These sweet and delicious Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins are fluffy, tender, and made with wholesome ingredients. They're simple to prepare and so delicious. Great for breakfast, snacks, or a healthy dessert! (Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free.)
These marvelous muffins are fluffy, tender, and moist. They have a cake-like texture, and velvety chocolate chips in every bite.
Best of all, they're easy to prepare with wholesome ingredients. (No butter, eggs, dairy, refined oil, or refined sugar needed!) Instead, we sweeten them naturally with applesauce and pure maple syrup.
The result is indulgent yet healthy! These chocolate-speckled treats are great for breakfast, energizing snacks, or a healthy dessert. Let's get baking!
Ingredients for Chocolate Chip Muffins
For this recipe, you'll stir together in a bowl then bake in the oven:
- Dairy-free milk: I use homemade cashew milk, but soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk will work too.
- Pure maple syrup
- Applesauce: I use unsweetened, organic applesauce for this recipe.
- Peanut butter: Or almond butter. Or you can substitute another nut or seed butter of choice. Just be aware this will slightly alter the taste.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Apple cider vinegar: Just a tablespoon helps give the muffins a fluffy texture. (But don't worry, you won't be able to taste it!)
- Ground flax seed: This is also called flaxseed meal. I use golden flax, but regular brown is great too. This is a great egg replacement in baking dishes.
- Gluten-free all-purpose flour: I use Bob's Red Mill GF all purpose baking flour. It's made from garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, and fava bean flour. I haven't tested these muffins with any other flour, so can't say for sure how they'd turn out with a substitution.
- Baking powder & salt: Be sure your baking powder is fresh and not expired for optimum effectiveness.
- Mini vegan chocolate chips: Either dairy-free semisweet or dark chocolate chips work great. Carob chips can also be used for a caffeine-free alternative. I enjoy mini chocolate chips in this recipe, but regular-sized would work too. (To keep this recipe completely oil-free, ensure your chocolate chips don't contain oil.)
Customizing
Spices: Feel free to include a half teaspoon ground cinnamon or pinch of nutmeg to the dry ingredients if desired. A very tiny splash of almond extract can be added to the wet ingredients batter as well. Just be careful as this can quickly overpower the flavors.
Serving
Enjoy these vegan muffins fresh out of the oven or save some for later! For leftovers, I find the texture is best when I reheat them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds before enjoying. (This brings them right back to warm, fluffy, moist goodness!)
Note: I use a standard sized muffin tin which yields a dozen muffins. But you could try this recipe with mini muffins as well!
Storing
Let your muffins cool completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. Muffins tend to dry out as they sit, so be sure your storage container is tightly sealed.
Freezing: I haven't tried storing these muffins in the freezer, but I'm guessing they'd do well. Just be sure to let them cool completely before storing in a freezer-safe container. Then freeze for 1-2 months. When ready to enjoy, first let them thaw at room temperature. Then heat in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
For more inspiration, also browse all vegan breakfast recipes.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins (Gluten-Free!)
Ingredients
For the wet ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dairy-free milk
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup peanut butter, creamy (or almond butter)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. ground flax (flaxseed meal)
For the dry ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour*
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
To stir in:
- 1/2 cup vegan mini chocolate chips (plus 2-3 Tbsp. more for sprinkling)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with baking cups.
- In a large mixing bowl, add all wet ingredients. Whisk until smooth. Then let it sit for 5 minutes. (This allows the flax to thicken the mixture.)
- In a separate bowl, add all dry ingredients. Stir.
- Then add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Whisk until combined, but try not to over-mix. (It's okay if it's slightly lumpy.)
- Add 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips to batter and give it a slight stir. (Don't over-stir as this can cause the chocolate chips to fall to the bottom and be unevenly dispersed.)
- Scoop out batter and evenly distribute into the lined muffin cavities. (I use an ice cream scoop with thumb press lever to transfer the batter.)
- Then sprinkle the additional 2-3 Tbsp. chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F (220°C).
- Then reduce heat to 375°F (190°C). Continue baking for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbles.
- Remove from oven. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition Per Serving (Estimate)
Sodium content: This is omitted as I cannot provide an accurate number. I encourage you to calculate your own to provide a much more precise reading based on the exact ingredients, brands, and amounts you're using.
If you're enjoying this gluten-free vegan chocolate chip muffins recipe, also check out:
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Jennifer says
Hi Kaitlin! Just made these yesterday, and they are fantastic! We love the simple ingredients and the fact that they are oil-free and gluten-free. Your recipes are always so accessible, with no over-the-top fancy ingredients - just simple pantry staples that come together to make a healthy, guilt-free snack. Thanks so much!
Kaitlin says
So thrilled you enjoyed them, Jennifer! And I couldn't be happier to hear you find the recipes simple & accessible. That's exactly what I strive for when developing and testing them, so I'm incredibly grateful to hear it's translating. Thank you as always for sharing your beautifully thoughtful feedback!
Jennifer says
Do you suppose the chocolate chips could be swapped out for blueberries without altering anything else? Or is that recipe in the works?😉
Kaitlin says
You read my mind! I was debating whether to do a blueberry muffin recipe too with perhaps lemon & poppy seeds. However I think they could be swapped in to this recipe as is, but haven't tested it yet. Would love to hear if you give it a try!