Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Updated)

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, which is 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 did not get any 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 a lot of variations in using different flavors and ingredients and yet the recipe yields perfect muffins each and every time. I have used lemon zest, orange zest, orange juice, rice milk, almond milk for flavorings and for 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 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 in any way.

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:

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Vegan Blueberry Muffins Recipe

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Prep Time	Cook Time	Makes
15 Mins	22 Mins + 5 Mins Cooling	12 Muffins
Author	Category	Method
Madhuram	Muffins	Baking

Vegan Blueberry Muffins (Updated)4.9 from 209 reviews

It's unbelievable that these light and airy easy blueberry muffins are made with vinegar and not eggs.

Ingredients:

• 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

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C (see My Notes) for 15 minutes. Lightly grease a muffin tin.
2. In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt and orange zest, if using.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar, milk, oil, extract, and vinegar. Mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don't over stir.
5. Gently fold in the berries using a rubber spatula.
6. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.
7. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes and reduce the temperature to 375F and bake for another 7-8 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
8. 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

1. As mentioned earlier 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 just perfect for us because we don't prefer very sweet muffins. You may have to increase the quantity of sugar for sweeter muffins.

My Notes:

1. A few years back I came to know 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. Ever since I knew this trick I have been following it for my muffin recipes and it definitely works.
2. Regarding sugar, the original recipe itself mentions 3/4 to 1 cup. I have experimented using 3/4th to 1.25 cups of sugar. 3/4ths 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 that the blueberries you are using are sour.
3. If using frozen blueberries thawing is not necessary. Add it to the muffin batter directly from the freezer, but do not over mix, or else it would start bleeding. I have tried this recipe with fresh and as well as frozen blueberries and haven't found any difference at all.
4. Even though the recipe suggests 1 and 1/2 cups of blueberries, I find that it's a little too much depending upon the size of the blueberries especially. 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.

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Amount Per Serving

Calories 198Servings 12

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6.5g10%

Saturated Fat 0.5g2%

Cholesterol 0mg0%

Sodium 263mg11%

Potassium 44mg1%

Total Carbohydrates 33.2g11%

Dietary Fiber 1g4%

Sugars 14.4g

Protein 2.3g

Vitamin D

Calcium 1%-

Iron 7%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How much applesauce can I use instead of oil? Would the muffins still be airy if I use 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 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 taking while doing this so that the inner white sheet from the skin does not peel away because it will be bitter. Lemon extract is like vanilla, almond extract which is in liquid form. I wouldn't say that it's compulsory but it definitely will give a nice flavor to these blueberry muffins 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 in the oven and might be the reason for the muffins to sink. Another reason can be that you used little too much batter for each muffin.

Q: Can I make a gluten-free version of these muffins by replacing the all-purpose flour with finger millet flour or 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 which has 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 xanathan gum too. Gluten-free and egg free is a lot of trial and error method 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 xanathan 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 of your choice which 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 couple of 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 if you are using 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 it okay to use flax seed meal instead of lemon and vinegar? If so, can you please suggest the amount of flax-seed meal?

A: 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.

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 if you are using mini muffin tins?

A: The temperature does not change but you need to bake it for a lesser time than you would bake regular sized muffins. Somewhere between 12-15 minutes.

Q: I have baked muffins like in the past and end 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 any 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.