High Protein Lemon Blueberry Muffins

These High Protein TVP Lemon Blueberry Muffins are my favorite breakfast of all time! They are super easy to make, take like 20 minutes total, from start to finish, and you can make them ahead of time and freeze them! Unlike a lot of the protein muffin recipes you might find that use protein powder, these use TVP. Because of this, you don’t end up with that gritty texture or that artificial sweetness that you get from protein powder. You won’t find a lot of recipes that use TVP in baked goods, but that’s a shame as it works really well! The texture of TVP in these muffins comes out similar to baked oats, and it just takes on whatever flavor we’re giving it.

These are perfect for meal prepping because you can make a batch or two during the weekend, freeze them and take them for breakfast every morning. They’re also a great little high protein snack to just have on hand at all times!

If, for some reason, blueberry-lemon muffins, don’t sound good to you, I have a whole bunch of other high-protein TVP muffin recipes on this blog, and I’m sure you can find at least one that sounds amazing! Perhaps these Blueberry Muffins or Banana Nut Muffins?

The question I get asked most about baking with TVP is if we have to re-hydrate the TVP before using it. We actually use dry TVP in these recipes and add moisture in with other ingredients like vegan Greek yogurt and milk.

Ingredients

• Textured Vegetable Protein – TVP – this is an amazing shelf-stable vegan protein option. You can find at most grocery stores, usually next to the gluten-free flour options. You can also order this online. I buy mine on Amazon, sometimes in a 25 pound bag. Don’t judge me; it’s a great deal. TVP is typically used in savory recipes, and also usually re-hydrated. But in this recipe, we will be using it dry, and adding moisture in through some other ingredient.
• Flour – I used all purpose flour for this recipe. If you are gluten-free and are trying to make this recipe, I think you could probably sub in a gluten-free flour option. I’m not super familiar with specifically gluten-free baking, so I don’t have a good recommendation. But if you happen to make this gluten-free, and it tastes amazing, please post in the comments what you did so that others can learn from your wizardry in the kitchen!
• Blueberries – I like to use fresh blueberries for this. I think you could probably get away with using frozen blueberries, but I haven’t tried it.
• Lemons – we will be using the zest and also the juice from these lemons. I probably wouldn’t use the lemon juice that comes in a bottle because you will be missing the zest.
• Vegan Greek yogurt – I like the brand Kite Hill and usually use the Vanilla Vegan Greek Yogurt for this recipe. There are other vegan Greek yogurt brands as well. You could even use normal vegan yogurt for this recipe. This will change the calories and macros slightly from what’s listed in the recipe card, but mostly we’re using the yogurt in this recipe to add moisture and soften the TVP. Blended silken tofu is also a great substitution option!
• Baking Soda, Baking Powder – I know that we need these, but I am also not related to Alton Brown, so I won’t tell you the science-y reasons. Just use them if you like muffins with a good texture!
• Salt – adjust to taste.
• Cinnamon – this may sound odd, but the flavors really work!

• Brown Sugar – I like to use brown sugar in this recipe. I know a lot of people are trying to limit their sugar for many reasons. I think you could probably substitute this with a sugar alternative, syrup or date sugar, but I haven’t tried making it this way, so I don’t have any really good advice to give you here. If you happen to make this with a lower sugar option, please share it in the comments, so that others can learn from your awesomeness!
• Soy Milk – I really like to use soy milk in this recipe, and in general, because it has the most protein on a calorie basis of the non-dairy milk options. But if you have a favorite nondairy milk that isn’t soy milk, feel free to sub that instead. The milk is mostly used in this recipe to add moisture to the muffin batter and soften up the TVP. Just note that this could change your calories and macros from those that are listed in the recipe card.
• Ground Flax Seed – this is my favorite vegan egg substitute to use for baking. Ground flax is a shelf-stable ingredient that can be found in most stores and also online. You just add water, let it sit for about five minutes and then you have flax goo that you can use as a vegan egg substitute. If you have a different favorite egg substitute, feel free to use it!
• Vanilla Extract – what are muffins without vanilla?

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 F (177 C).
• In a small bowl, zest both lemons. After you zest of the lemons, juice them into the same bowl. Zest is the outer, colorful part of the rind of citrus fruits. We use it to add a citrus flavor and smell, without the bitterness that the rest of the rind has. If you haven’t zested a fruit before, the important thing to remember is to not over-zest or you will end up with very sour rind. I do one or two passes, at most, with the zester – the lemon skin will change from a yellow color to a very light color.

• In the bowl that already has the lemon zest and juice, mix 2 tablespoons of ground flax, with 3 tablespoons of water. Let this sit for at least five minutes. This will make our lemony flax goo, and work as our vegan egg substitute.

• In a large bowl, mix together the vegan Greek yogurt, brown sugar, milk, vanilla, and the lemony flax goo.
• In a separate medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients – flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Once these are well mixed, stir in the dry TVP very well. Definitely don’t re-hydrate the TVP, please, for the love of God. It’s important that we mix the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet ingredients so that the smaller volume ingredients such as baking powder and baking soda are able to be evenly dispersed throughout the batter.
• Add the dry ingredients slowly to the wet ingredients and combine well.
• Add in the blueberries. Please wash the blueberries before you add them in.
• Now that you have your muffin batter, evenly distribute the batter across all 12 lined muffin cup things on your muffin tray. You could also use silicone muffin molds. I really like those because I don’t have to mess with paper liners, and I really like the fun shapes the silicone muffin molds can come in!

• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. These will come out a little gooey, but they should not be passing the toothpick test. If you cook these long enough that they pass the toothpick test they are going to get dryer as they set, and you won’t like them. So they should come out slightly gooey.

• Let them sit for about 15 to 30 minutes and they will set up and become less gooey. This is the hardest part of the entire recipe because you’re going to want to eat them immediately!

Silly Little Haiku

I don’t like waiting

Why do baked goods have to cool?

I just want to eat.