Chai Muffins
A family favorite, this chai muffins recipe showcases muffins topped with pumpkin seeds and are easy to make and delicious! Simply the smell of these cinnamon muffins baking is enough to make you want to make batch after batch.
If you love vegan muffins infused with spices, you’ll be sure to want to try these cinnamon muffins, too.
I’ve been reading a lot about the benefits of tea. And I’ve been drinking a lot of chai tea too. And so somehow this all just combined into one big recipe in my head.
Why not make a Chai Muffin? And why not make it egg-free (as I always do)? While I’m at it, I decided to add some pumpkin seeds on top too.
Why This Recipe is a Winner
- Using steeped chai tea adds warm seasoned spiced flavors to these muffins
- Adding brown sugar keeps these muffins soft and tender
- Sprinkling pumpkin seeds on top adds a bit of crunch in contrast to the soft, moist muffins.
What You Need
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe:
- Chai tea bag
- Plant-based milk — Use your favorite plant-based milk such as soy or almond milk.
- Vegetable oil — Any neutral vegetable oil, such as olive oil, canola oil or refined coconut oil will work here.
- Flax egg — I used a flax egg, but you can substitute a chia egg.
- Apple cider vinegar — You can substitute white vinegar or lemon juice.
- Flour — I use either all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour for this recipe.
- Brown sugar — Use light, dark, or brown sugar, or make your own brown sugar.
- Baking powder + baking soda — Make sure yours are fresh by testing a bit of baking powder in hot water or a baking soda in vinegar. If they bubble, your batch is good to go.
- Salt
- Spices — You’ll need some ground cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. You can substitute pumpkin pie spice.
- Pumpkin seeds — This is an optional ingredient, but adding pumpkin seeds is a nice touch.
How to Make Chai Muffins
- Set your oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with muffin papers.
- Place the teabag in the hot water and allow it to steep for a couple of minutes.
- In the meantime, add the plant-based milk, oil, flax eggs, vinegar, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.
- Remove the teabag from the hot water and pour the tea into the milk mixture. Stir to combine and then pour this into the flour mixture. One more time – stir to combine.
- Use a measuring cup or even a cookie dough dispenser to equally distribute the batter amongst the muffin papers. I found those awesome muffin papers at Target! Spread a few pumpkin seeds on the top of each muffin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Check for doneness. When the muffins are ready, remove them ½from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm.
Marly’s Tips
- Stir the batter until you no longer see clumps of flour.
- This is a thick batter, be sure to divide it equally amongst the muffin compartments.
- You can top muffins before they’re baked with pumpkin seeds, grains of oatmeal, or leave them plain.
- To check for doneness, insert a tester in the middle of one of the muffins. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
Are Muffins Healthy?
Not all muffins are healthy, especially if they’re made with lots of sugar, fat, and processed flour. However, there are ways to make your homemade muffins healthier.
Why Make Vegan Muffins?
If you haven’t done much vegan baking, you’ll be surprised to know that making your muffins without eggs or cow dairy is very easy. For example, this recipe uses a flax egg, which uses ground flaxseed to create a binder. That’s what keeps the muffins from being overly crumbly.
If you don’t like flax, you could use chia eggs instead.
Making Muffins Healthy
I love finding creative ways to get healthy into my diet! Don’t you? There’s just so much to stir the fancy into, you can’t help but love it!
But, let me get specific. These chai muffins are made healthier thanks to:
- Pumpkin seeds — these little seeds are colorful and they’re packed with protein!
- Cloves — believe it or not, cloves are a super food, loaded with nutrients…and it tastes good too!
- Nutmeg — I add a bit of nutmeg to my vegan donuts because of the flavor they add. They taste pretty good in these muffins, and it’s healthy as well.
- Flax seed — these mighty, little seed serves as both an egg replacer and adds some omega3s!
Besides adding some healthy ingredients, these chai spice muffins are also absolutely delicious.
More Muffin Recipes
Of course, this chai muffin recipe is amazing, but here are some more muffin recipes to enjoy too:
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Chai Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup hot water
- 1 chai tea bag I used Tazo Chai Tea
- ¾ cup plant-based milk almond, soy, etc, vanilla flavored
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 2 flax egg
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (see note)
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Instructions
- Set your oven to 350°F and line a muffin pan with muffin papers.
- Place the teabag in the hot water and allow it to steep for a couple of minutes.
- In the meantime, add the plant-based milk, oil, flax eggs, vinegar, and brown sugar in a small bowl. Stir to combine.
- In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Stir to combine.
- Remove the teabag from the hot water and pour the tea into the milk mixture. Stir to combine and then pour this into the flour mixture. One more time – stir to combine.
- Use a measuring cup or even a cookie dough dispenser to equally distribute the batter amongst the muffin papers. I found those awesome muffin papers at Target! Spread a few pumpkin seeds on the top of each muffin.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Check for doneness. When the muffins are ready, remove them ½from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2015 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
Legit speechless, these Vegan Chai Muffins with Pumpkin Seeds look unreal!! Definitely, I will prep it on the weekend for my family.
Awesomeness Vegan Chai Muffins with Pumpkin Seeds! I finally got to make these muffins this past weekend and it was such a hit!! Thx Marly!
I make chai honey. I may have to toy with your recipe a bit, Marley, and try making these with the chai honey to replace some of the sweet. If they are successful, I’ll try to bring them to the next book club.
I’ll make them first your way though. 😉 I like messing with recipes though.
Sounds divine HeatherAnne! I can’t wait to try it. Of course, that means I better get cracking on the reading!
Oh gosh how I wish I was eating these along with my chai right now!! My mom is big chai addict so I think I will be making these for her!!
Yum! LOVE that picture with the butter melted in the middle. Hallelujah, seriously!! 🙂
I’m with you, Michelle! What’s a muffin without a little melty slathered in the middle! Yum!