Vegan Lemon Muffins

These Vegan Lemon Muffins are great to bake for a weekend breakfast. Freeze extras for busy mornings or quick snacks!

Vegan Lemon Muffins

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fantastic celebration. Us? Well, we had a nice dinner and then slept through the new year for (I think) the second year in a row. The thing is – I’ve become a morning person. It wasn’t intentional – it just happened. On weekdays, I find that I get my best work done first thing in the morning. On weekends and holidays, I like to get up, pour coffee, and bake something for breakfast. So here are some yummy lemon muffins that I’ve been baking lately!

Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds

This post is in partnership with ALDI, because I wanted to tell you about some new exciting healthy/veggie-forward products that they have like Meyer lemons(!), organic coconut sugar(!), and even vegan cream cheese, which I used to make a simple frosting for my muffins.

I love Meyer lemons because they’re juicier and sweeter than other lemons. They’re sometimes hard to find but, conveniently, they’re at ALDI.

Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds

Did I mention that these lemon muffins are vegan? There’s no need for an egg here – they rise perfectly without one. I used almond milk, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil in lieu of any dairy. I especially love using olive oil in lemon recipes because lemon and olive oil are a great flavor pairing. Coconut sugar makes these refined sugar free.

These lemon muffins are made with some almond flour, which gives them a nutty texture and flavor. Pro tip: you don’t have to buy almond flour, you can just blend slivered almonds in blender until they become a fine meal.

Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds

Instead of making lemon poppy seed muffins, I used chia seeds. You get that same look and a tiny bit of crunch, but chia seeds also add some extra nutritional value, so I love using them here. Plus, chia seeds are a more common pantry staple for me; I always have them on hand.

Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds

The frosting here is light and lemony – it’s made with vegan cream cheese, maple syrup, Meyer lemon juice, and lemon zest. The muffins themselves have a lighter lemon flavor, but the frosting and the zest on top make them bright and tangy.

Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds Vegan Meyer Lemon Muffins with chia seeds

Like all muffins, these are best on the day they’re made. They freeze well, and the frosting can be stored in the fridge for a few days (it’s best to freeze them un-frosted).

Find these ingredients and more fresh and affordable healthy finds at ALDI.

And if you’re as much of a muffin fan as I am, I heartily recommend you try my Banana Muffins, Blueberry Muffins, and or Coconut Mango Muffins next.

Happy baking!


4.9 from 36 reviews

Vegan Lemon Muffins

 
These vegan lemon muffins have a light lemon flavor and crunch from chia seeds. Top with the cream cheese frosting for an extra-zesty, lemony pop!
Author:
Recipe type: Breakfast, snack
Serves: 9 to 10 muffins
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Friendly Farms AlmondMilk, Original
  • 1 teaspoon Simply Nature Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1¾ cups Baker’s Corner All Purpose Flour
  • ½ cup almond flour*
  • 2½ teaspoons Baker’s Corner Baking Powder
  • ¼ teaspoon Baker’s Corner Baking Soda
  • ½ teaspoon Stonemill Sea Salt
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons Simply Nature Organic Coconut Sugar
  • ⅓ cup Specially Selected Premium Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon zest
  • 3 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon Stonemill Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1 tablespoon Simply Nature Chia Seeds, more for garnish
glaze
  • ½ cup Earth Grown Vegan Cream Cheese
  • 2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons Specially Selected Pure Maple Syrup
  • 1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest, more for garnish
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and lightly oil a 12-cup non-stick muffin tin.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the almond milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir in the almond milk mixture. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chia seeds and use a â…“-cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the muffin tins. Bake for 16 to 17 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
  5. Make the glaze. Using a hand mixer or a food processor, mix the cream cheese, lemon juice, maple syrup, and lemon zest until smooth. Dollop onto the cooled muffins and garnish with chia seeds and lemon zest.
Notes
*Make your own almond flour by blending slivered almonds in a blender until they become a fine meal.

