Vegan English Muffins You’ll Love – From Scratch!

These delicious, hearty vegan English muffins are surprisingly simple to make, and look fancy enough for any occasion!

Try them for breakfast with jam, vegan butter or cream cheese, peanut butter, or as avocado toast!

Alternatively, pile them with hummus and veggies and pack them for a healthy and satisfying lunch.

Are English muffins vegan?

Typically, English muffins contain some dairy products, often milk, buttermilk, and/or butter.

You can find some store bought English muffins that happen to be vegan, but be sure to check the label.

Here, we use almond milk (or a plant-based milk of your choice) in place of dairy milk/buttermilk, and olive oil in place of melted butter.

Note: this works for me since I prefer savory toppings, but some people don’t care for the flavor of olive oil, so try a more neutral oil like canola if you plan on using sweeter toppings like jam.

Can you find store-bought vegan English muffins? What brand?

At my local grocery store, I found Dave’s Killer Bread brand English muffins that are vegan, but of course ingredients can change, so always read the label or make your own if this is a concern!

How to maximize nooks and crannies

The longer you let your dough rise, the more air bubbles will form, and the more delightful pockets for melted vegan butter to collect in.

Feel free to make this dough the night before and let it rise in the fridge overnight, or to increase the rise times however suits your schedule.

In addition, rather than slicing these vegan English muffins in half using a bread knife, you can fork split them.

For this, you simply insert a fork about halfway through the side of the muffin, and keep doing that all the way around. Then, you can just pull the halves apart with your hands and toast them.

Why use “milk” instead of water in English muffins?

The sugars in milk, plant-based or especially dairy, provide food for the yeast to activate and bubble up. This can also help with creating more nooks and crannies.

For this reason, some people add sugar as well. However, as someone who has successfully made plain bread with just flour, yeast, salt, and water, I felt that was overkill, and stuck with a no sugar added vegan English muffin recipe.

In addition, milk yields a richer flavor than water in bread and may help it brown more quickly.

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How long can you keep English muffins out?

These vegan English muffins should stay fresh for up to 4 days (if they last that long) on your counter at room temperature, in an airtight bag. (In hot weather, maybe pop them into the fridge.)

Can you freeze these vegan English muffins?

Yes, you can! Just place the muffins in an airtight freezer bag or container first, and they should stay fresh for a couple months.

For ease of use, slice them in half before you freeze them. That makes it easier to just pop them in the toaster to defrost them.

If you are thawing more than one, you can set them out the day before you will need them.

Toasting suggestions

A standard bread toaster does an excellent job at crisping up the insides of these vegan English muffins, and is my preferred choice.

However, if you are toasting lots of English muffins to feed a crowd, you can also toast them in the oven, toaster oven, or air fryer.

In the oven, for quick results, try broiling them – but keep a close watch on your food! It’s all too easy to accidentally burn things on the broil setting. Check them after 90 seconds, and then watch them until they are crispy enough for your taste.

Can you make these vegan English muffins gluten-free?

If you use a gluten-free flour, you absolutely can. My understanding is that the texture will be different and more crumbly, but they should still taste great!

Another blog has a recipe for gluten-free English muffins, and a quick history of their origin (their recipe is not vegan, so just swap the milk and butter for plant-based versions as we did here.)

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Variations on this recipe

“Buttermilk” Vegan English Muffins

First, make vegan buttermilk by mixing a cup of plant-based milk (almond, soy, etc.) with a tablespoon of an acid of your choice: lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar each work well.

Let it sit and thicken/curdle for a minute or so, stir, and add in the rest of your ingredients!

Flavored Vegan English Muffins

Feel free to add in extra ingredients for more flavor. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Cinnamon raisin
• Fruit and seed: add in flax seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, dried cranberries, finely-chopped apple, etc.
• Onion: add dehydrated onion

Serving suggestions/vegan spread recipes

• Hummus
• Guacamole
• Raspberry Melba sauce (think jam but not gelled)
• Gianduja (the original Nutella – make sure to use vegan chocolate if applicable)
• Goiabada (guava paste)
• As a base for vegan garlic bread or vegan mini-pizzas
• With these vegan, gluten-free chickpea patties for an easy veggie burger

Related vegan breakfast recipes

• Silken tofu scramble
• Vegan monkey bread
• Strawberry banana smoothie bowl

Vegan English Muffins – Ingredients List

Before you begin, you will need:

Edible Ingredients

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour + extra for rolling
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 3 Tbsp olive oil (or oil of your choice)
• 2 tsp dry active yeast (one 7 gram package works, or 2 1/4 tsp if you are not at high altitude)
• 1 tsp salt
• Cooking spray or extra oil for frying
• Cornmeal, for dusting the edges (optional)

Tools and Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Stand mixer (optional but makes it easier) or stirring utensil
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Rolling pin
• Glass, jar, or round biscuit cutter
• Skillet
• Cling wrap or damp tea towel to cover the dough

How to Make Homemade Vegan English Muffins

Prep the dough and let it rise

1. To begin, heat the almond milk to lukewarm (60 seconds in the microwave should get you pretty close), and add it to a large mixing bowl.
2. After that, stir in the yeast, salt, and olive oil, and while the yeast is activating with the warm milk, measure out your flour, adding one cup at a time and slowing stirring it in.
3. Keep stirring or leave in the stand mixer several minutes, until dough is thoroughly combined. It may seem a little sticky, but you don’t need to add extra flour. Cover and place in a warm spot for an hour or so, or until the dough doubles in size.
4. While the dough is rising, set up a flat station for rolling out your dough, and lightly sprinkle flour on the surface. Locate a round biscuit cutter, or a drinking glass or jar to cut out the muffins. The cup I used had a 3 inch diameter.

Roll, shape, and second rise

1. When the dough has doubled in size, roll it out on your surface to about 1/2 inch thickness. Then, cut out your biscuits and set them on a cookie sheet or plate. (If you have cornmeal, here is where you can pour some on a plate and press each biscuit into it on both sides.)
2. Once all the dough has been cut into biscuits, let them rise a second time for 30 minutes or until they become puffy.

Pan fry

1. After that, heat a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add cooking spray or oil and place four vegan English muffins in the skillet, spaced out so they are not touching. Cook for about 5 minutes, then flip them and cook for another 5 minutes on the other side. Repeat with the next two batches or until all muffins are cooked. (Note: if you know your stove runs hot, check them at three minutes, and if they are browning too quickly, you can reduce the heat to medium-low.)
2. Slice in half, toast if desired, top with your favorite spread, serve, and enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed these delicious vegan English muffins!