Updated to add: I have made this recipe with eggs and without… and I had fun making these vegan last weekend. However, I didn’t change the recipe to reflect the vegan ingredients. Thanks to Amanda, Neeka, Rachel and Theresa for pointing this out to me. I have updated the recipe, and it is now 100% vegan. Sorry about the confusion, y’all.
Back when I was a newspaper photographer in Mississippi, I spent a significant amount of time driving around the Southern portion of the state, covering everything from monster truck throwdowns to sporting events and political rallies to festivals.
One of the festivals I had the opportunity to cover was the Blueberry Jubilee in Poplarville, Miss., and I’ve kind of been obsessed with these lovely blue fruits ever since. Not only did I bring home the most delectable blueberry cobbler I have ever consumed, but also I scored some great deals on blueberries and took them all home, freezing a majority of them to make delightful baked goods and smoothies and anything else I could think of. In fact, I’d love to see if there is some sort of festival like this around Dallas that I could check out in the spring or summertime.
I was grocery shopping last week and stumbled upon a fabulous organic blueberry sale, so I snatched up a few containers of them and brought them home, thrilled to have a little blueberry sweetness during the wintertime. After much waffling, I decided to make some muffins…
This blueberry breakfast treat harkens back to my galley kitchen in Mississippi, and as if that wasn’t enough, they’re vegan, to boot.
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 cups fresh blueberries
- 1¼ cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar + 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Coat the blueberries in 1 tablespoon of flour. Set aside.
- Mix dry ingredients — flour, baking powder and sea salt — together. Set aside.
- Stir together the sugar, oil and the applesauce until light and fluffy. Add vinegar and baking soda mixture, then the vanilla, stirring until incorporated.
- Sprinkle in the dry ingredients and almond milk, stirring until just mixed.
- Fold in blueberries.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown, then enjoy warm!
Does a certain food remind you of a specific place or time in your mind? Are they good memories to look back on?
Hello! My name is Erin. I'm the head cook and baker around these parts. I enjoy a nice iced latte in the morning. I carry my camera around with me at all times. And I am fascinated with 
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These look so appetizing right now! I haven’t had a blueberry muffin in ages but they are one of my fave kinds. I like that you use applesauce in these, healthy
They are SO GOOD, and I wish I had one to eat for breakfast here in Denver. I’m a huge fan of blueberries, clearly, and like you, I love using applesauce to make it a little healthier.
Oddly enough, I HATE blueberries unless they’ve been muffin-ed or pancaked. These sound super tasty and worth allowing blueberries into my home for
Kelly, too funny! I used to feel that same way about blueberries… back before that blueberry festival. I’d be interested to know what you think about these muffins! I think the blueberries in them are the perfect touch.
can i use frozen blueberries and just thaw them or would it affect texture of the muffin?
Chelly, not sure if the frozen and thawed blueberries would work here. I’d love to hear if you DID use them to see how they were, though.
Bluberry muffins remind me of baking with my mom as a young tyke. We baked blueberry muffins pretty frequently and I loved helping out with the batter. Your muffins look awesome and I bet they’re deeeeeelicious! Like the idea of making them vegan, too…I’m not vegan but it’s nice to keep things clean from time to time
Have a great weekend!
Aww, I love that, Julia. What a fun memory. And thank you. The muffins ARE delish. Like you, I’m not vegan, but I like the change things up and keep them clean from time to time.
I love blueberry desserts! Especially those that pair lemon and blueberry. I want to try this with soy milk and see what happens! There are many kinds of food that remind me of various people and places. For example, potato chicken and steamed eggs always remind me of my grandma. And shepherd’s pie reminds me of college when I first tasted it. Divine!
Blueberry anything is fine by me, girl.
And please let me know how it turns out with soy milk! I’ve never used it before, but I have heard great things.
I love all those different foods that remind you of various people and places. What fun memories to have! And to be able to share with others through your cooking!
Mmm muffins in the morning are the best! Thanks for sharing this!
You’re welcome! Muffins are one of my favorite things, and these ones are pretty darn delish.
I made these with frozen blueberries and they came out great, but I had to cook them about double the time (not sure if that’s just because of the frozen berries) I also used coconut milk because I had some leftover on hand.
Becky, thanks so much for the report back! I am so glad to hear that they came out great, even if they took some extra cooking time. When I initially scribed this recipe, maybe my oven was running too hot because this seems to be a trend of them taking longer? When I made them two week ago, I wrote the extra cooking time off as my 50+ year old oven going out (because I’m fairly positive it is.)
I’ll go ahead and make a note for future people wanting to bake these so they know this might be more common than not. Or all our ovens are wonky.
Glad you tried them, and they turned out for you! Thanks!
I think this was one of the most poorly written recipes I’ve ever tried. As I’m going through adding the dry ingredients, I have to search them out in the list of ingredients because they don’t specify what they are, and then right after I add sugar (a dry ingredient, no?) they tell me to mix that in with the applesauce. Then the time says to bake for ten minutes and right now they’ve been in for 20 and are still not done. Would never use this recipe again.
I’m sorry you feel this way, Carolyn, though I can certainly understand your concerns. I’ll go ahead and break down the ingredients a bit better in the directions so there is no more confusion for this in the future. As far as the baking time, I know ovens run at different temperatures, which is why I add the line about baking until cooked through because I know my old oven is maybe not the most accurate.
Thanks for your feedback. I’ll work to make this better in the future.
