The BEST Vegan Blueberry Muffins: moist, light, fluffy, and packed full of sweet, juicy blueberries. They're fuss-free, easy to make and come together in one bowl! They're also gluten-free, refined sugar free and healthy enough for breakfast.
Blueberry muffins are one of the easiest and most fool-proof baked goods you can make from scratch. And you can absolutely make fluffy vegan muffins using no eggs - let me show you how!
How to make this recipe
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Use a measuring jug to measure out the plant-based milk.
- Transfer the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes.
How long do these keep for?
Though these muffins do obviously taste best when fresh, they do keep for up to a few days.
These Blueberry Muffins can be stored at room temperature for up to a day. But if you want them to keep for longer, they're best stored in the fridge, where they keep for up to a few days.
Yes - they keep in the freezer for up to a couple of months.
If you have just taken them out of the fridge or freezer, I'd recommend warming them up in an oven toaster if you have one.
If you're not into blueberries, you can use any other type of similar fruit such as raspberries, blackberries or cherries, or dried fruit such as dried cranberries, figs or dates.
You can use either fresh or frozen blueberries.
Tips for using frozen blueberries
For best results, carefully stir frozen blueberries into the batter at the very last minute, making sure they are still frozen when you mix them in. This will stop the colour of the blueberries ‘bleeding’ into the batter.
Substitutions you can make
This recipe is very flexible, and can be easily adapted to suit your dietary needs, budget, ease and convenience.
- 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 replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ 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.
- For an oil-free/no oil version: replace the oil with a few tablespoons of applesauce!
How you can customise this recipe
- You can add a little cinnamon.
- You can add a handful of chopped walnuts or some desiccated coconut.
- You can top the muffins with flaked almonds or coconut flakes before baking.
- If you prefer to use less sugar, or if you like a vegan blueberry bread texture, use my sugar-free Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Banana Muffins recipe instead.
- You can add oats - use my Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins recipe!
Troubleshooting tips
- Make sure to use the right amount of baking powder - 2 heaped teaspoons! Use too little baking powder and your sponge won't be fluffy, too much and it'll have a bitter taste.
- If you don't use the lemon juice, make sure to replace it with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar as it's crucial to add some acidity which reacts with the alkali bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) to create a bubbly batter, and fluffy sponge.
- Make sure to use an all-purpose shop-bought gluten-free flour blend (or a homemade gluten-free flour blend), as opposed to just using any type of gluten-free flour you can find (such as almond flour, coconut flour, buckwheat flour etc).
Serving suggestions
These Blueberry Muffins work well as part of a brunch, served alongside dishes such as:
More gluten-free vegan blueberry recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Cake
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Blueberry Pie
- Blueberry Crisp
- Blueberry Banana Bread
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
Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 200 ml (⅘ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or any other plant-based milk)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice *
- 8 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 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)
- 100 g (1 cup) fresh blueberries
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 lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, 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 fresh blueberries and fold in gently, to make sure you don’t crush them.
- 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.
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.
Cheryl
These muffins are AWESOME!! I made some with buckwheat flour, real pumpkin and maple syrup and they came out SO delicious!! Definitely something I will make for the next office party!! Thank you!!
Rhian Williams
Hi! Thank you so much, so glad you liked them. Great to know about the substitutions too!
Cheryl
I forgot to add that I actually used water in place of milk and they came out yummy still!
Banjolelo
Hi Rhian, I tried your muffins this evening and they turned out pretty bad... I'm so sad right now as I've hardly ever been successful with baking (doesn't matter if gluten free or not, vegan or not).
I used a blend of potato flour, rice flour and cornflour. I used rice milk. I didn't have bicarbonate of soda so I used more baking powder instead. Was that my mistake? Maybe also my oven isn't "strong" enough. The muffins didn't rise and are wet and half raw on the inside and dark and chewy on the outside.
Please tell me what I did wrong, ughh I'm so discouraged right now...!
P.S. I'm not at all blaming you, your recipes are great and I bet NORMALLY those muffins are amazing!
Rhian Williams
Hi! Thank you so much for your feedback and I'm so sorry about what happened! I think not using bicarbonate of soda might have been an issue, as it's quite an important raising agent in vegan baking as it kind of acts as an egg replacement when it reacts with the acid in the lemon juice or vinegar. Did you preheat your oven properly and bake them at the right temperature? So sorry again!
Banjolelo
Actually the baking powder reacted with the lemon juice, I saw it bubble. But maybe that wasn't enough.
Yes I preheated the oven and used the right temperature, however I wasn't in my own flat so I didn't really "know" the oven 😀 Maybe I shouldn't have baked them at top and bottom heat?
Well, I don't know, and I don't mind anymore. The taste was very good, not the consistency though, but at least the taste 😀 Will try them again using my conventional baking stuff 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you for letting me know! I'm glad the taste was ok but hopefully the texture will improve next time...would love to hear how you get on. Thank you for your feedback!
Mary Mcardle
What can I use instead of almond meal ? I have to avoid nuts,seeds,gluten,dairy, corn,sugar
Rhian Williams
Can you have coconut flour? If so you can substitute the almond meal with a fifth of the amount of coconut flour!
Karen
Hi Rhian:
I love the way you've created GF and vegan recipes. Great job! I'm wondering if there is a way to search your recipe files. I'm looking for a Sweet Potato Muffin recipe that is also GF and Vegan.
Thanks your sharing!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! You can use the 'search' bar in my menu to search the site for recipes, or alternatively just type in the recipe you're looking for followed by 'Rhian's Recipes' into google search! I don't have a sweet potato muffin recipe on the site, but this GF Vegan Pumpkin Muffins recipe can easily be made with sweet potato purée instead of pumpkin purée: https://www.rhiansrecipes.com/pumpkin-muffins/