The perfect vegan cornbread muffins! Enjoy this cornbread with warm chili, a hearty kale salad, or your favorite holiday meals. They are quick to throw together for a classic muffin that the whole family will love.
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If your family is anything like mine, one of the best parts of big family dinners isn’t the main dish. It’s the bread – or in this case the muffins!
And these vegan cornbread muffins are always a hit!
This vegan corn muffin recipe is the best! They are perfectly buttery and light and taste just like traditional cornbread with no compromise in taste or texture. That means no matter the diet, this recipe will make everyone around the table happy.
Because you can make them any day of the year, they make not only the perfect dinner side dish but complete your Thanksgiving meal. Serve them with vegan butter and agave nectar this hliday season.
Recommended Ingredients & Equipment
Nothing fancy to see here! This simple vegan muffin recipe requires just a handful of easy-to-find ingredients that you likely already have on hand!
Here is everything you’ll need.
Ingredient Notes
- All-Purpose Flour – For healthier flour options, you can use 1:1 gluten-free flour blends, buckwheat, or spelt flour. You can also make this recipe with 50% whole wheat flour without compromising on texture.
- Non-Dairy Milk – Feel free to use any nuetral flavored, unsweetened, non-dary milk
- Maple Syrup – This is used to sweeten the recipe. While I highly recommend maple syrup, feel free to check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements for more ideas.
- Oil – This recipe calls for olive oil because it creates the best texture without unwanted flavor. You could also use melted coconut oil or vegetable oil if you prefer.
Recommended Equipment
For this vegan muffin recipe, you’ll need basic kitchen equipment such as a mixing bowl, utensils, a wire cooling rack, and a muffin baking pan. I also recommend using an ice cream scoop to evenly and cleanly scoop your batter. (<<affiliate links)
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One – Make the Batter
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Line it with muffin holders and spray again. Set aside.
Pro Tip: You don’t have to use muffin holders. If you prefer, you can place the batter directly in the muffin tin. Just make sure to spray thoroughly.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Make sure to whisk the dry ingredients together to prevent the baking powder from clumping together.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together until the batter is uniformly hydrated.
Pro Tip: Be careful not to over-mix as this will make your cornbread dense and gummy. Because the cornmeal already adds heaviness to the batter, this is even more important to keep in mind.
Step Two – Fill and Bake
Scoop your batter into a greased muffin tin. Fill each muffin mold about ¾ of the way full.
Pro Tip: I find that using an ice cream scoop is the cleanest and easiest way to get the batter into the muffin molds. With an ice cream scoop, you can ensure the muffins are equally sized as well.
Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Don’t try and remove them too early or they may fall apart.
Serving and Storing
Serving – Serve these corn muffins warm with vegan butter and agave nectar. Serve with your favorite vegan chili or as part of your holiday meal.
Storing – These muffins will keep at room temperature for up to 4 days. Be sure to keep them well sealed to prevent them from going stale. You can also freeze these muffins for up to a month. Let thaw at room temperature for a few hours.
Tips and Tricks
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Make sure not to over-mix your batter. When the batter is over-mixed, it allows gluten stands to form which leads to gummy dense bread. We’re looking for light and fluffy!
- Spray your muffin pan well and line with muffin liners to prevent the muffins from sticking to the pan.
- Let your muffins cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you want to make this muffin batter in advance, store the batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours.
To bake the muffins, preheat the oven and bake according to the instructions. However, these muffins may take a few minutes longer to bake since the batter will be chilled.
For sure! To make this recipe into cornbread, simply pour the batter into a well-oiled 8×8 baking dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 Baking Flour Blend. (<<affiliate link)
Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
More Vegan Quick Bread Recipes
Check out all my vegan bread recipes for more inspiration.
Vegan Cornbread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened soy milk
- 3 tablespoons olive oil melted
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray. Line it with muffin holders and spray again. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Make sure to whisk the dry ingredients together to prevent the baking powder from clumping together.Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together until the batter is uniformly hydrated.
- Scoop your batter into a greased muffin tin. Fill each muffin mold about ¾ of the way full. Bake the muffins for 20-25 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove them from the oven and allow the muffins to cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Don't try and remove them too early or they may fall apart.
Notes
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Make sure not to over-mix your batter. When the batter is over-mixed, it allows gluten stands to form which leads to gummy dense bread. We’re looking for light and fluffy!
- Spray your muffin pan well and line with muffin liners to prevent the muffins from sticking to the pan.
- Let your muffins cool for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Can I make this recipe gluten free? For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
- Can I make this recipe oil free? Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Lesley says
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Sgnr says
Doesn’t actually make 12 muffins to 3/4s full, maybe 10. Followed recipe exactly.
Maia says
Hi, are these salty or sweet? It’s just that you mentioned they go well with salad, which seems like a weird side dish for a pastry lol. If they’re not sweet, could you tell me how much sweetener should I add to make them sweet?
Paula Otero says
Great recipe. Made these today, came out perfect!