Vegan Savoury Muffins
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 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 1/4 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 with vegetables
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Vegan Savoury Muffins
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose plain flour, spooned and leveled (note 1 for tips and alternatives)
- 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 whisk until the mixture is well 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 spoon and level your flour, 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 use a measuring cup to scoop flour out of your container, it will pack in too much flour and result in dry and dense muffins. Alternatively, use the grams measurements.
Instead of all-purpose flour, you can use whole wheat flour or spelt flour. 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.
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Love it! Make them all the time. Friends ask for the recipe. Just made a batch for my daughter, who has a small baby and no time to bake snacks. It is so versatile! Many thanks for this recipe 😉
Hi Maria, aww that makes me so happy to hear! It’s wonderful you’ve been able to share the recipe and the muffins too (I also just had a baby, so I’m sure your daughter was really appreciative). Thanks so much for your kind review, I appreciate it alot!
Made these to have with some home made soup. Wow amazing so much nicer than bread. Got many compliments and asking for the recipe. I have frozen a couple to see how they go . Will definitely make again
Thanks
Hi Jackie, I’m over the moon you enjoyed these muffins and I definitely agree they’re nicer (and more fun) than bread! I hope they froze well for you too. Thanks so much for your kind review 🙂
These muffins were a hit with my family – will be making them again for sure!
Hi Mary Anne, I’m soo glad to that your family enjoyed these!! Thanks for your lovely feedback 🙂
I’ve been asked to make these in mini muffin size. Will that work and how should I change the baking time? Also, will it work in silicone mini muffin tins?
Hi Radhaks, I’m so sorry about the late reply – I’ve been on maternity leave with a newborn baby so have been slow in responding! These will work in a mini muffin pan, however I haven’t tested it so I can’t say for certain how long it’ll take to bake. I’d try baking them for 15-20 minutes and removing them when a toothpick comes out clean. Muffins in silicone pan bake a bit slower than a metal pan, but 15-20 minutes should be enough time. Hope that helps!
Great recipe. I used all chickpea flour and added a little pumpkin seed tofu. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Laura, that’s great to know and adding tofu sounds incredible! Thanks so much for your feedback 🙂
My guests and I liked them well enough, but they didn’t quite turn out the way I liked. I picked this recipe because it includes a large amount of vegetables compared to other recipes I’ve seen. Would definitely make adjustments if I were to make them again:
1. Add more salt/flavoring: at least double, maybe add some stock powder.
2. Drain the veggies or add less fluid – I had to bake them much much longer than the recipe claimed and then they were a bit dry on the outside and still kinda soggy in the middle.
I made one batch as described and one gluten free according to the note, and the gluten free came out pretty much the same, so that substitution worked well! I used a gluten free flour blend from Rewe (German supermarket chain) and chickpea flour.
To one batch I added two teaspoons of crispy chili oil, which made them slightly spicy.
BTW I don’t usually look for time estimates on recipes, but I do find it a bit obnoxious when a recipe writer doesn’t include the time it takes to cut up ingredients into the time estimate. I used a machine to grate the zucchini and carrot, and it still took me quite a while to prep everything.
Hi Lachouette, thanks for your detailed feedback. I’m glad that your guests enjoyed them and I appreciate you sharing how you’d adapt the flavors to your taste. Regarding the texture, veggie-heavy bakes can be tricky since the moisture content in fresh vegetables varies so much. However, a muffin that’s dry on the outside and soggy in the middle can indicate that an oven runs a bit too hot. For the best results, I use an oven thermometer for all baking. This recipe is also for a conventional oven, so if you’re using a fan oven, you’ll need to reduce the temperature next time.
Good to know about the gluten-free flour too! I’m sure other German readers will find this helpful.
Lastly, I’m sorry the recipe wasn’t written to your liking. It’s an industry standard to exclude washing and chopping time in recipes since everyone’s knife speed and kitchen tools vary a lot. However, I understand how frustrating it can be when a recipe takes longer than expected. Thanks for your feedback!
What an awesome recipe! I did make a few edits: replaced half the milk w aquafaba, because I had it. Also replaced capsicum with roasted red peppers and sun dried tomatoes. Replaced spinach w baby kale. Added 1tbsp of mushroom powder to the spice mix in the dry ingredients. Was a big hit at a small event I hosted yesterday. Thank you…I’ll make this again…likely many times and will keep playing w the additions!
