Matcha Pistachio Muffins

These matcha pistachio muffins are delicious, easy to make, and a stunning shade of natural green!

I first made these muffins years ago after weeks of trying to come up with a fun green recipe for Saint Patrick’s day. After pretty much giving up, I spotted some green pistachio muffins at the supermarket. How about veganizing those? Perfect!

They really were perfect, in fact. I thought pistachios in muffins sounded nice, but their salty, nutty crunch is so perfect with the sweetness and fluffy texture of these muffins.

But I didn’t stop there. Because once I started working on the recipe it occurred to me that I didn’t need to use artificial food coloring to make a batch of green muffins. (Pistachio’s alone are not enough to turn a batch of muffins green, despite what my supermarket bakery would like me to think.) Matcha is naturally a beautiful shade of green, and it’s great for making all kinds of green foods. So I decided these muffins would be matcha muffins!

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Ingredients You’ll Need

• All-purpose flour. The recipe also works with whole wheat pastry flour. I can’t promise results with any other flour varieties!
• Organic granulated sugar. We’re using organic sugar to keep the recipe vegan.
• Matcha. Matcha is powdered green tea, and you should be able to find it in the tea section of your supermarket. Matcha comes in different grades, with ceremonial grade being the highest. I highly recommend getting ceremonial grade matcha, which will give your muffins the best flavor and the most vibrant green color.
• Baking powder.
• Baking soda.
• Cinnamon.
• Nutmeg.
• Lemon zest.
• Salt.
• Non-dairy milk. You can use just about any variety of milk that’s unsweetened and unflavored, such as soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, or cashew milk.
• Canola oil. Feel free to substitute another baking oil, such as coconut or corn oil.
• Lemon juice.
• Vanilla extract.
• Shelled pistachios. Be sure to get pistachios that are roasted and salted.

How They’re Made

The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you’d like to skip right to the recipe!

• Start by whisking your dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, matcha, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon zest and salt.
• Stir the liquid ingredients together in a separate container: milk, oil, lemon juice and vanilla.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

• Stir everything together just until combined. Make sure you don’t overmix the batter or your muffins will turn out rubbery.

• Divide the batter among paper-lined muffins tins. You can make anywhere between 9 and 12 muffins with this recipe. Making 9 will give you nice big muffins with domed tops like mine, whereas 12 will give you muffins that are a tad smaller.
• Sprinkle the tops with chopped pistachios, followed by a dusting of sugar.

• Pop the muffins into the oven and bake them until they’re done. You can test for this by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin — if it comes out clean, they’re done!
• Let your pistachio muffins cool for a bit before removing them from their tins and enjoying them!

Shelf-Life & Storage

Your matcha muffins will keep in a sealed bag or container at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for about 3 months.

Variations

• Chocolate chip pistachio muffins. Fold a cup of vegan chocolate chips into the batter before dividing it among the tins.
• White chocolate pistachio muffins. Use vegan white chocolate chips instead of dark!
• Berry matcha muffins. Fold a cup of raspberries or blueberries into the batter. Be careful though, as broken berries could discolor your beautiful green muffins!
• Frosted matcha muffins. Don’t sprinkle your muffins with pistachios before baking them. Instead, top your muffins with vegan vanilla buttercream frosting, then sprinkle the frosting with pistachios.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Vegan Muffin Recipes

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