Easy Vegan Apple Muffins
Easy vegan apple muffins made with just 7 key ingredients and come together in one bowl! These muffins are fluffy, moist and just like those from your local bakery.
Why You’ll Love These Muffins
These vegan apple cinnamon muffins are:
- Easy, no fuss and use common ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry!
- Have a simple crunchy topping (chopped apple and granulated raw sugar)
- Look and taste like they’re from a bakery
- Can be made gluten-free!
- Perfect as a morning or afternoon snack. They can also be frozen to enjoy weeks later!
If you’re looking for a next-level muffin recipe with a crumble topping, check out my jumbo vegan apple muffins!
Ingredients You’ll Need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Apples. I used sweet snacking apples for these muffins (such as Royal Gala and Fuji) as they add some natural sweetness. If you prefer less sweet muffins, feel free to use Granny Smith apples or a similar variety. This recipe will work if you use roughly chopped apples or finely chopped apples. The latter releases more liquid, so you will need to bake the muffins for an extra 5 minutes.
Light brown sugar for moisture and depth of flavor and granulated sugar to keep these muffins light.
Neutral-flavored oil such as avocado oil, mild olive oil or sunflower oil. Oil ensures these muffins stay moist at room temperature and fresher for longer. Melted vegan butter and coconut oil will also work but they tend to solidify at room temperature and can make baked goods feel drier than intended.
Apple cider vinegar (optional) reacts with the dairy-free milk to form vegan buttermilk, which gives the muffins a more tender texture. You can substitute this with lemon juice.
Even though these are eggless apple muffins, you don’t need any store-bought egg replacers!
Prepare the Batter for these Vegan Apple Muffins
I always prefer one-bowl recipes and these apple muffins are no exception!
First, add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix until there are no big lumps. Ensure there are no lumps of baking powder, otherwise your muffins will taste metallic! Then add all the wet ingredients (except the apple) and stir until just BEFORE it’s combined. There should be some pockets of wet or dry ingredients as we’ll be mixing the batter more later.
Finally, add the chopped apple and fold the batter until just combined. Initially, the muffin batter should feel quite thick, but will loosen slightly after a few minutes. We also need a thick batter because the apple pieces will naturally leak juice while baking.
Baking the Apple Muffins
One of my favorite baking ‘hacks’ is to use an ice cream scoop to divide muffin batter. It minimizes mess and is an easy way to ensure each muffin is around the same size.
For flavor and presentation, you can sprinkle some extra chopped apple and raw demerara sugar on top of each muffin. The apple adds some color to the muffins and the sugar adds a lovely crunch.
Customizing These Muffins
Yes! Check the notes in the recipe card for details.
Yes, replace all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour or spelt flour and replace both sugars with coconut sugar. All of these ingredients are more absorbent or drier than the original, so if you use them, you may need to add an extra dash of milk to your batter and reduce the baking time.
Some readers have substituted the oil with applesauce and said it worked well. However, I haven’t tested it myself, so I can’t vouch for results.
These muffins would also be delicious with berries, white chocolate chips, pecans or walnuts folded into to the muffin batter. Add them at the same time as the chopped apple and make the muffins for at least another 5 minutes.
Instead of the apple and sugar topping, you can top these muffins with an oat crumble, such as the one in my apple berry oat crumble muffins recipe.
For more cozy Fall muffins, see my pumpkin muffins or banana muffins.
Yes! If you’re baking these muffins in a standard 12-cup muffin pan, this recipe will make around 8-10 jumbo muffins. Fill each well to the top and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.
Alternatively, check out my jumbo apple muffin recipe. Each muffin is about twice the size of one muffin in this recipe!
More Cozy Vegan Apple Recipes
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Easy Vegan Apple Muffins
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups (290g) all-purpose plain flour, spoon and leveled (note 1 for tips and gluten-free option)
- ½ cup (100g) packed brown sugar, or more granulated sugar (note 2)
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar, or more brown sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 (~180g) medium-sized apple, chopped into 1/2 inch or 1cm chunks (note 3)
- 1 cup (240g) dairy-free milk, room temperature
- ½ cup (110g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping (optional)
- ½ (~90g) medium-sized apple, chopped into 1/2 inch or 1cm chunks
- 2 tablespoons raw demerara sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with muffin liners. (note 4)
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and mix until well combined. Add all the wet ingredients (except the apple) and mix until just before everything is combined. Add the chopped apple and fold until it's evenly distributed.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to divide the batter into your muffin pan.
- Optional: Scatter the remaining chopped apple and coarse sugar on top of each muffin
- Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes until the tops are lightly golden brown. They're ready when you can insert a toothpick into a muffin and it comes out with no wet batter (a few moist crumbs are fine, note 5).
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature. The muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer up to 1 month. The crunchy raw sugar topping will soften after 1 day.
Notes
- To spoon and level your flour, fluff up the flour in its container, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. Using a measuring cup to scoop flour out of a container will pack in too much flour and result in dry and dense muffins. For the best results, use the gram measurements and an electric kitchen scale.
