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:
Note: 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 big FAQ section.
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.
Vegan Blueberry Muffins Recipe |
| Prep Time | Cook Time | Makes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Mins | 22 Mins + 5 Mins Cooling | 12 Muffins |
| Author | Category | Method |
| Madhuram | Muffins | Baking |
- 2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (I used bleached)
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Lemon/orange Zest
- 3/4 to 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup any non-dairy milk
- 1/3 cup any oil with neutral flavor
- 1 teaspoon vanilla/lemon/orange extract (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 and 1/2 cups Fresh OR Frozen Blueberries
- 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 2/3rds 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.
- these vegan blueberry muffins have the best airy and fluffy texture that is hard to find in any other vegan muffin recipe on par with a recipe that uses eggs. You have got to try it to believe it. The sweetness is perfect for us because we don't prefer very sweet muffins. You may have to increase the quantity of sugar for sweeter muffins.
- A few years back I learned that baking the muffins at a higher temperature at first and then reducing the temperature at the end gives nice dome-shaped muffins just like the ones you can buy from a bakery. Since I knew this trick, I have been following it for my muffin recipes, and it works.
- Regarding sugar, the original recipe itself mentions 3/4 to 1 cup. I have experimented using 3/4th to 1.25 cups of sugar. A 3/4th cup is perfect for people like us who don't want their muffins to be very sweet. So adjust the quantity of sugar accordingly, especially if you think the blueberries you are using are sour.
- If using frozen blueberries, thawing is unnecessary. Add it to the muffin batter directly from the freezer, but do not over-mix it, or it will start bleeding. I have tried this recipe with fresh and frozen blueberries and haven't found any difference at all.
- Even though the recipe suggests 1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries, I find that it's a little too much depending on the size of the blueberries. A couple of times I have ended up having more blueberries than muffins. So I tend to use just 3/4th-1 cup of blueberries most of the time. 3/4th cup if it's bigger size berries and 1 cup if it's the tiny wild blueberry variety.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How much applesauce can I use instead of oil? Would the muffins still be airy if I used applesauce instead of oil?
A: 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.
Q: Can I use lemon juice instead of vinegar?
A: 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.
Q: What is this lemon zest you are talking about? Is lemon zest and extract compulsory?
A: 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.
Q: Why do the muffins rise well and suddenly sink in the middle?
A: 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.
Q: Can I make a gluten-free version of these muffins by replacing all-purpose flour with finger millet flour, almond meal, or coconut flour?
A: 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.
Q: Can I just make blueberry muffins without eggs instead of vegan?
A: 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.
Q: What oil can I use instead of canola?
A: 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.
Q: Would you recommend baking these muffins at 350 F? Will it involve baking for a longer time then?
A: You can try it at 350F but bake it a few minutes longer.
Q: Can I bake just 6 muffins?
A: 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.
Q: Is using a flaxseed meal instead of lemon and vinegar okay? If so, can you please suggest the amount of flax-seed meal?
A: 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.
Q: I used paper liners instead of greasing the muffin tins. Unfortunately, the muffins stuck to the liners! What do you think happened?
A: 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.
Q: Does the baking temperature or time change using mini muffin tins?
A: 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.
Q: I have baked muffins like in the past and ended up with the berries sinking in the bottom. How to avoid it?
A: I have explained it in detail here: Why does fruit sink to bottom of the cake?
Q: What is rice milk? Can I use any other milk instead?
A: 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.
Q: Can I use other fruit instead of blueberries?
A: Yes you can use any other berries or fruits of your choice. Or even add-ons like nuts, chocolate chips, dried fruits, etc.
How much exactly of lemon zest? 1/3,1/4,1/2cup, etc.?
As mentioned in the recipe, how much ever it measures from two lemons. You may choose to increase or decrease the quantity to suit your taste.
I used the zest from one large lemon, which turned out to be a tiny bit more than 1 teaspoon. The zest really makes the flavor pop.
That’s true. I love orange zest and blueberry combination.
Can I use whole wheat flour ( atta) instead?
You can try Anu. I haven’t made this recipe with whole wheat flour.
Tried with whole wheat flour, they were just as good!!
I just made these muffins. I added coconut oil instead of canola, baking powder instead of baking soda, vanilla soy milk instead of rice milk and lemon juice instead of vinegar. It came out great
That’s awesome Annie.
Thank you for formatting the HTML so that I could print out the recipe and your comments without it being all weird on the page. 🙂
You’re very welcome Linda. Passed on the thanks to my husband who is the techie behind the scenes 🙂
I am surprised no baking powder?
Yes, just baking soda.
I just made these and they are great! I used a cup of freshly squeezed orange in place of rice milk and skipped the zest altogether. They came out lightly orangey, fluffy and moist! I tried both with and without paper and while they came out fine both ways, I prefer those without the paper. They browned nicer and we’re slightly fluffier. Next time I will use maybe just one cup of bluberries (they mostly sink to the bottom, but that’s okay with me) and no paper liners. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome Shannon. Just orange juice instead of milk sounds like a great idea. To prevent the blueberries from settling down, toss it with some flour lightly and then add it to the batter.
Very good. Used soy milk, ACV and olive oil which is what I always use for my vegan baking. Easy and delicious.
Thanks Jeni.
