These delicious Cinnamon Streusel Muffins are a bakery-worthy breakfast or brunch. The fluffy muffins have an irresistible aroma of warm cinnamon, are topped with a crunchy streusel topping and sweet vanilla glaze. And, these are vegan muffins that everyone will love!
Muffins are so versatile: you can enjoy them for breakfast, brunch, or snack. They’re easily transportable, making them great road trip snacks, after-school snacks, they make a great afternoon snack, and anytime snack, really!
We love making all kinds of muffins at our house! You’ll find lots of delicious recipes for muffins on the blog. From Blackberry Banana Muffins to Apple Streusel Cinnamon Muffins, from Blueberry Chocolate Muffins to these delectable Pumpkin Banana Muffins.
Lately, we’ve been making a lot of vegan muffins, like these Vegan Zucchini Muffins. And these Vegan Cinnamon Streusel Muffins are a new fave that I’m excited to share with you!
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🌟 Why this recipe works
This vegan cinnamon streusel muffins recipe is one the whole family will love!
- Egg-free, dairy-free – I’ve reworked our base muffin recipe to give you light and fluffy muffins without any eggs, butter, or cow’s milk.
- Easy steps – This is an easy recipe that everyone from beginning home bakers to pro bakers can make!
- Simple ingredients – There are no weird ingredients in this recipe! You can find all of the ingredients easily at any local grocery store.
- Heavenly aromas and flavors – The warm spice aromas and cinnamon flavor are woven throughout the muffins and in the streusel crumb topping. These muffins smell amazing while they are baking, making your house feel all warm and cozy!
- Portable – There’s no denying it: muffins are perfectly portable snacks. This recipe makes about 12 regular-sized muffins, but you can easily bake these in a mini muffin tin to make mini muffins.
🛒 Ingredient notes
There are three main parts to these muffins: the muffin batter, streusel mixture, and vanilla glaze topping. I’ve separated out the ingredient photos so you can see which ingredients go with each part.
We’ll start with the ingredients you need to make the muffins:
- Dry ingredients – Use all-purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.
- Wet ingredients – You’ll need vegetable oil and vegan sour cream – these two ingredients help create moist muffins without the eggs! You’ll also need almond milk (but you can substitute oat milk or soy milk) and lemon juice to create the vegan buttermilk. Then you will need light brown sugar and vanilla extract.
For the streusel topping, you’ll need:
- Light brown sugar – Be sure to pack the light brown sugar into the measuring cup when you measure out your brown sugar.
- Flour – Use all-purpose flour.
- Cinnamon – Another layer of ground cinnamon in the topping takes these over the top!
- Vegan butter – Use cold vegan unsalted butter that you slice into small cubes.
Finally, these are the ingredients you’ll need to make the optional vanilla glaze:
- Powdered sugar – Use more powdered sugar if you need to thicken up the glaze.
- Almond milk – Use more almond milk if you need to thin out your glaze.
- Vanilla – Use pure vanilla extract for the best results.
✅ Step-by-step instructions
The full ingredients list with measurements, and detailed instructions, are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post. But here are step-by-step photos to help you bake the best cinnamon streusel muffins!
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.
- Start by making a vegan buttermilk by adding the lemon juice to the almond milk. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes before stirring.
- Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients for the muffin batter.
- In a stand mixer (or a separate large bowl with hand electric mixer), beat together the oil, vegan sour cream, brown sugar, and vanilla.
4. Gradually beat in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients until well incorporated. Do not overmix!
5. Use a large scoop to scoop batter into each muffin cup.
6. Fill each muffin cup leaving about 1/4″ space at the top for the streusel. The muffin batter also needs room to rise.
Next: make the streusel.
- In a separate bowl using your hands, cut together the cold vegan butter, brown sugar, flour, and vanilla extract.
- Use your fingers to press the cold butter into the other ingredients, until the texture resembles crumbly wet sand.
7. Now we go back to the muffin tin: crumble a couple of tablespoons or so of streusel topping on top of the muffin batter. Divide as evenly as possible until all streusel topping is used.
8. Bake muffins at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350°F and bake for 12-15 more minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean.
While the muffins cool down, make the vanilla glaze. In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, almond milk, and vanilla until smooth. If you want a thicker glaze, gradually whisk in more powdered sugar, in teaspoon-size increments, until you get the desired thickness. If you want a thinner glaze, whisk in more almond milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until you get the desired thickness.
Once the muffins have cooled, drizzle the glaze over the tops.
👩🏻🍳 Baking tips and recipe FAQs
Baking tips:
- Take care not to overmix the muffin batter. This can result in dense muffins.
- Make sure the muffins have cooled completely before adding the glaze. If you try to add the glaze onto hot muffins, the glaze will melt right into the streusel. The muffins will taste fine, you just won’t see the glaze on top.
- Baking the muffins at 400°F for the first five minutes helps create those bakery-style tall muffin tops that everyone loves.
Store these cinnamon cake muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week.
Yes! Allow the muffins to cool completely, then store in freezer bags or airtight freezer-safe containers in the freezer for up to two months.
🍽 Serving ideas
- Make a beautiful brunch – Add these tasty muffins to a brunch charcuterie board with Cheese and Spinach Mini Frittatas and Fruit Salad. Serve these delicious bites with raspberry bellinis or a Tropical Rosé Summer Sangria.
- Pack portable snacks – Heading out on the road? Add these moist muffins to your road trip snack pack along with Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Balls, Raspberry Crumble Bars,
- Set out a home bakery spread – Having friends over or want to set out a special weekend family breakfast or brunch? Serve these cinnamon crumble muffins along with Banana Coffee Crumb Cake, Almond Croissants, and Blackberry Scones with Blackberry Glaze.
🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment
Ready to make this cinnamon streusel muffins recipe? Here are the kitchen tools and equipment you’ll need:
- Large bowls – You will need large mixing bowls.
- Whisk – I like to use a balloon whisk when mixing together dry ingredients.
- Stand mixer – You’ll need a stand mixer to mix all of the ingredients together. Or you can use a separate large bowl with a hand electric mixer.
- Cooling rack – Use a cooling rack to cool down the muffins.
More muffin recipes
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Vegan Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Equipment
- Cupcake liners
Ingredients
For the muffins
- ¾ cup almond milk
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon1 ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup vegan sour cream
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
For the Streusel
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted vegan butter, cold and cubed
Optional: For the Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons almond milk, plus more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F, Line two 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners and set aside.
Make the muffin batter
- In a large measuring cup or medium bowl, add the almond milk and lemon juice. Set aside and allow to sit for 5 minutes; this creates a vegan buttermilk.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a separate large mixing bowl and using a hand mixer), beat together the almond milk/lemon juice mixture, vegetable oil, sour cream, and light brown sugar.
- Gradually beat in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
- Scoop or pour muffin batter into each prepared lined muffin tin, about ¾ of the way full, leaving a little room at the top for the muffins to rise.
Make the streusel
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, and ground cinnamon.
- Cut in the cold cubed butter using your hands, until the streusel resembles course crumbles.
- Sprinkle some streusel over the tops of each muffin batter.
- Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350°F and continue baking for 12-15 more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Make top optional glaze
- While the muffins are baking, whisk all of the glaze ingredients in a bowl until smooth and creamy.
- Once muffins have baked and cooled for about 5-10 minutes, drizzle the glaze, if using, over each muffin.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
