Vegan English Muffins are small round, yeast-leavened bread cooked in a hot skillet. They are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle with a delicious yeast flavor.
I love English muffins, but the classic recipe contains milk and sometimes butter so I knew I had to make a plant-based version, the same way I made my Vegan Crepes and Vegan Waffles. Some store-bought English muffin brands are accidentally vegan-friendly, using vegetable shortening and water instead of milk but I prefer to make my own!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Bread Flour – or all-purpose flour. You can also use spelt flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour.
- Vegan Butter – or any plant-based spread you like.
- Sugar – I prefer to use cane sugar, but you can use any light-colored crystal sugar for this recipe.
- Almond milk – I prefer using unsweetened almond milk or any plant-based milk you like.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – to make them rise.
- Active dried yeast – yeast is a great source of vegan minerals and vitamins.
How To Make Vegan English Muffins
It’s very easy to make your own vegan English muffins at home using 5 basic ingredients. All you need is a bit of patience because these require two rises.
- First, make the vegan ‘buttermilk’. To do so, whisk together almond milk and apple cider vinegar in a small mixing bowl.
- Then, add the vegan butter and bring the bowl in a microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between, until vegan butter is melted.
- Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
- Stir in the active dried yeast and sugar into the lukewarm milk. Set aside 10 minutes until it becomes creamy and the yeast has dissolved.
- In another large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, add bread flour and salt.
- Using the dough hook attachment, quickly combine the dry ingredients.
- Add the yeast mixture and lukewarm water, and start kneading the dough for about 3 minutes on medium speed. You can also knead the dough by hand. Lightly flour your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to your fingers.
- When the dough is soft, elastic, and unsticks from the sides of the bowl, it’s ready. Transfer the dough into an oiled glass bowl. Wrap the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel.
- Place the bowl in a dark, lukewarm room and let rise for 1 hour 30 minutes or until it doubles in size. You can also let it rise overnight for 24 hours.
- Push down the dough and transfer it onto a lightly floured surface.
- Knead the dough for a few minutes to remove any air, adding more flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the dough on the work surface into a 1/2-thick layer.
- Place each piece of dough onto a baking tray covered with parchment paper and fine cornmeal.
- Repeat rolling leftover dough and cutting into circles until no more dough is left. This recipe makes about nine 3-inch English muffins.
- Cover each baking tray with a kitchen towel and let the muffins rise for another 30 minutes.
Cooking English Muffins
Warm a pancake griddle or non-stick pan over medium heat. Cook each bread for 4-5 minutes on each side until crispy and puffy. You can add a lid on top of the pan to help them raise even more. Store the cooked muffins on the baking tray in a lukewarm oven at 122°F (50°C).
Toasting The Vegan English Muffins
Before serving, slice the muffins halfway and bring them into a bread toaster to add some crispiness to the center. You can also use my oven toasting method below.
Toasting English Muffins In The Oven
Set your oven or toaster oven on broil mode. Cut the English muffins on a baking sheet with their cut side facing up. Broil for 2-3 minutes on one side, then flip and broil for 1 minute on the other side. Watch them carefully as they can burn fast on broil mode.
Serving Suggestions
English muffins can be used as breakfast toast or breakfast sandwiches. You can serve them with a sweet or savory filling/topping. They are better sliced halfway and toasted in a bread toaster to add a crispy texture to the inside of the bread.
The best plant-based toppings for English muffins are:
- A dollop of whipped margarine
- Jam
- Nut butter of choice, like peanut butter or almond butter
- Mashed avocado and spinach
- Hummus and sundried tomatoes
- Vegan cream cheese and toasted nuts or seeds
Storage Instructions
English muffins are yeasted bread, and therefore they last longer at room temperature than regular bread. You can store the vegan English muffins for up to 2 weeks wrapped in a clean towel at room temperature.
You can freeze your vegan English muffins in a sealed box. Thaw the day before use. Also, they thaw faster if you cut the muffins halfway before freezing. You can rewarm muffin splits in a toaster on defrost mode.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the classic English muffin recipe is not gluten-free and uses all-purpose wheat flour. Also, you can’t use this vegan bread recipe to make gluten-free, vegan English bread. All-purpose gluten-free flour creates a very hard, chewy, and dense bread, not puffy at all.
Worldwide vegan English muffins brands are Rudi’s Organic Bakery, Trader Joe’s British Muffins (original and multigrain), and Weight Watchers’ English Muffins. New Zealand English Muffins brands are Quality Bakers’ Muffin Splits. Australian English muffins brands are Tip Top’s Original English Muffins.
More Vegan Breakfast Recipes
I love baking for breakfast, and below, I listed my favorite vegan breakfast recipes for you to try.
