These vegan savoury muffins are moist, packed with vegetables, and come together in one bowl! You can easily customise these muffins to suit your own tastes.
Why you'll love these savoury muffins
DIFFICULTY: Easy to make using common vegan pantry ingredients.
TASTE/TEXTURE: Moist and packed with 4 different vegetables. The muffins have a pleasant savoury cheesy flavor (and don't use vegan cheese). They're fluffier than scones but denser than sweet muffins.
OCCASION: Perfect for kids' lunchboxes or as a quick snack just like my vegan pizza rolls. Serve them with avocado for breakfast or lunch, or with soup for dinner!
Ingredients you'll need
Notes about the ingredients
Nutritional yeast adds a savoury cheesy flavour. Nutritional yeast is a popular vegan pantry staple as it's fortified with B12 and is delicious in recipes like these!
Zucchini, carrot, spinach and capsicum as our main vegetables. The zucchini and carrot and interchangeable whereas the spinach and capsicum can be substituted with other vegetables or omitted.
Dairy-free milk. I personally like using unsweetened soy milk in these muffins for extra protein. However, any dairy-free milk, or even water) will work.
Italian herbs and ground garlic/onion for flavour. You're welcome to use more or fewer herbs, to taste.
Baking powder and soda. We're using double baking agents to make sure the muffins are fluffy and not too moist.
The full list of ingredient quantities and instructions are in the gray recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Tips for making the muffin batter
First, you don't need to strain the carrot or zucchini! The hidden liquid in these vegetables is compensated by the smaller amount of milk in the whole recipe.
The muffin batter is easy to make as it comes together in one bowl. My biggest tip is to make sure you don't overmix the batter as it can lead to tough and dense muffins.
This recipe produces a very THICK batter. Don't worry, the carrot and zucchini 'leak' juice when baking which makes the muffins very moist.
Tips for baking the muffins
These vegan savoury muffins are easy to bake! However, here are my top tips for baking tall and fluffy muffins that aren't too moist:
- Grease your muffin liners, if you're using them. These muffins have a lot of vegetables that can stick to the liners.
- For the tallest muffin tops, space your muffins apart so they sit diagonally on the muffin tin (pictured below). This encourages more hot oven air to circulate the muffins so they bake taller! If you only have one muffin tin, you'll bake 6 muffins at a time, in 2 lots.
- When checking for doneness, make sure your toothpick is clean. When these muffins are underbaked, they can be a little sticky.
Customising the muffins
The carrot and zucchini are interchangeable in this recipe. So, if you don't like zucchini, you can replace it with carrot and vice versa.
The capsicum and spinach can be omitted or replaced with similar vegetables in the same amount (use grams, not the cups measurement). I've successfully replaced the capsicum and spinach with canned corn, frozen peas, sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried capsicum and olives. Fresh tomatoes also work but make the muffins more moist and dense.
These muffins will still work if you increase the overall amount of vegetables. However, the more vegetables you add, the heavier and denser the muffins will be.
Yes, you can add ¼ cup of shredded vegan cheese at the same time as adding the vegetables.
Yes, these vegan savoury muffins will work with 1:1 gluten-free flour blends. You can also substitute half of the flour with chickpea flour.
More vegan muffins and quick breads
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Vegan Savoury Muffins
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, whole wheat flour or spelt flour (note 1 for gluten-free)
- ¼ cup (12g) nutritional yeast, or to taste (note 2 if omitting)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon dried mixed Italian herbs, (note 3 for substitutes)
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder, or onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (315g) dairy-free milk
- ½ cup (125g) light olive oil, or oil of choice
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, lemon juice or white vinegar (optional)
- ~1 cup (150g) grated zucchini, (1 small to medium zucchini) (note 4 for substitutes)
- ~1 cup (100g) grated carrot, (1 medium carrot)
- 1 cup (120g) red capsicum (bell pepper), finely chopped, optional
- ½ cup (15g) baby spinach leaves, finely chopped, optional
To decorate (optional)
- 3 tablespoons (25g) raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12-cup muffin tray with muffin cases.
Make the muffin batter:
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix until just combined.
- Add all the wet ingredients and vegetables to the bowl and mix until just combined. Make sure there are no lumps of dry ingredients. The batter should be very thick.
- Use an ice cream scoop or a large spoon to divide the batter into your muffin pan. The batter should form a small mound in each cup and each cup should be almost full (see the step-by-step images above).
- If desired, sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top of each muffin.
Baking and storing the muffins:
- Bake the muffins for 30-35 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in a muffin and it comes out completely clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow the muffins to cool completely.
- The muffins are best enjoyed at room temperature or slightly warmed up. They're delicious by themselves or with some vegan butter or avocado.
- Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Allow them to come to room temperature before enjoying.
Notes
- To make gluten-free muffins, I recommend using 190g chickpea flour and 190g gluten-free all-purpose flour. You can use just gluten-free all-purpose flour but the muffins rise a little less.
- Alternatively, you can replace the nutritional yeast and with 1 tablespoon (8g) of flour. Your muffins won't be golden and you may want to increase the amount of herbs to taste.
- Alternatively, you can use one or more of the following dried herbs: oregano, basil, dill, thyme or chives. For muffins with some spice, add cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes, to taste.
- The grated carrot and zucchini are interchangeable. The capsicum and spinach can simply be omitted or replaced with other similar vegetables. If replacing, I suggest using the grams measurement. These muffins contain *a lot* of vegetables but you can still increase the quantity of vegetables if you want. However, the more vegetables that you add, the denser and moister the muffins will be.
