These one-bowl vegan chocolate muffins taste like dessert but are wholesome enough for breakfast! They’re moist, fudgy, ultra-chocolatey, gluten-free, oil-free, and optionally refined sugar-free!
Transforming empty-calorie treats into more wholesome versions is kind of an obsession of mine (like my vegan zucchini brownies, healthy chocolate mousse, and no-bake cinnamon rolls). So, when you’re craving vegan chocolate muffins that are decadently chocolatey, rich, moist, and fudgy yet healthier than traditional muffins, look no further!
Made with oat flour, applesauce, nut/seed butter, cocoa, and unrefined sugar, these one-bowl double chocolate vegan muffins are naturally gluten-free, oil-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and optionally refined sugar-free, with a moist, brownie-like texture I adore. They’re also easy, customizable, meal-prep and freezer-friendly, and kid-approved—perfect for breakfast, lunchboxes, snacks, or dessert.
Want more vegan and gluten-free muffins? Try my chocolate chip sweet potato muffins, healthy carrot muffins, or vegan banana chocolate chip muffins.
The Ingredients
The Dry Ingredients
- Oat flour: Gluten-free certified if necessary. Buy it or make it yourself (see FAQs). Buckwheat or millet flour also works (spelt/ all-purpose flour if not gluten-free).
- Sugar: I used unrefined coconut sugar, though brown sugar, white sugar, date sugar, or sugar-free erythritol all work, though. I also tried maple syrup which works as well. Adjust the amount accordingly.
- Cocoa powder: Use high-quality, unsweetened cocoa powder for a rich chocolatey flavor.
- Leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are combined to provide lift for fluffier vegan gluten-free chocolate muffins.
- Salt: This enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Dairy-free chocolate chips: Use your favorite chocolate chips/chunks (semi-sweet or bittersweet, regular or sugar-free).
The Wet Ingredients
- Dairy-free milk: I used almond milk, though any should work. High protein/fat options like soy milk or canned coconut milk yield the moistest, richest dairy-free chocolate muffins.
- Unsweetened applesauce: To bind and add moisture for fudgier egg-free chocolate muffins. Mashed overripe banana works, too, but has a stronger flavor.
- Nut butter: To replace oil, adding moisture, richness, and fats in these healthy vegan chocolate muffins. Use almond, cashew, or peanut butter, or nut-free sunflower seed butter/ tahini. Alternatively, 1/8-1/4 cup neutral oil will work.
- Apple cider vinegar: To activate the baking soda. White vinegar/ Lemon juice work, too.
- Vanilla extract: (or vanilla paste) Use natural vanilla for the best flavor.
Please read the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, measurements, complete recipe method, and nutritional information.
Recipe Variations
- Espresso/coffee powder: Add 1–2 tsp to enhance the chocolate flavor. More makes mocha muffins.
- Stuffed muffins: Add a chocolate square to the middle of each for a molten center.
- Spices: Like cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder/cayenne, etc.
- Orange zest: For subtle citrus flavor and brightness.
- Berries: Add ½ cup fresh/frozen raspberries, cherries, or chopped strawberries.
- Nuts: Add raw or toasted, chopped walnuts, pecans, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, etc.
How To Make Vegan Chocolate Muffins?
- First, preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Whisk the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups (or make 6 muffins and save two muffins’ worth of batter for a mug cake to bake alongside them).
- Bake for 24-27 minutes, or until the tops crack, and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean (moist crumbs/ slight stickiness is fine).
- Let the vegan double chocolate muffins cool and enjoy!
Storage Instructions
Store: Store the fully cooled chocolate oat flour muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze: Flash-freeze until solid, then transfer to a Ziplock bag for up to 3 months.
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator for several hours at room temperature, or use the microwave’s defrost function.
FAQs
Can I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder?
Yes, it works fine.
Can I make oat flour?
Yes! Process rolled oats in a high-speed blender or spice/coffee grinder into a fine flour. Sift it and weigh it after grinding.
Why are my chocolate oat flour muffins gummy?
Too much liquid/applesauce, underbaking, or cutting them while hot can make them gummy.
Can I make mini vegan chocolate muffins with the batter?
Sure! Divide the batter into mini muffin pans and bake the mini dairy-free chocolate muffins for 12-15 minutes.
Recipe Notes
- Measure the flour properly: I recommend measuring all the ingredients in grams. However, if you’re using cup measurements, fluff the flour in its bag, spoon it into the cup, then level it with the back of a knife to avoid dense, dry muffins.
- Use fine oat flour: Coarse oat flour makes grainier, more crumbly muffins.
- Adjust sweetness: I use ⅓ cup coconut sugar for mildly sweet muffins or ½ cup for sweeter results. Adjust according to the sweetener used.
