Here comes another amazing vegan recipe from The Joy of Vegan Baking. I can assure you that this is the best eggless/vegan blueberry muffins one can bake.
It's as light as an angel food cake made with only egg whites. You can imagine how light that cake would be.
So these eggless blueberry muffins which use vinegar as an egg substitute are also equally light and airy.
I used apple cider vinegar this time and got no aftertaste or smell from the vinegar. I personally feel that white vinegar has an aftertaste and smell.
I have made this vegan blueberry recipe a couple of times with many variations in using different flavors and ingredients, yet the recipe yields perfect muffins every time. I have used lemon zest, orange zest, orange juice, rice milk, and almond milk for flavorings and the liquid portion. I prefer these eggless blueberry muffins with orange flavoring the most.
I have always loved the combination of blueberry and orange. This orange blueberry bread is another best example of how lovely this combination is.
In my early days of venturing into vegan baking, I have used soy milk as a vegan substitute for dairy milk and have always felt that soy milk tends to give a rubbery texture to the baked treat. I don't know if it's just me or if others have felt it too.
That's the reason I have stopped using soy milk and these days mainly use rice milk and almond milk. Bot these non-dairy kinds of milk don't affect the texture.
I have another version of these muffins which uses whole wheat pastry flour, flax meal, maple syrup - healthy vegan blueberry muffins.
How to make vegan blueberry muffins?
Here is the step-by-step pictorial recipe on how to make fluffy vegan blueberry muffins from scratch:
Top Tip
This vegan blueberry muffin recipe is one of the most tried recipes from the blog and I get a lot of questions asking for substitutions and many other things. I have tried to answer it all either individually or consolidating similar questions and created one below.
So please take some time to go through all the questions and answers before trying the recipe or before repeating the same question in the comments section. Thank you.
Recipe
Vegan Blueberry Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached)
- 1 and ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Lemon/orange Zest
- ¾ to 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup any non-dairy milk
- ⅓ cup any oil with neutral flavor
- 1 teaspoon vanilla/lemon/orange extract (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 and ½ cups Fresh OR Frozen Blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F/200C (see My Notes) for 15 minutes. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and orange zest.
- Combine the sugar, milk, oil, extract, and vinegar in a large bowl. Mix well.
- Add the dry and wet ingredients to stir until just combined. Don't over-stir.
- Gently fold in the berries using a rubber spatula.
- Fill the muffin tins about ⅔rds full.
- Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 375F and bake for another 7-8 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. After that remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a wire rack.
Taste & Texture
Nutrition
Recipe FAQs
I know that it's easy to get tempted to replace the oil/fat in a baking recipe with applesauce to make it fat-free, but that would result in dense and dry muffins. It won’t be as airy as using oil alone. So I would suggest just replacing half the quantity of oil with applesauce.
Since the acidic content of lemon juice is less when compared to vinegar you might have to double the quantity of vinegar. For example, if a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of vinegar, use 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.
Lemon zest is nothing but grating the skin of the lemon. Care should be taken so that the inner white sheet from the skin does not peel away because it will be bitter. Lemon extract is like vanilla, and almond extract is in liquid form.
I wouldn't say that it's compulsory, but it will give these blueberry muffins a nice flavor without baking powder. You may choose to use orange zest/extract instead of simply vanilla extract will be good too.
Opening the oven door quite too often while it is baking makes cold air enter the oven and might be the reason for the muffins to sink. Another reason is that you used too much batter for each muffin.
No it doesn’t work like that. You would have to use Xanathan gum. I haven't baked this recipe gluten-free and have read that simply substituting the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour would not work especially in baked goods that have to rise, like muffins, cupcakes, and cakes. Brownies and cookies should not be that much of a problem to bake gluten-free and can be done without xanthan gum.
Gluten-free and egg free is a lot of trial and error methods only. But some of the readers did mention that they tried this recipe gluten-free using rice flour and gluten-free mix (which already has the xantham gum in it). You may try it at your discretion. I will try to bake a gluten-free version shortly and blog about it soon.
Certainly you can. Just use dairy milk and if you prefer butter, melted butter instead of oil. One of the readers suggested that the muffins turn out better if oil is used instead of melted butter though.
Any oil that has a neutral flavor. Peanut oil, sunflower oil, (refined) coconut oil, avocado oil, etc could work on this homemade vegan blueberry muffins recipe.
You can try it at 350F but bake it a few minutes longer.
Halving the recipe may not work out always. It's again for you to experiment and see. Another option is to bake all the muffins and freeze the remaining and use it later. If you decide to halve the recipe and use a 12-cup pan, then you will have to fill the rest of the cups with little water so that the muffins will bake evenly and doesn’t get dried out.
