Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffins
Vegan chocolate peanut butter muffins that are soft, fluffy and taste like they’re from a cafe. These muffins come together in just 1 bowl, can be made refined sugar-free and gluten-free.
Why you’ll LOVE these muffins:
TASTE & TEXTURE: These muffins taste like a snickers bar in cake form! They are incredibly fluffy cakey muffins rather than dense bread-like muffins. And there’s lots of gooey peanut butter inside and on top of the muffins! If you’re not a fan of peanut butter, check out my vegan chocolate muffins.
DIFFICULTY: These vegan peanut butter muffins come together in ONE BOWL. That means less washing up and more time to eat and spend time with loved ones!
APPEARANCE: I’ve included a tip to make sure your muffins have high tops, just like the ones from your local cafe. The peanut butter swirl and chocolate chips are a simple way to transform these muffins!
If you’re a peanut butter lover, you may like also like my 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies.
Simple ingredients you’ll need
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Notes about the ingredients
Brown sugar gives these vegan peanut butter muffins depth of flavor. Alternatively, you may use regular granulated sugar or, for refined sugar free muffins, use coconut sugar.
Peanut butter that is runny, smooth and natural. I haven’t tested this recipe with peanut butter with added oils, but I think it would work!
Even though these are eggless peanut butter muffins, you don’t need any special egg replacers!
How to make vegan peanut butter muffins
First, add all your ingredients to a large mixing bowl and whisk until combined. If your cocoa powder is lumpy, sift it first.
Make a ‘well’ in the middle of your dry mixture. Then pour all your wet ingredients in the middle!
Use a spatula or whisk to mix the wet ingredients in the middle. We’re doing this to help break up the peanut butter. Then stir or fold the entire batter!
The final batter should be thick like pancake batter but not like typical scoopable muffin batter. Sometimes overly thick muffin batter leads to dense muffins but I wanted to make these cakey muffins!
Next, divide the muffin batter in your muffin pan. I recommend using an ice cream scoop as it helps make sure your muffins are all around the same size. And it’s simply easier!
Dollop 1-2 teaspoons of peanut butter on each muffin. Then use a skewer, toothpick or knife swirl it into the batter. The peanut butter gives these muffins a delicious crunchy top which will make it hard to stop at one!
If you’d like, sprinkle some chocolate chips or crumbled vegan peanut butter cookies on top!
Customizing these muffins
Yes, check out the notes section of the recipe card below. I’d recommend using a blend of almond flour and a gluten-free flour blend. Almond flour makes these muffins moist whereas gluten-free all-purpose flour provides structure to the muffins
If you can’t have almond flour, fine white rice flour will also work but your muffins will be slightly drier.
If you use 240g of coconut sugar, these muffins are moderately sweet.
You can reduce the sugar to taste, though it’ll make the muffins drier and denser.
You can replace all of the oil with peanut butter. Your muffins will be drier so I’d recommend baking them for a few minutes less.
If you’re a peanut butter lover, don’t forget to check out my vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter and jelly cookies!
TOP tips for making fluffy muffins
Don’t overmix the muffin batter! Over-mixing the batter strengthens the gluten which causes denser muffins, which is reinforced by The Cupcake Project.
For those glorious high-top muffins reminiscent of cafes, I’d recommend initially preheating your oven to 200°C (390°F) and baking the muffins at that temperature for 5 minutes.
Keep the muffins in the oven but reduce the heat to 180°C (350°F). Bake the muffins at that temperature for the remainder. A higher temperature encourages the muffins to bake quicker, therefore, making them a little taller.
More easy vegan muffins
Follow Rainbow Nourishments on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Pinterest, and subscribe via email to receive all of our latest recipes!
Chocolate peanut butter muffins (vegan)
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups (290g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 1 for tips and gluten-free option)
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) packed light brown sugar, granulated sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ cup (50g) cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
Wet ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cups (300g) dairy-free milk, room temperature
- ⅓ cup (75g) neutral flavored oil
- ¼ cup (65g) smooth peanut butter
To decorate
- ⅓ cup (85g) smooth peanut butter, (note 2)
- ¼ cup (45g) roughly chopped vegan chocolate or chocolate chips, optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a standard muffin pan with 12 liners (note 4).
To make the vegan peanut butter muffins:
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. If your ingredients have any lumps, make sure you sift them first! Mix the dry ingredients until combined. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture.
- Add the wet ingredients to the middle of the bowl. Use a spatula or whisk to roughly mix the wet ingredients. Then mix all the ingredients together.
- Scoop and distribute the muffin batter into your muffin pan.
To decorate and bake the muffins:
- Dollop 1 teaspoon of the remaining peanut butter on each muffin. Use a knife or skewer to swirl the peanut butter into each muffin.
- If desired, scatter the majority of the chocolate chips on the muffins.
- Bake muffins in the oven for 25-28 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in one muffin and it comes out mostly clean (a few crumbs are fine, just make sure there's no wet batter on the toothpick). If desired, while the muffins are still hot, scatter the remaining chocolate chips on top
- Allow the muffins to rest in the muffin pan for 10 minutes then place them on a wire rack. Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature!
