These healthy apple cinnamon oatmeal muffins make an easy breakfast or grab and go snack. Packed with juicy apples, fragrant cinnamon, and wholesome oats, this muffin recipe is perfect for meal prep!
Jump to Recipe
These muffins are the perfect healthy comfort food in the fall or anytime you have some extra apples on hand. And that’s usually always.
The list of ingredients may seem a bit long but there’s really just two steps to mixing up these easy muffins.
Ingredients
- Apples
- Old fashioned oats
- Buttermilk
- White whole wheat flour
- Salt
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Brown sugar
- Egg
- Avocado or other oil for baking
- Vanilla extract
If it doesn’t feel like fall where you are, these Apple Oatmeal Muffins will help. I promise. Once these muffins start baking, the house will smell like fall. The heartwarming aroma will give you all the fall feels.
Not into apples? Try these Pear Oatmeal Muffins instead!
Directions
To make these muffins, you’ll need to prepare the dry ingredients in one large bowl. Simply whisk them together.
The most important step to keep these muffins tender and moist is soaking the oats in the milk. Once the oats are soft and well-hydrated, stir in the grated apples, eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Combine the two and get ready to bake!
Switching out flours
These muffins are fine with basic all-purpose, white whole wheat, or whole wheat pastry flour. Using half oats helps add a bit more bite to the muffin along with extra fiber. So they are not light or cakey but a bit more hearty – good for breakfast with a smear of peanut butter.
Don’t have buttermilk?
I know now everyone stocks buttermilk. You can easily make some at home by combining 1 tablespoon white vinegar or fresh lemon juice with enough milk to total one cup of milk. Let sit for at least 5 minutes. Substitute that for each cup of milk in the recipe.
You can also use regular milk or non-dairy milk like almond or cashew milk. Please note that the muffins may be a tiny bit drier and less tender with the nondairy milk because of the lower fat content.
Enjoy these for breakfast tomorrow. Smear a muffin with a little nut butter, peach jam, or eat it plain.
These muffins freeze well too. I like to freeze the majority of the batch on the first day to enjoy for days and weeks to come.
To reheat the oat muffins: Reheat from frozen at 350ºF for 15 minutes or more depending on desired crispiness. I like to use a toaster oven for a quick reheat while I’m getting dressed.
More healthy muffin recipe ideas
And if these have you hungry for more muffins, you’ll love these Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins in the spring, these no-flour Healthier Blueberry Blender Muffins in the summer, and my Flourless Gingerbread Muffins when it turns chilly outside. Those last two come together in the blender!
And you’ll flip over these Carrot Cake Oatmeal Pancakes!
Go ahead a make a batch. Let me know what you think.
Healthy-ish Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 cup white whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup avocado or olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cup apples, shredded (about 1½ medium apple)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray or grease a muffin tin with oil. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine oats and buttermilk. Let sit 15 minutes. - In a second mixing bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
- Stir the oil, egg, brown sugar and vanilla into the soaked oat mixture. Add dry ingredients. Stir just until combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold apples into the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let the muffins cool in the pan 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Elizabeth Shaw
WOOOHOOO! So glad you got these up my friend 🙂 XOXO
Marisa
Thanks, Liz!!
Spencer
I made this today and I loved it so much. The muffins tuned out moist, aromatic, warm and delicious. Thank you so much for sharing.
Marisa
Thanks! I love them too. One of my favorites for sure!
Sue Piracci
LOVE the ingredients (grated apples!) & what came out is pure gold! Took a batch o a morning meetup & everyone agreed it’s the best apple muffins they’ve had. I’ll have to make double batches next time.
Marisa
Thanks for the note, Sue. What a compliment. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipe!
Jody
Next time I would use refined coconut oil as the unrefined I used made them taste soapy which is a common problem I’ve noticed when baking with coconut oil.
Marisa
THanks for the note. I tend to find that the extra virgin coconut oil adds a fruitiness but I’ve never noticed a soapy flavor. I will pay attention next time I bake with it.
Holly
The “soapy” flavor is from your coconut oil having gone rancid. It can spoil!
Sheri
Hi there, I was just wondering if I could swap out the buttermilk for almond milk just because I don’t have buttermilk and I do have apples but not sure how long they’ll last and I would love to try these muffins!
Marisa
Hi Sherii, I haven’t tried these with almond milk. It would possibly work but the muffins may be a bit more dry. I chose buttermilk because it helps keep the muffins moist.
Haley S
Love these muffins! I didn’t have milk the first time I made it and subbed it with vanilla coffee creamer. I must say- I haven’t even tried regular milk because the coffee creamer adds such an excellent taste!
Natalie blanks
How high up on the muffin tin do we fill it?
Marisa
Hi! Great question. Fill almost to the top. These muffins won’t rise as high as those with all regular flour because of the oats.
Mary
I substituted 1/4 c stevia + 1 T. Molasses for the 1/2 c sugar and olive oil for the coconut oil. Also used brown whole wheat flour.
