Vegan Strawberry Crumble Muffins

Created by Laura Wright
5 from 7 votes

Vegan strawberry crumble muffins are tender, full of fruit, and perfectly finished with a buttery and crunchy pecan topping.

Vegan strawberry crumble muffins

When I was working on recipes for my cookbook a million years ago, I made this amazing batch of rhubarb crumble muffins. They were light, fluffy, perfectly domed, and finished with a crunchy crumble topping. I was so proud of this because they didn’t rely on banana or pumpkin, and the texture was still spot on. Vegan quick breads/cakes can be a challenge because of the lack of eggs, so it felt like a major success. I had the recipe scribbled on a scrap piece of paper that was tucked inside of a notebook. OF COURSE I lost that little sheet of paper and the recipe was gone forever. I tried to recreate them from memory a bunch of times and it just never clicked. I stopped trying after several lacklustre batches and got really sick of muffins as a general entity!

After an abundant strawberry and rhubarb harvest season, I decided I was going step up my muffin game and lock this recipe down. This final recipe is different than the original lost rhubarb muffin. That one had a significant amount of almond flour and was sweetened with maple syrup. This version is a bit simpler, relying on white whole wheat flour and granulated sweetener.

For a long time, I avoided using granulated sweeteners, always favouring maple syrup because of concerns over which option is more refined, which one has more nutrients etc. There’s some undeniable internalized messaging about health and diet going on there! We all have it to some degree. I have been working on rooting out this mentality with a lot more intention lately. Ultimately, I don’t have a wheat/other grain sensitivity, this recipe is naturally free of animal products (like always!), and if I’m having a treat, I want it to really feel and eat like a treat. Sugar is sugar, ya know? Of course I still love salads, the occasional grain-free treat, and the natural goodness of vegetables. Those things all have their place here and in my life! But so does vegan butter and sugar from time to time.

These crumble muffins are seriously tender and perfectly sweet. They would be great with all kinds of summer fruit. Chopped nectarines, peaches or plums, or whole blueberries and raspberries. Cardamom would be a dream in place of the cinnamon. And you could definitely swap light spelt flour, all purpose, or any wheat-based flour for the white whole wheat! It’s a pantry-friendly treat that comes together nice and quick. The perfect little bite with a cup of coffee. Hope you give them a try soon :)

Vegan strawberry crumble muffins
Vegan strawberry crumble muffins

Vegan Strawberry Crumble Muffins

Vegan strawberry crumble muffins are tender, full of fruit, and perfectly finished with a buttery and crunchy pecan topping.
5 from 7 votes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings 9

Ingredients

TOPPING:

  • ¼ cup pecan halves, chopped
  • tablespoons coconut palm sugar
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • teaspoons cold vegan butter

MUFFINS:

  • ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon ground flax seed
  • ½ cup non-dairy milk
  • cups white whole wheat flour
  • cup coconut palm sugar
  • teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
  • ¼ cup neutral-tasting oil such as sunflower, refined coconut or avocado
  • tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest, optional
  • cups chopped strawberries

Notes

  • You can substitute light or dark brown sugar for the coconut palm sugar. White whole wheat can be substituted with light spelt or any wheat-based flour.
  • The coconut palm sugar provides most of the structure for the muffin, so unfortunately I cannot recommend how you would go about replacing it with maple/other liquid sweeteners.
  • I don’t recommend using oil in place of the vegan butter with the crumble topping! From my experience, crumble toppings that use oil always get super hard or just fall right off of muffins.
  • If you want to go all vegan butter for this recipe, you can definitely replace the ¼ cup oil with ¼ cup melted and cooled vegan butter. Miyoko’s Creamery makes my favourite vegan butter.
  • Any chopped up or naturally small summer fruit is great in this recipe. Peaches, blueberries etc!

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lightly grease 9 cups of a standard size muffin tin and set aside.
  • Make the topping. In a small bowl, whisk together the chopped pecans, coconut palm sugar, and cinnamon. Add the vegan butter to the bowl and mix it in with your fingers, breaking up the bits of butter and working them into the sugar and pecans. Once you have a sandy texture, set aside in the refrigerator.
  • Make the muffins. In a small bowl, combine the apple cider vinegar, ground flax seed, and non-dairy milk. Give it a quick stir and let the mixture thicken for 5 minutes or so.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the white whole wheat flour, coconut palm sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the non-dairy milk and flax seed mixture, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and citrus zest (if using). Once combined, add the liquid mixture to the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the chopped strawberries as well. Stir the batter together with rubber spatula until JUST combined. There should still be a few little dry flecks of flour in the batter. This is fine!
  • Using a ⅓ cup measure, portion the batter out into the 9 greased muffin cups. Retrieve your crumble topping from the fridge and sprinkle it evenly over the top of each muffin. Fill the the remaining 3 empty muffin cups up to the halfway point with water. This step just ensures even weight and moisture distribution! It's optional if you're feeling lazy ;)
  • Bake the strawberry crumble muffins for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick/paring knife poked into the center of one comes out clean. Let the muffins cool completely in the pan before eating.
08/07/2020 (Last Updated 14/03/2024)
Posted in: autumn, breakfast, dessert, snack, spring, summer, sweet, vegan, winter

28 comments

5 from 7 votes (3 ratings without comment)

Recipe Rating





  • Emilia

    5 stars
    Made these for brunch and absolutely loved them! I substituted some freshly ground Einkorn flour for maybe half of the wheat flour and used light brown sugar instead of coconut palm sugar. They turned out light and super flavorful, with lots of strawberries. Gonna try this recipe with damson plums next!

