Simple & delicious Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins that are packed full of healthy ingredients. Only 177 calories each, whole grain, oil & refined-sugar free. Perfect for breakfast, snacks & lunch boxes!
I have a few muffin recipes on my website, including my Apple Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel and my Lemon Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins, but until now I haven’t had a really healthy, high fibre muffin recipe. An email from a reader last month, asking if I could come up with a recipe for some Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins was the prompt I needed.
MUFFINS FOR BREAKFAST?
Muffins aren’t something I have grown up associating with breakfast. You probably already know that I am English and moved to Canada a couple of years ago. In England, the only muffins associated with breakfast are English Muffins and they are bread-like rather than cake-like. No-one eats ‘cakey’ muffins for breakfast. They are more of a dessert or afternoon tea type treat.
I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable eating a sugary muffin made with refined flour for breakfast, but one full of whole grain spelt flour, high fibre wheat bran, oats and juicy berries is a whole different ball game and I have fully embraced the ‘muffins for breakfast thing’ since creating this recipe. Thanks Diane! :O)
PACKED FULL OF GOOD STUFF
These Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins are packed full of good stuff and are only lightly sweetened with a little coconut sugar. They are completely oil-free and come in at only 140 calories each with an impressive 6 grams of fibre and 4 grams of protein per serving. They can be eaten as they are, but are also delicious split and spread with my Easy Vegan Butter or some peanut butter. One (or two!) make a fantastic breakfast, either at home or packed up to enjoy on the commute to work or school. They are also great as lunch box stuffers and after school snacks and freeze absolutely perfectly for a month or two.
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THESE VEGAN BLUEBERRY BRAN MUFFINS
If you try these gorgeous blueberry studded muffins, please let me know what you think. You can leave your feedback below and share your pictures with me on Instagram. I am @avirtualvegan. Use the tag #avirtualvegan to be sure I won’t miss them.
For best results please use the ingredients and cooking method described below. Substitutions often affect how a recipe turns out. Please only rate the recipe if you have actually tried it. That way the star rating is an accurate representation and helpful to other readers. Thank you and I hope you love this recipe!
Mel x
Vegan Blueberry Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 230g | 1.5 cups spelt flour
- 60g | 1 cup wheat bran
- 50g | ½ cup rolled oats
- 80g | ½ cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 312mls |1¼ cups non-dairy milk
- 140g | ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 148g | 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Add all of the dry ingredients to a large bowl (except blueberries)
- Add all of the wet ingredients to another bowl or jug and stir them together well.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do not over mix as this can affect the muffins finished texture.
- Add the blueberries and stir until evenly distributed.
- Spoon carefully into the muffin liners and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a tooth pick / skewer can be inserted into the middle and come out almost clean.
- Remove from the oven and cook on cooling trays .
Jay says
Hi Mel.This receipes looks good and wonder if I can substitute the Wheat Bran for anything else?
Thanks.
A Virtual Vegan says
You could probably leave it out and use more flour to compensate. I haven’t tried it like that though. You might need to adjust the quantity of milk to account for the change in absorbency. Oat bran would be a straight swap though if you can get it. I think probably oat flour, buckwheat flour or quinoa flour would all be good too at more or less the same quantity.
Lynne says
My kids and I LOVE these! We have tried more cake-like versions and found them gummy in texture. These are the best! We are looking forward to trying other recipes of yours.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Lynne. I’m so pleased you are all enjoying them. My pet hate is gummy vegan cakes, muffins, pancakes etc so you won’t be finding any of them here! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review. I really appreciate it!
Pat says
These are delicious. Hard to find a good vegan bran muffin recipe and you’ve done it!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Pat! I’m so glad you are enjoying them. You might enjoy these carrot muffins too. They are based on the same recipe. I just made a few flavour tweaks https://avirtualvegan.com/healthy-carrot-muffins/ . Thanks so much for stopping by to leave feedback. It’s much appreciated!
lisa murray says
My orders are to make healthy raisin bran muffins. Do you think swapping raisins for blueberries would work?
A Virtual Vegan says
Absolutely! They are great with raisins. I’ve made them that way myself!
Christina Grant says
These muffins are delicious. Dense, moist, flavorful. I did make a substitution for the coconut sugar. I used a 1/4 C blend of brown sugar/stevia. There is still a slight sweet taste 🙂 I was looking for a recipe without a lot of ingredients or specialty ingredients – these fit the bill. So happy to have found this site. I’m not a vegan, but a vegetarian. However, I am trying to cut back on dairy when baking. Keep up the good work!
A Virtual Vegan says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Christina and thank you so much for coming back to leave a review. I really appreciate it! You might also like my Healthy Carrot Muffins. The recipe is adapted from this one. https://avirtualvegan.com/healthy-carrot-muffins/
Joy says
These were truly the best healthy bran muffins I have EVER made! Do you think I can swap the blueberries for carrots with good results? (And add some spices, of course :))
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you! That’s awesome. I’m so glad you enjoyed them. It’s easy to swap out the blueberries for other berries or chocolate chips if you aren’t being so healthy, but adding grated carrot will probably affect the texture because it’s a bit wet. You could grate it and squeeze it in a clean dish towel to get as much moisture out as you can then it might be ok as long as you don’t add too much, or you could reduce the quantity of milk a bit to cut down on moisture that way. Any way you do it I’m sure they will be edible though and you can tweak the moisture a bit on future attempts if need be. I have added a healthy carrot cake type bran muffin to my ‘to make’ list for the blog! Thanks for the inspiration!
