World, meet Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffin.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffin, meet world.
You guys, I haven’t been this excited about a recipe since, I don’t even know when! I have so many things to tell you about these muffins.
For starters, they’re:
Vegan
Gluten-Free
& Naturally sweetened
Not to mention, they require just 1 bowl and can be made and devoured in 1 hour flat!
It was a little touch and go with these muffins as I didn’t know how the jam would react with the batter, but they turned out beautifully! I think I audibly squealed at the first bite. They taste just like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
You guys are simply going to LOVE these muffins. They’re:
Tender on the inside
Loaded with PB & J
Crumbly
Perfectly sweetened
Seriously substantial
Loaded with protein (nearly 6 grams per muffin!)
& Simple!
How can you go wrong with a 1-bowl muffin that looks bakery-worthy?
If you try this recipe, help us out by leaving a comment and rating it! And don’t forget to snap a picture and tag it #minimalistbaker on Instagram so we can see what you bake up. Cheers, friends!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Muffins (Vegan + GF)
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal (to make flax eggs)
- 5 Tbsp water (to make flax eggs)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or agave nectar (sub honey if not vegan)
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or sub cane sugar)
- 1/4 cup melted coconut oil, grape seed oil or olive oil
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup salted creamy or crunchy peanut butter (+ more for topping)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk or water
- 3/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup almond meal
- 3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend* (if not gluten-free, sub whole-wheat pastry or unbleached all-purpose)
- 8-9 tsp strawberry jam (look for naturally sweetened to keep these refined sugar-free)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C) and line a standard muffin tin with 12 paper liners, or lightly grease and flour (with GF flour) and shake out excess (which I found to work well!).
- Prepare flax eggs in a large mixing bowl by mixing flaxseed meal and water and let rest for a few minutes.
- Add maple syrup, coconut sugar, oil and whisk vigorously to combine and dissolve sugar crystals.
- Add applesauce, peanut butter, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and apple cider vinegar and whisk to combine.
- Add almond milk and whisk again to combine.
- Lastly, add gluten free flour, almond meal, and oats and whisk or stir until just combined. The batter should be quite thick but NOT pourable – rather, scoopable.
- Pour batter into muffin tins a generous 3/4 full and top with 3/4 tsp strawberry jam and 1/4 tsp more peanut butter. Swirl with a toothpick to distribute (see photo), being careful not to get the jam too close to the edges or it can seep over while baking and get too browned.
- Bake on a center-positioned rack for 26-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (be sure to poke a spot that isn’t too jam heavy or you can get a little residual moisture).
- Let cool for 20 minutes in the pan (to continue baking/firming up a little), then loosen with a butter knife and gently lift out, using the knife to help if needed, to let cool completely on a plate. Can be a little tender before completely cooled, so be patient my young ones!
- Will keep covered at room temperature for several days. Freeze for long-term storage.
Video
Notes
*I think adding a crumble top to these would be fun! Find the crumble recipe here and swap the flour for gluten-free, as well as the cane for coconut, brown or muscovado! Both coconut oil and vegan butter will work fine.
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated using coconut oil and almond milk.
SNL says
I made these with eggs sub for flax eggs (using grams) and white spelt flour sub for GF flour (again using grams). I assumed spelt sub would dry out the cake so added 20ml more almond milk which worked perfectly! 1.25x recipe in a 9in springform cake tin for 50 minutes (easier to store cake than muffins lol). Love that the cake is less sweet so jam (homemade chia seed jam) shines!! Question, any ideas if Nutella like spread (“Bonne Maman Hazelnut Chocolate Spread” without palm oil) could substitute peanut butter given it’s part hazelnut butter?
Amazing! Thank you for sharing! We think a Nutella-like spread would be incredible. It may make them a bit sweeter. We’d love to hear if you try it!
prashanthi aturi says
I am thinking about making this oil-free! First I am planning on leaving out the applesauce, almond milk, and apple cider vinegar to not be too moist. My sister’s birthday is tomorrow so……perfection please! I would like to hear your thoughts as professionals.
Hi Prashanthi, we think the ratio of wet to dry ingredients will be thrown off too much with those modifications. We’d recommend keeping the applesauce for moisture and sweetness and the apple cider vinegar because it’s just a small amount and will activate the baking soda.
Katie says
I don’t have almond meal, what can I sub?
Hi Katie, the next best option would be cashew flour or another nut or seed meal. Hope that helps!
Jacquelyn says
Love your recipes! This was delicious! Apparently my muffin tins didn’t make it when I moved, so I put this in a loaf pan. Had to increase the cooking time, obviously, and lower the temp. It was really scrumptious! I’m allergic to eggs so I just love that you have so many recipes that accommodate my GF egg free diet.
