Healthy blueberry muffins, made with applesauce, yogurt, oats and big, beautiful fresh blueberries (or frozen!) and no added fat or refined sugars. All the taste and texture, none of the guilt!
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A truly good-for-you breakfast, the easy way
It's easy to fool ourselves into thinking that muffins are better for you than cupcakes. They're breakfast food, after all. But when they're filled with refined flours and sugars and unhealthy fats, they're really just, well, cake.
Please don't misunderstand, because I love cake. But I don't love giving my children cake for breakfast, especially on a school morning. So healthy muffins are really a sweet spot (haha pardon the pun).
Why this is the best healthy blueberry muffin recipe
These healthy blueberry muffins are made with applesauce and plain Greek yogurt, not vegetable oil or butter, and the whole grain goodness of oats. I love the idea of making a fresh, homemade breakfast every day, but there's just no way that's happening every day.
Moist and tender, easy to make naturally gluten free muffins are only lightly sweet and positively bursting with the goodness of blueberries. They're super special right out of the oven (warm berries!), but they also freeze and defrost perfectly—plus they're easy to make dairy free, too with a nondairy plain Greek-style yogurt.
The rule in my house is that you're on your own for breakfast on the weekend, but during the school week I've got you covered. And make-ahead breakfasts like these muffins are always in the freezer, waiting for a quick defrosting in the microwave or toaster oven.
Healthy blueberry oat muffins — ingredients
- Old fashioned rolled oats – We use oats to form the base for these healthy muffins by grinding them into oat flour first, before we add any other ingredients. We expect oats to be a bit chewy, so don't worry about grinding them superfine, like you would need to with rice flour.
- Coconut palm sugar – This unrefined granulated sugar has a similar flavor to brown sugar, but is much grittier, and doesn't dissolve that well in baking. So if you're using it (rather than replacing it with brown sugar), be sure to blend it with the oats into a powder.
- Baking powder and baking soda – These chemical leaveners react with the liquid and acid in these muffins to give our muffins most of their rise. Make sure yours are fresh!
- Salt – Salt brings out all the flavors of these muffins, and balances the sweet sugar and blueberries.
- Applesauce – Smooth, processed applesauce adds moisture to these muffins and a tiny bit of structure, from the pectin. Be sure not to use chunky applesauce, or your muffins will be dry and uneven.
- Plain, Greek-style yogurt – Although you can make these muffins using fat free Greek-style yogurt, you really need the bit of fat in 2% lowfat or 4% whole milk yogurt to help tenderize your muffins.
- Eggs – Eggs provide structure and help these muffins rise. The yolks also add a bit of fat, which these muffins are really low in.
- Pure vanilla extract – Vanilla brightens and enhances the mild, delicious flavor of these healthy muffins.
- Blueberries – The star of the show here, blueberries add moisture when they bake in the oven and, of course, that gorgeous summery blueberry flavor to every bite. If you use frozen berries, don't defrost them first, or they'll turn your muffins blue!
- Cornstarch – Coating your blueberries in a tiny bit of starch helps suspend them in the batter so they don't sink to the bottom of each muffin as it bakes. This is especially important in this whole grain recipe.
How to make these whole grain healthy blueberry muffins
When I first developed this recipe, I always made the batter by dumping all the ingredients other than the blueberries in a blender. That method still works!
Simply add the wet ingredients (applesauce, yogurt, eggs, vanilla) first, then followed by the sugar and then the dry ingredients (oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt). Then, fold in the blueberries, portion among the muffin wells, and bake.
I've switched up the directions below, though, to call for grinding the oats first, alone (or with the sugar if using coconut palm sugar, which tends to have a coarse grain). That way, you don't risk over processing the batter which can lead to tough muffins.
Plus, whenever I make a wet batter in a blender, I feel like I'm leaving a few tablespoons of the precious batter behind in the machine. It's a lot easier to get dry ingredients out of a blender!
Simply blend the oats (with or without the sugar) into a powder and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar (if not already added), then the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and whisk to combine.
Add the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Add the berries, tossed with a tiny bit of starch to prevent them from sinking right to the bottom of the batter, place in the muffin wells and bake.