You can try a flaxseed meal, but I’m pretty sure the muffins won’t be as airy and light as those with lemon and vinegar. You can blend a teaspoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of warm water.
There are a couple of reasons for this:
1) If you try to peel off the wrapper while the muffins are still warm
2) If you make it low-fat or fat-free
3) If you don't lightly grease the liners with non-stick cooking spray.
The temperature does not change, but you need to bake it for a shorter time than you would bake regular-sized muffins. Somewhere between 12-15 minutes.
I have explained it in detail here: Why does fruit sink to bottom of the cake?
Rice milk is derived from cooked white/brown rice. You can use any other non-dairy milk like almond milk, oat milk, hemp milk, etc. I personally don't prefer using soy milk because it gives a sticky texture to the baked goods. For vegan baking, my choice is either rice milk or almond milk.
Yes you can use any other berries or fruits of your choice. Or even add-ons like nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruits, etc.
✉ Want To Save This Recipe?
Enter your email and we will send you a direct link to this post!
We will also add you to our email list. Unsubscribe at any time.
Dee says
Hi Madhuram, I don't usually post comments on public forums but I felt so compelled to do it because I wanted to say a big thank you for this recipe! After so many years of baking non-vegan goods, I finally stepped out of my comfort zone to try vegan baking for the very first time (due to health reasons). Your recipe is so easy to follow and the muffins turned out wonderful - only thing was that the texture turned out a bit too crumbly and the sides stuck to the muffin liner; I wonder what I may tweak next time? In any case, I didn't expect to feel such an immense sense of achievement so thank you once again, with much love! :))
Madhuram says
Thank you very much Dee for your lovely feedback. I totally relate to your immense sense of achievement because that's how I feel each and every time I succeed in baking eggless/vegan treats. So happy for you and thank you for sharing your joy with me. Regarding the crumbly texture, maybe try reducing the vinegar by a little bit and hope you greased the muffin liner with non-stick cooking spray. Also leave it for about an hour or so before removing the muffins from the liner so that it doesn't stick. Hope this will solve the issue.
MJ says
Gorgeous. Have them in the oven currently and I can see they are rising very well.
Followed the recipe but did use whole milk rather than plant based milk and used white vinegar as didn’t have apple cider, so fingers crossed. Probably be the best muffins i’ve made!
Thank you for your recipe xx
Madhuram says
You're most welcome, MJ. These vegan blueberry muffins turn out awesome regardless of the type of milk or vinegar you use. So I'm sure it is going to be the best muffins that you have ever made. Happy baking!
Evelyn says
Can I use self rising flour in this recipe?
Madhuram says
I have not used self rising flour in this recipe, Evelyn. It might work. If I had to bake I would omit the baking soda and replace the all-purpose flour with self rising flour. Maybe try halving the recipe and bake just 2 muffins. See how it turns out. If you are not satisfied you can salvage the batter by making pancakes.
Hemi says
Thank you for this recipe, the muffins came out perfectly! I want to make a date and walnut eggless muffin, how can I modify this recipe using dates and walnuts? Thank you
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Hemi. Thank you very much for the feedback. You can replace the 1.5 cups blueberries with chopped dates and walnuts. It should work.
jjjeanie says
Can I sub buttermilk for the milk?
Madhuram says
Yes, you can. In fact the milk and vinegar combination is a substitute for buttermilk to make it vegan. So if you are using buttermilk you can omit the vinegar.
Linda says
Very good recipe. I used frozen blueberries and orange zest. Delicious. Also made the jumbo muffins. They raised perfectly. Want to try these with pecans and maybe chopped dates! Think this is a good basic eggless recipe thank you.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much, Linda. Yes, this recipe is versatile that you can make your choice of variations.
Michelle says
Tried with Self raising Gluten free flour, Koko unsweetened non-dairy milk. They were fluffy but very chaulky, I think because of the “milk”. Next time will increase sugar and try either oat milk or lactose free. We’re lucky enough to have an egg wheat and dairy intolerant toddler who love blueberry muffins! I ate two but kids didn’t get past first bite.
Madhuram says
Mmm..not sure about either of the ingredients. Gluten-free and egg-free is always a trial and error method of figuring out in my opinion. Better luck next time, Michelle.
Manu S says
Best muffins hands down !! I tried with dairy instead of non dairy keeping all the other ingredients same and it was still amazing !! None of the cakes and muffins I ever made were this fluffy!
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe
Madhuram says
You're most welcome, Manu.
