If you are throwing a party, or you like to have a snack at hand, savoury muffins are a great little bake. They are quick and easy to prepare and can be eaten both cold or re-heated.
There are many recipes of these kind of muffins out there, mostly using cheese or ham. Below, we'll show you how to make vegan savoury muffins with homemade spinach pesto, black olives, and sun-dried tomatoes. No eggs or dairy used.
We used a little secret ingredient to make our vegan muffins even tastier: nutritional yeast. If you have never tried it, think of it as a parmesan cheese vegan replacement. We made it optional in the recipe, but it works wonders. Give it a try!
By the way, you can use any pesto you fancy. We are making spinach pesto with pecans from scratch, but feel free to use store-bought basil pesto or create your own. For example, you could use walnuts or pistachios, with either basil, spinach, or arugula.
The muffins are quite filling, so we think you should have one per serving. One of them will give you more than 25% RDI for both proteins and fibres — solid. With less than 10% of your daily allowance of saturated fats, these savoury muffins are much more diet-friendly than those made with eggs, cheese, or ham.
They are ready in just about 30 minutes. Check out the tips at the bottom of the recipe for more help. Enjoy!
Ingredients
Muffins | |
Wholemeal Flour | 280 g |
Starch (Potato or Corn) | 20 g |
Baking Powder | 2 tsp |
Soy Yogurt | 180 g |
Almond Milk | 150 mL |
Extra Virgin Olive Oil | 70 mL |
Pitted Kalamata Olives | 60 g |
Dry Sun-dried Tomatoes | 40 g |
Nutritional Yeast | 25 g |
Pesto | |
Baby Spinach | 40 g |
Pecans (or Walnuts) | 40 g |
Water | 3 tbsp |
Garlic Powder | 1/2 tsp |
Extra Virgin Olive Oil | 1 tbsp |
Step 1
Rehydrate the dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. If you're using sun-dried tomatoes in oil instead, there's no need to soak them, only make sure to drain them well to remove excess oil.
Meanwhile, let's prepare the pesto.
Add baby spinach to a food processor followed by pecans, water, garlic powder, olive oil, and a generous pinch of salt.
Blitz the ingredients into a smooth, creamy pesto.
Step 2
In a mixing bowl, combine wholemeal flour, sifted starch, baking powder, and a pinch of salt.
Mix well to evenly distribute the baking powder.
Step 3
Now, add the prepared spinach pesto, soy yogurt, almond milk, nutritional yeast, and oil.
Drain the tomatoes, finely chop them together with the black Kalamata olives, and add them to the muffin mixture.
Step 4
Work the ingredients with a hand mixer or a spoon until they come together into a smooth batter.
Then, divide the mixture among muffins cases or greased muffins cups, filling them to the top.
Step 5
Bake the pesto muffins at for 20-25 minutes at 200°C (390°F) for static ovens or 180°C (355°F) for fan ovens.
The muffins are ready if a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Remove the muffins from the oven and wait a few minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool down completely.
Tips
Allow the muffins to cool down completely and then store them away in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for 3-4 days.