- Leave to cool: They’re delicate (and likely to stick to the liners) hot from the oven.
- Yield: This recipe yields 7-8 muffins or 6 muffins and one mug cake.
Delicious Vegan Chocolate Recipes
- Vegan chocolate lava cake
- Avocado chocolate cake
- Chocolate Zucchini Cake
- Sweet Potato Brownies
- Chocolate banana bread
- Vegan peanut butter chocolate cake
- Vegan chocolate mug cake
If you try this easy gluten-free vegan chocolate muffins recipe, I’d love a comment and ★★★★★ recipe rating below. Also, please don’t forget to tag me in recreations on Instagram or Facebook with @elavegan #elavegan—I love seeing them.
Vegan Chocolate Muffins
Video
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ⅓ cup (120 g) oat flour gluten-free if needed (see notes)
- ⅓ to ½ cup (70-100 g) coconut sugar (see notes)
- ½ cup (50 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (90 g) chocolate chips (dairy-free) + more for the top
Wet ingredients:
- ¾ cup (180 ml) almond milk
- ⅔ cup (160 g) applesauce unsweetened (see notes)
- ¼ cup (65 g) nut butter (see notes)
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- I recommend measuring the ingredients in grams using a kitchen scale. You can watch the video for visual instructions.
- Line a muffin pan with paper liners (or grease the pan) and preheat oven to 360 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
- Add all dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) to a large mixing bowl and stir with a whisk.
- Now add the wet ingredients and stir to combine. You can also use a hand mixer.
- Finally, stir in the vegan chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter among the wells of the muffin pan. I had enough batter to make 8 muffins.
- Bake for 24 to 27 minutes or until you spot cracks on top of the muffins. I also recommend making a toothpick test. Insert the toothpick into the center of a muffin. It should come out almost clean (it's ok if the toothpick is crumbly/slightly sticky but it shouldn't come out wet).
- Let the muffins cool and enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Notes
- Oat flour: If you don't have oat flour, simply process oats (regular or certified gluten-free oats) in a blender or electric spice/coffee grinder.
- Other flours: Buckwheat flour or millet flour works too. You can use regular all-purpose flour or spelt flour if you aren’t gluten-free.
- Sweetener: Any granulated sweetener can be used. Some examples are coconut sugar, Erythritol, regular sugar, or date sugar. I used 1/3 cup, however, if you have a sweet tooth, I recommend using 1/2 cup.
- Applesauce: You can use mashed banana instead.
- Nut butter: You can use almond butter, cashew butter, peanut butter, or sunflower seed butter for a nut-free version. If you don't have nut butter, you could use oil instead. Please note that I never made this recipe with oil, however, I would suggest about 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup (please report back if you give it a try).
- Recipe makes 7-8 muffins (depending on muffin size). Nutrition facts are for one muffin.
- Do you want to make cupcakes? Try out this sweet potato frosting!
Nutrition information is an estimate and has been calculated automatically
„Simple and Delicious Vegan“ Cookbook by ElaVeganCLICK HERE to order!If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
First, congratulations, Ela!! So happy for your blessing.
As usual, your recipe was amazing. I made it as written using oats which I ground. I didn’t have apple sauce or a banana so I used up the pumpkin I had leftover with great success.
We love your cookbook. Danke!
That’s good to hear, Daniela. Yes, pumpkin puree works great as well. 🙂
Thanks for recipe. Im glad other persons did well. They didnt turn out well for me at all. The mixture was thick at the end but I didnt want to add more liquid in case I spoilt the recipe. it tested wet after 27 mins. so I let it stay another 10 mins. and turned down the temperature a little. They came.out hard as a rock but still a little wet. Im not sure what went wrong but i was very disappointed. 🙁
Hi Rosie, unfortunately I don’t know what went wrong, as I normally never get any complaints about this recipe. Did you change the flour or made any other changes?
I just found this recipe and have to say it is fabulous! Such a nice alternative to other options when I have the desire for something sweet. Thanks!
So glad you like the muffins. 🙂
Thank you! This recipe is definitely a keeper. Light, fluffy and delicious AND vegan AND gluten-free. My muffin xup runneth over! ☺ I didn’t have cocoa powder, so I substituted with more oat flour which worked perfectly.
Hey Debra, I am glad you liked the muffins. 🙂
Hi Ela,
How many eggs can i use for this recipe instead of applesauce?? It would be great for kids if egg’s could be used instead of applesauce
ah shucks, not sure what I did wrong, I did follow the recipe subbing mashed banana for applesauce, but they came out very heavy and dense with very little rise. they were not very sweet either apart from the choc chips. I’m so used to ‘ordinary’ muffins with eggs, butter, flour and refined sugar these muffins just didn’t hit the spot, sorry! But for a supet healthy alternative I guess they aren’t bad ☺️
This is the chocolate muffin recipe I have been searching for since going whole food plant based and being gluten free. I made exactly as written and got 24 mini muffins and 3 full size muffins. Thrown in the freezer the mini’s make the perfect quick snack!!! So glad I found this recipe, thanks!!!