Nutrition
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love this but Im processed oil free can I use a nut butter for this
Hi! Yes you can but it'll change the texture of the muffins. You might also need to add more dairy-free milk. Hope that helps.
I made the muffins today to freeze for a celebration dinner next weekend. It's the first time I have made them. The recipe was very easy to follow and I'm thrilled with how well they've turned out. Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe!
Looked delicious but incredibly DRY!
Hi Chris, I'm sorry that your muffins turned out dry. From experience, this happens if you pack too much flour into your measuring cup or overmix the batter. I recommend using the spoon and level method or using a scale for the best results. Incorrectly measuring the flour can add 50% more flour than intended which will definitely throw off a recipe.
I have been looking for a savory muffin/biscuit and I'm so glad I tried these! I plan to make them again. They were very good! I love that you don't have to squeeze the water from the veggies. I just blitzed in my food processor and added to the mixture.
My own changes and notes:
1. I used an oregano oil (to my dismay, it was delicious but expensive, but hubby used all the regular oil)
2. I used some chickpea flour, but didn't have much so I didn't do the 1/2 chickpea flour (I will do this next time for protein! Both my babies and myself could use a boost of protein lol)
3. I used both garlic AND onion powder
4. I used orange bell pepper and also quadrupled the chopped spinach (because it was going bad)
5. I did use the 'every other muffin hole' method suggested and it worked surprisingly well, but then I realized how long it was going to take to bake everything so I made mini loaves with the rest and they turned out great too.
Absolutely gorgeous! I have my own vegan baking business and have made these for a market on Saturday. Made them with ordinary gluten free flour, no onion or garlic powder (because I didn't have any!) and a little more salt than the recipe. Did a taste test this morning and I could eaten the whole lot! Wonderful. Thank you! 🌱💕
Would love to try these but I don’t use processed oils. Can I sub with anything else or will it not work out?
Hi Trish, it may work with pumpkin puree instead of oil but the texture will be denser. I hope that helps!
These muffins are now a regular for me. We love them. 🥰
That's the best news, Denise! Thanks so much for letting me know x
These are the best and healthiest savoury muffins I have ever tried!
I just wonder if I could make it as a cake?Will it have the same texture?
Hi Mary, oh that makes me so happy to hear! Thanks so much for your kind feedback :). And that's a good question about the cake - I haven't tried it but, from experience, I think the recipe will need a little more milk as it'll be in the oven for longer. This should keep the cake fluffy and moist just like the muffins. I hope that helps!
Anthea you make the divine - est (is that a word ? : ) ) creations, thank you once again. Can't wait to make these muffins, I still have a zucchini ( "courgette" is much easier to spell : ) ) and one lonely marrow (looks like a zucchini) from my pathetic crop last summer. Better get into the kitchen sharpish or "tout suite" in keeping with the "courgette" suggestion (can't think of another word here).
Absolutely perfect turn out and really flavorsome. I stuck to the recipe. I own a vegan cafe so I'm selling these today
Hii!! I really want to make these with flour that I have. I have oat, almond, and coconut. Would any of these work? I am new to baking and to these flours!
Thank you!
Hi Melissa! Unfortunately, I don't think they'll work without making a few big changes to the recipe. Oat and almond flour can be really dense if a recipe doesn't call for it and, in eggless baking, they need to be paired with starchy flours to bind the ingredients. And coconut flour is 3 times more absorbent than regular flour so it works very differently. Sorry about that!
I am impressed with how these turned out. I'd call them cafē style large, fluffy and delicious.
I varied the recipe a tiny bit to suit what I had, and flavours I prefer. They still worked PERFECTLY. Amazing, thank you for sharing - will be crediting on Instagram for sure!
Oh that's amazing to hear and I'm glad that you could customise them to your tastes!! Thanks so much for your feedback Jasmin, I appreciate it a lot!!
Hi I would like to make these for a bazaar. I am confused about the vegetable ingredients. The carrots, zucchini, red pepper and spinach are all added to the dry ingredients at the same time?
Hi Ana, yes I recommend adding them at the same time as the rest of the wet ingredients. The vegetables have a lot of moisture/liquid and help the batter come together. There are also a lot of vegetables so adding them at a later stage will mean that you'll overmix the batter. I hope that helps!
Can you use almond flour instead of AP and chickpea?
Hi Yasmin, I don't think that will work unfortunately. In vegan baking, almond flour usually needs to be combined with starches in order to work. It also has more moisture than the other flours so it'll throw off the ratios.
Super easy to make and absolutely delicious!!! Thanks so much!!!
That's great news!! Thanks so much for your review Daniela!
These savoury muffins were just what I was after, they’re easy to make and delicious. A perfect treat for the whole family.
That's so wonderful to hear Stephanie! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your feedback here!
hi. can the nutritional yeast be left out?
Hi Lisa, I recommend replacing the nutritional yeast with 1 tablespoon of regular flour.
These look delicious! I have been on the hunt for a good savoury muffin and these sound perfect.
I was just wondering, in the blog post you mention they can be made gluten free, but I wanted to check whether you have actually tested making them gluten free yourself, or if you are simply using your knowledge and experience to assume that it will work?
Thank you!
Hi Kirilly! Yes, I have tested these muffins using gluten-free flour (I used the White Wings all-purpose flour). I actually prefer the muffins when they use half chickpea flour and half gf flour as they're fluffier and rise more. I hope that helps :).