Tips for making the best blueberry muffins
Use room temperature ingredients
Make sure that your eggs, yogurt, and applesauce are at room temperature before you combine them. That way, they'll combine evenly and won't create clumps that prevent a smooth batter. Your blueberries will be cold if they're frozen, but that's the last thing you're adding to the prepared batter, so it won't harm anything.
Fresh or frozen blueberries?
As with any blueberry muffin, feel free to use either fresh or frozen blueberries for delicious results. If you do the latter, do not defrost frozen blueberries, and keep in mind that they will likely bleed into the batter and turn it a bit purple.
Using frozen berries won’t affect the taste one bit, though. You can have truly nutritious blueberry muffins all year long!
Coat your blueberries before adding
Coating your blueberries in a bit of starch before mixing them into the batter helps them cling to the batter a bit, and helps keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter, during baking.
Don't be afraid to add a topping
If you'd like some extra flavor in your muffins, try adding some lemon zest for lemon blueberry muffins), sliced almonds, decorating the top with a few whole toasted oats, or sprinkling the top with some coarse turbinado sugar.
Use muffin liners for easy cleanup
Place greaseproof muffin liners in your muffin tin before adding the batter to make cleanup really easy—and to help give your muffin batter some support as it rises up during baking.
Don't overmix the muffin batter
The most important thing to remember to have light and fluffy muffins made with oat flour is not to overblend the batter. Oat flour has a tendency to get tough if you overmix or overblend it before baking.
How to store your healthy blueberry muffins
For short term storage, these muffins will stay fresh for about 2 days on the kitchen counter if they're wrapped individually with plastic wrap or in a sealed container. For longer storage, place them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet until frozen, then pile them into a large ziptop bag until you're ready to enjoy them. Pop one out of the bag and into the toaster oven or microwave (or both!) and serve warm.
Healthy blueberry muffins ingredients & substitution suggestions
Dairy free blueberry oatmeal muffins
In place of regular Greek-style yogurt, you can definitely use a nondairy plain yogurt or sour cream substitute. If you use plain yogurt, be sure to drain it until it’s of a similar consistency to Greek-style yogurt, and then measure the ingredient by weight.
Egg free blueberry oatmeal muffins
Since this recipe contains 2 eggs, you should be able to replace them with some success using your favorite egg substitute. My favorite is one “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel) per standard egg.
Vegan blueberry oatmeal muffins
These muffins will be vegan if you use the suggestions above for replacing the dairy and the eggs. If you replace the coconut palm sugar with brown sugar, be sure your brown sugar is made without bone char.
Applesauce alternative
The applesauce in this recipe provides structure, sweetness, and tenderness to the muffins. The muffins don’t taste at all like applesauce. If you’d prefer to use bananas, try my recipe for banana oatmeal muffins.
Oats alternative
Since they're ground into a fine powder for use in this recipe, you should be able to replace the oats here with gluten free quinoa flakes. I haven't tried this particular recipe with quinoa flakes in place of the oats, but I think they'd work great. I was about to try making them just the other day and realized I was out of quinoa flakes so I just went ahead with another batch of the oat-based recipe. My 3 teenagers will plow through another dozen muffins in no time!
Blueberry alternative
In place of blueberries, I think these muffins would be great with an equal amount, by weight, of chopped strawberries or raspberries. You can also try frozen mixed berries as long as they're all relatively small in size (nothing larger than a raspberry). And remember not to defrost frozen berries first!
Sugar free blueberry oatmeal muffins
If you prefer to use unrefined sugars, go with the coconut palm sugar. It does have a coarse grain, though, so be sure to blend it along with the oats into a fine powder.
You can use an equal amount by weight of light brown sugar (which is what I use in the video, since I couldn’t find my treasure trove of coconut sugar). You could probably also use a brown sugar alternative, like Truvia brown sugar replacement.
I haven’t tried that, though, so you’ll have to experiment and please comment below and let us know how it went.
FAQs
Classic blueberry muffins, made with wheat or a rice-based flour, are not really very healthy, no! But these are healthy blueberry muffins, made with very little added fat, lots of whole grains and even a fair amount of protein.
I don't like using applesauce to replace oil in a recipe that calls for oil or another fat, even though I know that's a relatively common swap people like to make so their muffins are lighter. Generally, the added moisture of applesauce makes an unpleasantly spongy muffin. But these muffins are formulated to absorb that extra moisture, and still be tender and delicious—plus healthy!
