Gluten-Free Vegan Blueberry Scones made with 5 basic ingredients! This easy scone recipe requires hardly any time to prepare and no baking experience!
This scone recipe…
It’s the lowest maintenance homemade scone recipe you’ll ever make!
Gluten-free vegan scones are quite possibly my proudest invention in the history of this blog.
It all began with my Vegan Raspberry Scones six years ago.
One afternoon, I took it upon myself to create a butter-free scone using full-fat coconut milk and gluten-free flour. I wasn’t sure whether or not it would work, but alas, an amazing scone recipe was born!
I’ve posted numerous renditions and have even made grain-free Paleo scones as well! Just take a gander at my Paleo Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Scones, Vegan Strawberry Scones, or Paleo Pecan Chocolate Chip Scones.
What I love about this approach to homemade scones is how stinking simple the scone dough is to prepare.
With regular scones, you must use chilled butter, and cut said pieces of cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter. The dough also needs to be refrigerated for hour or so before baking.
This recipe? Dump all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir, make scone shapes, bake!
The best part is the texture of these gluten-free butter-less scones is remarkably similar to regular scones. They don’t have that iconic butter flavor but they have that amazing crisp on the outside and soft flaky inside.
The most complicated part about this recipe is forming the dough into a disc to cut the triangular scone shapes. If you don’t feel scones must be triangular, you can easily go free-form and make drop scones, you rebel, you.
This is a great recipe if this is your first time baking scones because we don’t need any fancy equipment like a stand mixer or pastry blender.
You don’t need any baking experience to have great success with these tender scones.
Ingredients for Vegan Blueberry Scones:
Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: I use a gluten-free flour blend (specifically, Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour) to make these scones. Do note that different brands of gluten-free flour have different absorbencies.
The good news is, this recipe is incredibly versatile. If your dough is too dry you can simply add a small amount of additional coconut milk until the consistency is right.
If your dough is sticky or too wet (doesn’t come together in a ball easily), you can simply add more flour until a workable dough forms. It is normal for the dough to stick to your hands a bit bit it shouldn’t be overly sticky.
Full Fat Canned Coconut Milk: Canned coconut milk takes the place of butter in these scones. It’s fat content ensures the scones are moist and fluffy and bold together perfectly. Be sure you use full-fat canned coconut milk (not light or coconut milk from a carton), or else the fat content will not be high enough.
If you don’t follow a dairy-free diet, you can replace the canned coconut milk with heavy cream.
Baking Powder: This ingredient is crucial in giving the scones that iconic crispy outside and keeps them held together. Don’t skip it, even if your flour blend contains xanthan gum and/or baking powder.
Raw Cane Sugar or Coconut Sugar: The sweetener portion of the recipe. You can use raw cane sugar, regular cane sugar, brown sugar, maple sugar, coconut sugar or a sugar-free sweetener.
One of the amazing parts about these easy blueberry scones is you can play with the sweetness according to your palate.
For only lightly sweet scones, use 3 tablespoons of your sweetener of choice. For sweet scones, go up to ½ cup.
I’ve made scones using anything from 3 tablespoons to ½ cup and find they all turn out amazing! I like mine less sweet so that I can warm them up with butter and a bit of pure maple syrup or jam.
Sea salt: That magical flavor enhancer! Be sure you don’t skip it!
Fresh Blueberries: The star of the show is juicy blueberries! Use either fresh or frozen blueberries for these scones. I buy fresh blueberries then freeze them before adding them to the dough.
I find this makes incorporating them into the dough easier, because there is less breakage of the berries.
Optional Additions:
- Vanilla Extract: While it is not necessary, adding 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract brings warmth and complex flavor to the scones.
- Ground Cinnamon: If you love warmly-spiced treats, consider adding 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
- Lemon Zest: Looking for a lemon blueberry adventure? Add 1 tablespoon of lemon zest and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to add lemon flavor to the scones.
- Chocolate Chips: The combination of chocolate chips and blueberries is always a win! Consider adding ½ to ⅔ cup of chocolate chips.
Now that we’re familiar with the basic ingredients, let’s make the best blueberry scones!
How to Make Vegan Blueberry Scones:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Add the gluten-free all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt to a large bowl and stir well to combine.
Pour in the coconut milk and stir well until a thick dough forms. If the dough is overly sticky and doesn’t come together in a ball easily, add more flour (3 tablespoons at a time), until a thick dough forms. On the other hand, if the dough is too dry, add more coconut milk, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough absorbs all of the flour and forms a ball easily.
Add in the blueberries and use your hands to gently incorporate them into the dough. It’s normal for them to break open and make the dough more moist…just go with the flow 😉
Form a round disc out of the dough and place it on a floured cutting board or a lightly floured surface. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 equal-sized triangles. If any blueberries pop out of the dough, you can gently poke them back in.
