These Vegan Pistachio Muffins are a must-try for pistachio fans! With finely ground pistachios folded right into the batter, they're perfectly moist and tender with a touch of sweetness. These healthy muffins make a great grab-and-go breakfast or afternoon snack. With crunchy bits of pistachios and chewy dried cherries in every bite!

Pistachio is one of my husband's favorite flavors, so when he raved over these muffins during recipe testing, I knew we had a winner!
Not only are there pieces of crunchy pistachios throughout each muffin, but I also ground some up – basically making pistachio flour – to add to the batter. I also used oat flour to give the muffins structure, while keeping them gluten-free.
And like almond flour, the pistachio flour's natural fat content and buttery texture allows it to serve as a replacement for eggs and oil. In this recipe, pistachio flour and applesauce work together to provide moisture and keep the muffins egg-free and oil-free.
For more recipes with pistachios, check out my vegan pistachio ice cream and easy matcha cake next.
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Why You'll Love Them
- Perfect Texture: These tasty muffins turn out moist and tender even without oil or eggs!
- Lightly Sweetened: This recipe uses just ½ cup of maple syrup for the whole batch! Unsweetened applesauce and dried cherries also add a hint of natural sweetness.
- Great for Different Dietary Restrictions: Made with oat flour instead of all-purpose flour, these healthy pistachio muffins are naturally gluten-free in addition to being vegan and oil-free, making them perfect for a variety of dietary needs.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pistachios: You'll need shelled, unsalted pistachios. If you only have salted pistachios on hand, feel free to use them and just omit the added salt.
- Dried Bing Cherries: Use unsweetened dried cherries to keep this recipe refined sugar-free. You can also substitute with raisins, dried cranberries, or dried apricots, or leave the fruit out entirely if you prefer.
- Oat Flour: You can make your own by blending oats into a fine powder in a food processor or coffee grinder, or use store-bought oat flour. I haven't tested the recipe yet with any other type of flour. If needed, be sure to use certified gluten-free oats or oat flour to avoid cross contamination.
- Leavening Agents: You'll need both baking powder and baking soda to help the muffins rise.
- Flavor Enhancers: I used salt and vanilla extract. Feel free to swap the vanilla for almond extract if you'd like!
- Applesauce: Helps keep the muffins moist and works as an oil and egg replacer. I used plain unsweetened applesauce.
- Non-Dairy Milk: I recommend using a milk with a decent amount of fat, such as soy, almond, or coconut (the refrigerated, drinkable type) for this recipe. Be sure to use plain, unsweetened dairy-free milk.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Adds acidity to balance the sweetness, but also interacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise.
- Maple Syrup: Sweetens the muffins, adds amazing flavor, and helps keep them soft and moist.
See the recipe card below for amounts and step-by-step instructions.
How to Make Vegan Pistachio Muffins

Step 1: Rehydrate the cherries. Add the cherries to a small bowl and cover with warm water to soften and rehydrate them.

Step 2: Make the pistachio flour. Pulse half of the pistachios in a food processor until they're the texture of coarse crumbs.

Step 3: Make the muffin batter. Add the remaining dry ingredients to the food processor, and pulse to combine. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients. Drain and chop the cherries and the rest of the pistachios, reserving a handful of nuts to decorate the tops. Whisk the wet and dry ingredients together, then fold in the cherries and pistachios.

Step 4: Bake. Scoop about ⅓ cup batter into each muffin cup. Top with the reserved pistachios, and bake in a preheated 375° oven for 17 to 19 minutes or until the centers are lightly firm and set.
Serving Suggestions
- Enjoy your pistachio muffins with a generous spread of vegan cream cheese or oil-free vegan buttery spread.
- Try some cashew yogurt or almond yogurt on the side with a sprinkle of oil-free granola and fresh berries on top!
- Enjoy a muffin with a tall glass of homemade oat milk or a cup of coffee with a splash of oatmilk creamer.
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Equipment
You'll need a food processor to make the pistachio flour and incorporate with the other dry ingredients. You'll also need a standard muffin pan and a cooling rack.
FAQs
Overbaking and incorrectly measuring flour can lead to dry muffins. Be sure to check for doneness at the minimum time, and remove the muffins from the oven when the tops are firm. It's also best to measure the oat flour by weight to ensure accuracy. If you don't have a kitchen scale, use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup and level it off instead of scooping directly from the bag.
Store pistachio muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months.

