These incredibly moist muffins are like mini vegan coffee cakes in muffin form. Soft, fluffy, and packed with warm cinnamon flavor.
They're quick to make with just 20 minutes of prep, perfect for a brunch or a sweet afternoon snack.
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🧾 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make vegan cinnamon muffins. Find the complete list of ingredient quantities and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Ingredient Notes
Brown sugar: You're welcome to use dark or light brown sugar, depending on what you have on hand. Alternatively, use a less-processed brown sugar variety such as muscovado or coconut sugar instead.
Vegan buttermilk: Make your own buttermilk with unsweetened soy milk and apple cider vinegar. You can use oat or almond milk instead if needed.
Vegan Greek-style yogurt: You can also use vegan sour cream or coconut yogurt.
📷 Step-By-Step Images & Recipe Tips
Here's a visual overview of this cinnamon streusel muffin recipe. Please refer to the detailed card at the end of this page for full written instructions.
Start by making the streusel topping so it has time to chill while you prep the rest. Just rub the vegan butter into the flour, sugar, and cinnamon using your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs, then pop it in the fridge to firm up.
Next, mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon. This will be the delicious swirl layer that adds a cinnamon roll vibe to every bite.
For the batter, whisk together the wet ingredients until smooth. The key here is not to overmix, just fold in the dry ingredients gradually until you've got a smooth, thick batter.
When filling the muffin cases, layering is everything. Start by adding just enough batter to fill them halfway, then spoon a generous sprinkle of the cinnamon sugar mixture. This gives that beautiful swirl through the middle.
Top them off with the remaining batter and finish with a generous layer of streusel.
Baking at a higher temperature for the first few minutes helps them rise nice and tall, then lowering the heat ensures they bake through without burning.
Once they're completely cooled, drizzle them with a simple glaze. You can make the glaze thicker or thinner depending on your preference - a thicker drizzle sets beautifully, while a thinner one soaks into the crumb for extra sweetness.
🧁 Variations
Pumpkin cinnamon streusel bread: If you don't have a muffin tin, don't fret. You can still enjoy the cinnamon brown sugar goodness by swapping in a standard 9x5-inch loaf tin and using the batter from my pumpkin bread, then adding the nut-free streusel topping from this recipe.
Mix-ins: Customize your muffins by folding up to ½ cup of add-ins into the batter. Great options include mini vegan chocolate chips, chopped toasted pecans, or dried fruit for extra texture and flavor.
Mix and match: Try adding this cinnamon streusel topping to any of your favorite vegan muffin recipes before baking for an easy flavor upgrade.
💭 Expert tips
Do not be tempted to overmix the batter! Overmixing causes the overdevelopment of gluten, which can result in tough muffins.
Skip every second cavity in the muffin tin to encourage tall, bakery-style muffin tops. The recipe makes 8 large muffins, so bake in two batches if needed, letting the tin cool between rounds and keeping the remaining batter chilled.
Use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop to help you fill the muffin tins without making a mess.
💬 FAQs
Place the muffins in an airtight container and store them at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for up to a week. Let them sit at room temperature for an hour before serving if stored in the fridge.
You can also freeze them in an airtight container or freezer-safe bag and defrost them for a couple of hours before serving.
To serve, gently warm the muffins in the oven to restore their fresh-baked taste.
🍎 More Vegan Apple Desserts
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Cinnamon Streusel
- 35 g (¼ cup + ½ tsp) all-purpose flour
- 40 g (⅕ cup) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 25 g (2 tbsp) vegan butter cubed
Cinnamon Sugar Filling
- 25 g brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Muffins
- 180 ml (¾ cup) soy milk or almond/oat milk *see note 1
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 118 ml (½ cup) olive oil or neutral oil like rapeseed or sunflower oil
- 80 g (⅓ cup) vegan Greek-style yogurt or vegan sour cream
- 180 g (⅘ cup) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 280 g (2 ¼ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Glaze
- 120 g (1 cup) powdered sugar *see note 2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Prepare: Preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F) and line 2 muffin trays with 10-12 muffin liners - leave a gap between each one as you will only be filling every second cavity.
- Make the streusel topping: To a medium bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients. You'll be left with a crumble consistency. Set aside in the fridge.
- Cinnamon sugar: In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.
- Make the muffin batter: To make the vegan "buttermilk" add the soy milk and apple cider vinegar to a medium bowl, stir, and allow to sit for 5 minutes.Add the olive oil, yogurt, brown sugar, and vanilla extract to a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk in the vegan buttermilk.To a separate large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. Whisk to combine.
- Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 2 parts. Fold the ingredients into the batter between each increment until there are no pockets or streaks of flour. Do not be tempted to overmix!
- Line half of the cavities in the muffin tray with muffin liners - I recommend only filling every second cavity as this promotes high muffin tops! The recipe will make 8 large muffins - so if you only have one muffin pan I recommend baking them in 2 batches, just make sure you let the pan cool between batches, and keep the muffin batter rested in the fridge until ready to use for the second batch.
- Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, distribute half of the batter amongst the muffin liners, filling them halfway. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of each muffin in an even layer.Fill each muffin case with the remaining muffin batter and sprinkle the cinnamon streusel on top.
- Bake at 200°C (392°F) for the first 5 mins, then turn down the temperature to 175°C (347°F) and bake for another 15 minutes. Check they are done by piercing them with a toothpick or a knife, the knife should come out almost clean- a few crumbs are fine. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes, then carefully lift them out of the tray and transfer them to a cooling rack to cool further for 30 minutes.
- Make the glaze: Mix together the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and non-dairy milk until smooth. You can add more or less sugar depending on whether you want it runny or thicker. Drizzle the icing on top of the muffins once they have cooled.
Notes
- Vegan Buttermilk: Soy milk works best for fluffy muffins, but you can swap it for almond milk or oat milk. Learn more in my vegan buttermilk post.
- Some white sugar in the US is not vegan, if in doubt use organic sugar.
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