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.
Wow these were amazing. Between my boyfriend and I we ate the whole batch in two days! They were perfect to have for breakfast with a bowl of fruit and some coffee. The one thing that I found to be off was I’ve made these twice now and have never yielded a full dozen. I’ve gotten between 8-10, I currently have another batch in the oven and I got 11 by adding more flour and milk. I’ve also substituted the chocolate for blueberries and it turned out perfect. This recipe is perfect and so easy highly recommended!
Thanks for sharing Mary!
Delish! Using lemon juice instead of apple cider vinegar is downright inspired and adds a freshness & light. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Awesome! Thanks Nathea! 🙂
I love this recipe. I always half the sugar and instead of white sugar I use panela. We find it sweet enough. Also I use wholemeal flour and it works perfectly. My kids have it for their snack quite often.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Sonia! 🙂
Very excited to try this recipe!
Could the ingredient amounts be halved to make fewer muffins than 12 and still get the same result?
Thank you for sharing!
Hi yes sure, you could halve it for 6 muffins. 🙂
OMG! LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe! What an easy-to-follow recipe and it tasted just perfect! Thank you so much Alison! My partner and I gorged on these beauties as soon as they were out of the oven!
Awesome! Thanks so much Neha! 🙂
I usually avoid white sugar and white flour, but I did try this recipe. I used a little less sugar and less than a cup of chocolate chips. Result was 12 delicious muffins.
Next time I will try using some wholewheat flour and some brown sugar.
Thanks Alison.
So glad you liked the recipe! Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
Absolutely divine!! 🙂 🙂
This recipe is wonderful! I now use it as base for all my muffins: lemon blueberry, matcha… They always turn out perfect. And I am not the best baker in town 😉
Thank you so much, this really changed my life 🙂 🙂 🙂
So glad they turned out well and you’ve been able to adapt the recipe to other uses, that’s awesome! Thanks so much for posting Patricia! 🙂
White sugar gives me a headache so I replaced it with maple syrup and these turned out amazing. The only moist vegan muffin recipe I have found!
how many muffins does this recipe make?
12. 🙂
Delicious! I used pea milk because I was out of soy and they came out great.
Oh wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I made some for my family and they were gone in a split second. Verry yummy☺☺.
Awesome! Thanks a million for the great review! 🙂
Easy and tasty for breakfast or tea!
Super soft and moist – delicious!
They definitely are! 🙂
These are amazing, super fluffy and moist, just perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