Vegan Wholemeal Breakfast Muffins

Start off the day the right way with these Vegan Wholemeal Breakfast Muffins. They are the perfect portable breakfast that tastes good too!

Muffins for breakfast

Everyone says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It's become such a cliche! Now I'm sure there's some scientific basis for saying that. But for me its the most important meal because it means I'm not hangry (hungry/angry) for the rest of the day!

In this day and age, where we are all rushing from one place to the next, it's not uncommon for us to grab our breakfast and go. It can even be quite tempting to pick up something to eat at the same time as grabbing a latte to go. Blueberry muffins, lemon and poppy seed muffins, sit in the counters next to the till tempting you to give in to a morning treat.

There's nothing wrong with having something sweet for breakfast (I'd pick a sweet breakfast over a savoury one any day of the week). But, why buy a sugary muffin when you can eat a healthier one that you've made at home!

Muffins made better

One of the biggest differences between these muffins and those you'll find in a coffee shop is that these are made with wholemeal flour. Coffee shop and store bought muffins are often made with white, plain flour.

I like to use wholemeal flour in this muffin recipe for two reasons. The first is that its more nutritious! It is rich in vitamins as well as riboflavin, folate and it has more iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients than white flour does.

I also like to use wholemeal flour because I think it just tastes better. Because, lets be honest, white flour doesn't really taste of anything! By using wholemeal flour you get a sweet nutty taste which really adds to the flavour of the muffins.

Of course the cinnamon, blueberries and maple syrup also make these muffins delicious too!

Vegan baking principles

As well as being made with wholemeal flour, these breakfast muffins are egg and dairy free. They really are good for you!

Baking without egg and dairy is not always easy. But, so long as you think carefully about why eggs or dairy are needed in your recipe you can then adjust your ingredients list to use alternatives that achieve the same thing.

Substitutes

Ordinarily a muffin recipe would include eggs, butter and buttermilk.

The eggs in the classic recipe are there to provide lift - to help it rise and to create delicate air bubbles throughout the cake. We can achieve this by adding bicarbonate of soda to the dry ingredients. This then gets activated when you add the wet ingredients (including apple cider vinegar) and mix. You will notice that little air bubbles immediately start forming. As the batter cooks into cake, these air bubbles get trapped.

The butter in a muffin recipe is there to add richness. You can use vegan butter if you wish but I prefer to use oil. This gives the same well rounded flavour but I think makes the muffins that little bit lighter.

Last but not least we have buttermilk - this is usually used to create a really moist, tender crumb. Buttermilk can be substituted by adding acid to cows milk. The good news is that it works the same with plant based milks! That's why this recipe starts by adding apple cider vinegar to soya milk. The acid not only reacts with the bicarbonate of soda but it reacts with the soya milk too!

If you want to know more about substituting eggs and dairy in vegan recipes then check out my big vegan baking guide.

Whether or not a recipe is vegan, I think it's also important to play around with flavours and textures. I love the spicy notes of cinnamon with the sweet juicy blueberries. I also love the soft texture of the muffin contrasted with the crunch of seeds and a sprinkling of demerara sugar!

Storage

This recipe makes 12 good sized muffins and will last for 4-5 days in an air tight container.

More breakfast recipes

To find even more breakfast recipes check out the recipe archive.