Savoury vegan muffin recipe

The origins of the muffin

As is so often the case, there is a bit of debate about exactly what constitutes a muffin which rages on both sides of the Atlantic.

In England, for example, a traditional English muffin is a sort of flat bread cake. It’s usually plain and served toasted with butter.

Meanwhile, an American muffin is like an unfrosted cupcake. It’s usually sweet - with the classic blueberry muffin being a case in point - and has a characteristic shape. This is formed when a small amount of the batter rises out of the muffin tin during baking and sets, forming a ‘muffin top’, and making the final product look like a little mushroom.

Nowadays, the American version is probably what first springs to mind when we think about muffins. But, luckily for those of us who prefer savoury flavours to sweet, it’s endlessly adaptable.

Savoury flavours

When developing our savoury vegan muffins, we started out thinking of great flavour combinations.

Savoury muffin recipes are often dominated by cheese. Don’t get us wrong; there is something about the deep, umami flavour of an artisan cheddar or a crumbly feta which works brilliantly in baked goods. But not everyone does dairy, and we wanted our muffins to work for everyone.

Still, there’s something to learn from the cheese-heavy muffin recipes. A hit of umami - the bass note of a deeply savoury flavour - is an absolute must.

Luckily, we can get this just as easily from soy sauce, which also acts as seasoning for the other flavours.

Now, for the body of the muffin. Onion provides a moreish blend of savoury and sweet. If you want to change the recipe up, and have a little more time, we recommend using red onions and gently caramelising them first.

Meanwhile, carrot is the perfect choice when it comes to texture; the bite of grated carrot provides the texture of carrot cake but makes the most of this brilliant vegetable’s natural flavour.

Adding Jerusalem artichoke

One of the multitude of reasons that we love baking with our Organic Jerusalem Artichoke Powder is that it blends fantastically with your dry ingredients.

If you haven’t used it before, it’s simply 100% dried organic Jerusalem artichoke (sometimes called sunchoke, or sunroot). It’s the tuber of the sunflower plant, and it’s a brilliant source of a type of prebiotic fibre called inulin.

While you can’t digest inulin yourself, it provides a nourishing meal for your gut bacteria. Thus, they thrive and are better able to protect you from bugs and from the less useful members of your microbiome.

If you’re not able to get hold of fresh Jerusalem artichoke, or don’t want to eat it every day, this powder is perfect for incorporating into just about everything.

It is pale beige in colour and has a very mild, slightly sweet flavour which is just as happy sitting undetectably in our vegan pancakes as it is in these savoury muffins.

It’s a brilliant way to get inulin fibre into your diet and means that you don’t have to make changes to the type of food you eat; just incorporate it into your normal meals. Plus, it makes these muffins very gut-friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7m6lnTI3e6E

How to serve

Nothing beats a freshly-baked muffin straight from the oven, and these little treats are perfect by themselves.

However, if you want to mix things up a bit, try toasting a halved muffin under the grill and spreading with a little butter or margarine.

If you’re having it for breakfast, try pairing with a poached egg for protein (if you’re not fully plant-based) or finishing up your meal with some fresh fruit for a hit of vitamins.

Or, if they’re going into your lunchbox, make sure to include some protein alongside. One of these muffins, with some fresh veggies and a few spoonfuls of hummus, would make an easy and delicious lunch-hour treat.