Joy says
Amazing – I can’t wait to see your healthy carrot cake bran muffin!
Gilles says
I am new at vegan lifestyle I like all the vegan recipes I try.
A Virtual Vegan says
That’s great! Good for you for making the change!
Stephanie says
Amazing! So easy, fast and tasty. I was only going to try half a muffin, but before I knew it, I had eaten it all! I must admit to doubling the blueberries, but that’s juste because I love them so much. Can’t wait to share this recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Stephanie! So glad you enjoyed them!
Lianne says
These look delicious, but I can’t seem to find any wheat bran where I live 🙁 Do you have any suggestions of what I could use in it’s place?
A Virtual Vegan says
That’s a shame. Oat bran works the same if you can find that. I haven’t tried any other variations but I think oat flour (you can make it yourself by grinding down oats in a food processor or blender) would work instead and probably just using more spelt flour would be ok. Be sure to weigh whatever you are subbing and stick to 60g as they will all have different volumes and using the cup measurement might not work. What you use will also affect the absorbency of the batter too so be careful with how much milk you add. Start off with a bit less just in case and add more if it’s too stiff. You might even need more than I have specified. I hope that helps!
Elizabeth says
I have made these muffins twice and they are loved by me and my children! They don’t taste too sweet or oily like store bought muffins. Just perfect! Thank you for the recipe!
A Virtual Vegan says
You are welcome Elizabeth. I am so glad that you are your children are enjoying them!
Kim says
I made these for breakfast this morning and we really liked them…, will make them again for sure! Thanks so much for the recipe.
A Virtual Vegan says
Great! I am so glad you enjoyed them. I always have a batch in the freezer as they make such a great snack or breakfast. Thank you for stopping by to let me know. I really appreciate it :O)
Angie - WhippedGreenGirl says
Wow! Amazing, this is exactly the bran muffin I was wanting to make today. Love your pins and tweets! To have you in my kitchen for one day would be a dream ahahaha! Thanks for sharing your craft so well
A Virtual Vegan says
You are too kind Angie. Thank you so much. It means a lot :O)
Vegan Heaven says
These look just perfect! I love baking with spelt flour. Love everything about these muffins! 🙂
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Sina!
Ginny McMeans says
When I get off the road and have an oven again I am making these asap. It looks like the perfect breakfast.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Ginny. Enjoy your remaining ‘homeless’ time. Let me know what you think when you try them :O)
Alisa Fleming says
Bran muffins are my absolute favorite and I love that you made these with spelt flour – it has such a great flavor.
A Virtual Vegan says
I agree. Spelt is my favourite flour to bake with!
Leah M | love me, feed me says
These look SO hearty and delicious! Blueberry muffins are always the best!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Leah, I totally agree!
Hauke Fox says
That can’t be right, just 1,5 stars. I’m sure it must be a mistake!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Hauke. I am having problems with people rating the recipes when they haven’t even tried them or commented :O( I thin I need to look at a new recipe card plug in.
Vanessa Croessmann says
I’m always looking for a new healthy muffin recipes to try and this one might be it! Looks delicious! Pinning!
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Vanessa. If you try them let me know what you think!
The Vegan 8 says
Oooh in love with these healthy beauties! I love the earthiness of bran and spelt, so much flavor! Love how healthy they are too 🙂
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Brandi, they are so healthy you don’t have to feel guilty about eating 2!
Aimee says
I love these kind of wholesome muffins and don’t you find that coconut sugar is the perfect sweetener for this kind of thing? So delicious!
A Virtual Vegan says
Coconut sugar is just the best. It gives such lovely flavour to baked goods. Thanks Aimee!
Sophia | Veggies Don't Bite says
I love a good blueberry muffin but I actually prefer the bran/spelt texture to the regular white flour muffins so these are right up my alley! Love all things blueberry right now!
A Virtual Vegan says
I much prefer bran/spelt or wholewheat to white flour muffins too. They are much heartier and have so much more flavour. Thanks Sophia :O)
Jenn says
I wish I had one of these right now. I could use a snack!
A Virtual Vegan says
They make great snacks!
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit says
Yum, yes please!! Bran muffins and blueberry muffins are two of my favorites, so together I’m in love with this deliciousness. I much prefer these hearty coconut sugar sweetened guys to a cakey super sweet muffin 🙂
A Virtual Vegan says
Thanks Natalie, I totally agree. They have so much more flavour!
Becky Striepe says
These look way better than the bran muffins I see at the store!
A Virtual Vegan says
Much better, and no nasties either!
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine says
The only muffins I ate growing up were the betty crocker “just add water” kind of muffins, either chocolate chip or blueberry! It would be my brother and my favorite thing when my mom would have mini muffins ready for us to eat before school!
A Virtual Vegan says
Aaaww memories! These are much healthier than box mixes and I am sure taste better too!