Lightly sweetened, tender, and wholesome, these vegan pistachio muffins are oil-free, studded with tart dried cherries, and made with a full cup of pistachios!
Where are my pistachio fans? The unique, deliciously nutty flavor of pistachios makes these healthy muffins totally irresistible!
We love that these muffins are not super sweet, which makes them really nice for breakfast. Serve with a generous spread of vegan cream cheese or a cup of cashew yogurt.
Ingredients and Equipment
This is a summary to get you started. Scroll down to the recipe card for complete instructions.
Here's what you'll need to whip up a batch of vegan pistachio muffins...
Equipment:
Food processor, mixing bowl, small bowl, muffin pan, cooling rack.
Ingredients:
- shelled, unsalted pistachios - if your pistachios are salted, simply omit the salt in the recipe
- dried bing cherries, optional - sub raisins, cranberries, or apricots, if preferred
- oat flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- fine sea salt
- applesauce
- non-dairy milk - I recommend coconut, soy, or almond for this recipe
- apple cider vinegar
- vanilla extract, optional - or sub almond extract
- maple syrup
How To Make Them
1. If including dried cherries, cover with warm water to soften and rehydrate.
2. Pulse half of the pistachios in a food processor until they're the texture of coarse crumbs.
3. Add remaining dry ingredients to the food processor, and pulse to combine. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the wet ingredients.
Drain the cherries well. Roughly chop the cherries and the remaining ½ cup pistachios, reserving a handful of nuts for decorating the tops of the muffins.
Whisk together the wet and dry ingredients, then fold in the cherries and pistachios.
4. Scoop about ⅓ cup batter into each muffin cup. Top with reserved pistachios, and bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 17 to 19 minutes.
So easy, right?
Allow muffins to rest in the pan for about 5 minutes, then place on a rack to cool.
Tips and Substitutions
- You may end up with enough batter for a 13th muffin. No worries! See the Notes section of the recipe for instructions on turning that into a quick snack for the baker. 😉
- Feel free to substitute another dried fruit if you can't find cherries, or skip the fruit altogether.
- So far I've only tested this recipe with oat flour and can't recommend any substitutions.
- Milks that contain a decent amount of fat like soy, almond, and coconut (the refrigerated, drinkable type) work well in these oil-free muffins.
I hope you enjoy these healthy pistachio muffins! If you try the recipe be sure to leave a comment and star rating below to let everyone know how they turned out.
More vegan muffin recipes:
Golden Milk Muffins
Coconut Garam Masala Muffins
Loaded Oat Flour Breakfast Muffins
Banana-Nut Cinnamon Swirl Muffins
Healthier Microwave Mug Muffin
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Healthy Vegan Cherry-Pistachio Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- scant ½ cup dried cherries, optional
- 1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
- 2 cups oat flour (200 g)
- 1 ½ 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 I like coconut milk in these, the refrigerated type, not canned.
- 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 or a silicone muffin pan.
- 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 crumbs. 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. Roughly chop the cherries and the remaining ½ cup pistachios, reserving a handful of nuts for decorating 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.
