These are the Best Vegan Gluten-free Blueberry Muffins ever, truly! They are also dairy-free, oil-free, yet incredibly soft, light, fluffy & just 8 ingredients and made in 1 bowl!
*This post was originally published on 6-3-2014 and has been updated with better instructions and new photos.
VEGAN GLUTEN FREE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
These are seriously some of the best vegan gluten-free muffins ever. Do you see that incredible texture? They are so light, fluffy, moist and incredibly rich Vegan Blueberry Muffins. This vegan recipe is only 8 ingredients and also happens to be easy, healthy and oil-free. They are fast to make and ready in 30 minutes. These are basically the blueberry version of these Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins.
Glorious, I tell ya. Golden topping and so soft and moist on the inside. Bursting with juicy blueberries. If you really love blueberries, then you should also make these Fluffy Vegan Blueberry Pancakes.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED
- Superfine blanched almond flour: This almond flour is what replaces oil and butter and makes these vegan blueberry muffins moist. They will be dry without it, so it can’t be subbed.
- Superfine oat flour: I use Bob’s Red Mill. Store-bought is always finer than homemade, which will yield fluffier, softer muffins. Homemade tends to yield more dense, gritty muffins.
- Tapioca starch or cornstarch: Using either one of these starches works perfectly here. It helps to make the muffins light and fluffy, which would be too dense without it. The starch also helps to absorb excess moisture released from the blueberries.
- Baking powder
- Maple syrup
- Vanilla
- Canned “lite” coconut milk or Homemade Cashew milk: Both milks work great here! See the NOTES on the recipe card below how to make this.
- Blueberries: Either fresh or frozen will work. See my notes on how to adjust for using frozen blueberries.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN GLUTEN FREE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS
Step 1: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk well and break up any lumps.
Step 2: Add the milk, syrup and vanilla extract to the same bowl. Stir until a thick and smooth batter forms.
Step 3: Gently stir in the blueberries.
Step 4: Divide the batter into 8 nonstick muffin liners.
Step 5: Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick is clean. The muffins will rise a lot and have golden tips.
SUBSTITUTIONS
- Coconut Milk: I’ve tested these muffins with both canned lite coconut milk and homemade cashew milk. Store-bought cashew milk has a lot of additives and is not comparable to homemade. The fatty milk is what yields a moist and fluffy muffin, so low-fat milks like almond or rice will not yield the best results. To make homemade cashew milk, blend in a vitamix 1/2 cup raw cashews with 1 1/2 cups filtered water until smooth. No need to strain. Use 6 tablespoons (90g) of the milk for the recipe. Use extra for more muffins or coffee, oatmeal or some of my other recipes calling for cashew milk.
- Frozen Blueberries: If you would like to use frozen blueberries, that will work fine, just be sure to toss them in some extra flour first, as this will help them from bleeding too much into the muffins or adding excess moisture.
MORE VEGAN MUFFIN RECIPES
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Gluten-free Double Chocolate Muffins
- Whole Wheat Chocolate Muffins
- Bakery-Style Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins with Cherries
- Caramel Crusted Pumpkin Muffins
- Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Muffins (a reader favorite!)
- Cinnamon Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins
*This post contains affiliate links. See my full disclosure policy here.
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins (Oil Free!)
These are the Best Vegan Blueberry Muffins ever, truly! They are also gluten-free, dairy-free, oil-free, yet incredibly soft, light, fluffy & just 8 ingredients.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (112g) superfine blanched almond flour
- 3/4 cup (96g) superfine oat flour
- 1/4 cup (32g) tapioca starch OR cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 6 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (8g) vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons (90g) "lite" canned coconut milk, can shaken well first before measuring) (SEE NOTES)
- 1/2 cup (90g) fresh blueberries (use 3/4 cup if you like more) SEE NOTES below for frozen
NOTE
- I always recommend to use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed, since we all measure differently. This greatly improves your chance for success and lessons room for error. You never need cups or to compare them to the weights, just use the scale and bowl and make sure to zero out in between each ingredient. My recipes are 100% tested specifically using my exact weights and your results will turn out as mine are pictured this way.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with 8 nonstick parchment paper liners.
- To a large bowl, add the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt. Whisk very well and be sure to break up any lumps.
- To the same bowl, pour in the syrup, milk and extract. Gently mix with a large whisk or stir with a spoon until moistened and a thick batter forms. The batter will be quite thick. Do not overmix once it's all moistened.