Place the triangles on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown and the blueberries are bubbly.
Remove scones from the oven and allow them to cool before serving.
If desired, make a glaze using powdered sugar and water. Make a lemon glaze using lemon juice instead of water and a little lemon zest. Make a sugar-free glaze by melting ⅓ cup of coconut butter in the microwave for 20 to 60 seconds.
And that’s it! A marvelous blueberry scones recipe reminiscent of your favorite coffee shop.
Bake them the next time you’re craving a tasty baked treat or are serving guests for a special occasion.
How to Store Scones:
Store scones at room temperature in an airtight container or zip lock bag for up to 2 days. Beyond a couple of days, transfer the blueberry scones to the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Scone freeze very well! Simply freeze them in a large ziplock bag or a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
To reheat the scones, microwave for 10 to 30 seconds or until warm. You can also use a toaster oven to reheat scones.
How to Make an Egg Wash:
If you like the glossy finish that comes with an egg wash, feel free to use one here. Simply whisk one egg with 1 tablespoon of water to create an egg wash. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash.
If desired, sprinkle coarse sugar over the top of the scones too. As an alternative, you can brush the scones with melted butter (or vegan butter like Earth Balance butter) a few minutes before they are finished baking.
This step is entirely optional and I never do it with scones. It adds a crispy nuance to the outsides of the scones and makes them golden brown.
I find these scones taste best when they are fresh out of the oven. This is one those easy recipes that instantly becomes a household staple for weekend breakfast, brunch, or special occasions.
You can use this as your master scone recipe for all your gluten-free scones. Simply change it up with various add ins like fresh produce, nuts, chocolate, or extracts and different glazes to make a variety of flavors.
Looking for more dairy-free, egg-free vegan baked treats? Try out these reader favorites.
More Vegan Recipes:
- Vegan Apple Scones
- 6-Ingredient Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookies
- Double Chocolate Vegan Black Bean Cookies
- Paleo Pecan Pie Bars
- Vegan Strawberry Cobbler
Homemade blueberry scones for all occasions!
Vegan Blueberry Scones (Gluten-Free)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups (300g) gluten-free all-purpose flour*
- 1/2 cup (100g) raw cane sugar or coconut sugar**
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 1 ¼ cups (296ml, 10oz) full-fat canned coconut milk
- 1 cup (150g) fresh or frozen blueberries***
Optional Add Ins:
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the gluten-free all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder and sea salt to a mixing bowl and stir well to combine.
- Pour in the coconut milk and stir well until a thick dough forms. Note: If the dough is overly sticky and doesn’t come together in a ball easily, add more flour (3 tablespoons at a time), until a thick dough forms. On the other hand, if the dough is too dry, add more coconut milk, 2 tablespoons at a time, until the dough absorbs all of the flour and forms a ball easily.
- Add in the blueberries and use your hands to gently incorporate them into the dough. It’s normal for them to break open and make the dough more moist…just go with the flow 😉
- Form a round disc out of the dough and place it on a cutting board. Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 equal-sized triangles. If any blueberries pop out of the dough, you can gently poke them back in.
- Place the triangles on the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown and the blueberries are bubbly.
- Remove scones from the oven and allow them to cool before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Very easy to make. I think a little more salt would be perfect, and the brand of gluten free flour makes a difference. We use Pamela’s and it is great.
Thanks so much for sharing, Anne! It’s super helpful to know the scones turned out well using Pamelas 🙂 xoxox
These are pretty good. I wasn’t exact with my measurements as I halved the recipe. And they were on the sticky side so I used a drop biscuit style instead of shaped like in the photos. Pros. Didn’t taste coconut. I used a combination of full fat and half fat coconut milk. Pretty darn fluffy for gluten free. Good flavour. Extremely easy to make as didn’t need to cut in any butter. All in one bowl, mix and drop on cookie sheet. Cons. Didn’t brown up at all so didn’t look done but were. A little tiny bit gritty with the gluten free flour, but it was very subtle and to be expected!
On the whole this is a keeper. I went more sweet and I imagine a lemon glaze would be amazing. Raspberry white chocolate would also be very very good. I’ll try that too!
Thanks so much for sharing all of that, Justine! This is super helpful to others who want to try the same changes. I agree – raspberry white chocolate would be amazing! xo
Mine turned out chewy. Any idea what happened? I was so excited to try them
Hi Kelly! What brand of gluten-free flour did you use? I use Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour for the scones and they have just the right texture. Aside from the brand of flour, it could be there wasn’t enough flour in the scones (was the dough very sticky?), or they may have needed more time in the oven.
Even a non baker can make these! I used King Arthur bread flour (not gluten free) was all I had. I also used granulated white sugar…. these turned out great! I plan on using these scones for berry shortcake. Thanks for an easy vegan recipe.