Aw, thank you so much for your kind words and lovely review, Jacquelyn! We’re so glad our recipes are helpful! xoxo
SGB says
I love these! I have made them twice and both times they came out perfect.
Amazing! We’re so glad you love this recipe. Thank you for the lovely review! xo
April says
I’ve made these many times, and they are delicious. My 10-year-old, however, isn’t crazy about the texture of the oats. Do you think the muffins would be okay if I left them out? Thanks so much!
We’re so glad you enjoy them, April! Thank you for sharing! We’d suggest blending them up slightly in a food processor. If you leave them out, the texture will likely be a bit too moist unless reducing the amount of almond milk/water. Hope that helps!
Tammy says
I made a modified version of your recipe.
I wanted less sweetness, the end result of my modified recipe and your recipe was moist, fluffy and not sweet at all. But what surprised me was that the muffin baked at 350 for 24 minutes tasted mildly burnt.
So I will make another new recipe. Bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes or 325 for 25 minutes?
Hm, since the texture was good, we’re hesitant to say reduce the bake time, but you could try it! Is it possible you were using a dark roasted peanut butter and that caused the burnt taste?
Nancy derhammer says
How do I switch the flax seed and water and just use an egg
Hi Nancy, you would replace the 2 Tbsp flaxseed meal and 5 Tbsp water with 2 small eggs. We haven’t tested this recipe with eggs, but we think it should work! Let us know how it goes!
Christina says
I am not gluten free and so used a mix of white and whole wheat flour in place of the almond meal and gluten free flour. The muffins came out great! I’m definitely saving this recipe. Thank you!
Amazing! Thanks so much for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Christina!
Anna says
I used 1/2 teaspoon jelly and I really wished I would have used more. The flavor is definitely more earthy than sweet, so the jelly on the top would have been soo good. These came out nice and moist and delicious.
Thanks for the review, Anna!
Jaime says
These were excellent. I quickly made some chia jam by mixing 2 c. melted berries with 2 Tbsp chia and half a lemon. I subbed with ingredients I had around…Instead of GF flour I used an extra 1/4 c. almond flour, 1/4 c. Cassava flour, and 1/4 c. Sorghum flour with 1 Tbsp of tapioca starch. I only used 2 Tbsp maple syrup and 1/4 cup sugar and the muffins were plenty sweet for me. Cooked the full amount of time. Anyways, wonderful recipe. My kids loved them too.
Smart! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed them! Thank you for the lovely review and for sharing your modifications, Jaime! xo
Sasha says
Would I be able to make this in 2 6-inch cake pans? Or even just 1 8-inch pan? Thank you!
Hi Sasha, we haven’t tried that and aren’t sure the texture would be as nice. Alternatively, you could make this similar recipe in cake pans. Hope that helps!
Ingrid says
I loved these! I didn’t have enough applesauce so topped up with mashed banana & it worked out great :-) Moist, soft, delicious!
Great! Thank you for sharing, Ingrid!
Jasmina says
These muffins are so so good!!!
I used honey since I had a lot of it, and white spelt flour instead of gluten-free mix, turned out great! They’re juicy, definitely not dry, wholesome and jummy!
Amazing! Thank you for the lovely review and sharing your modifications, Jasmina! xo
Jen says
So what do you what if you desperately want to make these and don’t have gluten allergies. can you replace everything with flour and oats?
Hi Jen, even if you don’t have gluten allergies, they’re delicious as written =) But you can also use rolled oats that aren’t certified gluten-free and can use a lesser amount of all purpose flour in place of the GF blend. Hope that helps!
Sky says
I’ve made these a few times and they always turn out great. I like to serve them warmed up with some earth balance and extra jam. The recipe yields 9 muffins for me- not 12.
Ooo, delish! Thanks for the kind review, Sky! xo
Tammy says
Hi..I’m baking a modified gf version of these muffins now! I did not add jelly or jam and used oat bran with flaxmeal. No applesauce or coconut sugar either, substituted honey-maple syrup. The batter was a salty sweet peanut butter flavor. It yieled 7 round muffins. I am looking forward to a warm muffin, soon! Thank you for the original recipe which I modified. I want to try a different nut butter and reduce the sweetness for a new recipe.
Tiferet Schafler says
Hi! If I don’t want to make flax eggs is there something else I can substitute?
Hi Tiferet, perhaps chia eggs or chicken eggs (if not vegan).
Maria says
Is there a replacement for almond meal?
Hi Maria, the next best option would be cashew flour or another nut or seed meal. Hope that helps!
