I was really excited to find my favourite gluten-free flour on sale recently for a great price, and kind of went overboard in stocking up (I think I bought 7 bags, ahem). So you can expect a few gluten-free recipes in the coming weeks, like this amazing recipe for lemon blueberry muffins which I made last week on a whim.
Gluten-free, vegan and nut-free, these lemon blueberry muffins rose amazingly and turned out moist, fluffy and full of flavour. I’m kind of in love with them, and my husband couldn’t even tell that they were gluten-free!
These muffins are really easy to make and are the perfect way to take advantage of blueberry season. You could also easily sub in a different berry, or use frozen if it is the off season – just don’t let them defrost too much before you add them to the batter or you will end up with colour bleed.
So how do you make these lemon blueberry muffins?
Preheat the oven to 180 C a couple of minutes before you start your prep work to give it ample time to reach temperature. Start with the dry ingredients and combine your gluten-free flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Grate the lemon zest and add it to the dry ingredients.
For a low sodium alternative, sub the baking soda for Ener-G gluten-free, sodium free baking soda substitute (you’ll want to sub twice the amount (2 Tbsp instead of 1)).
In a second, larger bowl combine the sugar, oil, vinegar, mashed banana (I prefer to use extremely over-ripe bananas;be sure to mash it really well), the lemon extract and the apple sauce. Stir until fully blended.
Next, add the dry ingredients to the wet bowl. Use a spatula to ‘fold’ the ingredients into the wet mixture. Be careful to get any dry flour that may have fallen to the bottom of the bowl. At the same time, don’t over-mix the batter (particularly if you are using gluten-free flour) as the batter will become thick and hard to work with.
Lastly, add the blueberries and fold them into the batter, again stirring just enough to combine everything.
If the batter gets too stiff, you can add 1-2 tbsp of extra applesauce or milk to increase the moisture, but this means more stirring so only do this if it is really needed.
If you are making this recipe with regular wheat flour, just substitute the flour 1:1 and follow the remaining steps of the recipe, adjusting the final moisture of the recipe at the end if it is too thick.
Spoon the batter into lined muffin cups (you can fill them pretty close to fully if using gluten-free flour; for regular wheat flour fill to the 3/4 mark), and bake the muffins for about 14 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
You’ll want to let the muffins fully cool before eating them to really get the full impact of the flavours and to achieve the perfect texture. If you bite into the muffin while still hot, the texture will feel a bit denser than usual, but this totally changes as they cool and they achieve a perfectly fluffy consistency.
These gluten-free vegan lemon blueberry muffins are a lovely change from your usual muffin flavours and a perfect pairing for a cup of tea. My favourite? Harney & Sons Paris Tea, which has an absolutely amazing smell and always puts me in a good mood.
Here’s the recipe so you can get started on your own batch!
- 2 cups Gluten-Free (or regular) All Purpose Flour
- 1.5 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- The zest of 1 lemon (fresh)
- ½ cup cane sugar
- 1 cup soy milk (or the milk of your choice)
- ¼ cup grapeseed oil
- ½ tsp lemon extract
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup blueberries (fresh, or fresh out of the freezer)
- 1 over-ripe banana, well mashed
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a muffin tray with paper liners.
- Mix the flour, baking soda, salt and lemon zest together in a small bowl.
- In a larger bowl combine the sugar, milk, oil, lemon extract, apple cider vinegar, mashed banana and apple sauce. Stir until uniformly combined, but be careful not to over-stir if you are using gluten-free flour.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined, being careful not to miss any flour hiding at the bottom of the bowl. Again, only stir as much as is necessary.
- If you find the mixture difficult to stir, add an additional tbsp of milk or applesauce.
- Lastly, add the blueberries to the bowl and fold the batter over itself a few times until the berries are distributed throughout.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin cups. You can fill a standard (#4) muffin cup nearly to the top without worrying about it spilling over while baking.
- Bake in the oven for 14 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
- On removing from the oven, let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and letting cool fully on a cooling rack
Other Recipes You May Like
Don’t forget to check out our other easy vegan muffin recipes, all of which can be made gluten-free.
This recipe has been included in Meatless Monday
Welcome!
You read my mind!
I was craving blueberry muffins and didn’t love my existing recipe.
This looks delicious!
????
Of course I read your mind! 😉
I just ate the last one and am already craving them again, so think I’m going to have to make another batch!
I just love a good blueberry muffin!
Those muffin tops look absurdly good.
My son agreed – he ate only the tops!
I LOVE the lemon – blueberry combo. Now that’s a tasty muffin!
I loved that you used mashed banana in these muffins. They look perfect!
Thanks Chrystal! Yes, I try to keep the amount of processed sugar to a minimum and figured the moisture from the banana could only help the recipe. It ended up a perfect balance!
What a great rise on these muffins. They look fabulous, I love the flavor combination!
Thanks Amanda!
I absolutely love the combination of blueberry and lemon
it’s a favourite of mine also!
How did you get these to rise so much? They look amazing!
I think it had to do in part with this new flour I am using which is by far my new favourite gf flour, and also the fact that I gave up on baking powder and went full on baking soda and vinegar in this recipe 🙂
Was a great surprise! Am going to try breaking down the flour blend into an ingredients list to see if I can find the right proportions. Will keep you updated if I figure it out!
Those look so fluffy and yummy! The texture reminds me of the old-school Kinnikinnick bun mix which was so addictive! That said, I love the BRM 1:1 flour blend, too! It’s pretty spot on for results.
Love blueberry muffins and blueberry lemon is one of my favorite spring combo! Perfect way to brighten up a winter morning!
There’s nothing like a delicious blueberry muffin for breakfast with a nice hot coffee!
I totally agree! (though in my case with a cup of tea)
Unless I missed it (pregnancy brain makes this entirely possible), I don’t think it says how much salt in the ingredient list.
Not the pregnancy brain!! Thanks for catching that. I’ve updated the recipe (though think the salt is probably optional and would turn out well enough without)
xoxo
Are these for sure supposed to be baked at 180? I’ve never seen anything baked that low and they’ve been in the oven for 20 minutes and are still super goopy. Was trying to make them for my love before he had to go to work and there’s no way they’ll be ready in time especially with the 10 minutes cooling time. Is the temperature a misprint or did anyone else have this problem?
Hi Kylie!
Sorry to hear that your muffins didn’t bake well. I’ve made this recipe a few times with no issues, but more importantly, I think I bake pretty much all of my baked goods at 180 Celsius, and these are pretty standard times/temperatures for muffins. Are you sure you were set to 180 C and not F? That is the only reason I can think of for the result you mention.
Hope that helps!
Sarah