Yes, you don't have to blend your oats into flour if you already have oat flour on hand. Just make sure you measure your oat flour by weight, not volume, since oat flour is more volume-dense than oats. And good baking requires baking by weight anyway!
No, this recipe doesn't have enough structure to support it if you were to try baking the batter in a loaf pan.
If you want to make sure your muffins are moist, be sure not to cut back on the sugar (sugar is a tenderizer and moisturizer in baking) and use Greek yogurt with at least 2% fat (not fat free). Fat is a tenderizer, too.
The “doneness” test in this recipe requires you to bake the muffins until their tops are nicely domed, and they spring back when pressed gently with a finger.
Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (225 g) certified gluten free old fashioned rolled oats (or regular rolled oats if GF is not an issue)
- ½ cup (80 g) granulated coconut palm sugar (or light brown sugar)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (240 g) smooth applesauce at room temperature
- ½ cup (114 g) plain Greek-style yogurt (1%, 2%, or even 0% fat—but I prefer 2%), at room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces fresh (or frozen) blueberries
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) cornstarch (or arrowroot)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease or line the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin, and set it aside.
- In a blender (or food processor fitted with the steel blade), place the oats and process into a fine powder. If you’re using coconut palm sugar, place that in the blender, too, and process it too.
- Place the oat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, and create a well in the center. Add the applesauce, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until just combined.
- Add the blueberries tossed in cornstarch, and fold the blueberries gently into the batter until they're evenly distributed throughout. The batter will be thick but very soft.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared wells of the muffin tin. Shake the tin back and forth to evenly distribute the batter in the wells.
- Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the tops of the muffins are nicely domed, and they spring back when pressed gently with a finger, about 18 minutes.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (225 g) certified gluten free old fashioned rolled oats (or regular rolled oats if GF is not an issue)
- ½ cup (80 g) granulated coconut palm sugar (or light brown sugar)
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (240 g) smooth applesauce at room temperature
- ½ cup (114 g) plain Greek-style yogurt (1%, 2%, or even 0% fat—but I prefer 2%), at room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces fresh (or frozen) blueberries
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) cornstarch (or arrowroot)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease or line the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin, and set it aside.
- In a blender (or food processor fitted with the steel blade), place the oats and process into a fine powder. If you’re using coconut palm sugar, place that in the blender, too, and process it too.
- Place the oat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl, and create a well in the center. Add the applesauce, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until just combined.
- Add the blueberries tossed in cornstarch, and fold the blueberries gently into the batter until they're evenly distributed throughout. The batter will be thick but very soft.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared wells of the muffin tin. Shake the tin back and forth to evenly distribute the batter in the wells.
- Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the tops of the muffins are nicely domed, and they spring back when pressed gently with a finger, about 18 minutes.
- Remove the muffin tin from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Marie says
These muffins were so moist and chewy. I will be making these over and over. I’m will try with apples, bananas and other fruits as well.
tiffany says
Can I use mashed RIPE bananas instead of applesauce, and omit the sugar?
Please let me know, thank you so much!!
Nicole Hunn says
No, you can’t omit the sugar and have the recipe turn out.
Sally says
I substituted fresh cranberries for the blueberries and added orange zest and substituted orange juice for the vanilla they are very tasty.
Connie says
In the written instructions, you do not mention adding the baking powder, baking soda and salt… Most of us know to add them into the dry ingredients before the wet ingredients but you might want to add that between steps 2 and 3 (would you put them in the blender or in the bowl? I added mine to the bowl before the applesauce. [By the way, I substituted banana for applesauce and they came out great].
Nicole Hunn says
Oh my gosh, Connie, thank you so much for pointing that out! I’ve added those ingredients to the instructions just where you said. Thank you again!
Karen says
I made these for the second time–only this time i lost my mind and forgot to add yogurt. Surprisingly, they were still amazing!! Thank heavens as I just made a double batch!
Nicole Hunn says
Now that’s surprising, Karen! I mean, I like my recipes to be solid enough as to be relatively flexible, but that’s quite a difference!
Naomi says
Oh how I want some of these muffins! One question first, though: did you use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce, or does it matter?