- The muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days or in the fridge for 3-4 days. Alternatively, they can be frozen for up to 1 month.
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. Alternatively, use the grams measurements. For gluten-free peanut butter muffins, substitute the all-purpose flour with 1 1/3 cups (135g) almond flour and 1 cup (160g) gluten-free all-purpose flour.
- I used natural peanut butter for this recipe. I haven’t tested them with peanut butter with added oils, but I imagine it would work!
- Tip: For higher-top muffins, I’d recommend preheating your oven to 220°C (390°F), baking the muffins at that temperature for 5 minutes then reducing the heat to 180°C (350°F). A higher temperature encourages the muffins to bake quicker therefore making them a little taller. Overall, your muffins will need a few less minutes in the oven.
This post and recipe was originally published in 2018 and updated in 2022 with more detailed pictures and information.
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Do you think if I use regular Australian Bega peanut butter, I would have to melt it a little bit in the microwave to do the swirl at the end?
Hi Laura, yes you will need to! Hope you enjoy these muffins 🙂
Thank you so much for replying ☺️ what brand of chocolate chips do you use for this recipe? I’m having trouble finding vegan ones in my area in Australia
I used Sweet William dairy-free/vegan choc chips which I used to be able to get from Coles (but it doesn’t look like they stock the mini ones anymore). Any chocolate will work, even if you chop up a chocolate bar (such as Whittakers Ghana) or even the Sweet William chocolate buttons. Hope that helps! 🙂
I love all of your recipes, I would just like to use eggs in them instead, do you have a way I can directly figure out how to substitute eggs into any of the recipes you have ?
Hey, I don’t bake with eggs myself so I can’t really advise. It’s best for you do some experimention of your own and see how it works.
I made these muffins yesterday and they were superb . What I did different was: reduced sugar by about 70 g ( used refined sugar) , 25 g pure cacao powder, added about 15 g chocolate chai drink powder to make up for lack of required quantity of cacao and to boost flavour, added a handful.choc chip to the batter and used cows milk as that’s all I had. My fussy 5 year old.loved them and so did I. I will be making these again, thank you for the recipe !
Hi Silvy, I’m thrilled that you enjoyed these muffins! Thanks for all of the notes about your little changes – I know other readers will appreciate it. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment here!
I made these instead of a birthday cake for my hubbie. Very much a cupcake! It was a great treat in individual portions that can be easily frozen.
Hi Sandra, I’m glad that you enjoyed these as a birthday treat! Thanks for your feedback.
Saw this on your Instagram feed this morning and made them. So delicious!! Will keep them in rotation.
I’m so happy that you loved them! Thanks for your comment, Lorena!
I made these Muffins as a surprise for a birthday. They looked so cute and were delicious. I I used 100g less sugar and they were still sweet👍.
Hi Andis, that’s great to hear! Glad that you enjoyed them with less sugar and thanks for your feedback!
Hi Anthea, I need to tell you that I’m more than a great fan of your recipes, I’d say I’m kind of addicted to your blog! I’ve tried many of your muffins recipes, usually I adapt them slightly to make them richer for my kids: mix of oat, blackwheat and wholegrain flour, respecting grams in the recipe, result is always perfect ! I also always use raw canne sugar (since healthier than refined and cheaper than coconut sugar :)). Now I’m eager to try this one again but with a Mix of thahini and almond butter instead of peanut butter.
Many thanks for all your inspiring recipes!
Thank you for this recipe! Very tasty. Not difficult but impressive! I added some peanuts on the top
Aw I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins! Love the idea of adding peanuts on top too 🙂
I made these muffins yesterday and they are delicious! They have a light texture, with the perfect balance of chocolate and peanut butter flavors. They’re truly one of the best egg free muffin recipes I’ve ever made. Perfect! Thank you!
What a kind complement! I’m so happy you enjoyed these muffins, with their taste and texture. Thank you so much Susan!
Hello! Would it be possible to freeze these?
Yes! They can be frozen for up to 1 month, as mentioned in the last step of the recipe 🙂
Hi,
This looks great! I am planning to try this with Peanut Butter powder. Do you have any tips for altering any ingredients quantities for this? Thanks so much for sharing your awesome recipes!!!
Hey! Maybe mix in some water with your peanut butter powder so it forms a paste (similar to peanut butter) and use it in the recipe. I haven’t tried it so let me know how you go!
As someone who is a rather obsessed with muffins, I can confirm these are amazing. I used ABC butter as my peanut butter was out of date by over a year so…the other nut butter worked just fine! I love that these muffins are not sickly sweet, and I’m also not a big chocolate person, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them. So nice warmed up with a bit of nuttelex 🙂 xx
Aw I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins and that they worked with ABC butter! And good to know that they weren’t too sweet for you :). Thanks so much for your feedback!
It was simply divine! so moist and scrumptious. I thoroughly enjoyed the richness of it. The best thing about it is that just one muffin satisfies my cravings 🙂
That’s lovely to hear Hannah! So glad that one muffin was enough to hit your sweet spot :). Thanks for leaving a comment!
Can you make these with spelt flour? Thanks
Yes this should be fine! Spelt absorbs a little more liquid than regular flour so you may need to add a dash more milk.