipe is absolutely fantastic! Muffins were perfect and moist. Will indeed use this recipe from now on. Thanks for sharing!!
Sarah says
So glad you liked them. Thanks for sharing!
Frank says
Beautiful recipe! I will try this recipe over the weekend and spoil my family... Thank you.
Gemma says
I made these strawberry muffins with lemon zest they are delicious and easy to make. 25 minutes to cook and they came out perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Sarah says
Glad they were a hit. Thanks for sharing!