These vegan bran muffins make the perfect grab and go breakfast or snack. They are easy to make and crazy delicious!
When I was 16 and working in my first ‘proper’ job at a law firm (yes I did start young!), one of my duties was to run errands for some of the more senior staff. So on a daily basis at around 10am I would find myself popping out to a nearby cafe to pick up tea time snacks for everyone.
Muffins and chelsea buns and cinnamon rolls and all kinds of goodies.
And my snack of choice was always a bran muffin. Warmed in the microwave and then generously layered with butter.
And you know, between then and now, I don’t know if I really had another bran muffin. So it was really fun to make these vegan bran muffins, it took me back. And yes, I love them just as much now as I did then. If not more, because….you know, these ones are vegan too.
I had a bit of a struggle finding the wheat bran for this recipe. It’s not an ingredient I’ve used much before, so I didn’t know where to find it.
I scoured all the baking sections of my regular stores and it was nowhere to be seen. I was about to despair of finding it and then I came upon it by accident in the cereal section. Who knew?
So if you have any trouble finding it in the flour section, check the cereals.
And if you love these muffins then you’ll also love our vegan apple muffins, our vegan banana muffins and our vegan zucchini muffins.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredient Notes
- Raisins – I love raisins in my bran muffins and we used ½ cup of raisins to mix into the batter. They are entirely optional though so if you’re not a fan of raisins you can just leave them out.
- Walnuts – we used ⅓ cup chopped walnuts on top of the muffins only. They are also optional. You can add ½ cup more if you’d like to mix them into the batter as well.
- Canola oil – can be replaced with any vegetable oil. If you use coconut oil then melt it first.
- Wheat bran – is the kind of bran we used in these muffins. It’s available on Amazon if you have any difficulty finding it locally. We have included a link to it in the recipe card.
- White vinegar – we used distilled white vinegar in these muffins. It reacts with the baking soda causing the muffins to rise. You can also use apple cider vinegar.
- Soy milk – can be replaced with almond milk or another non-dairy milk.
How To Make Vegan Bran Muffins
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add wheat bran, light brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax egg by adding 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl with 3 tablespoons of hot water and letting it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, soy milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter. Don’t overmix.
- Add the raisins and stir them in.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin partitions of your muffin tray (sprayed with non-stick spray).
- Add chopped walnuts to the tops of the muffins.
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips
Measure the flour properly. Making these bran muffins is just too easy. There’s no tricky bits to it at all, except that you should probably weigh your flour. But then, you should always weigh your flour.
Flour is the trickiest measurement to get right so should really always be weighed unless you’re really a veteran baker.
If you don’t have a food scale then the next best option to measure your flour is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack into the cup.
Don’t overmix the batter. The other important tip is not to overmix the batter. Mix it until just mixed and then stop mixing.
Bake right away. Once the batter is mixed, divide it up between the muffin partitions of your muffin tray and then bake right away. Don’t let the batter sit for too long or it can affect the texture and rise of your muffins.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
They freeze really well! Let them cool completely before freezing in a freezer safe container or freezer bag. Thaw in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
More Vegan Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Vegan Blackberry Muffins
- Vegan Banana Bread Muffins
- Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
- Vegan Cornbread Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups All Purpose Flour (188g)
- 1 cup Wheat Bran (60g)
- 1 cup Light Brown Sugar (200g)
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- 1 Flax Egg 1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal + 3 Tbsp Hot Water
- 1 cup Soy Milk (240ml) or other non-dairy milk
- ½ cup Canola Oil (120ml) or Vegetable Oil
- 1 Tbsp Distilled White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- ½ cup Raisins (70g) Small, Seedless
- ⅓ cup Walnuts (33g) Chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and spray a muffin tray with non-stick spray.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add wheat bran, light brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Prepare your flax egg by adding 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal to a bowl with 3 tablespoons of hot water and letting it sit for a minute to become gloopy.
- Add the flax egg, soy milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract to the mixing bowl and mix into a batter. Don't overmix.
- Add the raisins and stir them in.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin partitions of your prepared muffin tray.
- Add chopped walnuts to the tops of the muffins.
- Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the tray for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Measure the flour correctly. If you don’t have a food scale then the next best option to measure your flour is to use the ‘spoon and level’ method. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level off the top with a knife. Don’t scoop it and don’t pack into the cup.
- Raisins – are entirely optional so if you’re not a fan of raisins you can just leave them out.
- Walnuts – we used ⅓ cup chopped walnuts on top of the muffins only. They are also optional so if you prefer not to use them just leave them out. You can also add ½ cup more (50g) if you’d like to mix them into the batter as well as place them on top.
- Storing: Keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days.
- Freezing: They freeze really well! Let them cool completely before freezing in a freezer safe container or freezer bag. Thaw in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving.
- This recipe has been updated with new photos, lots of extra tips, and a slightly updated and improved recipe.
Great recipe! I added 1/2 cup extra bran, and chopped dates (chopped to about raisin size) instead of raisins. Tossed the chopped dates in the dry ingredients so they wouldn’t clump. My flaxseed mixture was pretty thick, so mixed it with the milk so that it would be distributed evenly. Also added a bit more milk (about 50mls) to balance the extra bran. Baked about 8 mins longer as we like a sticky firm “crust” for bran muffins 😃.
That’s great Kathryn! Thanks so much for sharing and for your lovely review!
Lovely recipe, just what I was after. Next time I will mix the sugar with the wet ingredients instead of the dry because it had some chunks that were difficult to break up once it was in the flour.
Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review Robyn!
I found this a great healthy breakfast idea. I added braised corn and dates to bump up the flavour and crushed weetbix as a replacement for bran flour.
Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review Ansuya!
Just made these for the first time. Yummy yummy. I added hopped dates instead of raisins. Soooo GOOD. THX!!
Sounds awesome Shanna! Thanks so much for your great review!
I’ve made these many times and they keep turning out so flat. I don’t see in the comments that anyone else has this problem so I tried different things and finally realized I think this recipe needs baking powder, any advice?
Hi Jo. The baking soda and vinegar is the rising agent in this recipe and it worked perfectly fine when we tested it multiple times. A good tip is to check if your baking soda is still active by adding 1/2 a teaspoon into a small bowl and pouring a bit of acidic liquid over like vinegar or lemon juice. If it starts to fizz immediately and vigorously, the baking soda will still work well for baking recipes.
The bicarbonate of soda plus the vinegar does the same job as baking powder, but don’t mind over mix it as it loses the airation effect.
Hi Jo, this used to happen to my muffins as well. Have you tried using the “convection bake” setting on your oven? That was the trick that worked for me.
Thanks for sharing Cymry!
These came out perfect and will be my go to recipe. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks so much for your amazing review Kathy!