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This recipe for vegan gluten free muffins is soft and tender inside, with a golden brown dome like the best bakery-style muffins.

Rather than using egg replacers, this special recipe is made to be naturally egg-free and dairy-free without sacrificing that dense, moist crumb and beautiful bakery-style muffin dome we all love. Add mix-ins and more flavors, or enjoy these quick and easy muffins as they are!

6 chocolate chip muffins baked in muffin tin with one on its side
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My take

Nicole's Recipe Notes

These perfect vegan muffins are light and fluffy inside, with a thin, crispy, bakery-style crust outside. Made simply and easily in one bowl, this small batch recipe can be doubled easily to make an even 12 muffinsโ€”or even halved to make just 3!

This recipe doesn't call for any of my “usual” substitutions to replace eggs or dairy. Instead, we use a combination of vegan butter and oil for the best texture, plus some tapioca starch added to a classic gluten free flour blend for the best texture and rise.

This vegan recipe is just as full of flavor and all the right textures as our gluten free chocolate chip muffins. But it's developed without the need for eggs in the first place, so it's vegan first and without compromise.

chocolate chip muffin sliced in half on white plate

Ingredient substitutions & selection

Gluten free flour blend

This recipe, like most of our basic gluten free baking recipes, relies on a rice-based all purpose gluten free flour blend. Better Batter is top-8 allergen free, so it's already vegan, making it the perfect choice for this recipe.

Tapioca starch

If you can't have any tapioca starch, you can try making my mock Better Batter classic blend with superfine glutinous rice flour in place of tapioca starch. Then, add more of that same rice flour to replace the added tapioca starch.

Oil and vegan butters

This recipe is made with both neutral oil (canola, grapeseed, peanut, vegetable oils all work fine) and melted vegan butter. The vegan butter provides flavor and the oil helps lock in moisture.

My favorite brand of vegan butter is Miyoko's Kitchen.  Melt brand is also excellent, and Trader Joe's has a vegan butter that's quite good, and even has a yellow cast to it, like dairy butter.

Plant-based milks

Any plant-based milk will work here, but it's best to avoid anything fat free, like rice milk. You want your nondairy milk to add some richness, without added sweeteners.

My favorite nondairy milk for baking (and for drinking!) is unsweetened almond milk. It has enough fat for richness, but still has a very neutral flavor.

Vegan sugars/sweeteners

If you're a very strict vegan, be sure that your sugars are vegan. Refined sugars can be vegan if they're processed without the use of bone char, so look for words like “natural” and “raw.”

I don't recommend using coconut palm sugar in place of the sugars in this recipe, as it's much more coarsely ground and heavier. You should be able to use raw granulated sugar and granulated beet sugar, though.

Raw chocolate chip muffin batter in wells of muffin tin

Mix-in variations

Since this muffin batter is relatively thin, help prevent the mix-ins from sinking all the way to the bottom of the muffins by coating the bottom of each muffin well in the plain batter, before adding any mix-ins.

Chocolate chips

I like full-sized vegan chocolate chips for vegan gluten free chocolate chip muffins (Enjoy Life is the best brand), but you can also use the same amount of miniature chips. Any other sort of chocolate chip works, but it's best to avoid white chocolate chips since a dairy free variety is very hard to find.

Nuts

I like raw nuts best for baking, since they tend to be softer. Try adding some broken pieces of walnuts or pecans. Toasted coconut chips would be great, too.

Spices

Whether you're adding chocolate chips or nuts or not, try enhancing the flavor of these vegan gf muffins by adding 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and/or 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg.

Fruits

If you'd like to make these into vegan blueberry muffins, start with only 3 ounces of fresh or frozen (undefrosted) blueberries but toss them in some more tapioca starch/flour before carefully mixing them into the muffin batter.

You can also add dried fruit like raisins or dried cranberries. Maybe try half dairy free chocolate chips and half dried blueberries for a more complex flavor.

4 chocolate chip muffins on round wire rack

Vegan Gluten Free Muffins Recipe

5 from 7 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 22 minutes
Yield: 6 muffins
These vegan gluten free muffins are moist, tender, and have that beautiful bakery dome on top, all without eggs or butter.
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Ingredients 

  • 7 tablespoons (88 g) granulated sugar, (vegans, be sure it's appropriate)
  • 5 tablespoons (68 g) packed light brown sugar, (vegans, be sure it's appropriate)
  • ยพ cup (6 fluid ounces) nondairy milk, at room temperature
  • ยฝ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • ยฝ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons (42 g) vegan butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 ยฝ tablespoons (21 g) neutral oil, (canola, grapeseed, vegetable oils are all fine)
  • 1 cup (140 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes) (click thru for full info)
  • ยฝ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your blend already contains it
  • 5 tablespoons (38 g) tapioca starch/flour
  • ยฝ teaspoon baking powder
  • ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
  • ยผ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 4 ounces mix-in pieces, dairy free chocolate chips, raisins, or chopped nuts