Carolyn says
I only have coconut flour on hand. How much should I use in place of the flour blend?
Hi Carolyn, we aren’t sure that would work. But if you try it, we’d suggest using less coconut flour.
Morgan says
Moist and delicious! I made mini muffins and they needed about 20 min in the oven. 👍 My kids devoured them.
Whoop! Thanks for sharing, Morgan!
Carly says
These are the absolute BEST muffins I have ever tasted!! I used normal flour and they still turned out amazing. Thank you SO much for this amazing recipe. These will definitely be a staple in our household.
Whoop! We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Carly! Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Heena says
These muffins are soooo moist! Thank you for all the great recipes.
We’re so glad you enjoy them, Heena! Thanks for sharing!
Tiffany says
We love this recipe. This time I made them with my two year old – she LOVES the gooey jam on top!! Didn’t have applesauce on hand so I used a bit of mashed banana and about a tablespoon of cashew yogurt, the result was just as moist and delicious as with the applesauce. The banana crumb muffins are another fave, thank you for sharing amazing recipes with us!!
Yay! We’re so glad she enjoys them! Thanks so much for the lovely review, Tiffany!
Rosemarie sturiale says
Can I use almond flour?
Yes!
Michelle says
So delicious! These are a favorite. My 18 month old grand baby loved these too. I did not have oatmeal so I used oat flour and a half a cup of homemade granola in place of the oatmeal. Very nutritious recipe!
We’re so glad you both enjoy them =) Thanks so much for the lovely review, Michelle! xo
Brooke says
I would love to make these, our family is not gluten free or vegan so I’m trying to figure out what I have…. can regular eggs be subbed for the flax eggs? Would it still be two?
Hi Brooke, we haven’t tried it that way, but yes, 2 chicken eggs might work! Let us know how it goes!
Denise says
Yum! Made these for boys going back to college! Loved them! I made one change that really worked out. I filled the tin about half way then dropped in a bit of jam and a bit of peanut butter. Covered that with the remaining 1/4 batter and baked. Made an amazing peanut butter and jelly filled muffin!
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Denise. We are so glad everyone enjoyed them! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Katherine Poulis says
Loved this recipe. Muffins came out amazing.i did however use 1 egg instead of the flax and I didn’t have any gf flour so I used cassava flour instead and it worked perfectly! I will be making these again.
Tarina says
This is really good. It came out perfect. I did not have apple cider vinegar, and used white vingegar instead.
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Tarina. We are so glad you enjoyed them! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Jessica says
I used regular eggs, honey for the maple syrup, cashew milk, bananas for the applesauce and buckwheat flour in place of the gf blend so they were still gf. So amazing!
So kind! Thanks for sharing, Jessica!
Paula Rothman says
Doesn’t say when to add egg
Hi Paula, the recipe starts with making the flax egg in a large mixing bowl and then everything else gets added to that bowl. Hope that clarifies!
Britt says
I just realized that the F to C conversion is incorrect. I’m in Sweden, and my muffins are in the oven, but they were at the temp C you wrote. I noticed they were cooking fast, and double checked. The C should be 176.7. Thanks.
Thanks for letting us know, Britt! It’s been updated.
Jenn says
These look delicious! Can I swap swerve for the maple syrup and the regular sugar or would you suggest just swapping it for the regular sugar?
And what about nonfat greek yogurt for the oil? Looking forward to trying!
Maple might work, but you may need to compensate with additional dry ingredients. We aren’t sure about the greek yogurt. Let us know if you give it a try!
Leah Carlson says
This is a great recipe – I use 100% pastry flour and melted earths best butter instead of coconut oil. Love using this as a base and swapping out jelly for chocolate, apple, and more !
Anne says
I make these all the time. They never last long; we love them.
We’re so glad you enjoy them, Anne! xo
Meredith says
These muffins are amazing!! I love the recipe as is, and the muffins have been a hit with whomever I’ve shared them with. I usually replace the GF flour with all purpose, as I don’t need to be gluten free, and I love the texture that the mix of flour, almond flour, and oats create. I’ve also subbed a variety of nut butters with good results.
This recipe also stands as a great base recipe for other vegan muffins. I recently made Peanutbutter Pumpkin Crumb muffins, replacing the applesauce with canned pumpkin, adding some fall spices, and topping with Minimalist Baker’s crumb topping (she links to it above) rather than PB&J swirl. The result was equally delicious!
We’re so glad you enjoy them, Meredith! Thanks so much for sharing your experience!
Marlee says
Hi there! I made a nut free version of these with my students – swapped peanut butter with sun butter, almond flour for coconut flour, and water instead of almond milk. They smell and taste great, but when I cut the muffins in half to serve the inside was a dark blue! Any reason for this? Thanks!
