Vegan Chocolate Muffins are easy to make in one bowl and are full of chocolatey goodness! They are incredibly moist, rich and loaded with melty chocolate chips.
Loving double chocolate vegan desserts? Then you have to try my Vegan Chocolate Cookies and Vegan Chocolate Donuts!
There’s never a bad time for chocolate muffins! Filled with chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and a few other basic ingredients, you can bake a batch in 30 minutes and quickly get to snacking.
Just like my Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins, these soft and sweet chocolate muffins are perfect for breakfast, as a quick pick-me-up, and even dessert. Their bakery-worthy flavor and texture is all thanks to a mixture of vegan “buttermilk”, cornstarch, and oil in the batter.
The best part is they store and travel well, and even freeze beautifully so you can indulge in a chocolate muffin whenever a craving strikes!
Ingredients needed (with substitutions)
- Soy milk – Or any unsweetened dairy free milk you have at home, like almond, oat, or cashew milk.
- Apple cider vinegar – This is mixed with the soy milk to make vegan “buttermilk”. ACV is best but white vinegar works in a pinch! If you don’t have vinegar, lemon juice is the best replacement.
- All purpose flour – This will give you the best results. For gluten free chocolate muffins, use a quality gluten free flour mix instead.
- Cocoa powder – I used regular unsweetened cocoa powder here, but dutch processed cocoa would likely work fine.
- Sugar – May substitute coconut sugar, if desired.
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Cornstarch – This secret ingredient gives chocolate muffins a super soft texture without affecting the flavor.
- Canola oil – Or another neutral vegetable oil, such as avocado oil. Substitute applesauce for oil free.
- Vanilla extract
- Vegan chocolate chips – Mini chocolate chips are my favorite but you can use any kind you love.
How to make vegan chocolate muffins
Start by combining the soy milk with the apple cider vinegar to make the vegan “buttermilk”. Let it sit out for about 10 minutes to curdle.
Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and cornstarch together in a large bowl.
Pour the “buttermilk” mixture, oil, and vanilla in with the dry mixture.
Gently stir until everything is combined, being careful not to overmix the batter. This will make your muffins hard instead of soft!
To finish, fold the chocolate chips into the batter.
Pour the batter into a lined muffin tin and sprinkle some chocolate chips on top.
Bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Let them cool for a few minutes in the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to let them cool completely. Serve and enjoy!
Frequently asked questions
- Can the muffins be made without oil? I haven’t tested it in this recipe, but applesauce is often used as a replacement for oil. Use the same amount as you would oil.
- How do you store chocolate muffins? Store the baked and cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days. They’ll last for a few days longer when kept in the fridge.
- Are they freezer-friendly? Yes! Wrap the muffins in plastic and keep them in a sealed ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Want more vegan muffin recipes?
- 1 Bowl Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
Vegan Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/3 cup canola oil or other neutral flavored oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with liners and spray them lightly with oil.
- Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup or small bowl and set aside to curdle. This is your vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and cornstarch. If the cocoa powder is really clumpy, sift it in.
- Pour the vegan buttermilk, oil and vanilla into the dry ingredients bowl. Stir with a spatula gently, being careful not to over mix. Over mixing muffin batter makes them hard instead of soft.
- Fold in most of the chocolate chips, saving about 1/4 cup for the tops.
- Fill muffin cups nearly to the top and sprinkle a few more chocolate chips on the tops.
- Bake for 26-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean. Be careful not to over bake, or the muffins will become dense and dry.
- Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy! Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days. They also freeze perfectly.
Notes
- Gluten free – I haven’t tested it, but using a quality gluten free mix would likely work quite well.
- Oil free – You can try substituting applesauce for the oil. The texture of the muffins will be different though.
- May use coconut sugar instead of regular sugar, if desired.
- Tapioca starch or arrowroot work in place of cornstarch.
Great recipe! I made mini muffins and baked for 12 minutes @ 350 deg F and they turned out perfectly. The first batch at 400 deg F turned out a little overbaked and the chocolate chips started to burn on top, so that’s why I lowered the temp to 350 and it was perfect. Highly recommend.
Hi Desiree. I’m thrilled you loved the muffins! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review, as well as your baking experience with the mini muffins!
Super delicious, I left them 26 minutes the top was crispy and the border a little over baked. I didn’t mind because it’s something chocolate lol. I’m thinking trying at 375 degrees. The batter was very good and yes some left so I had to eat it out of the bowl!! Happiness 💖 plus I used white chocolate chips to make a different look 🎉 thanks Nora I’m always so impressed with all your delicious recipes XOXO
Hi Diane. I really appreciate you kind words, and am thrilled you are loving my recipes! Thanks for sharing your great feedback and review regarding the muffins!
Subbed applesauce for oil and the muffins came out so cakey and decadent.
Thanks for sharing your baking experience and wonderful feedback and review! Happy cooking!
Yummy! I used only a half cup of sugar and subbed half cup of AP flour with spelt, and these are tasty! Super easy and with a lovely chocolate flavor. I used a mini muffin pan and had enough left over for 2.5 regular sized muffins.
Thanks for sharing your experience and great feedback! Glad you loved the muffins!
I followed the recipe exactly and somehow ended up with extra batter, enough for maybe 2 muffins. As well, they didn’t rise. And lastly, the cook time was far too long. They were burning at the 23min mark!
That’s too bad they didn’t work out, Sheryl. It sounds like the air may have been knocked out of the batter if they didn’t rise. And if you try them again, it could help to lower the oven temp to 375ºF.
I mean… the amount of details and suggestion you put into this recipe for substitute and so on, just THANK YOU so much!!
You are welcome, Olivia! I appreciate you letting me know the recipe information is helpful for you! Thanks for sharing your fabulous review!
I have made these muffins twice now and both times they turned out great; my whole family loved them. I reduced the sugar slightly to 170g and didn’t do quite as many chocolate chips, but found they were definitely sweet- and chocolatey- enough! The only thing was the bake time – even at a lower temp (180 C, or 360 F), the muffins were done after only 23-25 minutes.
Apart from that, love the recipe!
Hi Anna. I’m thrilled the recipe was a hit with your family. Different ovens can vary in bake time, for sure! Thanks for your awesome feedback and review!
Ok lol I saw the amounts later😭😭😭
Glad you found the amounts! Enjoy!
These are PERFECT! Very tasty and just what we needed for our toddler with egg, milk and nut allergies!
How wonderful. I’m glad your toddler is able to enjoy chocolate muffins! Thank you for sharing!
I made these today and they were delicious 😋. The only substitution I made was to use Carob powder instead of cocoa powder and it is still turned out great!!
Alright! I’m so glad you loved the muffins, Dahiana! Thank you for taking time to share your great feedback!
I baked it found out muffin come out very hard I think temperature a bit too high it need applesauce or liquid more to make muffin soft and fluffy.
I use normal muffin tray and other silicone tray the silicone tray all bottom muffin burn to black colour. I wasn’t sure about temperature.
any subs for corn starch?
Thank you for this recipe! My kid with many food allergies loved them. We used King Arthur GF flour, worked great. We also used oat milk because of a soy allergy. Its a blessing to find a simple allergy free recipe that works!