Instructions 

  • Preheat your oven to 400ยฐF. Grease 6 standard-sized muffin wells and set the pan aside. (See Recipe Notes about muffin tin.)
  • In a large bowl, place the granulated sugar and light brown sugar and mix them together, breaking up the lumps in the brown sugar.
  • Add the milk, vinegar, vanilla, melted vegan butter, and oil to the bowl, and whisk to combine well. The mixture will be thin.
  • Scatter the dry ingredients, first the flour blend and xanthan gum, then the tapioca starch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, on top of the wet ingredients. Whisk to combine until very smooth. The batter will be sticky and runny.
  • Add just enough of the plain muffin batter to each prepared well of the muffin tin to cover the bottom (about 1.5 tablespoons of batter in each well).
  • To the remaining batter in the mixing bowl, add the mix-in pieces, and mix until evenly distributed throughout. Fill the wells the rest of the way full. Wipe up any spilled batter with a towel, as needed.
  • Place the baking tin in the top third of the preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ยฐF and continue baking until a tester comes out mostly clean and the muffins are nicely domed (about another 12 minutes).
  • Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Video

Notes

Flour blend information.
My favorite vegan-friendly gluten free flour blend is Better Batter's original blend gluten free flour. If you'd like to use Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten Free Baking Flour, it's also dairy free and should work. I recommend adding an additional 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum to your dry ingredients or the muffins will look good, but will be crumbly.ย 
To make your own blend using my โ€œmockโ€ Better Batter recipe, please see the all purpose gluten free flour blends page.
About the muffin tin
If you don't have a 6-well muffin tin, use a standard 12-well muffin tin. To ensure even baking, fill the 6 empty wells about 2/3 of the way with lukewarm water.
To make 12 muffins
This recipe doubles really easily to make a full dozen (12) vegan gluten free muffins. Just double all the ingredients.
To make 3 muffins
If you'd like to halve the recipe and make just 3 muffins, cut all the ingredients in half and fill the empty wells 2/3 of the way with lukewarm water, as above.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 306mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 383IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 94mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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One chocolate chip muffin on small white plate

Storage instructions

Wrap baked and cooled muffins in plastic wrap or store in a sealed container at room temperature. They will be fresh for at least 2 days.

Freezing

For longer storage, freeze them in a single layer on a flat surface, then pile them into a sealed, freezer-safe container. They'll last at least 2 months that way, and can be defrosted in the microwave and refreshed in the toaster oven.

FAQs

Can I use this same recipe to make a quickbread loaf?

No, this muffin batter doesn't have enough structure to make a whole quickbread loaf that rises and holds together properly.

What are the best chocolate chips for these vegan muffins?

My favorite allergen-free chocolate chips are Enjoy Life brand. They're top-8 allergen free, so they're gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, and they taste amazing!

How do you know when they're done baking?

These muffins are ready when the tops are domed and lightly golden brown all over, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached. The only danger in overbaking them is if the outside burns, so watch the color on the bottom, and avoid using dark colored muffin tins, which encourage overbaking on the bottom.

Why didn't my vegan muffins rise?

Always check the freshness of your baking powder and baking soda, as they're the only source of rise in this egg-free, vegan recipe. Make sure you didn't omit the vinegar, which activates the baking soda, and measure all of your dry ingredients by weight.

Can I make vegan muffins with almond flour? oat flour? coconut flour?

No, you can't make this recipe with any of these other single-ingredient gf flours. I'm sure you can make vegan gluten free muffins with almond flour like our almond flour muffins, or with oat flour like our banana oatmeal muffinsโ€”but you'd need a separate recipe. Coconut flour would be particularly problematic, since coconut flour muffins rely heavily on eggs. Don't ever use coconut flour in a recipe that doesn't call for it specifically; it's a tricky one!

Expert tips

Measure your muffin ingredients carefully

Some baking ingredients, like baking powder and baking soda, are so light that they really can't be measured by weight. But in a recipe like this, without any eggs for “lift,” these chemical leaveners provide all of the rise in your vegan gf muffins, so be sure your ingredients are freshโ€”and be sure to measure them carefully!

Watch your ratio of dry and wet ingredients

Measure all of your ingredients carefully and by weight wherever possible, since these muffins have a really specific ratio of wet (sugars, melted butter, oil, and milk) and dry ingredients (gf flours, chemical leaveners). If you have too much liquid, and not enough flour, your muffins may rise, but they'll collapse as they cool. Protect those beautiful muffin domes!

About Nicole Hunn

Hi, Iโ€™m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that arenโ€™t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, โ€œgood, for gluten freeโ€ just isnโ€™t good enough!

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4 Comments

  1. Barb says:

    I made these with frozen blueberries but was in a hurry and didnโ€™t coat the berries with tapioca starch. Oops!The sweet crust that formed on top was delightful but the inside was kinda soggy. Iโ€™ll have to try again a correct my mistake cuz I think we thought they had good flavor and crusty top was definitely a hit.

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      Be careful not to use more than the 3 ounces of blueberries I recommend, too, Barb, as it’s tricky to add fresh or frozen berries to a recipe like this that wasn’t specifically made for wet mix-ins. And be sure you’re measuring everything possible by weight, since the moisture balance is delicate!

  2. Stephanie Aston says:

    5 stars
    Ooooo, these look so good! I may be making these tomorrow!

    1. Nicole Hunn says:

      I think you’ll love them, Stephanie!