I love this recipe. I had to cook them a little longer and now I use only 1 cup of blueberries, instead of 2, but besides that they are perfect! yummy! and directions were very clear to me and I just started baking. I also add walnut for protein… great way to get more protein into my kids and they LOVE these muffins! maying your banana bread today – can’t wait! thank you for posting all these amazing recipes! helping me get started in my baking/vegan diet for my family!
Sorry, I didn’t mean to be so negative. I was just trying to whip these up fast for my girls for breakfast and I got very frustrated. They taste ok, although they could use a little zip of lemon or something. Anyway, I don’t want to be a negative nelly.
That’s fine. I can understand your frustration, and I’m just sorry one of my recipes caused it. Glad they taste OK, despite the hassle they were to make.
Do you think I could make these gluten-free? Have you made these that way? Do you have any recommendations? I am making these for class and one of my groupmates is Celiac.
Hey Jessica! I love that you’re thinking of your classmate’s food allergies. Sadly, I don’t have much experience with gluten-free baking to guide you in the right direction with this. I’d just hate to say for you to substitute the flour here with AP gluten-free flour, and it not turn out since I haven’t tried it myself. Sorry I can’t be more of a help!
Hello! I just made these gluten free and vegan by using two cups of rice flour instead of white flour. I also substituted the apple sauce for one mashed banana. They tasted great. However, the blueberries all settled at the bottom. I guess that’s because I used frozen blueberries.
That’s fantastic, Kailey! So glad your adapted gluten free version turned out well… I wish I could try it with the mashed banana, but alas, I’m allergic. (How horrible is that?) As far as the blueberries go, did you coat them in the flour? And were they thawed when you baked the muffins? Those are the only two things that I think might affect them being distributed evenly in the batter.
Thanks for your comment!
Great recipe! My daughter who is six just helped me make these after school. She is not a fan of blueberries. This might just be the recipe to win her over! They turned out great. We gave them a few minutes to cool. Yum! we made 12 regular size and 12 mini muffins. They won’t last long.
Thanks so much! That’s AMAZING that you made these with your daughter after school, and I hope this recipe changed her mind about blueberries! Thanks for your comment, and I hope y’all enjoyed the rest of the muffins!
My son has a dairy intolerance so these were a perfect recipe for us to make together. I did end up cooking them for 20 minutes and next time would probably add a minute or two on to that because they were still a bit gooey on the inside. I also used original almond milk because thats what we had on had. Overall I was very impressed. This is not a very sweet muffin so it’s great for breakfast and they came out incredibly moist, light and fluffy. We will definately be keeping this in our recipe box to make again!
Good to know that you also baked them for 20 minutes and might add some more time. (I swear, my oven is SO WONKY sometimes!) So glad to hear you were impressed and that the muffins were good for breakfast and moist, light, and fluffy! Thanks for your comment, and I hope you continue to enjoy these muffins in the future!
I loved these! Super incredible…I baked mine for about 22 minutes. I might’ve added just a wee bit more almond milk because the batter was super thick, but they were great! Thanks for sharing!!!
Thanks so much, Rebecca! I am so glad to hear they turned out wonderfully and that you loved them! I appreciate the comment, and I hope you continue to enjoy the recipe. It’s one of our favorites when we can get our hands on fresh blueberries.
I’m so sad that these didn’t turn out at all for me. They came out deflated and a mess. I can’t even get them out of the pan without destroying them. The flavor is okay but they are impossible to eat. Any ideas what may have gone wrong? The only difference was I made them as mini muffins instead of the full size ones. I have never had this happen, so odd!
Oh, Amy, I’m so sorry to hear that your muffins didn’t turn out at all! How frustrating AND disappointing. My only guess is maybe that your baking soda and baking powder weren’t fresh? That would explain them being deflated, as I’ve run into that issue before, as well. (And also had a cake turn into a volcano in my oven when I added too much — bad news bears.) I’ve never made these in the mini muffin tins, but changing the size shouldn’t matter as far as rising goes. That’s my only guess, though, girl. I’m sorry they didn’t work out.
I checked the date on the powder before I used it and it should have been good, but it could have been the soda. My nursing babe has a dairy intolerance so we are on an endless quest for decent muffins and were hopeful that this one would work. I’ll get new ingredients and try again. Thanks for the quick reply!
Amy, My apologies on being so slow in getting back to you now. Sorry to hear that the soda could have been the issue, and I hope these worked out if you made them again! I use a LOT of almond milk at my home, so I can understand working with a dairy intolerance.
Best of luck to you!
Thanks for a wonderfully easy recipe! I developed food allergies to milk & eggs 2 years ago and it has been a challenge to find recipes and creative ways to still make my favorite dishes. I wanted a healthier lifestyle and well, food allergies was not what I had in mind, but it has forced me to eat healthier and pay more attention to whats in my food. Not only has it changed me, but it has helped me bring more awareness to my spa and educating my clients on nutrition. I will definitely be adding this recipe to my list of good finds! I used King Arthur self rising flour and organic vanilla soy milk so I omitted the baking soda, salt and vanilla extract. I also sprinkled a little brown sugar on the tops for that extra hint of sweetness and crunch. Thanks for the recipe!!!
I just made these tonight with a few modifications and they are great! I had no applesauce so I used a banana, as suggested by another commenter. I also used frozen blueberries and soy milk in place of almond milk. I love the taste of lemon in muffins so instead of using vinegar, I used the juice of one lemon and added the zest of that lemon in too. In order to draw out the taste of the lemon I cut back on the vanilla by half. I would consider doubling the lemon zest next time. Oh, and these took about 25 minutes to bake.
Thanks for a great recipe!
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