Nicole Hunn says
I always use unsweetened smooth applesauce, Naomi! You can of course use sweetened, but there’s no need. :)
Nancy says
Thank you for this recipe, Nicole. These muffins are delicious! For years I have been searching for a recipe for blueberry muffins that aren’t like cake, but taste good. This is it! I am no longer gluten free (after a year to see if my Chronic Fatigue symptoms could be misdiagnosed Celiac), but still using your recipes. Really, thank you. My husband loved them too!
Nicole Hunn says
That’s exactly what this recipe is, Nancy! Muffins that aren’t cake in disguise, and actually taste good. So glad you and your husband are enjoying them—and sticking around after no longer needing to be GF. :)
Milvi says
As a greek yogurt substitution (trying to switch to plant based of late), I tried vegan mayonnaise (1:1) and aquafaba (6 tbsp of reduced af) for the egg substitution. End result was super moist muffin that was delicious! It didn’t puff up much, so next time I’ll try to whip those ‘eggs’ up a bit first. Great recipe, as always!!
Nicole Hunn says
Thanks for letting us know how it turned out, Milvi!
Diane says
My husband is very critical. His usual comments are “I’ve had worse” or “not terrible.” But for these, as he’s stuffing another one in his mouth, “these muffins are really good!” I agree ;) Easy to make and YUMMY! Thanks again!
Nicole Hunn says
That’s absolutely hysterical, Diane! That sounds like it might just be the best compliment we (together) ever got!!
GF Mum says
Hi Nicole,
We made your banana oat muffins last week, so we had to make these to try them out. Delicious! Everyone loved them. I really appreciate a healthy muffin recipe!
Patsy says
Could you monk Duite or swerve for the sygar
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Patsy, please see the ingredients and substitutions section for all the information I have on sugar replacements and other ingredients!
Vivian Howard says
Hello, Looking forward to making these. Can I use Quick Cooking Oats instead of Old Fashioned Oats?
Or maybe oat flour since I do have some of that. If so, how much?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Vivian, sure you can use any sort of oats, since you need them processed into a flour anyway. Just measure by weight!
Heather Storey says
Thanks for the great sounding recipe blueberry is my all time fave. I do have a challenge though as down here in Australia there is no such thing as gluten free oats – could I substitute brown rice flour or another combination? I feel that we miss out on such a lot of nice sounding American recipes. I have 3 of your recipe books and I think they’re great.
Rebecca S. says
I just made these. I didn’t have ANY blueberries, so I used chocolate chips instead. But with a healthy batter like this? I didn’t mind the added sugar. My kids loved them. Thanks for such an easy recipe. And in the blender! Mind blown.
Nicole Hunn says
Oh I totally agree, Rebecca. The chips are warranted. So glad you loved the muffins!
roastedroot says
These muffins look fabulous! I feel like muffins > cupcakes any ol day, and when they’re actually healthy? Even better. I’m fantasizing about enjoying these while drinking tea on the porch…perfection!
Nicole Hunn says
Can’t argue with that visual, Julia! :)
yvonne says
If I use almond milk instead of the yogurt,what adjustments to the liquid do I make? Thanks
Nicole Hunn says
Yvonne, you can’t use almond milk in place of yogurt. It’s just too thin. If you need a dairy free option, try straining coconut milk yogurt until it’s the consistency of sour cream.
yvonne says
Thanks. I will probably not be able to make this recipe. Somehow, no matter what kind of yogurt (coconut, almond, etc) I try , I super sensitive GI track can’t tolerate them. Still, bunches of thanks for your prompt reply. I might just use additional applesauce knowing that the taste will not be as good, but I can still make my ” quasi” goodies ;)
Rebecca S. says
What about coconut milk from the can, after refrigerating overnight, grab the hardened part and then add bits of the liquid part until it’s the consistency of yogurt?
yvonne says
You are so sweet to think of an alternative. the canned coconut is not tolerated. But, really THANKS!
Claire says
You could try low fat cottage cheese as odd as that sounds. My aunt has trouble with fat content and she’s been using that for >15years. You’d probably have to mix it with some more applesauce to ensure the moisture content is the same or almond milk. Though cottage cheese is pretty moist.
Hopefully you can try this alternative
yvonne says
Agree at idea but I am lactose and soy intolerant since I was an infant