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.

Vegan apple muffins with chunks of red apple and raw granulated sugar baked into the top of each muffin.

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!

Flatlaye of apple muffins showing golden muffins tops, especially red apple chunks and granulated sugar.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Flatlay of ingredients for apple muffins.

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.

Four image collage showing how to make apple muffin batter in glass bowl.

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.

Four image collage showing how to make apple muffin batter in glass bowl.

Customizing These Muffins

Can I make these muffins gluten-free?

Yes! Check the notes in the recipe card for details.

Can I customize this recipe to make healthy vegan apple muffins?

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.

Can I make these muffins oil-free?

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.

What else can I add to these muffins?

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.

Can I make jumbo apple 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!

Flatlay of dozen muffins in tray.
Close up of one apple muffin with bite taken out showing fluffy texture and apple chunks.

More Cozy Vegan Apple Recipes

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Vegan Apple Cake

Vegan Apple Bread
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Apple Coffee Cake (vegan)
Several mini apple tarts dusted with powdered sugar on a rustic gray plate.

Mini Apple Tarts (vegan)

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4.91 from 80 reviews

Easy Vegan Apple Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Author: Anthea
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.
Print Leave a Review Pin Recipe

Ingredients

Dry ingredients

Wet ingredients

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. You can use peeled or unpeeled apples for this recipe.
  4. 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).
  5. 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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