We’re so happy to hear they were a hit and that you’ll be making them many more times to come! Love all the tweaks and mushroom powder sounds so good — we’ll definitely have to give that a try! Thanks so much for sharing your version and for taking the time to leave a comment!
These are so good. I subbed whole wheat flour and they still came out quite fluffy and delicious! I used fresh herbs from my garden. Will definitely make these many times. Perfect to serve with soup on a chilly day.
We’re so happy you loved them and fresh garden herbs must have made them extra special! We 100% agree, they’re perfect with soup! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment ☺️
Delish! I used fresh oregano & topped with sun-dried tomatoes.
We’re so glad to hear you liked them! Will definitely have to try fresh oregano and sun-dried tomatoes next time 😍
Easy and delicious. Used Wholemeal flour and it was still light and tasty. Very flexible too. Made it with very finely sliced red onions in the mix and on top. I have made it twice in 2 days, definitely a keeper.
We’re so happy you enjoyed them – twice in two days is the best compliment! Love the idea of using wholemeal flour and red onions too 😍
Is salt enough for this recipe?
1/2 teaspoon of salt with the nutritional yeast was enough for me and many readers. But if you prefer saltier baked goods, feel free to add more.
I made this but with edamame beans, cherry tomatoes, and onion, oddly enough. It was what I had! It wasn’t bad, but I think I could have done with a bit more flavour, so maybe would have increased the spices or added a bit of black pepper.
Hi Taylor, thank you for your feedback! We love that you made it with what you had on hand! Everyone’s taste is a little different, so feel free to experiment with the spices. You can definitely add a bit more seasoning, some black pepper like you mentioned, or even a pinch of cayenne or red pepper flakes for a little extra kick. Happy cooking!
Not tried yet but they look good . How long in muffin silicone cups in an airfryer please ?
Hi Katy, I haven’t tested this so I don’t know for sure. However, I would lower the temperature by 20C and bake the muffins for a few extra minutes. Let me know how you go!
I made this using carrots, zucchini, and peppers. I love the flavour combination! I just found that the texture of this muffin was a bit more biscuit-like, and even though it was fully baked through, there were a few wet spots around the veggies (especially the peppers). I hope it’s edible, it’s not raw better, just a bit gooey and it sort of ruins the appearance of these otherwise nice-looking muffins. I’m wondering how to troubleshoot? Should I bake it longer next time, drain the veggies, or toss it in flour?
Have not tried this yet but plan to in the next few days!
Thinking to try with red peppers, broccoli, and kale, with some vegan cheese.
I want to make these to freeze and then grab and go with me to the gym for a post-workout snack – how is the texture when thawed to room temperature? On the go after the gym I won’t have an oven to reheat for crispiness obviously – when thawing, do they have to be re-ovened to be enjoyed?
Hi Rina, that combination of veggies + vegan cheese sounds delicious! I’ve frozen these muffins and they thaw quite well! The muffin part stays the same, and some of the veggies change texture but not hugely different. The muffins are fine to eat at room temperature, but I think they’re better reheated (if you use a microwave, that will work wonderfully). Hope that helps!
They look so yummy!!
Thinking about adding some chickpea flour for more protein. Think they would come out ok?
Hi Willian! I’ve only tried them with half chickpea flour and half gluten-free flour (quantities are in the notes of the recipe card) and they worked out well! I think they’d work if you replace half of the all-purpose flour with chickpea flour. Hope that helps!
Hello Anthra. Isn’t 1 tbsp of bakind powder is too much. I hope it doesn’t taste o ly of baking soda. Please reply. Thank you
Hi Vijetha, with 3 cups of flour and over 3 cups of vegetables, we need 1 tablespoon of baking powder. 1 tablespoon of baking powder is less than the amount of baking powder used in store-bought self-raising flour. If you measure and mix the ingredients properly, you won’t be able to taste it. Hope that helps!
Delicious! Making them again right now! Delivering them to my friends but of course keeping some for myself!
Aw, I’m thrilled you loved them and that the recipe is a keeper for you!! Thanks so much for letting me know 🙂