Vegan Avocado Muffins
These vegan avocado muffins are moist and fluffy with tall bakery-style tops! They come together in one bowl and are easily customizable. This recipe has been adapted from my popular vegan pumpkin muffins.
Why you’ll love this recipe
FLAVOR/TEXTURE: These muffins taste wholesome with a hint of avocado flavor. With the chocolate chips, they taste like a special treat without being too indulgent.
EASY TO MAKE: One-bowl, no-fuss muffins that are great for beginners. They bake in less time than quick breads and you don’t need a stand mixer to make them!
Ingredients you’ll need
Notes about the ingredients
Avocados add moisture, healthy fats and flavor. It even provides some of the structure that is normally created by eggs in conventional muffins. I recommend using ripe or overripe avocados for this recipe as they blend better.
Sugar doesn’t only add sweetness but makes these avocado muffins moist and fluffy.
Baking powder and soda. We’re using double baking agents to make sure these avocado muffins aren’t too dense!
Baby spinach for a more vibrant green color and extra fiber. It makes the muffins slightly denser so you can skip it (for pastel green muffins) or use green food coloring.
Even though this recipe doesn’t use any eggs, we don’t need any special egg replacers such as flax eggs!
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to make the avocado muffins
First, we need to blend all the wet ingredients and the avocado together. If you have a stick blender, add the wet ingredients to a bowl and blend. Alternatively, you can blend your wet ingredients in a food processor or stand blender.
We’re mixing sugar with the wet ingredients to help it dissolve quicker. Since it turns into liquid, it helps us prepare the final batter!
Next, add your dry ingredients to the avocado mixture and mix until just combined. The batter should be quite thick!
Then gently fold in your chocolate chips or any other add-ins e.g. nuts.
Tips for high muffin tops
This recipe produces a very thick batter which naturally bakes into high muffin tops!
However, to make your muffins grow a little taller, I recommend:
- Fill each muffin cup close to the top. The batter should be thick enough for you to create a ‘mound’.
- Bake the muffins spaced apart in your muffin tin. If you have only 1 muffin tin, you’ll need to bake 6 muffins at a time and in 2 batches. Each muffin is exposed to more heat which encourages them to rise more.
I’ve used this technique for many of my other vegan muffins and it works so well!
Customizing these avocado muffins
Yes, however, your avocado muffins will be denser. As mentioned above, sugar doesn’t only add sweetness but makes these muffins fluffy. I made a savory avocado loaf on Instagram and it was more bready than these muffins.
Whole wheat flour and spelt flour will work well with this recipe. You may need to add a splash more milk as they’re more absorbent than all-purpose flour.
I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour. However, if you’ve previously used a brand of gluten-free flour for a similar recipe, they’ll work with these muffins.
I recommend checking out my avocado lime coconut cake or avocado pistachio lemon loaf cake! Those cakes are lighter than these muffins.
Optional add-ins
I love these muffins with chocolate chips! Some other ideas are:
- Walnuts or pecans, chopped
- Hemp seeds
- Blueberries, fresh or frozen
- Banana. Based on the ratios in my banana muffins recipe, I think this recipe will work if you add 1 small banana (100g) to the recipe, in addition to the avocado. However, I recommend decreasing the plant milk to 1/2 cup (125g) and increasing the baking soda to 1/2 teaspoon.
- Cocoa powder for chocolate avocado muffins. Replace 1/2 cup (65g) flour with 1/2 cup (50g) cocoa powder and add an extra dash of milk. You can also use brown or coconut sugar instead of granulated.
You can also top the avocado muffins with a crumble. I recommend my pumpkin seed crumble from my pumpkin muffins recipe or the cinnamon crumble from my zucchini muffins.
More vegan muffin recipes
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Vegan Avocado Muffins
Ingredients
Wet ingredients
- 300 g avocado, (around 2 small avocados weighed after removing the skin and seed, see note 1)
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (125g) neutral flavored oil
- 1 cup (240g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (15g) baby spinach, or green food coloring (optional)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or apple cider vinegar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, (optional)
Dry ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 2)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup (190g) mini dairy-free chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks (optional)
To decorate (optional)
- ¼ cup (50g) mini dairy-free chocolate chips, and/or dairy-free white chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with liners.
Preparing the avocado muffins:
- Add the wet ingredients to a large mixing bowl and blend using a stick blender. If you don't have a stick blender, add all the ingredients to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Then transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just before it's combined and there are still some small pockets of flour.
- Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and fold until just combined.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to divide the batter into your muffin pan (note 3). The batter should be thick enough for you to create a 'heaped mound' in each muffin cup (see reference images above).
- If desired, sprinkle additional chocolate chips and chopped pistachios on top of the muffins.
