Easy Homemade Vanilla Cupcakes With Oil
Moist cupcakes with a rich vanilla flavor are always a hit at parties and potlucks! This Vanilla Cupcake Recipe With Oil calls for oil instead of butter, making them stay moist for days but still light in texture. They are so super easy to make in one bowl, no mixer required! Plus, they are the perfect base cupcake for your favorite frosting.
As a pastry school graduate, I’ve learned over the years that it is super important to have a good cupcake recipe on hand. In fact, I’ve tested this specific recipe five times (!!) in order to get it perfect.
And although it’s fun to make more involved flavors from scratch like red velvet cupcakes or espresso cupcakes, a moist vanilla cupcake always comes in clutch for any occasion.
These vanilla cupcakes have a special twist in that they are made using oil. Using oil in cupcake batter instead of butter yields a cupcake that stays moist for longer. Oil also slows down gluten development which results in a fluffier cupcake!
Also, since vanilla is a great base cupcake, you can top these with ANY buttercream frosting and they would be delicious.
I frosted these with my base vanilla frosting recipe because it simple, easy, and a total classic.
You could also try this strawberry frosting or raspberry buttercream for a berry flavor, zesty lemon buttercream for something summery, or espresso buttercream for a caffeine buzz!
Ingredients
You’ll use all the same kinds of baking pantry staples like flour, sugar, eggs, except for butter. Instead you’ll use vegetable oil. This is what’s responsible for the rich moist texture of the cupcake. If you have canola that works too.
I dont recommend making this with a olive oil as it has a fruity base flavor and wouldnt taste right.
Make frosting feel easy, finally.
Struggling to pipe pretty cupcakes or fix frosting that won’t cooperate? My frosting guide gives you simple techniques, recipes, and tutorials so you can frost with confidence every time.
Mixing Method
Ok another reason why this recipe is awesome is because with a butter based cupcake recipe you would need to use a mixer to cream the butter to aerate it. When you use oil, theres no need to cream because oil is a liquid ingredient.
This means you can make this recipe in one bowl, and without a mixer, hooray! So easy!
How to decorate cupcakes
First you need a good buttercream or frosting recipe. When you are taking out the milk and egg for this recipe, make sure to take out the ingredients for your frosting too so it will be ready to use when the cupcakes are ready to frost.
To frost a cupcake I use a piping bag and decorating tip. My favorite tips to use are the wilton 1m or 2D for a pretty rose swirl.
If you dont have a piping bag you can use a zip top bag although I find them harder to use. You can also slather on the frosting with an offset spatula or spoon!
Top with sprinkles for the fun factor and enjoy!!
Recipe tips
- If your batter is too dry or too dense, it may mean you used too much flour or have over baked the cupcakes. Use a scale and make sure to watch your cupcakes as they bake as every oven is different.
- When combining the wet and dry ingredients, it’s important to make sure you do not overwork the batter as this will result in tough cupcakes. Mix just until everything is evenly combined and there are no dry streaks.
- Wait until the cupcakes are cool to frost them.
- Do not over bake, and do not over fill. Only fill 2/3 of the way.
Easy Vanilla Cupcakes With Oil
Ingredients
- ¾ cup granulated sugar, (157g)
- 1 ¼ cup flour, (160g)
- 1 tsp baking powder, (4g)
- ¼ tsp baking soda, (1 ½ g)
- ½ tsp kosher salt, (3g)
- ¾ cup milk, (6 oz)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract, (14g)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, (2 oz)
- 1 egg, (50g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- In a large mixing bowl combine the ¾ cup sugar, 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, and ½ tsp kosher salt and whisk lightly to combine.
- Next add in the ¾ cup milk, tablespoon of vanilla, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, and 1 egg.
- Mix until combined but do not overmix.
- Fill each cup ⅔ of the way full. Do not overfill.
- Bake 18 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
Notes
- Bring the milk and egg to room temperature before using to ensure it mixes smoothly
- Properly measure your flour. Use a kitchen scale for the most accurate weight, or fluff and spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level it off. Never directly scoop flour with your measuring cup as you will get too much flour and it will alter the recipe.
- Use any buttercream frosting on top!
Love this recipe. Just made a batch and my husband loved them! He does not care for sweets!! I knew I had a winner. So easy to make and bake in no time. My family enjoyed them also. Thank you!
