These vegan chocolate chip muffins are moist and rich and packed with chocolate chips. This is when you get to eat dessert for breakfast!
You will fall in love with these vegan chocolate chip muffins from the first bite!
They are soft, fluffy, moist and totally loaded with chocolate chips. Of course.
They are the perfect breakfast that also doubles as dessert. They’re muffins after all, not cupcakes, so you get to eat them for breakfast and pretend that it’s totally normal.
And even though they’re sweet, you can still slice them in half, spread them with vegan butter and enjoy just as if they were savory.
You’ll also love our vegan chocolate chip cookies, vegan banana chocolate chip muffins and vegan chocolate chip banana bread.
Ingredients You’ll Need For These Muffins:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan buttermilk – our homemade vegan buttermilk is made by mixing lemon juice with soy milk and letting it curdle into buttermilk. Soy milk works best for making vegan buttermilk as it results in a thick and rich buttermilk. You can also use almond milk but soy milk is the best choice.
- Vegan chocolate chips – go into the batter and then more are placed directly on top of the muffins before baking. You can also use chopped up vegan chocolate.
- Baking soda – (also known as bicarbonate of soda) reacts with the acid in the vegan buttermilk and creates the beautiful rise for these muffins.
- Coconut oil – should be melted first. Coconut oil works really well in this batter because it creates a thick batter. You can use a different oil like canola oil or vegetable oil but coconut oil is the best option.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Chip 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 white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Let it curdle into buttermilk.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, melted coconut oil and vanilla extract and mix into a thick batter. Don’t overmix.
- Add vegan chocolate chips and fold in.
- Divide the batter between the muffin partitions in your muffin tray (sprayed with non-stick spray). Add extra chocolate chips directly to the tops of each of the muffins.
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean (or with melted chocolate, no wet batter).
- Let the muffins cool in the muffin tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool.
- Your muffins are ready to serve!
Baker’s Tips
Thick muffin batter. It’s important for your batter to be nice and thick, so your chocolate chips don’t just sink. You want them nicely spread out around your muffins. Using vegan buttermilk instead of regular non-dairy milk and melted coconut oil helps to keep this batter nice and thick.
Measure your flour correctly. Since this is already a thick batter, if you accidentally use too much flour then you won’t be able to mix it into a batter at all. So make sure that you measure the flour correctly, either by weighing it on a food scale or by using 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 it into the cup.
Muffin liners. I decided not to use muffin liners for these, as I really love how muffins look when they bake directly in the tray. Make sure to spray the muffin tray well with non-stick spray so that they don’t stick. Alternatively you can use muffin liners.
Recipe FAQ
Can you make the batter in advance? Unfortunately no. The batter does not rest well and letting it sit for too long can cause the muffins to not rise. It’s a very quick batter to throw together, so as soon as you’ve mixed it, divide it evenly between the muffin partitions of your muffin tray and bake right away.
Can you make these muffins gluten-free? Yes you can. Just replace the flour with a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
Storing and Freezing
Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week. Give them a quick blitz (15-seconds) in the microwave to get them to peak deliciousness again.
They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Make sure you freeze them on the day of baking so that you lock in the freshness.
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
- Vegan Banana Bread Muffins
- Vegan Bran Muffins
- Vegan Chocolate Muffins
- Vegan Zucchini Muffins
- Vegan Carrot Muffins
- Vegan Apple Muffins
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups All Purpose Flour (281g)
- 1 cup White Granulated Sugar (200g)
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Vegan Buttermilk (240ml) 1 Tablespoon lemon juice + soy milk up to the 1 cup line
- ½ cup Coconut Oil (120ml) Melted
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Vegan Chocolate Chips (175g) plus more to place directly on top before baking.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Spray a muffin tray with non-stick spray.
- Sift all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and add white granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together.
- Prepare your vegan buttermilk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a measuring jug and then adding soy milk up to the 1 cup (240ml) line. Let it curdle into buttermilk.
- Add the vegan buttermilk, melted coconut oil and vanilla extract and mix into a thick batter. Don't overmix.
- Add vegan chocolate chips and fold in.
- Divide the batter between the muffin partitions in your muffin tray (sprayed with non-stick spray). Add extra chocolate chips directly to the tops of each of the muffins.
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean (or with melted chocolate, no wet batter).
- Let the muffins cool in the muffin tray for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack to cool.
Notes
- Measure your flour correctly. Since this is already a thick batter, if you accidentally use too much flour then you won’t be able to mix it into a batter at all. So make sure that you measure the flour correctly, either by weighing it on a food scale or by using 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 it into the cup.
- Vegan buttermilk – our homemade vegan buttermilk is made by mixing lemon juice (or distilled white vinegar/apple cider vinegar) with soy milk and letting it curdle into buttermilk. Soy milk works best for making vegan buttermilk as it results in a thick and rich buttermilk. You can also use almond milk or other non-dairy milks but soy milk is the best choice.
- Coconut oil – should be melted first. Coconut oil works really well in this batter because it creates a thick batter and this works great for muffins. You can use a different oil like canola oil or vegetable oil but coconut oil is the best option.
- Gluten free: Just replace the flour with a gluten free all purpose baking blend.
- Storing: Keep them covered at room temperature where they will stay fresh for 2-3 days or covered in the fridge where they will last for up to a week.
