Easy Vegan Apple Muffins

Easy vegan apple muffins which use only 7 key ingredients and one bowl! These muffins are fluffy, moist and just like those from your local bakery.

This muffin recipe is adapted from my popular, tried and tested apple bread and apple cake with a pecan crumble.

What to expect from these muffins

These vegan apple cinnamon muffins are:

• Easy, no fuss and use common pantry ingredients
• 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!

Notes about the ingredients

Plain or all-purpose flour. However, wholemeal and spelt flour also works well in these vegan apple muffins.

Brown, coconut, or cane sugar for sweetness and moisture. I used half coconut sugar (for flavor) and half regular sugar (for sweetness). Using all coconut sugar results in less sweet muffins.

Light-tasting vegetable oil, such as sunflower, avocado or a mild olive. I prefer using oil instead of vegan butter or solid coconut oil because it allows the muffins to stay tender for longer and moist at room temperature. In contrast, butter and coconut oil are solid at room temperature so can make cakes feel more 'dry'.

Apple, either roughly chopped or finely chopped. I used sweet apple varieties (Royal Gala and Fuji) which added some natural sweetness. However, if you prefer more 'sour' apples, you can still use Granny Smith apples or other varieties!

Baking powder. I included 3 teaspoons of baking powder to create really FLUFFY baked goods. But it isn't too much where you can taste it after baking.

Apple cider vinegar (optional but recommended). This reacts with the dairy-free milk to form vegan buttermilk which gives the muffins a fluffier texture! You can substitute this with lemon juice.

Even though these are eggless apple muffins, you don't need any store-bought egg replacers!

A complete list of ingredients, quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make vegan apple muffins

I always prefer one-bowl recipes and these apple muffins are no exception!

So, simply add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and mix until there are no big lumps. Watch out for lumps of baking powder!

Then add all the wet ingredients (except the apple) to the bowl and stir until just BEFORE it's combined. There should be some pockets of liquid or dry ingredients. This helps prevent us from overmixing the batter :).

Add the chopped apple and fold the mixture until combined. The muffin batter should be quite thick - the apple leaks juice while baking so the batter needs to be a little more thick than usual.

Baking the apple muffins

One of my baking 'hacks' is using an ice cream scoop to divide muffin or cupcake batter. It's easier, neater and allows each muffin to be roughly the same size.

For a yummy and pretty touch, I'd recommend sprinkling some extra chopped apple and raw demerara sugar on top. The apple adds a little color to those brown muffins and the sugar adds some crunch.

If you'd like jumbo cafe-style muffins, this recipe will make 8-10 muffins. For average-size muffins, this recipe will make 12.

Customizing these muffins

More cozy vegan apple recipes

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