That’s awesome, Regina. I hope you will try out many others of my whole food plant-based GF recipes. 🙂
Very tasty muffins! I followed the recipe as written and these turned out moist and delicious! I will definitely make them again. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe!
You are very welcome, Jennifer. So glad you like the muffins. 🙂
I have frozen bananas in the freezer, can I use frozen in place of applesauce
If you let them thaw it should work.
Hi, I’ve made these a few times and they are delicious, I want to send them into school but I can’t send any nuts in as they are not allowed. could I just miss out the nut butter? Maybe increase the mashed banana..?
Hi Clare, as mentioned in the recipe notes, you can use oil instead of nut butter. 🙂
I just made these today, just as the recipe calls, no subs. I made 9 muffins. I did the 1/3 cup coconut sugar. WOW. These are decadent and so good! I am not gluten free so I could use regular flour, but I wanted to make it as is. I’ll just stick to it! It is perfect 🙂
That’s so good to hear, Tania. Thanks for your amazing feedback! 🙂
Hi Clare, have you tried tahini or sunflower seed butter in place of the nut butter? Those are not on the school allergy list. I would bet those both would work.
hi. I cannot eat gluten free oats. can I use gluten free all purpose flour instead?
That should be fine. I tried millet flour with success, too.
An amazing recipe that’s easy and relatively healthy compared to other chocolate muffins
I used 70g coconut sugar and decided to bake with buckwheat and the muffins did not disappoint
Thank you very much will be a regular in my house hold my daughter said ‘ mummy these are scrumptious’
Will try with the oat flour aswell 🙂 x x x
Happy you like them, Aman! 🙂
It was my first time baking something and omg it turned out amazing. I followed the recipe by heart – the muffins raised, are tender soft inside and taste amazing!
Not sure what the difference is between baking soda and baking powder so I just put baking powder. I also used Integral (whole) Oat flour it works great. Peanut butter gives it an amazing finishing taste.
Just absolutely loved it, thank you 🙂
You are very welcome! So glad they turned out delicious. 🙂
Its not rising , too fudgy
Hi Kate, is it possible that you didn’t bake them long enough? Mine did rise, you can see it in the photos. Of course, muffins with oat flour do not rise as much as muffins with all-purpose flour, they are typically denser! Buckwheat flour (another gluten-free option) or millet flour works too, and the result is slightly fluffier. You can use regular or spelt flour if you aren’t gluten-free.
Can i use almond flour? I love it
Hi, I think almond flour doesn’t work in this recipe. Maybe a combination of almond flour with another flour would work, but I haven’t tried it.
I’ve made these muffins so many times, they are perfect! Everyone loves them 😍 I’m running out of apple cider vinegar, is there a substitute you recommend for it?
Thank you 🫶🏼
Hi Cinthya, I am so glad you like them! You can use lemon juice instead. 🙂
These look amazing! Could you substitute the sugar for a liquid one like maple syrup?
Hi Dess, I think that should be no problem. 🙂
I tried them with maple syrup and they were amazing and the texture was perfect. I made a double batch for a party and they were gone before the last person left. So delicious!
That’s good to hear, Dess! So glad you like them. 🙂
I love this recipe so much! I eat one of these muffins every Sunday as my treat! How awesome that it tastes so good but is healthier than most chocolate muffins. Plant based and gluten free too? Yes please! Staple in my house <3
Wonderful! I am so glad you love them! Thanks for your feedback. 🙂
Made these and they are the absolute best!! Did sun butter for the nut butter and we were out of almond butter so we did oat milk instead. My three year old LOVED it!
That’s wonderful, Ashley! I am so glad you like them. 🙂
Sorry, In my last comment regarding the grams I meant to say that the 1/2 cup of cocoa powder does not come close to 50 g. It seemed like a lot of applesauce to me as it’s thinner than a mashed banana would be and my batter was very runny as it filled 12 muffin cups with a little leftover. In oven now!! I love the ingredients and I am hoping it works.
Hi Linda, it’s best to always follow the measurements in grams, as stated in the recipe. I hope they turn out delicious. 🙂
Can you substitute oat flour for another type of flour.(almond,rice,coconut)
Haven’t had much luck finding a gluten free oat flour or oats for that matter.
You can try buckwheat flour or maybe even quinoa flour.
Wanting to make these and only have almond flour or a GF flour blend – would either work?
The GF flour blend should work fine. 🙂