Wow Theresa – what an epic compliment that a non sweet lover devoured these! Thank you so much for coming back and letting me know. I feel like I won a special award now!
how many cupcakes are made with this recipe
This recipe makes 12 cupcakes.
Made these with my 3 grandchildren today, (we live in the UK so omitted the baking soda and used self raising flour), they were a great success and super easy to make with the kids (ages 4, 6 and 10), we doubled the recipe so they had plenty to take home, and they had great fun decorating them. Thanks for a fab recipe ☺️
Awww Helen this sounds like so much fun! I want to join your family! It sounds like there is a ton of baking fun!
This is by far the most delicious and easy cupcake recipe I’ve ever made! Thank you!!!
Oh my gosh Margie! What an incredible compliment. It’s kind of a big goal of mine to make baking as easy as possible!
Unbelievably easy … thank you for sharing … will be making more today
YAY Jean! I am so so happy you loved them. Enjoy your second batch!
Very quick and easy tyfs Delicious 😋 Definitely going to be my go to for my sweet tooth 😋 ❤😁👏🏾👏🏾
So honored I made the sweet tooth list Cynthia!
Delicious 😋 Light and flavor was so Yummy 😋 Tyfs! I’ll make these with my great grandchildren!😁😁❤👏🏾👏🏾
Awww Cynthia, this makes me SO HAPPY! I hope the great grandkids love them. My kids can never get enough when I make these.
Omg I absolutely love this quick & easy recipe & they taste great! My go to recipe from now on… Thank you for showing the quantities in the method, prevents scrolling up & down… just great… love your recipes!!!
I’m so glad having the quantities helped! I always love having as much information as possible. I hope you’ll make these again and again Valerie!
Easy quick,and very tasty. In my family everyone loves it. Thank so much for sharing your recipe.
Thank you so, so much for letting me know Ammara! You completely made my day and I am so honored you shared it with your family!
Hi Sam! I agree with everyone. This recipe is a winner. I’ve been searching for months for a go to recipe and this is definitely it. I was wondering if I can use this recipe for a cake and if so, how long would I bake it for both a 9 inch and a 10 inch pan without drying it out. Would love to know. Thank you so much! Delicious!
Hi Gina!! Thank you SO much! Yes you can totally make it into a cake version, I will actually have a post on that soon because it’s a great cake to have in actual cake size! I would probably double the recipe and make it in 3 pans and bake for 28-35 minutes each. Or you can bake in 2 pans and check after 25 mins. 9-10 inches wont have a crazy time difference, probably just 3-5 mins difference- the timing I wrote above would be for a 9 inch round cake.
Hi
I’ve made these before for our afterschool kids club. We are having a Christmas party with the kids tomorrow I’m in the process of baking 48 🫣 great easy cupcakes and the kids love them 🙂
YAY Lynn! Thank you so much for letting me know! This is so special, thank you! Merry Christmas!
hi, I would like to make strawberry cupcakes, with strawberry purée, do you have an idea for how I can add the strawberry purée? Would I need to add more flour or reduce something? Thanks for any advice
Hey Sam!
I actually wouldnt alter this recipe and instead would make these strawberry cupcakes. you can leave out the fresh strawberries and instead use the puree instead of the milk, or add any additional milk to the puree to get to the amoun listed. Hope this helps!
Easy receipt to follow but be WARNED! If you request to increase the servings the flour and sugar gram measurements do not update
Hi there! Thanks you so much for letting me know. I’ll give it a test and see. The measurement conversions happen through a plugin on my website that does it automatically so it sounds like there might be something off there.
Hello Sam, thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I used it earlier this week to make cupcakes for a bake sale at my daughter’s school. I was told they sold within minutes! I am currently baking another batch right now. My question is that both times I made the batter, it seems that the flour does not totally integrate when adding the liquid ingredients. I see small white lumps, even though the eggs and milk are at room temperature. Any suggestions? Thanks 🙂
Hey Frances! This is so amazing! Thank you so much for choosing this recipe for your daughters school. As for the troubleshooting I would sift the flour first if you are finding there are small clumps. I hope thats helpful! Thank you so much for the 5 star rating.
They come out perfect every time
Thank you so much Jenny!!
yum yum yum!!
Thank you Gerard so much for coming back and letting me know it was delicious and for leaving a review! I really appreciate it and you completely made my day.
These were perfect for my grandson’s 2nd birthday.
Aww Bonnie! I feel honored you made these for the birthday celebration. I’m so glad everyone loved them. I hope it was a great birthday!
