These are truly the best Vegan Apple Streusel Muffins! Not only are these apple cinnamon muffins made with the best crumb topping, but they are also made with simple ingredients for a delicious dairy-free & eggless apple muffin recipe!
If you didn't know, we are big fans of apple season over here at SGTO. Not only is apple picking my favorite Fall activity, but my Vegan Apple Cider Bundt Cake & Apple Pie Bars are two of the most popular recipes on my site in the Fall.
With apple season in full swing, it was the perfect time to bring you this brand new recipe for the best Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins with a crumb topping!
Ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Oat milk: Can be substituted 1:1 for any plant-based milk such as almond, rice, soy, etc.
- Apple cider vinegar: Is a crucial acidic ingredient to use when baking with baking soda! If you don't have any, substitute with lemon juice 1:1.
- Applesauce: There isn't a great substitute here as it acts as a vegan egg replacement and helps to sweeten the muffins, but using a plant-based yogurt 1:1 could work.
- Olive oil: I always prefer baking with olive oil for the best texture,however, any liquid cooking oil should work. The only oil I would avoid using is melted coconut oil as it tends to solidify when mixing and doesn't work great for baking.
How to make apple streusel muffins
Make the streusel topping
First, add the rolled oats, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a small bowl and mix together. Then, add in the cubed butter and cut it into the dough until it is nice and crumbly.
The key to a good streusel is to make sure not to overwork/overmix the butter so the mixture stays crumbly.
Make the vegan apple muffin batter
Whisk the wet ingredients
This includes oat milk, apple cider vinegar, apple sauce, olive oil, and vanilla. I do like to mix the oat milk and apple cider vinegar first to create a "vegan buttermilk" and then mix in the remaining ingredients after letting that sit for about 1 minute.
Add dry ingredients
While you can sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, I personally don't feel that you need to for this recipe.
The key to making this apple cinnamon batter in one bowl is to add the flour first and then pile the baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt on top. That way, everything gets mixed into the flour before it touches the wet ingredients.
Once all the ingredients are added to the bowl, gently mix together until you have a smooth batter. Just remember, some clumps are normal and totally okay!
Fold in apples
Next, add in the apple chunks and fold them into the batter. I did not peel the apples, but you totally can if you prefer that texture-wise. Once mixed, set the batter aside.
Pro-Tip: I like to preheat my oven AFTER making the batter so it gives the apple muffin batter some time to rest. This rest time actually helps the muffins rise more and have fluffier muffin tops.
Assemble the muffins & bake
Add 6 cupcake liners to a muffin tin and fill with batter until each is about ¾ full with batter. Then, sprinkle the streusel topping onto each muffin before baking.
Add the pan of apple crumble muffins to the oven and bake for about 22 minutes until the muffins are cooked through and browned on top. P.S- here is the cupcake and muffin pan I used for this recipe.
FAQ & Tips:
I personally prefer a tart apple to balance out the sweetness of the muffin batter. A crisp muffin is also good to make sure the apples hold their shape while baking. Granny Smith Apples, Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp, or Pink Lady apples all work great in this recipe.
Definitely! Just substitute all-purpose flour with a gluten-free all-purpose flour meant for baking like Bob's Red Mill GF flour. Unfortunately, using a flour alternative such as coconut flour or almond flour does NOT work in this recipe.
Of course! Just double all the ingredients and follow the exact same instructions. If you have a 12-well muffin tin, then you can even double the recipe and bake all the muffins in one go. Just make sure to not have more than one pan in the oven at a time so the muffins bake evenly.
Apple Muffins can be stored in a closed container or wrapped in tin-foil at room temperature for 24 hours or in the fridge for 3-4 days.
They can also be stored in a closed container between layers of parchment paper and stored in the freezer for up to 1 month. Just place frozen muffins out at room temperature about 1 hour before serving so they have enough time to defrost.
I truly hope you love these soft, fluffy, & perfectly sweet Vegan Apple Streusel Muffins! While these apple cinnamon muffins may be more of a dessert, they also make a really great brunch or breakfast treat. Enjoy!