The muffins turned out delicious!
Thank you for such a good recipe!!
Helena
Really enjoyed these muffins, thanks so much for the recipe. For the flour, I used 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup ground flax, 1/4 white flour. Soaking the oats was a great idea. I let the flax soak in there too to aid digestion. Super yummy.
Ginny
I made these yesterday. I used regular flour and powdered buttermilk. I made half because didn’t know if I would like them or not. They were delicious! . Not to sweet either. I will definitely be making these again. Thank you!
Marisa
Thanks for the note. So glad to hear you enjoyed them! And that you appreciate my low sugar habit 🙂
Matías
I’ve made this but as a loaf and without sugar, I used 3 Tbsp of stevia in replace.. it turned out delicious but kinda crumbly, next time I’ll try to add some applesauce. Also, is the batter supposed to be kinda runny (liquid) ?
Marisa
Thanks so much for sharing! I don’t find the batter to be runny at all. Soaking the oats gives a place for the liquid to go. But I have not baked with stevia – wonder if that has any effect.
FYI: (until I can update this one) The pear version of this recipe has a few pictures of how the muffin batter should look: https://marisamoore.com/pear-oatmeal-muffins/
Stacey
These are sooooo good! I added an extra 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, and added a sprinkle of cinnamon & sugar on top before baking ….. they came out perfect. I will definitely be making these again.
Alana
I made these muffins for my family last night and they were a hit all around! I’m hoping to make a double batch and freeze half. Would that effect the outcome of the recipe? Thanks!
Marisa
So happy to hear! I highly recommend baking extra and freezing a batch! These muffins taste great reheated in the toaster oven!
Carmela
Can you make these with almond flour instead.
Marisa
Do you mean to swap it for the oat flour or the wheat flour? I haven’t tested it so can’t say if it will work. I think it might work for either or but not both.
Diane Martinez
My brother is diabetic. What can I use to swap out for the brown sugar?
Marisa
Hi Diane, I haven’t made this recipe without the brown sugar so I can’t say. You might be able to use a zero calorie sweetener. Check the package on that product to determine what the equal swap for the sugar.
Angela Doucet
Do you make chocolate muffins?
Marisa
Hi Angela! I have a lot of muffins but haven’t done chocolate ones yet. Maybe I will!
Lucky
I did a few less oats and added ground flax and chia, added an extra splash of milk, and subbed honey for the brown sugar. Delicious!!
Anne Taylor
Delicious! I tweaked slightly. Replaced oil with 4 ozs. unsweetened apple sauce. In the future, I shall add additional 1/4 tsp. cinnamon.
Thank you for sharing!
LauraH
Delicious! Subbed buttermilk for oat milk+ 1T ACV, used coconut oil and added walnuts! Love that they’re not too sweet.
Marisa
Love this and the walnut addition!
Jane
Just pulled these out of the oven! The house smells wonderful.
The muffins turned out great; I subbed GF quick oats and GF all-purpose flour.
Added chopped pecans. The batter was thinner than most muffin recipes but it bakes up fine with a delicate ‘crumb.’ Watch the baking time—ovens do vary and these bake fast. I love trying new recipes; thanks for a tasty new apple muffin recipe.
Marisa
So glad you enjoyed the recipe with the gluten-free flour! This and the pear muffins are my fave!
Valerie Robertson
Hi Marisa, these baked up wonderfully well. I subbed all sprouted buckwheat flour, used monk fruit as the sweetener too as I’m diabetic. They were delicious and smelled heavenly.
Olivia
Could I use quick oats instead of old-fashioned? and can you taste the olive oil at all?
Marisa Moore
The recipe measure is for old fashioned and I recommend keeping them for texture. Quick cooking are cut smaller so you’ll need adjust the amount.
I don’t notice the flavor of the olive oil but you can use any neutral-flavor oil you prefer. Just make sure it’s fresh.
TerryF
Very good – thank you!
Mikaela
I’ve made this recipe 3 times now and it turns out AMAZING every time! I used pears one of those times too (but still cinnamon as I didn’t have cardamom) and they were also delicious. I freeze them and literally just pull one out of my freezer and put it straight into my lunch bag. By the time I’m ready to eat it a few hours later it has thawed beautifully and tastes almost as still cool as it does fresh and warm! Such great, easy snack prep.
Wendy
These were so fabulous! I had diced dehydrated apples I needed to use up, which is how I found your recipe. They worked fine, but I can’t wait to try it with fresh apples. I also subbed walnut oil for part of the oil. For me, these had the perfect hint of sweetness without feeling like a dessert.
April
I made these this morning, added a handful of walnuts and ate 4! Planning on making another batch to freeze and use up some apples. Love this recipe, thanks for sharing!
Charity
Turned out yummy. I didn’t have whole wheat flour so I substituted 1/2 wheat flour and 1/2 buckwheat flour. Then added walnuts.