- Freezing: They are also freezer friendly for up to 3 months. Make sure you freeze them on the day of baking so that you lock in the freshness.
- This recipe was first published in June 2018. It has been updated with new photos and extra tips.
These muffins are lovely and moist with a perfect texture, plus they look beautiful and appetizing!
I made a few modifications for my personal taste & texture preferences:
– Replaced 2 1/4 cups flour with 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (using the measuring method in the recipe) + 1/2 cup almond flour.
– Added 1 tsp baking powder to the dry ingredients.
– Used half as much sugar and oil.
– Used canola instead of coconut oil (only because it’s what I had–I would have preferred to use coconut oil as suggested by Alison!)
– Stirred the sugar in with the wet ingredients.
– Added 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce to the wet ingredients.
– Used 1 Tbsp lemon juice to make the buttermilk instead of 1 tsp.
– Stirred the wet ingredients together thoroughly in a separate bowl before adding them to the dry ingredients. I tend to over mix muffins when I don’t do this.
The batter was not nearly as thick as described, due to my modifications. But they still turned out perfectly!
Alison, I have been making your muffin recipes for years and they are my favourite because the flavours are so perfectly balanced and they are so solid that they lend well to many different modifications. I love that you use the spooning-in method to measure flour, as this is how I learned to do it. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing Kia! Happy to hear you can modify the recipe to your liking! Thank you for your great review!
These were very good, though I will admit to making some changes. I used Einkorn flour and coconut sugar. I also used 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda instead of a Tablespoon of baking soda. Very soft, flavorful muffin. Will make again.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Dee! Thanks so much for your great review!
Muffins were yummy and turned out well. The only thing was the taste of baking soda in them. I levelled off the spoon of baking soda during measuring, so I am not sure why it turned out this way.
We loved that recipe the first time I made them, they were delicious – I did swap the coconut oil for vegan butter tho!
I made them again today (using coconut oil) and not sure what went wrong but this time around they all stuck to the muffin cup, they were rock hard and not really edible🫣 I went out after putting them in the oven and I’m suspecting my husband to have forgotten to take them out on time 😂
Will try again because the first time they were excellent!
Amazing recipe! Simple, fast and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this!
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks so much for your great review!
I used whole wheat pastry flour and they were great!
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Miriam!
I have used many of your recipes for years, Alison. Thanks! I tried these muffins for the first time today. I replaced 1/4 cup of flour with wholewheat flour and used a little less than 1 cup of brown sugar, just over half a cup of chocolate chips and extra soya milk. The muffins were light and delicious..
So happy you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for posting!
I was reading the comments and I also realised that I made these muffins sooo many times and never a left a comment. They are soft, yummy and delicious. Simply perfect! Thanks so much! I used to bake beautiful sweets before going vegan . When I became vegan, my sweet stuff did not turn up yummy anymore until I found your blog. It was a life saver. Your recipes are inspiring and beautiful. I am now able to veganise some of my old loved recipes. I have learnt so much. Thank you!!
Thanks so much for the lovely comment Patricia! So happy to hear the recipes have been helpful!
I realised I’ve made these muffins probably 30 times and never left a comment! These are amazing! Thank you so much! And an extra thanks for adding metric and celsius too! xxx
So happy you like the recipe Louisa! Thanks so much for the great comment!
I also fiddled with this recipe i wanted to add some coffee flavor (instant coffee powder) and I added cocoa powder to the mix and one small mashed banana. Thanks for the recipe!
Making these now. As usual I had to change something up because I just can’t not fiddle with a recipe, even if it’s an awesome recipe. Call it a character flaw.
So, I reduced the sugar by half (to 100 g), used homemade almond kefir/yogurt thingy (just unthickened yogurt really, almost the same as vegan buttermilk), used plant butter instead of coconut oil, added a flax aquafaba egg (3 Tbsp aqfb, 1 Tbsp flax), and skipped the salt since I used salty aquafaba and salted plant butter. They’re puffin up now in the oven. They smell and look beautiful. I’ll let you know in 20 minutes how they taste.
Update: So I think next time I won’t reduce the sugar. I’m surprised because usually that’s not the case. I usually halve the sugar in everything cuz that’s how I prefer my baked goods.
The bottoms are crisp (which I surprisingly dislike) so they probably need to cool down and even out in moisture. And perhaps I’ll try liners to see if they retain moisture. Then again, I can’t make any judgement until they’ve cooled. They’re fluffy enough although I might try to get them into the pans and into the oven faster next time. And also I’ll remember to set a timer! But don’t get me wrong, they’re delicious. I just scarfed down two hot muffins. I’ve never had muffins hot before. Burnt my fingers on all the molten chocolate 😛
I think because of the aquafaba flax egg they popped right out of the tins super easy with the gentle finagling of a butter knife, even when piping hot, straight out of the oven.
Final update: I covered them while still hot to allow the crust to soften up so they’re not crunchy. They’re very good! Rich, moist, and muffin-y. I haven’t decided about the sweetness yet, but everything else about these is perfect! Thank you for the recipe!! <3
Thanks for sharing Alex! So glad they turned out good! 🙂
Love this recipe. And I love that they don’t include any egg substitutes.
Going to use this as my base muffin recipe and change it around to add different flavours.
Going to try making lemon drizzle muffins