These Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Muffins are subtly spiced, surprisingly healthy and packed full of juicy apples! They’re great for breakfast, brunch, dessert or a snack and are perfect for meal prep!
Why you’ll love these Apple Muffins:
- they’re undetectably vegan and gluten-free
- they’re refined sugar free and relatively healthy
- they’re packed with sweet apples
- they’re moist and fluffy
- they filling and satisfying
- they’re a good source of protein and fibre
- they require just one bowl to make
- the recipe is versatile and easily customisable.
Substitutions you can make to this recipe:
- you can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil
- you can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc
- you can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc
- you can substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts
- for a nut-free version: substitute the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (1/4 cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds
- you can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you’re not gluten-free
- you can omit the cinnamon or replace with another similar spice such as cardamom or ground ginger
- you can cut down on the amount of maple syrup or omit it entirely if you want to make them no added sugar.
I prefer the apple chunks in these muffins to be tender but still have a little bite, so I decided not to cook them first before adding to the mixture. And I didn’t peel them because I love how the skins add little pops of colour, and this also makes them healthier and easier!
However, if you have any problems with any of the above and prefer your apples to be super soft and silky, you can always peel the apples and cook them in a pan beforehand.
I kept these muffins pretty simple by just using apples, but other delicious add-ins include:
- desiccated coconut
- chopped walnuts or pecan nuts
- raisins
- dried cranberries
- chopped dates.
Equipment you’ll need to make these Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Muffins:
glass mixing bowl – for mixing the muffin batter- measuring jug – for measuring out the plant-based milk
- muffin/cupcake tin – for baking the muffins
How long do these Apple Muffins keep for?
Though these muffins do taste best when fresh, they keep well covered in the fridge for up to a few days, and freeze well too, which makes them great for a quick breakfast. If you have just taken them out of the fridge of freezer, I’d recommend warming them up in an oven toaster if you have one.
More vegan muffin recipes:
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.
Gluten-Free Vegan Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- 60 g (1/4 cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (4/5 cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 1/4 cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 3 apples , cored and diced (around 700 g/24 oz in total)
Instructions
- 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 using any other oil)
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and ground almonds
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it’s looking too dry
- Add the apples and carefully stir in
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean
- Tastes best when fresh, but keeps covered in the fridge for up to a few days
Notes
almond flour I kept these muffins pretty simple by just using apples, but other delicious add-ins include:- desiccated coconut
- chopped walnuts or pecan nuts
- raisins
- dried cranberries
- chopped dates
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Liz
The only change I made to this recipe was to shred apples instead of dicing them. I did wind up having to cook the muffins longer than indicated but they are delicious. I did top them with chopped pecans and the plant milk I used was oat milk at the suggestion of a friend. They have a delightful texture and an excellent taste. The texture is really pleasant and not at all eggy (obviously no eggs in this recipe but still) which is a nice change of pace from the usual grain free muffins I find. They don’t puff much but they do cook well and are not dense when eating. I’ve been eating them all week, taking them from the freezer and warming them up in my toaster oven, and that along with a little bit of an egg or some nut butter keeps me satisfied through the morning. I’m truly delighted to have a recipe that’s allergy-friendly since I no longer can have wheat, corn, most dairy ,or sugar. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, I’m so glad you liked the recipe! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, that’s so helpful to know!
Ngaio
This is a really good recipe. I have been vegan and GF for years and recently have been cutting down on sugar. I used half the maple syrup in the recipe and about 12 drops of stevia and my partner couldn’t tell that there was no sugar in the muffin he tasted! I also used four kiwifruit instead of two of the apples (I’m in New Zealand- too many kiwifruit). I will be trying more of your recipes.
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked it! And thank you for sharing your substitutions, that sounds delicious to use kiwi!
Sarah
I probably did something wrong – they tasted yummy, but remained uncooked and creamy in the middle, although the tops were brown. Maybe I added too much liquid – I didn’t have fifth cup measurement, so estimated – probably over. I used ground cashew nuts, and shredded the apples. My kids like them, and will eat them for breakfast, since their interior has the consistency of oatmeal 😉
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you so much for your feedback. I’m so sorry to hear that. I think it was a combination of adding too much liquid and because you used ground cashew nuts. As cashew nuts are a softer nut than ground almonds, they don’t bake as well for this kind of recipe. If you want to replace the ground almonds I would suggest ground walnuts, ground pumpkin seeds or ground sunflower seeds are a better replacement. I hope that helps!
Gee
Great flavour and i love that the skins are on. My batter was quite runny so I had to cook for more then 20 mins – more like 30/35 mins. This could be because my gf flour had a different make up then the gf flour used here, or my apples were bigger or contained water – so some guidance of how many grams apples or which type of apples are best would be great. Finally I believe that European muffins are much smaller than American muffins – I managed to make 12, not 8!
That said, the apples were deliciously cooked (same texture as apple pie) and the cake although dense was caramel-ly – I really enjoyed eating them. So still 4 * and a good recipe – Thank you!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for your feedback, I’m glad it worked out ok! I’ve just updated the recipe with measurements for the apples, thank you for letting me know about that.
Diane
These look and sound delicious and I really want to make them but don’t have ground almonds …. can I use more of the flour? Or should I go buy the ground almonds 😊
Rhian Williams
Hi – sorry you can’t use more flour instead as that won’t work in terms of texture. You could replace the ground almonds with ground walnuts or ground sunflower seeds though!