Marlee says
Nevermind – I googled it and apparently sunflower seeds contain chlorophyll that has a reaction when baked with baking soda!
Jo says
These are SO good!!! Really hit the spot for me today. My daughter loved them too.
Erin Talbot says
I absolutely LOVE these muffins, cannot stop making them! I have subbed mashed banana for the apple sauce and prefer the recipe with this mod. They freeze extremely well, however, we honestly can barely keep the muffins in the house.
They’re a fave for us, too! xoxo
LORI S friedlander says
Can these be made early and frozen?
I think so, yes!
Michelle Connor says
Absolutely delicious!
Emily says
I didn’t have any applesauce so I used a can of whipped chickpea water instead and it worked perfectly!
Michelle Connor says
These muffins were super easy to make. They are absolutely delicious! I used pear sauce instead of applesauce because that’s what I had on hand and they came out perfect.
Darlene says
Can you substitute part of the applesauce with coconut oil? I need to make a vegan KETO baked good for a friend of mine so I am thinking you like low fat so subbed the oil for applesauce maybe? I am thinking 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 applesauce or maybe even flip so 1/4 cup applesauce and 3/4 cup coconut oil?
Hi Darlene, we haven’t tried that and think it might turn out too oily. But if you give it a try, we would love to hear how it goes!
Linsey says
Can I use something else to sub in for the applesauce? I wanna make them right now but I’m out of applesauce :(
Linsey says
I used mashed banana, same amount and it worked out great!!
Other readers have used 1 mashed banana, coconut yogurt, or grated apple. Hope that helps!
Kerry says
These muffins are spectacular!!!! I used all-purpose flour instead of GF and raw cane sugar instead of coconut, but there are so many other nutritious ingredients, I don’t mind that it’s not quite as healthy. I blended the oats to make oat flour and that gave it a super smooth texture. (I do this with the chocolate chip oat pancakes, too!) My husband and co-workers loved them. Will definitely make these again. Thanks for the recipe!
Whoop! Glad to hear that, Kerry!
MALYNDA S ROBINSON says
I used honey instead of maple syrup, and I used brown sugar instead of cane sugar because that’s what I had on hand. They turned out awesome! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Malynda. We are so glad you enjoyed them! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Vera F says
I made both this recipe and your apple, carrot, banana muffins this morning and they were both amazing! I used cashew milk (was out of almond), cane sugar and unbleached all purpose flour. My husband can’t stop eating them. So good, moist and light; enough of the pb&j to taste the flavors but not overwhelming. Will definitely make these again! Thank you for the recipes ?
Katie Bates says
These were out of this world! I subbed a chia egg for the flax eggs and instead of all purpose flour I used PB2. They turned out great! So peanut buttery and delicious and amazing.
Meaghan says
Hi! I have been trying to incorporate more vegan food and recipes into my life over the last few years and I love your recipes!
I was wondering – did you use natural or store bought PB? Does it matter? I plan on using natural PB but wonder if the texture will affect the muffins?
Thanks so much!
Meaghan
We use natural peanut butter and it works well!
Andrew says
Realized I left my stainless steel muffin tin far far away at my old house and had nothing to bake with except for my trusty iron skillet. I made it anyways and now I’ve got a lovely and superbly delicious vegan peanut butter and jelly muffin pie!! Baked for 32+ minutes.
So smart!
Joanne says
Hi,
Please tell me what a flax egg. This recipe looks so good! Thank you!
You can find out more info here!
Lilly says
delicious :) made it last night and they were gone with in 10min
thank you for all your work
That’s a win in our books, Lilly! :D
Sarah says
Love!!! I started baking before checking my ingredients – oops – so I used 1 mashed banana in place of the applesauce. Worked beautifully!
Nechama says
I’m ‘really’ gluten free and cannot eat gf oats. So, can I sub with some peanut flour? And how much? Thanks
I would recommend using peanut meal!
Nechama says
thank you for responding. I live overseas and have never seen peanut meal. I have Hazelnut meal, or maybe some other ground nut meal? In the same quantity?
Thanks
Its worth a try, Nechama! If you give it a go, report back!
Heather says
delicious muffins! Just FYI, there is not a step to add in the flax egg after you make it, so I promptly set it aside and forgot about it until my muffins were baking! They still turned out ok though:) I’m sure most people just caught it and added it in, but I thought I would mention just in case there are others like me! Thanks for all of these delicious muffin recipes! I can’t wait to try them all!
Sandy says
I made these on Sunday for my children and the ones who are not allergic to nuts liked them very much….moist and not too sweet. Thank you.