Baking and storing the muffins:
- Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in a muffin and it comes out mostly clean. Avoid overbaking the muffins as it'll make them dry. These muffins are very moist so a few crumbs are fine.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 10 minutes (or until they aren't too hot). Remove the muffins and allow them to completely cool on a wire rack.
- Enjoy the muffins warm or at room temperature. They're perfect by themselves or with some vegan butter or more avocado!
- Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.
Notes
- I recommend weighing the avocados as too much avocado will make your muffins heavy. Also, make sure you use a variety of avocado that doesn’t turn bitter when baked. Some varieties will turn noticeably bitter when heated.
- It’s important to measure the flour accurately, otherwise your muffins will be dry and dense. If you’re using measuring cups, use the spoon and level method where you fluff up the flour in the bag, use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off with a knife. If you scoop flour out of the bag with a measuring cup, it will pack too much flour into the cup and result in dry and dense muffins. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
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For the highest muffin tops, I recommend baking 6 muffins at a time in a 12-cup muffin tray. Spacing apart the muffins allows the hot oven air to bake them faster, resulting in higher tops. This means you’ll need to bake the muffins in 2 lots.
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Can I make this gluten-free, if yes what will be the replacement for all-purpose flour?
Hi Neha, I haven’t tried it with gluten-free flour so I’m not sure! It may work with a gluten-free all-purpose flour that’s designed as a 1:1 replacement.
I have tried this recipe several times, and it tastes surprisingly delicious and also looks beautiful. I really love it. My vegan friends really enjoy anything I make from your blog. Thank you for the tasty and easy-to-make recipes. I hope you continue to succeed with your recipes; we love your recipe very much.
Hi Leidy! Aw, I’m so glad that you’ve made these muffins on repeat, and that your friends enjoyed them too. Thanks sooo much for your kind comment and ongoing support :). I appreciate it a lot!
They are wonderful! So nice to see
Aw that’s lovely to hear, thanks Marcella!
Exquisite! Loved the crusty topping.
Aw, I’m thrilled that you loved them!
Totally amazed!
This is the second time I am making the recipe and it is super delicious! Everyone is asking me for the recipe 🙂 Plus, it is helping people to try vegeterian alternative and way to make healthier cake. Thank you!
Aw that’s wonderful, and glad that everyone else enjoyed these muffins too!! Thanks so much for your comment, JU 🙂
So delicious. A great way to sneak extra veggies too. Will definitely make again and again
Aw, I’m so happy that you enjoyed these, Katelyn. Thanks so much for the review 🙂
hi I tried it but the batter was very thick not like yours I did half of what u have given. I added more milk but was little scared to add more to get consistency like yours. taste wise they were good. i used dairy milk. why the consistency was not.like yours ?
they were little dense. the texture was not like yours. I weighed avacado
Hi, did you weigh your flour too? If your batter was thicker than pictured, it’s likely that you packed too much flour in your measuring cups. I recommend using the spoon and level method. If you didn’t reduce the sugar or change any other ingredients, a thick batter can also be from not using room temperature ingredients, and dry muffins can also be from overmixing. Hope that helps.
hi which variety of avacado u recommend so that it does come out better please clarify
Hi, I used a Hass PurpleSkin avocado. However, many people have made these with other varieties and they work well too.
can I use mini muffins tray if yes the time will.vary ?
Yes, you can. You’ll need to bake the muffins for less time, and this will depend hugely on how much you fill each muffin cup. They could take anywhere between 8 to 16 minutes.
Thanks for the recipe, these taste amazing and were quick to make. I added chunks of chocolate to the mixture, so the chocolate was lovely and gooey when the muffins were still warm.
I may try adding a few nuts or seeds next time, and maybe a pinch of cinnamon.
That sounds delicious and such a good idea to add nuts/seeds next time :). Thanks so much for your feedback, Liz!
Absolutely delicious and easy!
So glad that you enjoyed them!
Is there something I can use in place of the sugar? I can’t have sugar, sodium or gluten.
I haven’t tested it, but maple syrup instead of sugar may work if you reduce the milk a lot.
Yum! I used applesauce instead of oil and 3/4 cup maple syrup instead of sugar. Undercooked them a bit and they turned out great!
Hi Eliane, thanks so much for your feedback, and glad that you were able to customize them to your tastes!
Will try soon, thanks for sharing!
This is perfect…from Argentina love you @rainbownourishments.
Hi Rosa, I’m so glad that you enjoyed these, and thanks so much for your support!
How much can I reduce the sugar without losing fluffiness?
Hi Sonia, sorry for the late reply. Any reduction in sugar will affect the texture. However, other readers have been able to reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup (150g) and were still happy with the results.
I substituted the plain flour for oat flour, and the sugar for coconut sugar, both 1:1 and it was very good 🙂 thanks for the recipe!
That’s great to hear, thanks for your feedback!