 

63 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. Matt
    10.18.2023

    I decided to make this fuss-free recipe for my family, I couldn’t resist tasting it first and … I am really pleased with the results. I didn’t have coconut sugar so I used Muscovado ( pure organic cane sugar ) and to my surprise, it wasn’t sweet at all ! Perfect for diabetic family member 🙂 I will make this again

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      10.20.2023

      Hi Matt, I’m so glad the muffins were a hit!

  2. Liz
    11.18.2022

    Is it possible to make these gluten free?

  3. avid_baker
    11.12.2022

    Hi,

    Could any plant based milk be used as a substitute for almond milk? Does Oat milk work?

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      11.17.2022

      Oat milk would be great here!

    • Matt
      10.18.2023

      yes any plant milk works ! the best for the ” buttermilk ” curdle is soy and almond but other works very well !

  4. Maria
    08.25.2022

    Loved these as muffins! They were gone in two days 🙂 Can these be made into a 9×5 loaf?

  5. Cynthia
    04.23.2022

    Came out perfect (not too dense) with 100% whole flour and brown rice flour that I was trying to use up. Used lemon oil instead of vanilla. Just the right amount of sweet/lemon flavor. Plan to make again. (:

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      04.27.2022

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for sharing your flour substitutions!

  6. Danielle
    01.26.2022

    Ahhhh this looks so addicting. I havent made any lemony baked goods in a long time. most recipes call for powdered sugar or the like and i am not interested in eating that. Excited about these ingredients and looking forward to seeing how everything comes together.

  7. Megan
    10.13.2021

    These were absolutely delicious! My family doesn’t care for chia seeds, so I made a batch without them. but they were gone in a matter of days! So yummy! Will definitely make again!

  8. D from Loveandlemons
    08.14.2021

    These muffins were so fluffy and delicious! I also really loved how simple the recipe is! My whole family loved them as well, and the house smelled amazing while the baked. I used a different icing for them which was made from 1/2 cup of powder sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and it made them even better. Thank you very much for the recipe! I would recommend them to anyone (vegan or not 😉 )

  9. Alexa
    07.02.2021

    Hi! I’d love to make these but my bf is allergic to nuts. What could I use to sub for almond flour??

  10. Angela Hoffman
    04.15.2021

    I just made two batches of these tonight. They are delicious! I’m not vegan myself but was making them for a friend who is, and I loved how simple they were. I made one change: instead of lemon zest and juice, I used kumquats from my own tree – I removed the seeds and blitzed them whole into a puree, then used a generous 1/3 cup. They took a little longer to cook, but they were wonderful! Thank you so much for this recipe – I will definitely use it again!

  11. lazysmurf
    10.30.2020

    I made these with my meyer lemons that just ripened and the recipe was perfect even though I didn’t use any of the brands mentioned and I didn’t make the glaze. To me, they were sweet and lemony enough without it. I really liked the chia seeds in there!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.30.2020

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them!

  12. k
    10.04.2020

    Could i use all whole wheat with almond flour instead? Thanks

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.06.2020

      They might come out more dense, I’d probably try half white and half whole wheat (and the written amount of almond flour).

  13. Madeline
    09.10.2020

    So good! I added blueberries and these are delicious.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.12.2020

      I’m so glad you enjoyed them!

  14. Justin
    08.28.2020

    Hi, I was wondering if you knew the nutrition value of these muffins?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.30.2020

      I’m sorry, I don’t calculate nutrition facts.

  15. Anita
    06.19.2020

    I tried these with just all purpose flour. But these turned out too dense and didn’t rise and were sticky. There’s no flavor whatsoever. I’m not sure what went wrong.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.19.2020

      Hi Anita, the almond flour would help all of those things since almond flour and AP flour aren’t a 1:1 exchange.

      • Ryan
        02.22.2022

        I made these and the texture was really good, but I needed more lemon flavor. I’m going to try again with double the lemon juice as I had already added lemon extract and it still wasn’t very lemony. I do recommend letting the cream cheese get to room temp first or it stays lumpy. I’d definitely try this again. Also, I used poppy seeds and that worked well.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.