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.
If you tried this Vegan Blueberry Muffins recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
Recipe
Vegan Blueberry Muffins
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.
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Fiona says
Hello, I want to try this recipe but I didn't have canola oil and they didn't have it in the supermarket either so I bought sunflower oil instead, is it okay?
ASAP thank you!
Madhuram says
Any oil is fine Fiona.
Judy says
can i use coconut flour imstead of all purpose???? if so, do i just put in the same amount?
Madhuram says
No Judy, it doesn't work like that. I wish it did too because then gluten-free baking would become so easy. You would need xanathan gum to make the muffins rise or at least eggs.
Pragna Vijay says
Amazing results! Texture and taste- both excellent!
Madhuram says
Thanks Pragna.
stara says
Is it okay to use flax seed meal instead of lemon and vinegar? If so, can you please suggest the amount of flaxseed meal? Thanks
Madhuram says
You can try flax seed meal but I'm pretty sure that the muffins won't be as airy and as light as the ones with lemon and vinegar. You can try blending a teaspoon of flax seed meal with 3 tablespoons of warm water.
Angelina says
These muffins were phenomenal and I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour.
Madhuram says
Thanks Angelina.
Baksho says
Can you use lemon juice in this recipe just so you don't waste the lemon? Can the lemon juice be used in place of the lemon extract or vinegar?
Madhuram says
Yes you can use it instead of the vinegar, but you would have to double the quantity.
Nicole says
Just tried this recipe. Loved the texture, but got a "baking soda" aftertaste. Any suggestions? I didn't have any lemons, so omitted the zest . As for substitutes, I used almond milk (instead of milk), vanilla extract (instead of lemon extract)and apple cider vinegar (instead of regular vinegar). Also tossed in some walnuts.
Madhuram says
I have never had any problem with this recipe. Are you sure you didn't mix up baking powder with baking soda or increase the quantity of baking soda by chance?
Diane says
Nicole, I also had the aftertaste and used baking powder instead. The results were perfect! I make these muffins often, so grateful for Madhuram's amazing recipes.
Diane says
I forgot to add, I omitted the baking soda and replaced it with baking powder.
Arienne says
Love this recipe!
I did not have some of the ingredients so i used:
1/2cup of passionfruit instead of blueberry
corn flour instead of all purpose flour
erythritol instead of sugar
almond milk instead of rice milk
sun flour oil instead of canola oil
I didn't use any lemon zest cause I didn't have any.
I added a little vanilla and almond flavor to it
Madhuram says
It's great to know that the muffins turned out great even after all the changes you made.
Debby says
I just made these and they're yum,i've never made anything vegan before think i will do more often now that i've made these.....thanks for the recipe
Madhuram says
You're welcome Debby.
Coco says
I just made these! They were pretty easy to make! My only complaint is that they were a bit bitter at the end... but it was probably because I had no lemons and had to use limes... I liked the texture though! Thanks!
Happy mama says
I have tried countless dairy/egg free muffin recipes for my allergic son, and never been happy with any of the results, and I expected this one to be the same as others. It was different, it was awesome! Great texture, no sogginess, nice browning, and great taste. I did throw in 1tsp of egg replacer, but I'm not sure how much that altered the recipe. I will try the recipe as is next time, just to check. Many thanks on a great recipe!!
Madhuram says
You're welcome Happy Mama.
triccio says
Tried these for my husband's birthday. Used paper liners instead of greasing the muffin tins. Unfortunately, the muffins stuck to the liners! What do you think happened? Btw..I should add that I substituted 1 cup of Whole Wheat Flour, used applesauce instead of oil, used Vanilla extract, and Almond Milk. (not sure if that makes a difference but may as well include it) Thanks!!
Madhuram says
Using applesauce instead of the oil is one of the reason, Triccio. Also trying to peel the muffins off the wrapper when it's still warm is another reason too. If the recipe has enough fat, the cake/muffin will not stick to the paper. If you reduce the fat, in this case the oil, you should have at least sprayed the paper liners with non-stick cooking oil spray, so that the muffins wouldn't have stuck.
Rachel says
Not sure what i've done wrong but they seem a bit soggy!!!
I ended up with quite a runny mixture that filled a lot more cases than I was expecting.
Think it may be my conversion from cups to grams
2 Cups flour - 220g
3/4 Cup sugar - 170g
1 Cup Non dairy milk - 250ml
1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil - 75ml
However, they did taste good and I will try again
Madhuram says
The conversion looks alright. I can't guess what else could have gone wrong.
Sarahmary says
Once again another recipe that is just awesome!! My son is anaphylactic to eggs and tree nuts and I needed a quick muffin to take camping with us. I followed it to a t and they turned out so yummy. Your recipes are so easy to follow and most importantly they call for what most people have in their cupboards! Thank you!
Madhuram says
You're welcome Sarahmary.
Rains says
Hi,
Can I use Cane vinegar instead of white vinegar?
Why is vinegar used at all?
Rains
Madhuram says
It's a substitute for egg, to give the fluffiness. I was not familiar with cane vinegar, so Googled and found that it's a South Asian vinegar which is mildly sweet, so I'm guessing you can use it too.
Roopjit Mann says
I am beginner in baking. I tried your recipe and muffins turned out really good. Thank you!
Madhuram says
You're welcome Roopjit.
Nancy says
I made this as a bread instead of muffins and added chopped pecans. Baked at 350 for 40 minutes. Was delicious! Thank you for recipe.
Madhuram says
You're welcome Nancy.
Kelley says
With my severe egg allergy I am THRILLED to have found this recipe! I'm pregnant and have been craving berry muffins nonstop...and this finally satisfied the craving! To make it a bit healthier I used half spelt flour(which added a really yummy nutty flavor) and being out of blueberries I substituted blackberries as well as rice milk(I love dairy but was out of real milk). My husband said they made our house smell like his dream home and that he could eat them every day! Thank you SO much for this recipe!
Madhuram says
You're very welcome Kelley. Thanks to Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook. Wishing you a healthy pregnancy and safe delivery.
Aarti says
Does the baking temperature or time change if you are using mini muffin tins?
Madhuram says
The temperature does not change but you need to bake it for a lesser time than you would bake regular sized muffins.