- Very gently stir in the blueberries.
- Divide the batter into the 8 muffin liners using an ice cream scoop. I like to use and ice cream scoop, because it creates a perfect curved dome top while they bake. Bake for 20 minutes, OR until a toothpick comes out clean with no batter on it. Blueberry juice may be present, but not actual wet batter. They should have golden brown tips on the top of the muffins. Keep in mind ovens can vary, so yours may take longer
- Cool 10 minutes in the pan and then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely. Since these are gluten-free, they need cooling time to firm up and finish cooking on the inside. Keep stored at room temperature.
Notes
- ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR: If you are not gluten-free, then make these regular Lemon Blueberry Muffins made with all-purpose flour!
- FLOURS: As noted, superfine flours work best. Homemade almond flour or oat flour tends to never be as fine as store-bought, and a bit more gritty, which will result in more dense/gummy muffins that are not very fluffy, as in my photos. Superfine almond flour is necessary so there are not bits of almond throughout or become wet/dense. I like the King Arthur flour, Wellbee's, Honeyville and Nut's.com brands best. Nature's Eats is decent, but not as fine as the others mention.
- MILK: I've tested these muffins with both canned lite coconut milk and homemade cashew milk. Store-bought cashew milk has a lot of additives and is not comparable to homemade. The fatty milk is what yields a moist and fluffy muffin, so low-fat milks like almond or rice will not yield the best results. To make homemade cashew milk, blend in a vitamix 1/2 cup raw cashews with 1 1/2 cups filtered water until smooth. No need to strain. Use 6 tablespoons (90g) of the milk for the recipe. Use extra for more muffins or coffee, oatmeal or some of my other recipes calling for cashew milk.
- FROZEN BLUEBERRIES: If you would like to use frozen blueberries, that will work fine, just be sure to toss them in some extra flour first and remove them from the freezer right before you are adding them to the batter so they do not thaw and add excess water to the batter, as this will help them from bleeding too much into the muffins or adding excess moisture.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffinCalories: 201kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 5.3gFat: 8.9gSaturated Fat: 1.2gSodium: 126mgPotassium: 211mgFiber: 3.1gSugar: 10.9gCalcium: 101mgIron: 2mg
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I made these blueberry muffins last night and they were out of this world delicious. All I had on hand was Bob’s Red Mill almond flour and I know what you mean about being a little wet. Today I’m going to do some looking around for the brands you mentioned. But regardless, they were still the best. I have a question about storing them. I put them in a plastic bag but left it partially unsealed. They were a little soggy this morning. How do you store yours? Also, have you tried freezing them and did they stay good?
Awesome Pamela!! I’m so glad you loved them so much! Yes, I order my almond flour from Nuts.com. It is just their regular blanched almond flour. It isn’t exactly cheap, but trust me, the results are just better, substancially to where my husband HATES anything made with Bob’s almond flour because of all the little bits of almond still in the baked goods that he can taste. However, nuts.com brand is perfectly ground, not a hard piece left and makes everything lighter and rise fluffier. I would choose Nuts.com or Honeyville…I have not cared for any others that compare. You can order both online, I don’t believe they are in stores unfortunately.
As far as storing them, I store mine in a ceramic type of container…sealing them in a plastic container or a ziplock bag will definitely trap moisture and make them more soggy. Try a glass or ceramic container and see if that is better. Of course, they are best the day of with the crispy topping, but they are still delicious and well eaten the day after from being in my ceramic! 🙂 No, I haven’t froze them….I’ve actually never froze any baked goods….they get eaten too fast! So, I’m not sure how they’d hold up.
This is the almond flour I order: http://www.nuts.com/nuts/almonds/flour.html
I order a 5 lb bag because I wrote new recipes weekly, so I need that much and it’s cheaper that way, but you could just order the small bag if you don’t use it often or just to make sure you like it first.
Oh, my goodness. These are the best blueberry muffins I have ever had. And I’ve had my share of blueberry muffins (non-vegan, vegan, gluten-free, paleo, crumb topped, white sugar sweetened…. etc). I used Bob’s almond flour and ran out of vanilla just shy of 3/4 T. I also added another 1/2 cup or so of blueberries. The result was the most perfect texture I’ve come across in over a year of vegan baking. The taste is ridiculously impeccable (though I may be tempted to add a sprinkle of cinnamon next time). I also had the great fortune of dripping a bit of batter into an empty muffin tin space and it baked into a scrumptious little dark gold cookie. I’m going to be needing this batter for cookies/pancakes/everything, please. ALSO- neither of my parents are vegan or gluten-free and they couldn’t believe that these were both. SUCCESS.
