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, they taste delicious! I made them for my birthday and everyone who tried them said that they are amazing, “although” they’re vegan!
Awesome! Thanks so much Tanja!
This is my second time making these muffins. The first time, I measured the flour by cup and used the juice from half a lemon, but the batter turned out super thick and after baking for 30 minutes, they were still not done in the middle and required a lot of extra baking time, resulting in them becoming rock hard – although still edible and tasty!
Today, I measured the flour by WEIGHT and used a tablespoon of simply lemon, which resulted in a much lighter and wet batter. I also turned the oven to CONVECTION bake – and success! Exactly like the photos and reminds me of mmmuffins from my childhood.
I can now stop looking for a vegan cc muffin recipe as this will be my go to from now on 🙂 Thank you!
So happy to hear they worked out great this time Lydia! Baking by weight is always so much more accurate. Thanks so much for the wonderful review!
Hi Alison!
Thank you for another great dessert recipe! Quick question – is there any particular reason why you did not include a banana with the ingredients? I noticed the Vegan Blueberry recipe is similar and includes one. I was asking because, although these came out good, the outside became a little rough and dry.
Hi Tashana, sorry to hear that! The most common reason for that would be either overmixing (it should be mixed until just mixed and no more) or using too much flour. Make sure to use the spoon and level method for measuring flour (spoon it into a a measuring cup and level off the top with a knife, don’t scoop it and don’t pack it into the cup) or weigh it on a food scale.
Thank you Alison for your response and advice! 🙂
You’re welcome! 🙂
Thanks for another great recipe.
Thanks Cheree!
Gorgeous, moist, light and a unexpected lovely chewy top! I used oat milk instead of soya, spelt flour instead of all purpose and rapeseed oil (canola) oil instead of coconut. I used quarter of the sugar and half the chocolate chips. Still beautifully sweet and chocolatey. Thank you Alison!
Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing Satin!
absolutely divine
Thanks Amanda!
These are exactly the kinds of muffins I was hoping for! The outside gets nice and crisp and the inside is fluffy and moist. So delicious! Definitely do make sure to grease your muffin tin very well (or use baking spray that contains flour) as they do like to stick.
Awesome, thanks for sharing Marie!
I used extra virgin olive oil instead of coconut oil and the chocolate chips were evenly dispersed – I had no issues with it. Also, they turned out moist and fluffy, however, they actual cake part isn’t as flavourful as I would have hoped but the chocolate chips make up for it.
Very delicious and easy to make recipe. I used apple cider vinegar to make the buttermilk instead of lemon juice. I cooked them for 30 minutes, mine did not come out golden brown as in the picture but they were still beautiful, moist and delicious. Next time I’ll just cook them a little longer. Thank you for this recipe!
These are so yummy!
They are so easy to make and came out perfect the first time.
Thank you!!
Hi!
Thanks for this recipe
Can I use soy curd diluted in some water in place of buttermilk? I don’t have soy milk .
I don’t think so, you can make buttermilk with almond milk too, or use any other plant milk to make it, even if it doesn’t curdle you can still use it.
I made these muffins yesterday and they were delicious! The texture was great, although mine weren’t as brown on the top as yours are in the picture above… do you know why?
So glad they were delicious! Not sure why yours weren’t as browned but it’s not an issue so long as they were good!
Can I use bananas instead of the coconut oil
Hi Erica, maybe! It will of course taste like bananas though! Alternatively you can try applesauce for a more neutral flavor.
I made these last night and I used vegetable oil because I don’t have coconut oil and they still came out DEELISH! Even my non vegan hubby liked them! Again, a Loving It Vegan recipe never fails me. 🙂
Awesome! So happy to hear that Melissa! Thanks a million! xo
Just made these ended up getting 16 out of my batter absolutely amazing really moist fluffy perfect
Awesome! Thanks Simrit!
Love this recipe. Will I be able to use this as a base muffin recipe for when I don’t have any egg substitutes?
So I can use it to make lemon/blueberry etc muffins
Yes I’m sure you can use it that way with different flavorings. 🙂