Inspired by the Ayurvedic beverage golden milk, the flavor of these spiced vegan muffins is a lot like carrot cake plus the added warmth of turmeric. Healthy enough for breakfast, Golden Milk Muffins are oil-free, sweetened with maple syrup, and made with oat flour and lite coconut milk.

turmeric muffin on parchment paper with other muffins on a cooling rack.

This recipe was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated with new photos and a slight recipe adjustment.

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Why You'll Love Them
How to Make Golden Milk Muffins
Tips For Successful Muffins
Optional Additions
Coconut-Turmeric Icing
Recipe
💬 Comments

Why You'll Love Them

Full disclosure: I've actually never had golden milk the beverage. But since it's made with coconut milk, cinnamon, and ginger, I figured a golden milk-inspired muffin would taste amazing... and it does!

The flavor of these moist, oil-free muffins will remind you a LOT of carrot cake (minus the cream cheese frosting), with turmeric's signature flavor softly lingering in the background.

We also love that the recipe is pantry-friendly. I'm a big fan of oil-free muffins made with bananas, but having perfectly ripe bananas on hand at the exact moment you want to bake muffins can feel like waiting for stars to align.

But it's pretty easy to keep a can of lite coconut milk in the pantry, and that means you can whip up a batch of these tasty muffins anytime!

overhead shot of muffins on a cooling rack.

How to Make Golden Milk Muffins

The process for making Golden Milk Muffins is as easy as 1-2-3-4-5! Here's a quick summary for you. See the recipe card below for ingredients and full instructions.

whisking dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven and prepare a muffin pan.
Whisk all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a smaller bowl.
Chop some walnuts (or just break them up by hand), and measure out the raisins, if using.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and whisk until combined. Stir in the nuts and raisins.
Spoon the batter into the pan, sprinkle more nuts on top if you like, and bake.

Seriously easy, right? And seriously delicious!

whisking muffin batter in a mixing bowl.

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Tips For Successful Muffins

Some dry ingredients have a tendency to clump, especially coconut flour, baking soda, and baking powder. So anytime I'm baking with these I go ahead and reach for a sifter. It's also a good idea to sift in the spices to make sure there are no clumps of turmeric, cinnamon, or ginger in your muffins.
Once all the dry ingredients are in the bowl, whisk them very well, more than you might normally. You want the spices to be evenly distributed.
Always make sure the oven is fully preheated and your muffin pan is ready before you add the wet ingredients to the dry. This is important anytime you're working with baking soda. Once it's combined with the wet ingredients you want to work quickly to take advantage of the leavening power.

view of the inside of a muffin, with raisins and walnuts.

Optional Additions

We especially love these with the sweet raisins and crunchy walnuts added to the batter, but that's totally up to you. You could always skip one or both of those if you're not a fan or if you just want to reduce the calories and/or fat.

Same goes for the nuts on top. I think walnuts look great on top of muffins (and my husband is basically the walnut version of the Cookie Monster)! You can omit the nuts, or use a variety of different seeds for a nut-free muffin! These would be great with pumpkin seeds.

Coconut-Turmeric Icing

The turmeric-coconut icing drizzle you see in the photos only takes about 3 minutes to stir together and adds nice richness. But it's 100% optional. These turmeric muffins are perfectly moist and delicious without it!

You really only need the glaze if a) you're feelin' fancy, b) you're a big fan of coconut, or c) you want an additional layer of turmeric flavor. You can also sub cinnamon for the turmeric!

a muffin drizzled with turmeric-coconut butter glaze.

I hope you enjoy these moist, perfectly sweet, oil-free Golden Milk Muffins! If you try the recipe I would love to hear from you. Be sure to comment below, and let us know what you think! You can also tag me in a photo on insta anytime with @myquietkitchen.

Learn more about turmeric from Dr. Greger's many videos over at NutritionFacts.org.

More healthy vegan muffins:

Pistachio Muffins
Spiced Mug Muffin (aka healthy mug cake)
Loaded Breakfast Muffins
Coconut Garam Masala Muffins
Oil-Free Pumpkin Muffins
Blueberry Banana Muffins

Recipe

Vegan Golden Milk Muffins

Author: Lori Rasmussen, My Quiet Kitchen

Oil-free vegan muffins made with oat flour, lite coconut milk, and spices. Moist and perfectly sweetened with maple syrup, these spiced muffins are delicious any time of day!

5 from 8 votes

Servings: muffins

Prep Time: 15

Cook Time: 19

Total Time: 34

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Ingredients

Dry ingredients:

1 ¾ cups oat flour (160 g)
½ cup coconut flour
1 ¼ teaspoons ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 ¼ teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ to ½ teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt

Wet ingredients:

1 ¼ cups lite coconut milk (the canned variety)
⅔ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Stir-ins and topping:

½ cup raisins
½ cup raw walnut halves, chopped, plus another handful or two for sprinkling on top, optional

Optional coconut butter-turmeric glaze:

2 Tablespoons coconut butter
1 teaspoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon non-dairy milk, divided
pinch of ground turmeric, or to taste - Sub cinnamon, if desired.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 12 cup muffin pan or use liners or a silicone pan to prevent sticking.
Add the oat flour to a large bowl. Sift in any of the remaining dry ingredients if they appear clumpy (this is especially helpful with baking soda and powder). Whisk all the dry ingredients together very well. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and vinegar.
Pour the wet mixture into the dry, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the raisins and chopped walnuts, if using.
Evenly divide the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with additional chopped walnuts, if desired.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the muffins are firm when lightly pressed. Alternatively, insert a tooth pick into the center of a muffin to check for doneness. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.
To make the glaze, put the coconut butter in a small bowl or mug and microwave for just 10 to 15 seconds or until melted. Use a fork to whisk in the maple syrup and about 2 teaspoons of milk. Add a small amount of turmeric and whisk again until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, add another teaspoon of milk. Taste and adjust sweetness and turmeric as desired.

Notes

Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Muffins can also be frozen for longer storage.