Helpful Tips
- Drain the cherries well and pat dry: Excess liquid from the soaked cherries can make the batter too wet.
- Use the extra batter: You may end up with enough batter leftover to make a small 13th muffin. You can either pour the batter into an oven-safe ramekin or mug and bake it along with the other muffins, or microwave it for about 1 minute. If microwaving, allow it to cool for a few minutes before eating.
- Leave the muffins in the pan for a few minutes: Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
I hope you enjoy these healthy vegan pistachio muffins! If you try the recipe be sure to comment below and let us know.
Recipe

Vegan Pistachio Muffins (With Ground Pistachios Inside!)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup dried cherries, optional - or cranberries
- 1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
- 2 cups fine oat flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk - such as almond, soy, or coconut
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a standard 12-cup muffin pan or use paper liners.
- Place dried cherries in a small bowl and cover with warm water. Set aside.
- Place ½ cup pistachios in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the consistency of coarse flour. This won't take long; stop periodically to make sure it's not turning into pistachio butter! Once the pistachios are ground, add the oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pulse several times to incorporate. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the applesauce, milk, vinegar, vanilla, and maple syrup. Set aside.
- Drain the cherries well and pat dry. Roughly chop the cherries and the remaining ½ cup pistachios, reserving a handful of nuts to decorate the tops of the muffins.
- Whisk the wet ingredients again to reincorporate the heavy maple syrup, then add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl. Whisk until there's no dry flour. Fold in all of the cherries and the larger amount of pistachios. Scoop about ⅓ cup batter into each muffin cup, filling them almost ¾ full (you might have a bit of batter leftover; see Notes on how to make a bonus microwave muffin with it). Sprinkle reserved pistachios on top of each muffin.
- Bake for 17 to 19 minutes or until the tops are firm when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used.
Geri
Can I use pistachio cream instead of actual pistachios? If so, how much?
Lori Rasmussen
Hi Geri - That won't work here because the pistachios aren't blended all the way into a cream. So basically they are a dry ingredient, and pistachio cream is not.
Just another GF Vegan cooker...
These muffins didn't have as much pistachio taste as I'd like to.
I don't know how many grams you are assuming a cup of pistachios is; 1 cup ended up being 136 grams for me. I added half of that (68 g) plus the 200g oat flour (which I weighed) together with the other ingredients according to the directions, and the batter was way too runny the first batch. I made it again and added just enough oat flour to make the batter slightly thicker than pancake batter and they turned out better and rose without falling! If it were me, I'd just increase the pistachio flour to 136g so it has more pistachio taste and forget about the chopped pistachios, plus however much oat flour you need to make it slightly thicker than pancake batter consistency.
If you could clarify how many grams of ground pistachios you are assuming a 1/2 cup is, it would help the muffins turn out more consistently I think! But overall, great recipe. The applesauce really helps make these moist and a little fluffier than the other recipe I usually make.
Lori
Hmm, did you blend the pistachios into flour as instructed in step 3? The recipe is well-tested and has worked well for others, as you can see. So unfortunately I'm not sure what happened with your batter. I'm happy you seem to have enjoyed the muffins anyway! Note: if you tap on "Metric" above the ingredient list it shows the weight of the pistachios in grams.
Franny
Excellent recipe. I followed it exactly, except I didn’t have cherries so subbed dried cranberries. Turned out perfectly; the oat flour made a very moist muffin, just barely sweet, with an exotic crunch of pistachios and a pop of tangy sweetness from the fruit. I loved getting a large “bonus” 13th muffin which I baked in a ramekin and quickly devoured as a “taster.” 😉 This recipe is a keeper! Thanks, Lori!
Lori
I'm so happy you enjoy them, Franny. And thank you for the lovely feedback!
Irvonne
I just made these and they are fabulous- delicate and subtle balance of the fruit and nuts. Pistachios with fruit give them a more unique/exotic, almost Middle Eastern flair. I used whole-wheat pastry flour, agave in place of maple syrup, dried cranberries and salted pistachios(what I had on hand.) So delicious! Thanks for sharing💓
Lori
What a delicious review! Thank you, Irvonne. I'm so happy you enjoyed the muffins!
Karen Ricketts
Moist, cake-like texture, with a delicious flavor. I didn't have dried cherries so used chopped dates instead (soaked, like you suggested to do with the cherries); we really liked them as well as the subtle flavor of the pistachios. I got 20 muffins instead of 13 for some reason - bonus! This will be another of our favorite muffin recipes - thank you!
Lori
Hi Karen,
Yum! I bet the dates were delicious in these. Thanks so much for the feedback!