Muffins can seem like a healthy choice but most often they are just glorified pieces of cake. They come with lots of sugar, refined oils, and other not-so-good for you ingredients. These Healthy-ish Vegan Strawberry Muffins are just the opposite- made with applesauce instead of oil, a few servings of strawberries (hello antioxidants!), and way less sugar, they’re muffins I’m happy to give my family in the morning or for an afternoon snack.
Making the Strawberry Muffins:
Now when we make these strawberry muffins at my house, we cut our strawberries in big pieces so with each bite of muffin you get a berry bite. I say cut your strawberries in 4ths, at the most 6ths, to get the size we are looking for.
Mixing the strawberry muffin batter:
After adding your wet ingredients to the dry, do not over mix your batter. I have learned this lesson the hard way, more than once lol. Over mixing will yield a tough, undesirable muffin due to gluten development. After mixing your wet and dry ingredients until just combined, gently fold in your strawberries.
Next, divide your batter equally between the 12 muffin cups. Fill each cup about 3/4 of the way. Some cups will inevitably be bigger than the others, it’s not a big deal.
Bake the muffins in the oven for 20-24 minutes, or when a toothpick comes out just about clean. I’ve found the perfect amount of time in my oven for these muffins is 22 minutes.
Sometimes muffins can be a little dry and crumbly but not these guys. They have the chew of a cake thanks to the strawberries which keep everything moist and tender.
“Mom” tip:
Strawberries can be expensive, especially organic ones, and it’s the worst when you have strawberries in the fridge you know aren’t going to get eaten in time. This recipe is a great way to use up extra strawberries before they go bad and also great for underripe strawberries that wouldn’t get eaten otherwise.
Sometimes I have these with a little yogurt for dessert! I hope you enjoy!!
If you make these Healthy-ish Vegan Strawberry Muffins, tag @happily.athome on Instagram! I love to see the recipe photos!
Healthy-ish Vegan Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond milk (I use vanilla almond milk but any milk will work if not dairy free)
- 2 T apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 heaping cups strawberries, cut in medium-sized pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Add milk and apple cider vinegar to a medium sized bowl and set aside to curdle. Let it sit while you prepare the other ingredients.
- Line a muffin pan with liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and mix well.
- After the milk/vinegar has sat for at least 5-10 minutes, add to it the applesauce, sugar, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Gently combine the wet and dry ingredients. Do not over mix the batter.
- Gently fold in strawberries until just combined.
- Fill muffin cups about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out just about clean.
