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Learn how to make fluffy, bakery-style Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins at home in just 1 bowl with simple pantry staples. Nut-Free.
These Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins are made with basic ingredients, but bold in both flavor and texture. They’re complete with extra chocolate chips and an impressive domed muffin top that rival bakery muffins. All you need is 12 ingredients and 40 minutes to make!
Table of Contents
The Best Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
If you’ve been on the hunt for a vegan chocolate chip muffin that’s made in one bowl, uses simple ingredients, and has the perfect chocolatey flavor, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, I’m confident these muffins can compete with any bakery muffin you’d get at a local coffee shop.
The secret? These tender muffins get their superior fluffy texture and tall dome top from a bakery rise technique that builds steam within the batter and puffs the muffins up into light, golden brown muffins complete with a tender interior and crispy edges. They’re so good, you’re going to want to eat them straight from the muffin tray!
What You Need for Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
Making delicious, bakery-style muffins at home requires just 12 ingredients that you likely already have on hand! Most of these ingredients are basics in home baking, but here are a few ingredient notes to ensure you have the most success:
- Leavening agents: Both baking soda and baking powder are required to help these muffins rise and keep them light and fluffy.
- Unsweetened applesauce: In addition to adding natural sweetness, unsweetened applesauce helps bind the muffin batter together and provides the structure that allows the muffin tops to bake into tall muffin tops.
- Oil: I prefer to use a neutral vegetable oil instead of dairy-free butter in this muffin recipe as I find it makes more moist, tender muffins (butter is not a liquid at room temperature and creates a more dry muffin).
- Apple cider vinegar: Some sort of acid is necessary to activate the baking soda and create bubbles in the batter that helps the muffins rise and become fluffy. I typically use apple cider vinegar because I always have it in the pantry, but lemon juice works well, too.
- Mini chocolate chips: Mini chips can be dispersed more evenly in muffin batter and won’t sink to the bottom. In addition, they won’t weigh the batter down and will yield a better, more cohesive muffin crumb.
How to Make Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Whisk the dry ingredients together until well combined, then form a well in the center of the bowl.
- Add in the sugar, applesauce, milk, oil, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Mix the wet ingredients together in the center of the bowl then fold together with the dry ingredients until a muffin batter forms.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spoon evenly between a 12-muffin pan and sprinkle with extra vegan chocolate chips, if desired.
- Bake until moist, fluffy, and the tops of the muffins are slightly golden, a total of 19 to 22 minutes.
- Enjoy while warm or room temperature, as desired.
Caitlin’s Cooking Tips
- Note the higher oven temperature to start! In the complete recipe card down below, you’ll notice these muffins are first baked at 425F for 5 minutes, then finished at 350F. This bakery technique helps the liquid in the batter steam quickly and create pressure within the muffin batter. This in turn causes the chocolate chip muffins to rise and expand rapidly, creating a bakery-style dome on top of the muffin.
- Use weighted measurements for consistent results. Grams measurements drastically reduce the room for error and ensure you’ll have perfect success with your vegan baking every single time.
Serving Suggestions
Despite the chocolate chips, these vegan muffins are a perfectly acceptable breakfast to enjoy alongside a cup of coffee or tea. They’re also a great afternoon snack or the perfect treat in school lunchboxes. Enjoy them at room temperature or warm with a smear of your favorite vegan butter or nut butter.
If you’re looking for more vegan muffin recipes, you’ll also love these Vegan Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins, these Vegan Banana Muffins and these Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins.
How to Store Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
Fresh bakery style muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months. These muffins can also be defrosted and/or reheated in the toaster oven, if desired.
Storing muffins in the fridge is not recommended – it makes their texture chewy and the overall muffin overly dense.
Substitutions and Variations
- Brown sugar substitutions: Use coconut sugar as a 1:1 substitute. Coconut sugar is on the drier side due to the lack of molasses, so the muffins may be slightly less moist.
- Oil options: A neutral vegetable oil is best, but avocado oil or light olive oil can work in its place.
- Non-dairy milk variations: Any unsweetened or lightly sweetened dairy-free milk of choice will work. If you’re out of store-bought milk, Learn How to Make Nut Milk at home using simple ingredients.
Recipe FAQs
In this particular vegan muffin recipe, the typical chicken eggs are replaced with unsweetened applesauce. It helps keep the muffins fluffy and also adds some natural sweetness.
I have unfortunately not tested a gluten-free version of these chocolate chip muffins. If you are interested in gluten-free and vegan baked goods, make sure to check out these Pumpkin Apple Muffins, Lemon Blueberry Muffins, Chocolate Banana Muffins, Apple Cinnamon Muffins, and Carrot Cake Muffins. I also have an entire cookbook called Simply Delicious Vegan dedicated to refined-sugar free, gluten-free, oil-free vegan recipes.
When made with a nut-free non-dairy milk, these muffins are 100% nut-free and great for people with nut allergies.
Enjoy! If you make this recipe and decide to share it on Facebook or Instagram, don’t forget to tag me @FromMyBowl + #FromMyBowl! I would also love it if you could leave a comment below with a recipe rating! Thank you for the support 😊
Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour spooned and leveled*
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
- 1/2 cup cane sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
- 2/3 cup avocado oil or neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cup dairy-free mini chocolate chips or chunks plus more for topping
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 425F and generously grease a 12-muffin pan with vegan butter or oil.
- Dry Ingredients: Add the flour to a large mixing bowl, then add in the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using). Whisk until combined, then form a well in the center of the bowl.
- Wet Ingredients: Add the cane sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, milk, oil, vanilla, and vinegar to the center of the bowl. Use a spatula to mix these ingredients together first in the center of the bowl, then slowly work outwards to incorporate more flour. Once all of the flour has dissolved, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the Batter: Use a large scoop or spoon to evenly divide the batter among the muffin tins, filling each tin level to the top. I like to sprinkle each muffin with a few extra chocolate chips, but that’s totally optional!
- Bake: Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 5 minutes, then, without opening the oven, reduce the oven temperature for 350F. Bake for an additional 14 to 17 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are slightly golden.
- Let Cool: Remove from the oven and set the muffin tin on a cooling rack; let the muffins rest for 5 minutes before using a knife to remove them from the muffin tin. Enjoy warm, or let cool completely on the wire rack before storing.
- Storage: Muffins will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze these chocolate chip muffins for up to two months, and defrost/reheat as necessary in a toaster oven. I do not recommend storing your muffins in the fridge as it makes their texture chewy.
I’m a new baker and I tried several vegan muffin recipes but was ending up with cookie like texture. This recipe really made my muffins fluff and they tasted amazing.
That’s awesome, Ashika!
So good!
I would love to make peanut butter chocolate chip muffins. Do you think I could use this recipe and replace peanut butter for the listed appelsauce? Or should I use another recipe?
While you can certainly experiment with modifying the recipe, replacing applesauce with peanut butter might significantly alter the texture and flavor of the muffins. Applesauce serves as a moistening agent and helps with the structure of the muffins. Peanut butter, on the other hand, has a different consistency and might make the muffins denser.
These are delicious! They really are like a muffin from a bakery. I love that they come together in only one bowl. Thank you for another great recipe!!
We’re so happy you found it delicious!