For gluten-free muffins, substitute the plain flour with 1 1/2 cups (150g) almond meal and 1 cup (160g) gluten-free all-purpose flour. Alternatively, these muffins work well with only King Arthur’s gluten-free measure for measure flour. The batter will be thick and I recommend baking them for 24-28 minutes. - You can also replace some or all of the sugar with coconut sugar if you prefer less sweet muffins. Coconut sugar has less moisture than brown and granulated sugar so your muffins will be a little drier.
- You can use peeled or unpeeled apples for this recipe.
- This recipe makes 12 standard muffins (if you fill each cup about two-thirds) or around 8-10 larger cafe-sized muffins (if you fill each cup to the top).
- If you make larger cafe-sized muffins, bake them for around 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
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Very easy and delicious. Good way to use up oldish apples
Hi Mary, I’m soo glad to hear you enjoyed these! Thanks for your feedback!
I make these almost every week and love them! So easy and tasty ❤️
So glad to hear you make these on repeat, Zara! Thanks for your kind feedback 😊
All recipes are so delicious !!!!♥️
Hi Evita! Aw, that’s so kind, thank you! We’re so glad you love the recipes 🥰
Delicious and easy to make. Have made these GF using Doves flour, and a mixture of ground almond and GF flour as suggested. Both work really well. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Great to know they work with Doves flour!! Thanks so much for your feedback!
These are very bland and tastes like raw batter even though it’s cooked all the way through. I even added extra apple cider finishing sugar I had on hand before baking. I bake every day for my family and these were just not it.
Hi Cait, we’re sorry to hear that. If your muffins were bland and floury, it could be due to accidentally overmeasuring the flour (especially if you used measuring cups) as this dilutes the sugar, spices and other ingredients. If the texture was a bit strange, it could be from underbaking the muffins. The apple variety also makes a big difference here, tarter apples like Granny Smith will taste less sweet than Royal Gala or Fuji. Hope that helps.
Simple yet wonderful recipe.
I added the crumble and cinnamon sugar layer from your apple coffee cake recipe and they turned out even more delicious!
Hi Hanan, that’s wonderful to hear! Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know!
Omg amazing so moist and fluffy and delicious thank you!
Thank you for your comment! We’re thrilled you liked them!
These are THE muffins. I made these once, and I have not tried another apple muffin recipe. They are soo fluffy and moist, and cook perfectly every time! I make them almost on a weekly basis 🙂
Hi Ava, awww that’s music to my ears! I’m over the moon that you make these muffins on repeat and they work every time – that’s exactly what I aim for! Thank you so much for your wonderful review!
I just made these – wow! I used gluten free SR flour gram for gram (Woolies brand for any Aussies reading this) omitted the baking powder (as I had run out). I used tigernut milk as the milk and used a little raw sugar on the top for a little crunch. They are the perfect allergen free muffins. Hopefully my toddler will enjoy them at daycare tomorrow. It was nice having a vegan recipes that didn’t need a chia seeds or flaxseed egg.
Hi Kaytie, I’m thrilled you enjoyed these muffins and that they worked with Woolies SR flour! I’ve always had hit and misses with that flour so that’s really good to know. Crossing fingers about your toddler too! Thanks so much for your kind feedback 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! The muffins were very easy to make and delicious! I did keep them in the oven 5 minutes extra because the middle was still a bit soggy after 25 minutes. I’ll definitely be baking these again!
We’re thrilled you’ll be baking these again, that’s always the best compliment 🥰 So glad that keeping them in a few extra minutes helped, bake times can definitely vary depending on how hot your oven runs!
Delicious and easy.
So glad you loved them! Thank you for trying the recipe 💛
Found the OG recipe a bit sweet for my taste and the muffins a bit soggy, though very tasty! Second time round, reduced the sugar & oil,grated the apple & they were absolutely delicious 😋
So happy to hear you enjoyed them! We completely understand that everyone has different sweetness preferences, and we’re glad you found a version that worked perfectly for you the second time. Thank you for your review!
Just made these now while the oven was on. Such an easy recipe and they’ve turned out so well! I added some sultanas and a bit of dried ginger too. Thank you from New Zealand 😊
Hi Kirsty, aw I’m thrilled you loved these muffins and found them easy and customisable!! Sending thanks (and chocolate if that’s your thing haha) from Australia x
These muffins were amazing! They will be a fall staple in my house from now on.
Hi Annie, I’m so so glad to hear they’ll be a keeper for you! Thanks for letting me know!
Delicious! I didn’t have oil on hand, so I used unsweetened applesauce instead. These muffins have a very good flavor. I’ll definitely be making them again!
We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed these and will be making them again! And thank you for letting us know that they worked with applesauce instead!
Looking for a recipe that I can use water instead of “milk” my little guy is dairy oat and tree nut sensitive. Any tips would be appreciated.
Hi Jessica, technically any muffin/cake including this one will work with water instead of milk but the final baked good will just taste a bit sweeter and be less rich. Hope that helps!
I was thrilled to find this recipe as my grandkids have food allergies. I needed a recipe without eggs, butter or milk.
The muffins turned out perfect! The toddlers enjoyed them as much as the adults! Thank you so much for posting this easy peesy recipe!
Aw that’s amazing! I’m so glad that you found these muffins easy to make and that everyone enjoyed eating them!! Thanks so much for your wonderful feedback 🙂