-TSG
More vegan muffin recipes you will love:
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Vegan Apple Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 Tablespoons cold vegan butter cubed
Apple Muffins
- ½ cup oat milk
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup diced apples about ½ large apple
Instructions
Make the streusel topping
- In a small bowl whisk together the rolled oats, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon from the streusel ingredients.
- Add the cubed vegan butter to the bowl and gently cut it into the streusel mixture using a pastry cutter or fork. Don’t over-mix the streusel or it will become like a paste/ dough. Instead, cut the butter into the dough until the mixture is clumpy, no longer dry, and the flour has been completely absorbed. Then, set aside for later.
Make the apple muffin batter
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oat milk and apple cider vinegar. Let sit for about 1 minute until the milk begins to curdle and separate to create a vegan buttermilk.
- Next, add in the applesauce, olive oil, cane sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk with the vegan buttermilk until smooth.
- Once the wet ingredients are mixed, add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl starting with the flour and adding the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt on top. Then, use a whisk or spatula to GENTLY mix the batter just until all streaks of flour are gone. A lumpy batter is okay at this point!
- Add in the diced apples and gently fold them into the batter. This step is best done with a spatula.
Assemble & Bake Muffins
- Set the batter aside to rest and preheat the oven to 350F. While the oven is preheating fill a muffin tin with 6 cupcake liners.
- Once the oven has preheated, use a cookie scoop to add the batter to the 6 muffin liners until each is about ¾ full of batter. Then, sprinkle the streseul topping on top of each of the muffins before baking.
- Add the muffins to the oven and bake for 21-23 minutes until cooked through and beginning to brown on top.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and immediately remove the muffins from the muffin tin. Then, place them onto a wire cooling rack. Do not let the muffins cool in the tin or they risk getting soggy on the bottom.
- Once the muffins have slightly cooled, serve warm and enjoy!
Notes
- Apples: crisp & tart apples work best. Granny Smith Apples, Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp, or Pink Lady apples all work great in this recipe.
- Oat milk: Can be substituted 1:1 for any plant-based milk such as almond, rice, soy, etc.
- Apple cider vinegar: a crucial acidic ingredient to use when baking with baking soda! If you don't have any, substitute with lemon juice 1:1.
- Applesauce: There isn't a great substitute here as it acts as a vegan egg replacement and helps to sweeten the muffins, but using a plant-based yogurt 1:1 could work.
- Olive oil: I always prefer baking with olive oil for the best texture, however, any liquid cooking oil should work. The only oil I would avoid using is melted coconut oil as it tends to solidify when mixing and doesn't work great for baking.
- Gluten-free: Substitute all-purpose flour with a 1:1 GF baking flour. Please note: using almond flour or coconut flour does not work in this recipe.
- To store muffins: muffins can be stored in a closed container or wrapped in tin-foil at room temperature for 24 hours or in the fridge for 3-4 days. They can also be stored in a closed container between layers of parchment paper and stored in the freezer for up to 1 month. Just place frozen muffins out at room temperature about 1 hour before serving so they have enough time to defrost.
- These are the cupcake/muffin liners I recommend for all of my cupcake & muffin recipes!
Miranda says
Loved these! I think next time I may whip up a little powdered sugar icing to drizzle on top. I love the streusel on top too 🙂
Megan says
Yes a simple glaze would be so good on top! You could even try the apple cider glaze from my Apple Bundt Cake too 🙂
Sara says
Just baked these yummy treats. Didn’t have applesauce so I substituted one banana. Figured flaxseed would not taste good if I used that. We shall see.
A says
Hi! Is there a substitute that can be used for the vegan butter? Would coconut oil work?
Megan says
I haven't tested any substitutes but coconut oil may work- you just want to make sure it's solid to create the crumble vs. melted. Let me know if it works!
Samantha says
Just baked this today, didn't have apple sauce, so i used pear sauce... as a vegan, I'd imagine most fruit purees would work, a veg puree could work too (they may alter flavours slightly though, as would a chia or flax 'egg' (1 tbls ground chia or flax to 1-3 tablespoons water). Happy cooking
Megan says
Hope it still tasted great with the pear sauce 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Angela says
Thanks for this great recipe! Definitely will be adding it to my breakfast rotation<3.
Megan says
So happy you liked them! 🙂