Easy Vegan Blueberry Muffins Recipe

This vegan blueberry muffin recipe is a family favorite. You won’t believe they’re made without eggs or dairy. They turn out light, fluffy, and packed with berries.

While we’re not a strictly vegan household, we do appreciate a great plant-based baked good. My son is always requesting our vegan pancakes, so trust me when I say this vegan blueberry muffin recipe is a hit with everyone, regardless of diet.

Adapted from our easy blueberry muffins, this recipe relies on two simple, yet smart swaps. A ground flax egg adds a subtle, nutty flavor to the batter, while a 5-minute vegan buttermilk made from plant-based milk and lemon juice reacts with the baking soda, helping the muffins rise.

Key Ingredients

• Blueberries: Fresh or frozen blueberries work here. If you do use frozen berries, keep them in the freezer until you are ready to add them to your batter. Otherwise, they will begin to thaw on the counter, adding a purple tint to your muffin batter.
• Flax Egg: This acts as our egg replacer. You’ll mix 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of water, then let it thicken for 10 to 15 minutes before adding it to the muffin batter. Aquafaba works as a substitute. Tips for using aquafaba are below the recipe.
• Plant-Based Milk: I prefer unsweetened oat milk or soy milk, but feel free to use your favorite. You will make a “vegan buttermilk” in our recipe below by mixing the milk with vinegar or lemon juice.
• Sugar: I love brown sugar or coconut sugar in these muffins, as they add a toasted caramel flavor.
• Oil: We use oil in this vegan batter, which makes the muffins tender, light, and moist. Melted plant-based butter works, too, but the muffins will be a little heavier.
• Vanilla, Salt, and Cinnamon: These add extra flavor and richness to the batter. I love vanilla with the blueberries, and the cinnamon adds a bit of warmth.
• Flour: I use all-purpose flour, but this recipe works with whole wheat flour, spelt flour, and an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend (like Bob’s Red Mill).
• Baking Powder and Baking Soda: We call for both leavening agents. The baking soda reacts with the vegan buttermilk, and the baking powder really helps the batter rise tall in the muffin cups. I prefer aluminum-free double-acting baking powder.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Tip 1: Use a flax egg or aquafaba. To get the right texture, we like adding an egg replacer to the muffin batter. The easiest is to add a flax egg, which is simply flaxseed meal mixed with water and left to thicken. This is what we have made standard in our recipe below. The other option is to use aquafaba, which actually helps the muffins brown and dome nicely. We’ve offered tips for substituting aquafaba for the flax egg in our recipe below.

Tip 2: Make vegan buttermilk. When you remove dairy and eggs from baking recipes, you will sometimes lose flavor. We make up for that with a vegan buttermilk made with non-dairy milk mixed with vinegar or lemon juice. It takes 5 minutes and makes a big difference. The baking soda in the recipe also reacts well with the acid, helping the muffins rise.

Tip 3: Whisk the dry and wet ingredients separately. You’ll need two bowls to make this batter. In the first bowl, whisk the dry ingredients well to ensure the baking powder and baking soda are evenly distributed throughout the flour. Then, in the second bowl, you’ll whisk the wet ingredients (oil, sugar, vegan buttermilk, and a flax egg or aquafaba).

Tip 4: Stir (or fold) the dry and wet ingredients. To make the batter, grab a flexible spatula and gently stir (or fold) the wet ingredients into the dry. You aren’t beating the two mixtures together. Instead, gently combine them until you no longer see any flour clumps or streaks. Then fold in most of the blueberries, saving some for the tops just before baking.

Tip 5: How to tell the muffins are done. Vegan blueberry muffins take about the same amount of time to bake as other muffin recipes. Expect somewhere from 15 to 20 minutes in the oven. To tell the muffins are ready to come out of the oven, look for these cues:

1. The tops are golden brown and risen.
2. When you lightly press a muffin, it bounces back instead of jiggling or leaving an indent.
3. A toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.

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