My pleasure, Kristine! I’m thrilled to hear you enjoy the scones and that you agree they’re super easy to make! I was always intimidated by traditional scone recipes with the process of cutting in the butter and refrigerating the dough, etc. I appreciate the sweet words! xo
I made these last night and they were delicious!! I put lemon mixed with powdered sugar on top for a drizzled frosting. Thank you for sharing!
Ooh, the lemon sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your feedback, Sherri!
Ready to try these. One question though. For the optional add-ins, do you recommend both vanilla and lemon zest or just one or the other? Thank you.
Hi Claudia! I love the idea of adding both vanilla extract and lemon zest, but either/or works great too 🙂 Depends on the flavor you’re going for!
Love these. This is been booked Mark since I first found it and he’s my go to pretty much every other week.
Wahoo! I’m thrilled to hear it! xo
Before trying to make this recipe, I had never eaten/made a scone. When asked to bring dairy/gluten free blueberry scones to a bridal shower, I wasn’t too confident that I could but said I would try. I’ve made a few GF desserts but nothing DF. Used the canned unsweetened full fat coconut milk and heated it up a bit in a saucepan on low/medium heat to get it back to an even consistency. (Didn’t realize it’s normal for it to separate; I thought it had gone bad. Lol 😅) I used the same GF flour but added 7 to 8 tbsp. more flour, 1/2 cup regular cane sugar, 3/4 cup frozen blueberries, the 2 tsp. vanilla extract suggested, and followed the rest of the measurements. Baked them for 28 min., turned off the oven and left them in for 2 min. I also used your glaze recipe but added less water for a bit thicker glaze. All this to say thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this recipe!!! They turned out great and went over well at the bridal shower! 😃 I have shared your recipe with a couple of friends so far and will continue to! Also, the chocolate scones look amazing too! 🤤 Definitely want to make those next!
Thanks so much for sharing all of this, Michaela! I’m so happy to hear the recipe worked out so well for you! Sounds like you nailed it in spite of being new to scones, so huge kudos to you! Thanks so much for sharing your experience! xo
I have never made scones before and then throw in GF on top of that! However, these turned out amazing! I didn’t taste any of the grittiness that is often noted in GF baking. I will definitely make these again and again. Thank you for the recipe! 🤗
Wahoo! So happy you enjoy them!
This was so easy and yummy. I sent some home with a gluten eating friend! I cut sugar back by a tablespoon or two because I ran out but they were sweet enough for me because I made a frosting with powder sugar and fresh squeezed lime juice. The lime (or lemon) makes that icing pop! I would never use water for that. I didn’t have blueberries but I did have blackberries so I cut them up, grated some lime and added those to the batter. I had also added maybe a 1/4 tsp vanilla to this recipe. I used 1+1/8 c of coconut milk and didn’t need to add more flour. They were so good and so easy. I did experience a bit of a coconut aftertaste when I was all finished with the scone. So next time I may try doing a vegan butter and cutting coconut milk back as you suggested in another review.
I enjoyed these a lot. Thank you!
Oooh, the citrusy glaze sounds amazing and I love that you used blackberries! I’ll have to try that next time! I’m so happy you enjoy them, Theresa! xo
Can they be made with regular AP flour?
Hi Marta! I haven’t tried regular all-purpose flour myself, but I have had a couple people report back that they did and the recipe worked out. If the dough seems too crumbly, you can always add more coconut milk, and if it seems too wet, you can always add more flour. Let me know if you try them! xo
Followed exact, but unfortunately these came out very doughy..any thoughts?
It sounds like they needed to bake longer if they weren’t cooked all the way through. What brand of gluten-free flour did you use? Sometimes the flour makes an impact because varying brands have varying absorbencies. Let me know and we can troubleshoot from there! xo
These have become a staple bake in our house. So easy and tasty.
I’m so happy to hear it! I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve made these scones, myself! xo
Tried these today and my family and guests loved them! I added some almond extract and a little cinnamon, which was delicious! Was wondering if these would work with vegan butter or how much butter I would use if I’m not worried about dairy free?
Hi Carol! Using either vegan butter or regular butter sounds delicious to me! I would try it with 1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter and 3/4 cup full-fat canned coconut milk and see how that turns out. If the dough looks too greasy, you can always add more flour. Hope you enjoy! xoxo
Can I substitute 1/2 c coconut or almond flour to complete the 2 1/2 cups of Bob Red Mill Baking Flour for this recipe?
Hi Sandra! Without having tested the recipe using either substitution, I can’t be sure how they would turn out. Coconut flour absorbs a great deal of liquid so if you went that route, you would need to add much more coconut milk. The almond flour may work though! xo
I love this recipe! It’s so easy and adaptable. I made them with raspberries and white chocolate chips and they were a hit!