I used this as an outline for my muffins and they came out great! I needed to make them GF, Vegan and no oil – so I used the Namaste GF flour blend for my flour. Coconut milk for my milk. a little over 1/2 cup Maple Syrup instead of sugar. 1/2 cup apple sauce instead of oil. I also used 1 T of Baking powder rather than the baking soda. I also added 2 T of this ground flax, chia, coconut mix – since I like the taste of it. It made 12 muffins. They were fluffy for using these kinds of flours. I needed another 5 minutes of baking as well. I used the paper liners as I knew that with no oil, there may be sticking. Will definitely bake this again.
That’s awesome Terri. Thank you for the feedback.
I like it a lot! I made it with my mommy! (Thanks for sharing this simple recipe, Madhuram. My son wanted to bake something badly today and we happened to have all the ingredients. We used coconut milk and mini muffin trays 🙂 )
That’s great.
These came out great! Light nd fluffy and browned perfectly. I sprinkled a little sugar on top for a delightful crunch.
That’s great Tako.
I made these today and they were absolutely amazing! They were light, fluffy, and moist. They tasted just like muffins that have eggs in them! I love this recipe and will surely use it again.
Thanks for the feedback Andrea.
Hello Madhuram
I made the muffins today and loved them. I specially like the fluffy, light texture and the fact that they are not too sweet.
Thank you.
You’re very welcome Sangeeta.
Can I use whole wheat flour (atta) instead of maida?? Awaiting your response.. would love to make these today
It depends upon the brand of whole wheat flour you plan to use. Some turn out good some very dense. I would suggest using 50% each of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour the first time and then decide whether to increase or not the next time.
Hi Madhuram, this is a common reply, just not specific to this recipe. I don’t know you at all, but only by looking at the picture in your comments. You don’t know how many times you cross my mind when I want to make something eggless. I even suggest your site to my friends and families. I had little bit of passion for baking, but not much patience before. Most of the time eggless baking was very disappointing when it comes to ending results. It was waste of time, energy and money. I’ve been following your site since 2011. At the beginning I used to try a recipe at least once before bringing it to the table. After a while I truly trusted your recipes. They are absolutely no-fail recipes and I directly go to action. I just would like to say thank you for your time and effort on publishing your wonderful recipes. You are blessed!
Thank you very much for your generous compliments Sasi. You have made my day. I sincerely appreciate your gesture of taking the time to leave such a detailed feedback. 🙂
I usually love ur recipes. But the batter was more like pastry! Any idea why?
By pastry do you mean it was crumbly? This is a no-fail recipe. I don’t see why it would be like that unless the liquid ingredients were reduced or the flour was increased by oversight.
Not crumbly…not that dry. Perhaps a really wet pastry. But so stiff that i could not mix blueberries without them beconing a paste so i just sprinkled them on top.
I should add the muffin did come out ok, though they didn’t stay fresh for more than a couple of days…so I wanted to check …is this correct consistency/ how stiff to expect the batter to be?
If I remember the batter was not as stiff as you are telling. I’m wondering maybe some measurement was missed by oversight because I have made this recipe quite a number of times over the years and haven’t had any problem at all.
Thank you so much for this recipe – I came across this recipe when I realized I had no eggs in my fridge. Luckily, came across this one and they turned out perfect. Very moist and not overly doughy or crumbly. Thank you!
You’re very welcome Erika. 🙂
I just used this recipe to make a blueberry bread loaf. Everything the same just using a glass bread pan instead of muffin tin. If the batter is any sign of whats to come, I know this is going to taste delicious because couldn’t stop eating it! Ill let you know about cooking time and such with using a bread pan instead. I also used unsweetened vanilla cashew milk as my milk source. Excited to see how things turn out!
Wow! Your excitement is contagious Bambi! 😀
I love your website, thank you! What could have caused mine to be so dry? I must have did something wrong? Thanks. Lori
Thanks Lori. Did you get the liquid measurements right? Or do you think you baked it a little too long?
I was skeptical but boy was I amazed with the results!! I did sour the milk with regular white vinegar for at least 5 minutes, and then I mixed in 2 tbsp of coconut oil into the milk before combining with dry ingredients. I added a cup of shredded coconuts and sprinkled the tops with coconut. Delicious!! Thank you so much for this recipe!
You’re very welcome Jeanie.
Can I use almond or coconut flour instead? I have a wheat allergy. And if so what are the measurements?
Sorry Suzann, I haven’t tried the recipe gluten-free so not sure how it will turn out.
I cooked these and my husband who isn’t a vegan loved them,and I used a pie pan because I didn’t have a muffin pan, I didn’t use the lemon stuff either.
That’s great Donna!
Can I make this into a cake& use mixed frozen berries..??
Yes it should work. But the baking time will vary depending upon the size of the pan you use.
Omg, your recipes are so good and definitely a must for vegetarians who are not eating eggs. I rarely leave comments but I’ve been looking for eggless cake/muffin recipes for ages but most disappointed me as they often too dry/bitter/tasteless, but your one is just right and my mum likes it very much. Thank you, Madhuram!
You’re very welcome Rachel and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Thank you for the great recipe! I’m definitely going to be trying this one again. Most vegan recipes I’ve used so far for baking muffins and cakes have turned out somewhat soggy or flat, but these are light, airy, and not overly sweet. I hope to try some of your other recipes in the near future.
You’re very welcome Natalie. Hope you like the other recipes too. 🙂
Hi,
I’d like to try this with maple syrup. Any suggestions? I think I would have to reduce the milk to 1/2 cup. What do you think?
Thanks!
This is a similar recipe with whole wheat flour and maple syrup version: https://www.egglesscooking.com/vegan-blueberry-muffins-2/