These vegan chocolate muffins are so easy to make using just one bowl, and coming together in 30 minutes! They are soft and rich, full of chocolate flavour and extra chocolate chips. They are vegan, dairy free and can be easily made gluten free.
These vegan chocolate muffins are a grab it on your way out the door kind of breakfast, morning tea or snack. They travel well, can be eaten in the car or tucked away in your handbag or a lunch box. And yes, these are a perfectly acceptable dessert for breakfast – but also a quick disclaimer that I never said this was a healthy breakfast choice!
I love just how simple this recipe is. You’ll only need a few basic baking ingredients, 30 minutes of your time, and the batter comes together in just one bowl meaning less clean up after and more time enjoying a warm, freshly baked muffin.
This recipe creates rich, soft, moist and not too sweet muffins that really celebrate all things chocolate thanks to both cocoa powder and chocolate chips in the batter.
The big question I’m sure we all have is, what’s the difference between a chocolate muffin and a chocolate cupcake? Is it really just the addition of frosting? I mean yes, but also I believe the key differences come down to three key things;
- Muffins are less sweet
- Muffins have a slightly crisp top
- Muffins are slightly denser, thanks to a thicker batter and mix-ins
There is a common misconception that muffins are healthy and while they can be, they are not always. This muffin recipe is meant as a treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee, and to replicate those that you can pick up at your local cafe. But without the preservatives and a little less sugar.
This is a fun recipe for any baker or to make with kids as it’s fairly low fuss and doesn’t demand perfection. Plus you can enjoy your treats straight away, I’m not making you wait for these to cool!
Key Ingredients
This is yet another super basic recipe filled with ingredients you probably have in your pantry already. It’s also a recipe that’s super flexible, so you can use substitutions if needed.
- Oil – Anything light tasting such as canola or vegetable will work. You could also use melted coconut oil which would be perfect, and just add a slight hint of coconut flavour.
- Brown sugar – I prefer brown sugar for extra richness and to keep the muffin soft and moist.
- Vanilla extract – helps enhance the chocolate flavour.
- Strongly brewed coffee – save a cup of coffee for your chocolate muffins! A bit unconventional but I’ve been loving the addition of coffee to my chocolate baked goods lately to really enhance the chocolate flavour and add that extra richness. It doesn’t give them a coffee flavour at all. Plus I love that I can make this recipe without any milk! If you don’t have/like/want to use coffee, you can substitute with the same amount of any dairy free milk you want.
- Plain flour – I haven’t tried any other substitutes but I believe wholemeal or a gluten free 1-1 flour would work fine in this recipe, it may just be slightly dense in texture.
- Cocoa powder – for the rich chocolate flavour we’re using a good quality cocoa powder. For those in the US, the one I use is a Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
- Baking powder – helps our muffins puff up and keep them light and fluffy.
- Vegan chocolate chips – there are so many different types available now, the ones I used I actually bought on Amazon and they are 70% cocoa and give our muffins a rich, dark chocolate flavour. Use what you like and can find, otherwise you can always chop up some of your favourite chocolate and add that in as well. Just note chocolate chips are designed not to melt in the oven and hold their shape, whereas chocolate chunks will melt into little pools.
Step-By-Step Instructions
This is the perfect recipe for the days you want to quickly bake something. It’s an easy, forgiving recipe and you don’t need to worry about an electric mixer, or a tonne of different bowls and utensils. Just grab a large mixing bowl, a whisk and a standard muffin pan.
This recipe yields 15 snack sized muffins, so you’ll either need 2 trays, or smily bake the first 12, move them to a wire rack to cool and reuse the tray for the final 3.
You can of course use the batter in a mini muffin pan or a jumbo muffin pan, just adjust the bake time.
To make the muffin batter you’ll start by mixing the wet ingredients and then adding in the dry – it really is as simple as that.
The traditional ‘muffin method’ of making the batter will have you mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl first, however for this recipe I don’t feel it’s necessary, and rather we can add the dry ingredients straight in together.
I do like to sift them for this recipe to make sure we don’t end up trying to overmix the batter to get out any lumps, and to make sure the muffins are nice and lift and fluffy.
I always prefer to use a cookie scoop to scoop out the batter into the muffin tray as it makes it so much easier. Seriously now that I have one, I won’t go back to using dessert spoons for this job, but of course that does work just fine. You can also use an ice cream scoop!
Once the batter is in the pan, top the muffins with extra chocolate chips. This of course is optional, but it serves the purpose of extra chocolate in each bite, as well as making the muffins look super pretty like they’ve just come out of a cabinet at your favourite cafe.
Once cooked you can let them cool for storing or simply enjoy them warm, fresh from the oven which is just so good.
Recipe FAQs
You can store these muffins once they’ve cooled completely in an airtight container at room temperature for about three days without problem. If you live in a hot and humid climate, they might be better kept in the fridge, or if you want to extend their life a few more days.
Yes, I love freezing muffins for an easy grab and go snack. Just wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and place in a large freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To defrost, let them come to room temperature and then zap in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to get that fresh from the oven effect.
More vegan breakfast ideas:
Vegan Banana Walnut Muffins
The BEST Vegan Banana Bread
Earl Grey Blueberry Crumb Muffins
Banana Pancakes (Vegan, GF)
Vegan Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup canola oil or other light tasting oil
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup strongly brewed coffee cooled
- 1 ¼ cups plain flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup vegan chocolate chips plus extra for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, and a second one with 3 liners. If you only have 1 pan, you can make these in batches.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the canola oil, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. Add in the coffee and mix to combine. Sift in the plain flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt directly into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and gently use your whisk to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir through gently to mix through.
- Add the batter into the prepared baking tin, making sure to fill each only ¾ full. Sprinkle the tops with extra chocolate chips and place the tray in the oven to bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer when inserted comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely for storing, or simply dig in and enjoy while still warm.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a guide only and is calculated using automated online tools, therefore we cannot guarantee the accuracy. We encourage you to make your own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe.
Magdalena
The muffins are super tasty! Only thing I would do, is to add a bit less of sugar)) But I am generally not adding much of sugar anywhere. Thx for the recipe! Very easy to make and very enjoyable to eat! Nice variation for me was also to put some nuts on top))
Sally
Glad you enjoyed the muffins – love the addition of nuts as well!