These Flourless Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Blender Muffins are an easy and healthy recipe made with only 6 clean ingredients. They're the perfect plant-based breakfast that's made in a Vitamix, can be prepared in about 5 minutes, and do not contain white flour, oil, or refined sugar!
Here's Why This Recipe Works
My top 3 favorite reasons:
- Made Without White Flour, Oil, or Refined Sugar
- No Bowl Needed And Can Be Prepared In About 5 Minutes
- Made With Only 6 Clean Ingredients
You can feel good about making my healthy plant-based recipe because it's vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, oil-free, grain-free, flourless, paleo-friendly, and contains no refined sugar!
Karielyn's Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions
Here are some of my expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Cashews: Make sure you use "raw" cashews and not "roasted + salted". An optional step, if you have time, is to soak the cashews before adding them to your Vitamix. Soak them in filtered/purified water for about 30-60 minutes, then drain and rinse. This will make the cashews soft and the mixture extra smooth.
Coconut Milk: Make sure you use "full-fat" coconut milk in a can, and not "light" or boxed coconut milk. The fat in the coconut milk will need to be hardened before adding to the muffin mixture, so add a can to your refrigerator the night before you want to make the muffins.
Cacao Powder: This can be substituted with regular cocoa powder in the same amount.
Coconut Sugar: You can substitute with your favorite unrefined granular sweetener.
Chocolate Chips: I find the "mini" chocolate chips work better in this recipe than "standard-sized" chocolate chips since they are smaller, but either will work.
Himalayan Pink Salt: This is my salt of preference, however, it can always be substituted with sea salt.
Cooling: It's very important to allow the muffins to completely cool before serving. They will be a little soft and mushy right out of the oven but will firm up after they cool off.
Serving Size: This recipe will make approximately (9) standard-sized muffins. Nutritional information is for (1) muffin which is (1) serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is A "Blender' Muffin?
A "blender" muffin when the muffin batter is mixed in a blender (I use a Vitamix!) instead of using a mixing bowl.
Since this recipe uses cashews, a Vitamix will blend them to a smooth and creamy consistency and blend all ingredients together easily.
This recipe is actually based on my Flourless Vegan Lemon Blueberry Muffins that I posted a couple of weeks ago and these are filled with chocolatey goodness.
I make the base for my blender muffins with my Vitamix and for these, added in the cacao powder and chocolate chips.
Are These Muffins Healthy?
In my opinion, yes!
Traditional chocolate muffins contain white flour, white sugar, oil or butter, and eggs.
Let's look at the ingredient list of a store-bought boxed muffin mix:
- S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) Ghirardelli Premium Double Chocolate Muffin Mix Ingredients: Sugar, Flour Enriched Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin Vitamin B3, Iron Reduced, Thiamine Mononitrate Vitamin B1, Riboflavin Vitamin B2, Folic Acid Vitamin B9 ), Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla), Food Starch Modified, Emulsifiers (Monoglyceride, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Propylene Glycol Monoester, Mono Diglycerides), Arabic Gum, Leavening (Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate), Salt, Flavors Artificial, Xanthan Gum
Not only does this store-bought version contain bleached flour, but also GMO's (sugar and soy lecithin).
My healthier version is made with clean ingredients and is 100% vegan and gluten-free.
What Can You Expect When Making A Flourless, Vegan Muffin?
If you've never made a flourless, vegan, egg-less recipe before, you need to know that they will not be "light and fluffy" like a traditional muffin.
They are dense, moist but will hold together well.
And it's important that you let them cool completely before serving them to give them time to firm up.
Flourless Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Blender Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin Pan
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 2 cups organic raw cashews
- 1 can organic full-fat coconut milk (fat only)
- ¼ cup organic cacao powder
- 2 tablespoons organic coconut sugar
- 1 pinch Himalayan pink salt
For the add-in:
- 1 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Prepare a muffin pan lined with standard-size muffin cups, then set aside.
Advanced Preparation - Coconut Milk
- Place a 13.5-ounce container of full-fat coconut milk in the back of your refrigerator overnight. It will be ready when you take the can out and shake it and cannot hear the liquid moving inside. Depending on the temperature inside your home, you may be able to skip this step. Sometimes I use a can from my pantry shelf and the full-fat part is already solid.
- Optional Step: Soak the cashews in filtered/purified water for 30-60 minutes. It will make them softer and easier to blend.
Prepare the muffins:
- Remove the can of coconut milk from the refrigerator and scoop out only the hardened full-fat part, not the liquid. The top half should be hardened and the bottom half should be liquid. Save the liquid part to add to a smoothie!
- Add the hardened full-fat coconut and cashews to a Vitamix and blend until is creamy and smooth.
- Add the cacao powder, coconut sugar, and Himalayan salt and blend again until everything is mixed in well.
Add the add-in:
- Remove the container from the base of the Vitamix, add in the chocolate chips and gently stir them into the muffin mixture by hand.
- Take a spoonful out at a time and fill a standard size muffin cup about ¾ full.
- Optional: add extra chocolate chips to the top of the muffins.
- Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 35-40 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let them cool completely before serving. They will be a little "soft" and "mushy" but will firm up after they cool off.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Want More Healthy Gluten-Free Vegan Breakfast Recipes?
Check out these:
- Gluten-Free Vegan Pumpkin Spice Blender Pancakes
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Chia Seed Pudding
- Vegan Flourless Zucchini Brownies
- or my CLEAN EATING Cookbook with 75+ plant-based recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Did You Make This Recipe?
I'd love to hear about it! Please give it a rating and leave a comment below...it would make my day! : )
Eileen says
I am not convinced about using coconut fat . I know everyone is using it in all there recipes I just can not get with it. Can you suggest any healthy substitutes
Thank you
Karielyn says
Hi there Eileen! You could try one of my other flourless vegan muffin recipes that doesn't use canned coconut fat, Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins.
I did use (1) tablespoon of coconut oil in that recipe (which I would consider to be a healthy fat), but if you don't like coconut oil, maybe you could try avocado oil or butter (cow butter if you don't need them vegan or a vegan butter). I wouldn't consider butter (real or man-made) to be a healthy substitute, but I just haven't played around with the ingredients to see what else would work 🙂
Thank you for your question and I hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Meagan says
Is there a substitute you can use instead of cashews?
Karielyn says
Hi there Meagan! If you can eat another type of nut other than cashews, you could try almonds. I used them in my other blender muffin recipe here: https://thehealthyfamilyandhome.com/flourless-vegan-lemon-blueberry-blender-muffins/
Thanks for your question...I hope that helps and that you are able to make them 🙂