These Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Muffins are warmly spiced, super moist and covered with a sweet glaze! They come together in one bowl and are refined sugar free too. Perfect for Christmas!

Why do these muffins contain yogurt?
I was a bit worried that these gingerbread muffins might come out too dry, but I managed to combat this issue by using plant-based yogurt in place of plant-based milk. The yogurt keeps the muffins super moist whilst creating a beautifully dense crumb.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use the finest side of a box grater to grate the ginger.
- Divide the batter between muffin cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Leave to cool before applying the glaze.
Tips for making the glaze
- Mix together the coconut oil and the maple syrup - if the coconut oil is solid, use a small whisk to combine.
- If the mixture is quite liquidy, I’d recommend placing in the fridge for a bit for it to firm up slightly.
- Make sure the muffins have cooled completely before drizzling over the glaze (if you want it to look nice), otherwise hot muffins will melt the glaze.
- You can alternatively top these muffins with a vegan cream cheese frosting - you can find the recipe for this in my Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake recipe.
How long do these Gingerbread Muffins keep for?
Although these Gingerbread Muffins do taste best when fresh, they keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based yogurt: almond, soy, cashew or coconut yogurt all work well.
- If you can't find plant-based yogurt, you can replace it with any type of plant-based milk, or use an equivalent amount of blended up silken tofu.
- You can replace the date syrup with maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds with ground sunflower seeds and use a nut-free plant-based milk.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free.
- Want to make a loaf instead? Use my Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Loaf Cake recipe!
Ingredients you can add to the batter
- Chopped walnuts.
- Dried cranberries.
- Chocolate chips or chunks.
More gluten-free vegan muffin recipes
- Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Lemon Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make this recipe
Gluten-Free Vegan Gingerbread Muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (â…˜ cup) unsweetened plant-based yogurt (I used coconut yogurt but you can use any other plant-based milk) *
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 12 tablespoons date syrup (or sub maple syrup or any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated ginger **
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) ***
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice (or a mixture of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon)
For the glaze (optional):
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil
- 6 teaspoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
Instructions
For the muffins:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if not using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the yogurt to the same bowl along with the vinegar, date syrup, vanilla, salt, ginger and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice.
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin.
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
- Leave to cool before applying the glaze.
For the glaze:
- Mix together the coconut oil and the maple syrup – if coconut oil is solid then use a small whisk to combine.
- If the mixture is quite liquidy, I’d recommend placing in the fridge for a bit for it to firm up slightly.
- Make sure the muffins have cooled completely before drizzling over the glaze (if you want it to look nice), otherwise hot muffins will melt the glaze.
- Taste best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days.
Video
Notes
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog – thank you.
Andrzej Frydecki
Dear Lady. I'm waiting you create something without baking powder and bicarbonate soda but... without success umtil now.
Rhian Williams
It's not really possible to make vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar free baked goods without baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Would love to hear if you have any suggestions of alternatives!
trex game
Well, that's a superb article! Thank you for this great information, you write very well which I like very much. I am really impressed by your post.
Maria
These look amazing and will be trying out the recipe soon. Can you tell what kind of liners you use for the muffins?
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! I bought the muffin liners in Japan!