Vegan Blueberry Muffins (With Dairy-Free Yogurt)

Soft, fragrant and dangerously comforting. If you’ve been craving an old school bakery vibe, but want it entirely plant-based with juicy blueberries that burst through the warmly spiced batter, this is the batch to make! Dairy-free yogurt lends that velvety crumb and best of all, they’re in and out of the oven and on your table in just 30 minutes!

I’ve been cooking for a long, long time. Baking for almost as long and eating muffins for even longer… so when I tell you what a good muffin tastes like, I’m not exaggerating. What I love about these muffins in particular is how humble they are. No fancy nut flours, no weird binding ingredients, just pantry stables and an extra half hour to spare.

The result? Moist crumb, fluffy rise and a warm bite of cinnamon like this vegan lemon poundcake ( this time with a pop of blueberries). This is baking stripped back to its basics and always leaves me smiling!

Why yogurt matters (and why I swear by it)

generally speaking and in my experience, fat and moisture in baking and (especially these muffins) come from oil or non-dairy butter. That’s very much the case for our popular chewy vegan chocolate chip cookies for reference. In this case, it’s the yogurt that’s doing the heavy lifting for taste and texture that balances with a bit of tang and extra softness. The result is a muffin that feels full but not heavy if you ask me! Here’s what you can expect when you toss in some vegan yogurt:

• A thicker batter when you stir is what I first noticed. A telltale sign of a batter that’s working.
• I love the tender, moist crumb it almost guarantees every time.
• A hint of tang you didn’t know the mix of cinnamon and blueberries needed.
• In short, my testing proves that yogurt gives your muffins a back bone.

Lessons in baking (learn from my failures)!

Over the years, I’ve tested and taste tested a lot of muffin recipes. When I tried this one after going plant-based, it taught me something important. Simplicity is always the key. In tweaking this batch with more and fewer ingredients over the years, this is what’s stuck with me:

• I prefer not to over-mix when wet and dry ingredients meet. Once I see the dry flour disappear, I stop mixing so I don’t produce a gummy muffin!
• Gentle hands are what I recommend. Folding over the batter can burst the blueberries leading to a weighed down juicy batter.
• resist swapping out too many ingredients at once. Baking is a delicate science in my experience, and replacing one or more ingredients or methods at a time can lead to very different outcomes!

A lesser known trick worth trying

Picture this: half a dozen batches in, knee deep in batter. It’s only here that I learn about a little trick that solved a lot of my problems concerning the blueberries: Dust the blueberries with about a tablespoon of flour before folding them into the batter!

It lightly buffs the berries surface by gently shielding them as the muffins bake. That coating helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom or turning the batter soggy. This is especially useful when cooking with frozen fruit. In my experience and testing, the difference in crumb and berry distribution is real.

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