This will be my third time making this cupcake recipe. It’s very easy as someone with low energy who doesn’t have a stand mixer! The texture is silky and not too dense. my family eats them up fast. I usually add another teaspoon of vanilla ext because yum!
I love how quick they bake as well. Thanks for sharing.
This completely made my day. I’m so happy to hear the recipe is easy and doable for you, and that your family loves them too. That extra teaspoon of vanilla sounds like the perfect touch. Thank you so much for coming back to share and for making them again!
Worked great.
Loved it.
YAY great thank you!
hi Sam, I saw this video and the recipe how to make. I try this recipe, vanilla cupcake is so good. But, I have a make a cupcake issues. When I decided add monk fruit sugar instead of granulated sugar, we doing sugar level, and I add 1/2 cup of monk fruit sugar, Because my mom said is to sweet. and then I mix the all ingredients, it won’t dissolve sugar, it won’t turn to moist and very softer cupcake and it doesn’t taste the moisture cake. So I can add the 1/2 tsp of yeast in the batter? And is monk fruit sugar is work?
Hey Jason, thanks for trying this recipe but unfortunately I cant really help troubleshoot if you are not using the same ingredients. I dont work with monk fruit so I dont know how it will work in my recioes.
I can’t remember how many times I have used this recipe. It’s so fast, easy and most importantly YUMMY! I love that it uses oil instead of needing yay another stick of butter like almost every dessert recipe I need to make asks for. Butter sticks can get expensive. I also love that you can use this as a base and dress it up with any kind of frosting. Thank you for this recipe!
Yessssssss! So glad you love this recipe Adina! You listed all the reasons I wanted to create this recipe, yay! Thank you so much for letting me know you love it!
Would this recipe be okay with Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free Flour substituted?
I havent tried it but I think it could work!
I love this recipe…. Can you tell me how to store unfrosted cupcakes and how long it will good
Hi there! You can store unfrosted cupcakes at room temperature for 3 days. I either use a tupperware with a lid to close and seal the air out, or a ziptop bag with the air squeezed out works too! Store in the fridge for a longer shelf life of 5 days!
Sam, thank you for this deliciously moist recipe. In all my years this is the best cupcake recipe. I needed the oil recipe as the butter is expensive in the country I moved to. It’s such an easy no fuss quick recipe. I have used cherry, cherry /pineapple and today I have cherry and cherry /mango. Everyone loves them. Today is my first time with the mango.
Regards
Rona
Hi Rona! Thank you so much for letting me know how much you love this cupcake recipe! I’m so happy that you found it so you don’t have to use butter. I so appreciate the 5 star rating, thank you!
Soft cupcake but not much flavor. Super easy to make.
Hey Danielle, thanks for making this! I see you left a couple reviews here, if the cupcake didnt have enough flavor, then I would make sure to add a bit more vanilla to your liking.
Hey Roger- Thanks for trying this recipe- if it came out too dense then it probably was overmixed or baked for too long. You can see that virtually noone else has had this problem from the reviews here. If the flavor wasnt enough then you can add more vanilla extract.
Hi this recipe turned out fantastic ,light,fluffy,only thing is they stick to the cupcake paper ,any ideas ?
Hi Linda! UGH I hate when that happens- it could either be a few things- make sure you have quality liners, some of the cheaper ones are less quality and stay stuck. I saw this cool trick where you put the cupcake upside with a damp paper towel on top of it and put it in the microwave for 15 seconds and the wrapper should unstick! Lemme know if you try it!
Sam Hi!
I just baked these cupcakes & made the frosting. They r amazing, light & fluffy & very flavourful! The frosting just brings them over the top!
Very well done!
PS: my 2 yr old granddemon also approved with yummy & repeating more lol
Wendy F
HAHAHA WENDY! I am dying from granddemon 🤣 that is the best word I have ever heard in my life LOL! I may steal it and add to my vocabulary. Thank you so much for making these with your granddemon and letting me know how you guys liked them!
Can I substitute margarine for oil. If yes what’s the amount I can use
I dont recommend it for this recipe. Instead you can do that for these homemade vanilla cupcakes.
Excellent recipe! I wanted a recipe that calls for oil instead of butter. Turned out light and fluffy. I also added 1 tsp of Princess Cake and Cookie emulsion. Yum! This will be my go-to cupcake recipe.
That sounds really fun Jane! I havent ever tried that but I will look out for it now!