These vegan bran muffins have impressively puffy tops and a soft, lightly moist texture. This is a simple bake that only requires two mixing bowls–perfect for throwing together quickly! Soaking the wheat bran ahead of time makes these muffins light; not dense. I love having one with a frothy maple sea salt latte or other hot bevvy as a little breakfast treat.
I have been working on a bran muffin recipe for over a year now! I did so many versions with cocoa, berries, nutty streusel etc., and none of them were clicking. The bran would just overpower the other flavor elements every time.
Eventually I realized that I needed to embrace the BRAN in bran muffin. It sounds silly, but that’s ultimately what led me to the finished product you see here. This is the same strategy that I adopted with my Vegan Carrot Muffins recipe (over 52 five star reviews)–just embrace the main ingredient and let it be the best it can be!
Wheat bran has a nutty, slightly sweet toasted flavor. Dark brown sugar as the primary sweetener bumps up those qualities along with warm cinnamon and vanilla. This vegan bran muffins recipe has a lot of plant-based baking staples. There’s neutral-flavored oil, molasses, and apple sauce for moisture, as well as soy milk spiked with apple cider vinegar for vegan “buttermilk.”
I use two of my favorite vegan muffin tricks here. Letting the batter rest for 15 minutes helps to hydrate the flour and wheat bran more fully. I also bake them for the first 5 minutes at a higher temperature for higher muffin tops.
I really hope that this recipe can help you fall in love with bran! Unlike a lot of breakfast muffins, these treats are actually so satisfying.
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Tender Vegan Bran Muffins with Brown Sugar & Cinnamon
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) unsweetened soy milk
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 ½ cups (96 grams) wheat bran
- 1 ½ cups + ⅓ cup (220 grams) all-purpose flour
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (107 grams) dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (120 mL) neutral-flavoured oil (such as sunflower or grapeseed)
- ¼ cup (60 mL) unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tablespoons unsulphured molasses (DO NOT use black strap)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Notes
- In my recipe tests, using cooking spray to grease the muffin tin (rather than plain oil) made the muffin tops puff up quite a bit more. Cooking spray is typically a combination of vegetable-based oils and flour. Plain oil and muffin liners will work just fine, but the tops will not be as puffy.
- The molasses that I use for baking is sometimes called “fancy molasses” on the carton.
- You could add ⅔ cup dried fruit to this muffin batter! I would use all 12 muffin cups if you’re doing that. Raisins come to mind of course, but chopped dates could also be nice.
- DO NOT forget to lower the temperature to 350°F after 5 minutes!
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Give it a quick stir. Then, add the wheat bran and stir until all of the bran is wet. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine.
- Once the 15 minutes are up, add the following to the soaked bran mixture: brown sugar, oil, apple sauce, molasses, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
- Add the wet bran mixture to the flour mixture in the large bowl. Stir until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl. This batter is thick! Let the batter rest on the counter for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and prepare your muffin tin by greasing 10 of the cups with cooking spray/oil or using paper liners (see notes).
- Once the muffin batter has rested, transfer to the prepared cups in the muffin tin. The batter will go right to the top.
- Bake the muffins at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then, lower the heat to 350°F and bake another 12-15 minutes or so. The muffins should be slightly firm when you press down on a top, and a toothpick inserted into the center of one should come out clean.
- Let the muffins cool before enjoying.
This is making me want to eat bran muffins! Also, you’ve mentioned a couple times on here that you’ve been trying to get these to your liking so I’m so glad you did! (sorry if that’s creepy to remember! lol!)
Oh also going to make them lol
The recipe looks great, I will definitely give them a try. Question about the applesauce: what is its purpose in the recipe, is that to add moisture? Asking since I have none and wondering if I can sub with coconut yogurt. Also planning to add rasins, because for me raisin-bran is the life, reducing the sugar amount by ~ 2 tablespoons in lieu of the sweetness added by rasins shouldn’t affect the recipe, or would it?
Hi Anna,
The apple sauce is there for moisture, yes. I did try a version of this recipe with coconut yogurt instead of apple sauce and did not love the results–just a warning! The acidity and sweetness of the apple sauce just worked more in its favor overall. The yogurt version seemed more dense to me. I have to be honest with you: I’m not 100% sure about subtracting 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in a version with raisins in addition to subbing coconut yogurt. When I did variations with raisins, I kept the recipe as-is (in its current iteration) and found the sweetness/moisture level to be just right.
-L
Thanks for your feedback Laura! I will wait with baking these until I buy applesauce, since I don’t want to compromise the quality. Might as well stick to original sugar amount as well.
These are fantastic! They are hearty, not too sweet and the texture is great. Mine came out looking just like the photos. I really appreciate how reliable your recipes are!
These look amazing! I can’t wait to try them. I love a warm bran muffin with a good smear of (vegan) butter.
This recipe looks great! I have a question about the molasses. I only have black strap. I would imagine that the flavor would overpower – is that the reason? Is there a decent substitute? Thanks for powering through to find this recipe.
Hi Mary Anne,
Yes, you’re right. Black strap molasses can be too bitter and sometimes salty. To replace it in this recipe, I’d go with 2 more tablespoons of the dark brown sugar.
-L
Yay, congrats on finishing this recipe, I am so stoked to try it! I work at a (not vegan) bakery and they makes bran muffins that people rave about with freshly milled bran soaked in buttermilk. I’ve always wanted to veganize the recipe so I could try them too, but now I can just use your recipe!! Thanks so much for sharing