Did You Like This Recipe?
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Vegan English Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup Almond Milk - or soy milk
- 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoon Active Dried Yeast
- ¾ cup Lukewarm Water - 110°F/45°C
- 2 tablespoons Vegan Butter (Unsalted)
- 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Optional – to coat the English muffin
- ¼ cup Fine Cornmeal
To roll the dough
- 2-3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add almond milk, apple cider vinegar, and vegan butter, and heat until the butter is melted. You can bring the bowl in 30-second bursts in the microwave or place the mixture over low heat in a saucepan and stir until vegan butter is melted.
- Remove from heat, cool 10 minutes or until lukewarm, then stir in sugar and active dried yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes until the yeast is dissolved and the mixture is creamy.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, add flour and salt and quickly combine using the dough hook attachment. Then, add the milk yeast mixture and lukewarm water. Knead for 4-5 minutes on low speed until dough is smooth and soft and unstick from the sides of the bowl.
- Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with film wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise for 2 hours in a warm, dark place or until the dough doubles in size. It can take longer if your room is cold. If you don't have a warm room in your house, you can preheat your oven to 40°C/100F, and place the bowl in the oven until the dough has doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare a tray covered with lightly oiled parchment paper. Set aside.
- When the dough has doubled in size, sprinkle a pinch of flour on top of the dough, punch down the dough, and roll on a lightly floured surface into a 1/2-inch thickness.
- Use a 3-inch round cookie cutter or drinking glass or jar lid to shape rounds of dough.
- Dip each round of dough into cornmeal on both sides, then place it on the tray with parchment paper. You can reform a dough ball with leftover dough, roll it again, and cut out more English muffins.
- Repeat until you formed 8-9 English muffins.
- Cover the tray with a towel and let rise for 40 minutes.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place 4 English muffins in the pan, Leaving 2 inches between each muffin to prevent them from touching each other.
- Place lid on the pan and cook 5-6 minutes. Then, flip the muffin gently with a spatula and cook for 3-4 minutes on the other side, lid on again.
- Set the muffins asides to cool down and keep cooking the remaining muffins.
- Store at room temperature wrapped in a clean kitchen towel for up to 12 days or freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months.
Serving recommendation
- Slice the English muffins halfway and bring in a bread toaster until crispy on both sides. Spread your favorite breakfast spread on the top like peanut butter, jam, or vegan butter.
Can you substitute the almond milk (allergy) with Oat milk?
Absolutely!
tried this many times and i love it!
Can I use pizza rise yeast if there’s no active dry yeast on hand?
Probably yes, I am not familiar with this product so I can’t guarantee
These turned out amazingly! First time making english muffins and I will definitely make this recipe again!
Will gluten-free flour work for this recipe?
I didn’t try yet, so I am unsure. Let me know if you try !
Hello!
I would like to make this gluten-free. Can I use bobs red mill one to one baking flour?
If so , are the instructions the same? Thanks for your time
Dr. J
It should work if you are using a blend containing added xantham gum. Often, the texture of the baked goods are chewier and more dense tho.
I have made this recipe at least 10 times, I make the dough at night – takes 10 min and finish them in the morning. Very good muffins,
Hi there!
Thanks for putting this recipe together. I did have a question about the metric conversions. Did you actually measure that out (flour wise) and make the recipe using those conversions, or use some sort of online tool to provide those values? I made the recipe tonight using the metric conversions, and was at least 2/3c (~90-100g?) flour short when I went back and tested how much 3c of my AP flour weighed. I generally like to use my scale when bread making, but I think I got burned here. With the recipe as written, I was very short on flour and had an unmanageable dough, even after some pretty solid kneading. It never formed any sort of ball or came off the sides of the bowl or the countertop.
I liked how the recipe looked, and want to make it work. Any suggestions here? Is the dough actually super sticky, but I couldn’t tell from the photos? It seems odd that weighing out my flour was so far off. I’m hoping that my flour addition here helped and I’m secretly going to have some magic happen in the 2 hour rise, but I’m not sure what can be done at this point :/ Help!
I am sorry to here that, all our recipes are tested in US cups and converted in grams using an online converter but it usually very accurate for classic ingredients like AP flour. One cup of AP flour is about 150 g in this recipe we use 3 cups, it’s about 450g
I don’t know if I’m doing something wrong here but i have enough dough for about 20 muffins?!?!
I made 8 with the dough, maybe you shape yours smaller.
I’d like to make these for my vegan son but I didn’t think yeast is vegan. Am I wrong? Thanks!
Yeast is absolutely vegan, yeast lacks a nervous system, it means that it’s not an animal and its consumption doesn’t causes animal suffering, exploitation, or cruelty.
Thank-you!