Thank you so, so much for this recipe. I’ll be trying many more of yours in the future!
http://www.youtube.com/sparklesandsuch26
Can I just tell you how much you made my day Ella with your MOST amazing feedback ever?!! Thank you so much for all your kind words and making my recipe, I am so truly thrilled it is the BEST blueberry muffins you’ve ever had, that made my day! I love hearing feedback from my readers, so thank you so much!
So sorry it took me so long to post this!
We discussed flours on Facebook last month due to my son’s nut allergy, and you suggested I substitute sunflower flour for the almond flour.
After the first batch, we agreed that it tasted to much like sunflower seeds, so I reversed the amounts of flours:
~ 1 cup of oat flour
~ 3/4 cup of raw, organic sunflower flour
We also doubled the blueberry amount. Wow!!
My very picky son has asked me to make them several times over the last few weeks.
Thank you!!!! 🙂
Hi Tammy! That is such wonderful news! I’m so happy to hear that the sunflower flour worked out so well!! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know, I really appreciate it! So happy your son loves them so much 🙂 🙂
Did you grind your own sunflower butter from seeds or buy store bought?
Hi Jessica! If you want to make them nut-free by using the sunflower, then yes, just grind up some raw, unsalted sunflower kernels in a food processor until it is a fine flour…should only take a few seconds. Don’t overprocess it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a store sell actual ground up sunflower “flour” before. Just then measure and proceed with the recipe. It will give it somewhat of a sunflower taste, but should still be good. Let me know how they turn out!
Can I sub tapioca starch with potato starch?
You can try it, potato starch does make things more dry (depending on the other ingredients) and a bit more crumbly, but with the blueberries here, it should be okay.
I missed your birthday…happy birthday! These were delicious! My kids and I gobbled them up! Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you so much Kristen for the feedback! I’m super happy to hear you all enjoyed them and thank you SO much for sharing them on Instagram with your beautiful photo! Made my day 🙂
Finally made these muffins today…of course, i made mine with chocolate chips and i doubled the recipe….because over time, i have learned to just go ahead and double your recipes; otherwise it will be all gone and won’t have leftovers and then i get mad cause i wanted more….lol…awesome!
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that Elilta and yes, doubling is a good idea! Thanks for sharing your gorgeous photo on facebook too 🙂
Wooow!!!! The blueberry muffins are AMAZING!!!! One day I made blueberry and my fiance said, “Mmmm, those are the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever had, mmmm… ” Lol! The crunchy top is so good with moist center. Yum. The next day I added chocolate chips to the blueberry muffins and extra vanilla. Heaven…. So I mixed your two recipes and it has just the right touch of tangy and sweet. My mother is a health nut and never eats any dessert. She gobbled these up when I told her the ingredients and said, “These really are the best muffins I’ve ever had and they are healthy! I think I’ll have another..” Lol! 🙂 So, to say your muffins in my house were a hit, is an understatement!
Thank you for all you do and making all of this so easy for us through all of your hard work in perfecting each recipe and making it super healthy too ♡ Congratulations on your continued success 🙂
Thank you so much Shandee for the AMAZING FEEDBACK!! Also, thank you for sharing your photos on Facebook of the muffins, I’m super thrilled you all loved them and your fiance saying they are the “best blueberry muffins I’ve ever had” well, that just makes my day!! Thank you!!
I can honestly say that it is very hard for me to say at this moment that there is ANYTHING that I would rather eat than these blueberry muffins. And sitting in the middle of some of your vanilla cheesecake ice cream!??!! I may never eat anything else the rest of my life! Absurdly, ridiculously wonderful. Oughta be a law!!!
I made these last week and they were fantastic! I ground my own almonds for flour in my Vitamix as I didn’t want to go to the store but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. My daughter said ” oh my god Mom, these are soooo good”. Unfortunately I ate the other five in less than two days…. : )
That’s so wonderful Linda!! I’m so glad you and your daughter enjoyed them so much and I really love getting the feedback on my recipes, so keep them coming! Thanks so much for letting me know. So glad grinding your own almond flour worked well too 🙂
Hi there!! These look awesome! We are not gluten free.. but we are nut free/ milk free/ egg free.. could we sub regular flour do you think? Thanks so much!