Sanony says
Is the batter supposed to be lumpy? It says not to overmix, hopefully its supposed to be?
Madhuram says
Few small lumps are ok. It will dissolve while baking.
Ali says
This has become my go-to recipe for muffins! I've made many variations (blueberry, chocolate chip, cranberry, etc.) and they always come out great. You don't miss the eggs at all - I eat baked goods with eggs sometimes and you really can't taste the difference with this recipe!
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback, Ali. I'm happy that you like these muffins.
Kp says
Amazing super easy and simple recipe. Muffins turned out the way shown in pic. ❤️ Must try ,
Madhuram says
Thank you very much for the feedback, KP.
Kristin says
Incredible recipe! I have used this recipe twice in the past month and both times the muffins baked up perfectly and were absolutely delicious. My family prefers muffins that are not sweet, and I like a blueberry muffin packed with berries; so I used only 1/2 cup sugar and the full 1.5 cups blueberries. We thought the balance of sweetness was very good, while still quite sweet. I might experiment with 1/3 cup sugar next time but worry that might change the baking chemistry too much. Both of my batches used re-hydrated lemon zest. The first batch had vanilla extract and the second had lemon extract, and we slightly preferred the extra lemon flavor of the second batch, as it's such a great pairing with blueberries. I plan to try orange flavor in the near future. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Madhuram says
Thank you very much, Kristin. As you have noted reducing the sugar too much might also affect the moisture content of the muffin and you might end up with a dryer muffin. Maybe you can add an additional tablespoon or two of milk/water. Just a guess.
Valerie says
Delicious!! I didn’t have any eggs in the house and figured I’d find a recipe and make it work.
These turned out perfectly, even with me adding some brown sugar since I ran out of white, using milk instead of water, substituting white vinegar for apple cider vinegar (since I didn’t have that either), and with the fruit mix being fresh blueberries, huckleberries, salmon berries, and diced rhubarb.
I also filled the cupcake liners fully to the top, and with the temperature change they domed and didn’t stick to the pan.
10/10 for taste and ease of baking, and I’m definitely keeping this recipe for future use!
(I also doubled it, didn’t seem to affect the recipe at all).
Madhuram says
Thank you so much for the detailed feedback, Valerie.
Aimee says
Best muffins ever!! Family went wild over them. I used 1:1 gluten free flour and 3/4 cup of coconut sugar.
Madhuram says
Wow! It's great to know that this recipe works well with gluten-free mix too.
Jessica says
I'm on a fixed tight food budget and can't afford lemons. Can I substitute lemon juice or leave it out?
Madhuram says
Yes, you can omit it.
Cherie' Vallejo says
Uh probably the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever made. I just added zest from a whole orange and used vanilla extract and olive oil. Did a little under a cup of sugar and a cup and half of blueberries. Definitely writing this recipe down.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much, Cherie.
Roma says
I halved this recipe and I got 6 muffins and they were beautiful. I used a little less than a 1/2 cup sugar and it was sweet enough for me as I don't like too sweet.
I used 1/2 cup blueberry and I thought it was a little too much for 6 muffins. Next time I will use a little less. The muffins were light in texture and delish, definitely a keeper.
Madhuram says
Thank you for the feedback, Roma.
Divv says
Love it! Super easy recipe and comes out really well! Thanks
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Divv.
sus says
Can I use Frozen blueberries ?
Madhuram says
Yes, you can. You don't have to thaw. Simply stir in right from the freezer.
Rachel B says
I wish I was able to post pictures with my review. These turned out wonderful! I had some blueberries on hand, which I do not like raw… Thought that I would make some muffins, but realized I don’t have any eggs… This was by far the most appealing recipe that I saw. So glad I went with this one! I did add a little maple syrup to my mixture.
Madhuram says
Thank you very much, Rachel.
Leigh says
We have an egg allergy in our house and LOVE these muffins! I usually do orange zest, and split the extract between lemon and vanilla - so nice and fruity!
We are currently innundated with blueberries - have you tried freezing these muffins??
Madhuram says
That's great to know, Leigh. I have not tried freezing these muffins, but I think you should be fine.
Ruth Kabassu says
They were so delicious, thank you for this wonderful recipe
Madhuram says
You're welcome, Ruth.
Manjree says
Great recipe!
Just one hiccup I faced, my muffins got a bit dry but the leftover batter that I put in a small rectangular tin (along with muffin tin) gave super soft n moist cake..
I first baked at high temp of 200deg(the batter puffed up real nice!) , then after 15 mins brought it down to 180deg.
Total time was 30 mins.