Vegan Chocolate Muffins
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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.
Nutrition
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46 Comments on “Vegan Chocolate Muffins”
I’ve been making your recipes for a while now and it’s finally time for me to give back to you by leaving a review! I made these muffins for breakfast today and wow they are perfect! Super moist but still kept their structure. I added in some cashew pieces for extra texture and replaced a bit of the sugar with 1/2 mashed ripe banana. Thanks for such a quick and delicious recipe!
Thank you for taking time to share your wonderful feedback and ideas! I’m thrilled you loved the muffins! Thank you for using my recipes, and I’m so glad that you are loving them! Happy cooking!
Awesome recipe, very easy to prepare. Muffins were moist and delicious! 😋 I used the following substitutions: Almond milk, honey for vanilla extract, avocado oil and gluten free all purpose flour. It all came together well. Thank you Nora!💜
Hi Allison. I’m so glad that you loved the muffins, and that they turned out great with your substitutions! Thank you sharing your great feedback!
Deliciously moist muffins! I subbed the soy milk for almond milk and they turned out perfectly.
Hi Jenny. Thanks for sharing your wonderful feedback! I’m glad you loved the muffins!
I’ve never made muffins before let alone vegan ones. They are soft and fluffy and oh so tasty. I used gluten free plain flour raw granulated sugar and avocado oil I live in Australia and converted your recipe to metric. Can’t wait to make some more of your recipes. I am your No 1 fan
Thank you for this easy recipe. These muffins came together so quickly and tasted great. I added a tsp of instant coffee granules to the wet ingredients before mixing. Lovely fluffy crumb and made the whole house smell delicious while baking.
I’m so happy to hear you loved the muffins! Thank you for using my recipe and for your wonderful review!
My second time making these. Perfect recipe, delicious and made exactly 12 muffins – just like you said they would. Thank you Nora!
I’m so happy you loved the muffins, Heather! Thank you for your wonderful review!
I love one bowl recipes LOL. These are so delicious and so easy to put together. I decided to make them the last minute for some workers at my house and they were done within an hour. Everyone loves “‘em !
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I’m so glad you loved the muffins!
These muffins are great. The sweetness level and the texture are both perfect. To make it even better, the recipe is super simple and uses ingredients that I almost always have in my pantry. Thank you!
So glad you love the muffins, Carolyn! Thanks for using my recipe and for sharing your wonderful feedback!
Thank you for these! My son who has a milk/egg/nut/soy allergy asked me for chocolate muffins. We used coconut milk but other than that followed the recipe as written. My kids helped, and they came out beautiful. All my kids loved them ❤️
I’m glad you and your children created a muffin making memory! Thank you for sharing your comments and review! I’m thrilled everyone loved the muffins! Happy cooking!
Made these with Bob’s gluten free 1-1 flour blend. Everyone loved the flavor and texture. Not too sweet like a cupcake would be. Just the right amount of sugar for a muffin. And they looked exactly like they did in Nora’s pics – beautiful. Will be making these again!
Thank you for sharing your review and great feedback! I’m so glad that you loved the chocolate muffins, and that they turned out beautiful for you! Wishing you happy cooking!
These are so, so good. They are also really easy to make. I made these on a snowy weekend morning and added vegan sprinkles to make it fun. I will definitely make these muffins again.
I can’t wait to try these. I love your vegan choc chip cookies
Thank you, and enjoy!
Nora, you never disappoint! I love all your recipes and this one was another winner! So simple and amazing. I didn’t have vanilla so used almond extract and they still came out amazing! Thank you!
Hi Heather. I bet they were really delicious with almond extract! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and feedback, and for using my recipes! I am so glad you are loving them! Happy cooking!
Delish! Just what I needed to satisfy a chocolate craving. Thanks for this great recipe.
You are welcome! I’m so glad you loved the muffins! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback and review!
OH MY! These came out so great!! The texture is fantastic and they’re perfectly sweet! Thank you for another awesome recipe, Nora!!
You are welcome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and feedback! I’m glad you loved the muffins!
Made these today and they are SO good!
Thanks Marie! So glad you enjoyed them!
Everyone loved them… my only ‘negative’ was that they stuck somewhat to the paper cases. Did I cook them too long? Timed for 25 minutes and my tester came out clean.
Think next time I make them I will not use cases…
Thanks for another great recipe :).
Did you spray the paper liners with nonstick spray? I always do with vegan muffins or cupcakes, because if not I find they stick. Hope that helps!
Will try that next time – easier than washing up the whole pan! Thanks for the tip :).
Looking forward to making these. I’d like to use the applesauce in place of the oil. Would it be the same amount 1/3 cup?
Yes, 1/3 cup of applesauce. I hope you enjoy the muffins!
Could you use almond milk instead of soy milk!
Yes you can! Enjoy!
Nora, as soon as I saw this on Instagram I had to make them. I was able to prepare all the ingredients in less than 7 minutes. I baked them in between meetings and ate the first one right after that second meeting. They are soooo soooo good. It was just what I needed to get thru this afternoon of meetings. Thanks so much for such an easy and delicious muffins!
Hi Valerie. You are welcome! I love that you made them in between meetings! I’m glad they were easy and delicious for you! Thank you for sharing your fun feedback!
Could I sub the soy milk for oat?
Yes, you can.
Love this recipe. How can you convert this recipe to make vanilla chocolate chip muffins?
Hi Tahira. Check out my recipes for chocolate chip muffins! I think you’ll like them!
Could date syrup be used to substitute the sugar?
I’m not sure if date syrup will work here. It can be tricky to use a liquid sweetener in place of a dry one, since it will add moisture. You might need to reduce the liquid somewhere else, but I’m really not sure as I’d have to test it.
Muchas gracias, qué delicia!!!