  • Abby

    Hi Laura! I’m planning on making these to use some farm stand strawberries. I don’t have any coconut palm sugar – would you recommend subbing regular granulated sugar, brown sugar, turbinado or a mix? Thanks!

    • Laura Wright

      Hi Abby! Brown sugar is a great substitute here :)
      -L

      • Abby S

        5 stars
        Thank you Laura, and my apologies – I realized you had already answered this question in the recipe notes!

        I made these last night using brown sugar, and a mix of spelt, whole wheat, and all-purpose flour. They turned out delicious, so fluffy and tender!

  • Linda C

    Could frozen strawberries be used for this recipe. Thank you.

    • Laura Wright

      Hi Linda,
      I think they would work fine. I’d thaw them first and drain the excess liquid in a colander first.
      -L

  • Emily

    Another delicious and easy recipe from your website. Thanks!

  • Jehan

    5 stars
    These are amazing!!!! I only made 8 muffins, but that’s fine with me! Can’t wait to make again with some blueberries. 
    Question- how long do these last for? Can you freeze? If so, for how long?

    • Laura

      Hi Jehan,
      If you wrap the muffins up, they last on the counter for about 3 days. You can freeze them for 3 months if you wrap them nice and snug :)
      -L

  • Maria

    5 stars
    I made these with red currants and they turned out the perfect combination of sweet and tart! Also I just had regular flour at hand and it worked fine.

  • Barbora

    Hi, I really like this recipe, but I don’t have any vegan butter, do you think it is possible to use nut butter instead? 

    • Laura

      Hi Barbora,
      I have made traditional oat crumble toppings with tahini as the fat before and it was successful. The texture is slightly different (not as buttery or crunchy), but still pretty good. I’d say if you have tahini or a nut butter that’s on the more runny side, you could definitely try it as a substitution here. Just know that I haven’t done this myself in this particular recipe so can’t vouch for a success rate.
      -L

  • Msaggau

    Just made these.  Ate one, then two more immediately.  Perfect.  High bakery style dome, moist, sweet, delicious.

  • heather

    Could you use brown sugar instead of palm sugar?

  • Veronica

    I’ve already made these twice this week! The first time as the recipe is written and the second time with blueberries. Both were fantastic! Thanks for the recipe :)

  • Chelsea

    In case anyone else is gluten intolerant and wants to make this recipe – I substituted the whole wheat flour with buckwheat flour and they turned out really nice. Super fluffy and moist!

    Thanks so much for the recipe!

    • Laura

      Thanks so much for this helpful feedback, Chelsea! Really appreciate it :)
      -L

  • Jennifer

    Made these last night and loved them! Have been looking for a good muffin recipe and finally found one, and will rotate fruit. Thanks for all your recipes – this is my go to site!

  • karyn hall

    Yum!! Those are good, just made them with fresh strawberries and so delish and easy. Thanks so much, maybe I’ll try another batch with blueberries.

  • Chloé

    I made them this afternoon and they turned out to be perfect!
    So moist and tasty, we just loved them!
    I’ll keep the recipe and try with other seasonable fruits.
    Thanks so much !

  • Larissa

    Made these as a treat with fresh picked strawberries this weekend. They were so moist and tasty! Definitely going to be making them again. Thanks Laura!

  • Tobi

    These were amazing!!! Thank you for your recipes. You really are the best!

  • Emily

    I made these today for family and they were excellent! Threw in some blueberries and cardamom as well and they’re just perfect. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe Laura :) xxx

  • Kinara

    I made these this morning for company. I doubled the recipe, used half rhubarb and half pear, replaced half of the fat with pureed prune, and replaced half of the cinnamon with cardamom. They were fantastic!! Five stars!

    • Kay

      Made these with blueberries and they came out great! Perfect for summer snacking or an easy breakfast.

  • Jane Vandendriesche

    Sounds delicious. I am definitely going too try it.

  • Mona

    I’m about to begin making these with peaches. I’m wondering, though, why do the directions say to “Fill the empty muffin cups up to the halfway point with water?” I’m going to assume that adding the crumble topping is the last step, no? Thank you in advance and I’ll be sure to report back with the results!

    • Laura

      Hi Mona,
      To clarify, since this muffin recipe makes 9 muffins and typical muffin tins have 12 cups, I advise on filling the remaining 3 empty muffin cups to the halfway point with water just to keep the weight balance and moisture levels even throughout the pan. This is an optional step to be honest!
      -L