Vegan Cinnamon Muffins
These super-soft vegan cinnamon muffins come complete with a crumb topping and a light drizzle of vanilla icing. It’s like a coffee cake vegan recipe transformed into easy muffins — a perfect breakfast treat any day of the week!
I love just about everything cinnamon. For example, these egg-free coffee cake muffins are simply infused with cinnamon.
I’m obviously obsessed with the adding cinnamon to a muffin. It’s a no-brainer. That means this easy muffin recipe makes me happy in so many ways!
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
- Lemon — We’ll use both the zest and the juice of the lemon.
- Oats — I used rolled oats for this recipe, but you can substitute instant oats.
- Chia — We’ll add some ground chia seeds to create a thicker texture. You can use whole chia seeds; I just prefer ground because it creates a smoother finished texture.
- Syrup — I used maple syrup, but you can substitute agave nectar.
- Milk — We’ll use almond milk for the best overnight oats! Substitute your favorite plant-based milk.
- Yogurt — I love adding some plant-based yogurt (plain, unsweetened) for an even more tangy flavor.
- Protein Powder — I add some vanilla protein powder for increased flavor and nutrients. If your protein powder is not sweetened, you may want to add an extra teaspoon or two of sweetener.
- Cornstarch — We’ll use cornstarch to thicken the lemon curd topping.
- Turmeric — A pinch of turmeric makes that lemon curd sunny yellow.
- Vegetable oil — There’s no doubt that vegetable oil helps make baked goods like muffins soft and tender.
- Sugar — We’ll use a combination of granulated and brown sugar as sugar helps create volume in a variety of baked goods.
- Applesauce — Applesauce adds more tenderness, while also serving as an egg replacer (more on that below).
- Almond milk — Use any plant-based milk here, such as unsweetened almond milk or soy milk.
- Apple cider vinegar — Vinegar enhances the leavening by activating the baking soda.
- Flour — I recommend all-purpose flour, but if you want healthy cinnamon muffins, you can add some fiber by using half whole wheat white, whole wheat, or even whole wheat pastry flour (whole wheat pastry flour is different from whole wheat flour).
- Cornstarch — Use either cornstarch or arrowroot powder.
- Baking powder & baking soda — Make sure yours is fresh by testing a bit of baking powder in water and baking soda in vinegar. If it bubbles, your batch is good to go.
- Ground cinnamon — It wouldn’t be easy cinnamon muffins without a heavy dose of cinnamon!
- Salt — Sweet flavors by themselves are pretty unfulfilling. Salt adds depth of flavor.
How to Make Cinnamon Muffins
- Make the streusel topping by stirring together the sugar, cinnamon, flour, and vegan butter. Set aside.
- Stir together the oil, sugars, applesauce, milk, and vinegar.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Pour in the milk mixture in and stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins.
- Spoon the crumble topping evenly across the muffins.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and the streusel topping is golden brown.
- Allow the muffins cool slightly before drizzling with icing.
Why This Recipe is a Winner
- Applesauce serves as both an egg replacer and a source of moisture for these muffins, making every bite soft and tender
- Cornstarch is added to reduce the protein in the flour. It’s why cornstarch can be added to all-purpose flour to make cake flour substitute. This creates a soft crumb.
- The powerful combination of baking powder and baking soda adds leavening which is important for vegan baked goods.
Storage Tips
Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These muffins can be refrigerated up to 7 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Egg Substitute for Muffins
There are many reasons to consider egg substitutes for muffins, including the fact that there are so many people who suffer from egg allergies. Besides that, animal agriculture is an environmental nightmare and also plays a part in most global health issues.
These situations aside, you may want to consider baking without eggs for this simple reason: eggs are not necessary to make delicious baked goods!
With these cinnamon muffins, I’m using applesauce as an egg substitute, but here are some of my other favorite egg substitutes for muffins:
New to Vegan Baking?
The idea of making cookies, cakes, or muffins without eggs or dairy can seem like a hill too tall to climb. But with the simple tips in my Guide to Vegan Baking, you’ll be baking like a vegan pro in no time!
The best muffin recipes are moist and tender, which is one reason I test all my recipes before sharing them with you!
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Vegan Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 6 tablespoons vegan butter melted
Muffins
- ½ cup vegatable oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup applesauce unsweetened
- ¾ cup almond milk unsweetened
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (see note on flour)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
Icing
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon vegan vanilla creamer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C. Line muffin tins with papers or spray muffin compartments with vegetable spray.
Crumble Topping
- In a bowl stir together the sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Drizzle with vegan butter and stir to combine until you achieve a crumbly mixture. Don't overmix. Set aside.
Muffins
- In a medium bowl stir together the oil, sugars, applesauce, milk, and vinegar. Stir to combine.
- In a large bowl stir together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Create a well in the middle of the flour. Pour the milk mixture in and stir until just combined.
- Pour the batter into prepared muffin tins. Use a spatula to get every last bit of the batter. Spoon the crumble topping evenly across the muffins. Use your hand to gently tamp down the crumble topping. Bake for 5 minutes, then leaving muffins in the oven, turn the oven temperature down to 350°F/175°C. Bake for another 16 – 17 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. The crumble topping should be nice and golden brown as well.
- When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before drizzling with icing.
For the Icing Drizzle
- Prepare the icing by adding powdered sugar to a bowl. Add milk and whisk.
- Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. These muffins can be refrigerated up to 7 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2020 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
These muffins were top notch! Easy to make and delicious!
I love these muffins. My family asks for them all the time!
This muffins are fabulous …and more easy to make with delicious as well….i can’t wait to try it…Thanks for sharing a beautiful muffins….!