These tasty vegan scones are so easy to make. You can make a batch of this classic British teatime treat in under 30 minutes!
Don't you just love a freshly baked scone? Vegan scones are one of our go to bakes when we fancy making something quick and easy, or have last minute guests. They are always a hit at bake sales and community events too.
There’s lots of types of scones and these are the traditional English type I grew up with. Compared to American scones, they are much less sweet, and are often served as part of a 'Cream Tea'. This is a speciality in Devon and Cornwall, where you get served a pot of tea with a couple of scones along with butter, clotted cream or whipped cream and jam. It's heavenly and so quintessentially British.
Scones are not typically vegan, as they traditionally use butter and milk. But it’s super easy to make vegan scones with plant based butter and milk. They’re just as delicious, but delightfully animal free!
We’ve tested a lot of variations on vegan scones before we settled on this recipe. Some we found too buttery, which tasted good but they were too crumbly and rich for what I think of as a scone.
The super simple recipe we settled on makes fluffy textured scones, which are just slightly sweet. They are exactly the type of scone I’d like to have served to me in a charming countryside tearoom.
We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Ingredient tips
This is what you need to make these easy vegan scones:
- Plain or all purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Vegan butter. We use Naturli which has a great flavour, but other types of vegan butter or dairy free spread will work too.
- Soy milk
- Raisins or other dried fruit.
- And a tiny bit of maple syrup to get a nice golden top to the scones.
Step by step pictures
You'll find the recipe card below, but here is a visual guide on how to make vegan scones!
Step 1 - Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl. Make sure there are no clumps of baking powder.
Step 2 - Rub the vegan butter into the flour mixture, until no lumps remain. You can use a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingertips to do this.
Step 3 - Add the soy milk and the raisins to form a soft dough. Don't overmix the dough - work it just enough so it comes together evenly. It may still be a bit sticky, but only add more flour if it is so sticky you can't handle it.
Step 4 - On a floured board, roll or press the dough to an even thickness of about 2.5cm or 1 inch.
Step 5 - Dip a cookie cutter approximately 8 cm / 3 inches in flour, then cut out shapes and set them down on a lined baking sheet. Gather leftover dough and cut more scones. Shape the last scone from remaining bits of dough using your hands.
Step 6 - Brush the tops of the scones with soy milk sweetened with maple syrup.
Step 7 - Bake the scones at 220°C / 430°F for 10-12 minutes until their tops are golden brown, and then let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before eating.
Variations and substitutions
Instead of soy milk, you can also use another plant milk of your choice.
You can also replace both the vegan butter and plant milk with a 400ml can of full fat coconut milk to make coconut scones. For extra coconut flavour add some coconut flakes on top.
We usually make our scones with raisins in, you can use other dried fruit such as sultanas, currants or chopped apricots.
Although it’s not traditional, we also really like to make vegan chocolate chip scones. Simply replace the amount of raisins with chopped dark chocolate or vegan chocolate chips.
For a festive twist, add some orange zest and cranberries for the perfect holiday season scone.
You can also use these recipe to make savoury vegan scones, just skip the sugar and the fruit. You could add herbs such as rosemary or thyme, some vegan cheese, sun dried tomatoes or pumpkin seeds. Have fun experimenting!
We also often make a simplified camping version of these scones when we are in our campervan, by using coconut oil instead of vegan butter, and water in place of plant milk. We then cook giant flat scones in our cast iron pan for about 5 minutes on each side. They are just the thing when you need a quick pick me up after a day hiking.
Serving
Let the scones cool down for around 10 minutes before serving. They are best enjoyed when they are freshly baked.
We like to have our scones with a generous spread of vegan butter at breakfast time. For teatime, we go all out with plenty of jam and whipped plantbased cream!
Strawberry jam is a classic, but we love raspberry and our homemade apricot jam too. Try our easy chia jam for a super fruity and low sugar option.
You can use your favourite dairy free cream, such as coconut cream, cashew cream or a commercially available cream. We used Elmlea Plant double cream and whipped it with an electric whisk until thick. You could also try making your own vegan clotted cream.
Storage
When cool, transfer the scones to an airtight container and store in a cool place. They are best eaten fresh, but are still good for up to 3 days. To refresh the scones before eating, you can put the in the microwave for 10 - 20 seconds. You can also reheat a batch of scones in the oven at 150°C (300°F) for 5 - 10 minutes.
Fancy trying some other lovely British inspired vegan recipes? Check these out:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Scones
Ingredients
- 4 cups (500 g) plain or all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp (25 g) sugar granulated or caster
- 1 tsp salt
- ⅓ cup (75 g) vegan butter
- 1 ¼ cups (300 ml) soy milk
- ⅓ cup (75 g) raisins or chocolate chips optional
For brushing
- 1 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven on fan to 220°C (430°F).
- Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.4 cups (500 g) plain or all purpose flour, 2 tbsp baking powder, 2 tbsp (25 g) sugar, 1 tsp salt
- Rub the vegan butter into the flour mix, using a pastry cutter, a fork or your fingertips.⅓ cup (75 g) vegan butter
- Add the soy milk, and if using, raisins or chocolate chips, and mix to form a loose, sticky dough.1 ¼ cups (300 ml) soy milk, ⅓ cup (75 g) raisins or chocolate chips
- Place the dough on a flour-dusted surface, and roll it out or just pat it down about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick.
- Using a 3 inch (8cm) cutter dipped in a bit of flour, cut out circles and set them down on a lined baking sheet. Gather the leftover dough and cut more scones. You can shape the final scone from remaining bits of dough using your hands.
- For brushing, combine the soy milk with maple syrup (see notes). Brush the tops of the scones with this mix for a nice golden brown top when baked.1 tbsp soy milk, 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar
- Bake the scones at 220°C / 430°F on fan, for 10-12 minutes until their tops are golden brown.
- Let cool down on a wire rack or enjoy the scones while they are still warm after 10 minutes resting.
Notes
Variations
There's so many great ways you can vary the flavour of these vegan scones - check out the post above for our ideas and substitution tips.Rubbing in the flour
Like mentioned you can use a fork, a pastry cutter or your finger tips. The important thing is to not leave any lumps of butter. We like to start off with a fork but then switch to our hands for an efficient way with little mess.Mixing dough
Don't overmix the dough. Just stir until combined evenly. Again, we like to start with a tool like a wooden spoon, and bring it together at the end using our hands.Vegan eggwash
We use maple syrup to sweeten the soy milk because it's easy to combine the two. Unsweetened soy milk doesn't give the same golden tops as a result. A soy milk to syrup ratio of 3:1 (or 1 tablespoon : 1 teaspoon) works perfectly. Instead of maple syrup you can use sugar in the same ratio and briefly heat up the soy milk (in the microwave) to better dissolve the sugar.Baking Temperature
For perfectly baked vegan scones with golden tops, baking at 220°C (430°F) gets the best results. If your fan oven doesn't reach 220°C, bake at 200°C (390°F) for up to 15 min, until the tops are at least lightly golden brown.Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Janet says
If I'm not going to be using a fan oven, at what temperature, and for how long should I bake the scones in a conventional?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Janet, to keep them from getting too dark, keep the temperature at 220C. Check after 12 minutes, if they still seem a bit pale, add a few more minutes. Hope this helps, enjoy!