Hi Amanda! Unfortunately, if you sub all of the flours (almond, oat & tapioca) with all purpose, they will give a different result and be really dry. The almond flour is what provides all the moisture, as well as the coconut milk. Also, it wouldn’t be an even ratio of flours either since the almond flour is not comparable in weight to all purpose. My only suggestion would be if you want to use regular flour in the same amounts, you will definitely need to add some oil to compensate, maybe 1/4 cup, but that’s just a guess. Keep the same amount of coconut milk. I only bake gluten-free and oil-free, so I’m just not sure the result you would get because it would be a totally different recipe by subbing 3 flours. Just taste and see how the batter is looking once you make those changes. It should be like a thick cake batter and will definitely rise much more, so you could probably make more like 8 muffins. Let me know if you try it!
Happy Belated Birthday! These muffins look so glorious. I never would have guessed that these were gluten-free, even just from looking at them. I generally try to avoid wheat and gluten, but it can become a struggle at times. Bookmarking this!!!
Thank you so much Kyla!! Yes, I promise out of the many people who have made them (many non-vegan) all loved them and there is nobody who will know they are vegan or gluten-free, they are so delicious and easy to make! Hope you enjoy them too 🙂
Well happy SUPER belated birthday girl!!! Hope you had an absolutely wonderful day!
No wonder your blog is blowing up–with creations like these, it would be a miracle if it DIDN’T! THESE LOOK INCREDIBLE!!!!!
So, I’m curious–have you ever made a successful baked good like these muffins without using any starch? Would adding in a flour like white rice flour or sweet rice flour have a similar effect? (Also, I think I’ve heard that low-fat coconut milk is just regular coconut milk cut with water…have you heard that ever??)
Thank you so much Erika!! I have made plenty of baked goods (cookies and brownies) without any starch, yes! For fluffy baked goods though like muffins and cake, the starch is needed since I use almond flour in my recipes and otherwise it would be too dense and wet without the starch. The starch gives it rise, fluff and lightness (like all purpose does), so it’s definitely needed. Pretty much any gluten-free recipe I’ve ever seen in a muffin or cake has at least one starch in it. I’ve seen some made with dates and brown rice flour (no starch) but I imagine they are more “fudgy” and not a light texture, which is what I like in my muffins and cakes.
Low fat coconut milk, from the can, is much creamier than the carton kind, so that’s why I use it in the recipe. But yes, I imagine it is just like the full fat kind with more water added, haha! 🙂
I wish you a happy belated Birthday, Brandi! 🙂 Yeahh! Cheers!
I also made your glorious winning muffins & my Peter & I enjoyed 2 for breakfast! Ooh yes! xxx
Thank you so much Sophie!! That’s so wonderful to hear! 🙂
Haaaaaaaappy (belated) birthday to you, dearest Brandi! I sent you a creepy facebook message yesterday with birthday greetings, don’t know if you got it. You are such a wonderful person – it’s your person and yet you’re developing delicious recipes for other people. I hope your hubs saved you a few muffins for you to enjoy 😉 I know I say this about all of your recipes but I CAN’T believe this is vegan, oil free and only 8 ingredients. The inside of your muffin looks incredibly moist ‘n fluffy. Just perfect! I hope you were spoiled rotten yesterday and that the celebration continues all week long (because why should we only celebrate one day?) Hugs, girl!
Hahaha you are hilarious!! “creepy facebook message”! I never got one though??? So, maybe Facebook banned it because they thought it was creepy too?! 🙂 Anyways, thank you so much for your kind words. You are an angel!!! xoxo
Thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
As soon as I read your recipe, I just had to make them, so I did.
I didn’t have any blueberries, so I used frozen cherries. I thought well if they bleed, so be it, they will still taste great. But they looked amazing and tasted even better.
I used 1 cup of frozen cherries, made my own almond meal and oat flour.
I also used 1 tsp vanilla bean paste. Next time I’ll cut down the maple syrup to 1/4 cup too.
These will definitely be a staple in my house. I’m going to try them with banana later today.
I will be making a double batch though!!
Thanks Brandi, and hope you had a wonderful birthday.
I took a photo, of the cherry muffins but I can’t work out how to post it in here.
Thank you so much Susie for the amazing feedback and sharing your photo on Facebook! The cherries sound delicious! The cherries definitely would work out okay frozen, they don’t bleed nearly the way frozen blueberries do. Adding the banana sounds great, that could make up for the difference and reduction of the syrup and you certainly wouldn’t need all 1/2 cup of syrup since the bananas are sweet. Since the syrup provides a large amount of liquid needed for the recipe, you may need to add a bit more coconut milk to reach the right consistency.
Thanks again for making them and I’m so happy you loved them so much! 🙂
Happy, happy birthday Brandi!! I’ve been on a huge blueberry kick lately and these muffins look divine! I also LOVE chocolate chips (of course), so I love that option too!! You are amazing!
Thank you so much Melanie…these are absolutely delicious and of course, I loved the chocolate chip ones the best!
VANILLA!!!! THE BEST FLAVOR EVER!!!!! 😀 and YAY FOR JUNE! Birthday MONTH FOR the both of us!!!!! OOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!
Yay!!! We June babies rock, eh?!
Happy birthday girl!!! These are Awesome and super moist delucious!!! Luv them!!!
That’s so awesome Tiffany!! THANK YOU for making them so fast, you rock!! Thanks for sharing the photo on Facebook too! 🙂
Firstly, Happy Birthday Brandi! Hope this year’s been a fabulous one for you and that the next is even better!
Secondly, these muffins! Glorious definitely seems like the right word. I’d take a muffin over a cookie every day and blueberry beat chocolate chip in my eyes too.
I need to stock up on almond flour. I’m all out 🙁
Thank you Emma! Oh gosh, I think my world would end without almond flour, haha! Yes, I love cookies, but there is something so comforting about a fluffy, moist muffin and these are the best I’ve made!
Happy Birthday Brandi, and you gave us a present, Thank you, this recipe is incredible. The muffins look moist and delicious. GF, vegan, oil free, and amazing!
Thank you so much Suzanne! 🙂
Happy Birthday to one of my favorite bloggers! I hope you have a great day! 🙂 These photos are making me drool. I need more blueberry muffins in my life.
Aww thank you Meredith, you are the sweetest!!!
Okay who isn’t a blueberry fan? Duh!!
These are just awesome Brandi -birthday Girl ♡
I love muffins cause the transport and I love blueberry cause – duh!! I’m sure that the chocolate chip version is just as great. Have a great Birthday!!
Haha! I know right?! I have blueberries every single day of my life. I need them. They are so healthy and so yummy! Thank you Angela!
Happy Happy Happy Birthday!!! How awesome we are both Gemini…..haha…my birthday is in 10 days! ! Hope your magical day is filled with lots of joy and vegan yummies. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead and these jumbo muffins look spectacular – I love blueberries!!!!! Happy Birthday!
Thank you so much Rika!! Yay for geminis!! Thanks gorgeous!
Happy Birthday from Argentina!
I have two questions! How can we replace tapioca starch? And can we use honey instead of maple syrup? THANKS!
Hi Deborah! You can use honey instead, or agave or even coconut nectar. Honey is a lot thicker and sweeter though than maple syrup, so it may change the texture some and make them even sweeter. As far as the tapioca, it works really well to bind and give moisture to the muffins. I haven’t tried subbing any other ingredient, but the best sub would be arrowroot starch and maybe try only 3 tablespoons instead of a 1/4 cup because I’m afraid the arrowroot tends to dry things out. Also, keep in mind the result will vary some, tapioca helps the muffins rise and arrowroot does not and arrowroot can make baking more dense and dry, so just make sure you have a good amount of blueberries in there. The batter should be thick, but pourable (thicker than cake batter) Please let me know how it turns out if you use arrowroot, or for the best results, try to find tapioca, you won’t be sorry, I promise! 🙂
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!
Love love love blueberry muffins – these look delectable.
Thank you so much my friend!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDI! OH MY what a great present for US that you have shared. I have been DYING for a good VGF muffin, so I AM ALL OVER THESE! I cannot wait to make them.
Thank you Brittany! You WON’T be sorry girl! They are just amazing.
Made these tonight and they are wonderful. Will definitely be making them again. Blueberry Muffins are one of my favorites. Thanks for another great recipe.
Wonderful TJ! I’m so happy to hear you loved these, thank you so much for the feedback!