The easiest recipe for perfectly spiced gluten free apple muffins you'll ever find, with plenty of diced apples inside, made extra tender with sour cream in the batter. Long live apple season!
If you're like me, and you have about 20 pounds of freshly-picked apples in your house every fall, you'll need all the gluten free apple recipes you can get!
What makes this gluten free apple muffins recipe special?
This simple recipe is essentially just a sour cream-based muffin batter with diced fresh apple chunks folded into the batter in much the same way as you might add chocolate chips.
The batter is quite thick, but I find that it is easier to handle when the butter is melted and cooled, rather than kept at room temperature.
The chunks of apple release some of their moisture, but not all of it, into the surrounding batter as they bake away. You end up with incredibly tender muffins that always rise properly, without any sogginess.
Get ready for gf muffins with an incredibly moist and tender crumb, with plenty of fork-tender apples throughout the muffin. Not to mention the bonus apples sitting on top.
Tips on making sure your gluten free apple muffins bake perfectly
Be careful with the baking time in these gf apple muffins. If the wells of your muffin tin are deep, you'll need another minute or two of baking time.
The “toothpick in the center” test for doneness isn't very reliable in this recipe. Instead, bake the muffins until they're firm to the touch.
Use a light-colored muffin tin
Light-colored aluminum muffin tins, with or without nonstick coating, are the best for muffins that bake evenly and fully. Dark muffin tins bake the outside too quickly.
If your muffin tin is dark, you can still use it, though! Just line the wells with cupcake liners rather than greasing them.
Plus, for a dark-colored or glass muffin pan, lower the oven temperature to 325°F and bake for a few minutes longer. Low and slow is the name of the game!
Substitution information for gluten free apple muffin ingredients
How to make gluten free dairy free apple muffins
To make these muffins dairy free, too, try replacing the butter with vegan butter (Miyoko's Kitchen and Melt brands are my favorite vegan butters). For the sour cream or Greek yogurt, try straining plain, nondairy yogurt until it's the thickness of sour cream.
How to make these gluten free apple muffins egg free
There are 2 eggs in this recipe. You should be able to replace each of them with a “chia egg.”
To make each chia egg, place 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds in a small bowl. Mix with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water and allow it to sit until it thickens.
Vegan gluten free apple muffins
To make these muffins vegan, just use the replacement suggestions for both the dairy and the eggs.
Can you replace the apple chunks with blueberries?
No, you can't replace apple pieces with blueberries, since the berries release a lot more moisture during baking than apples, and your muffins would end up soggy. Instead, use our recipe for bakery-style gluten free blueberry muffins, and you won't regret it!
How to make gluten free apple muffins, step by step
Chunky Gluten Free Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 10 tablespoons (125 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (200 g) peeled, cored, and diced apples (about 2 medium-size apples)
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) cornstarch (or try arrowroot)
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup (240 g) sour cream or plain Greek yogurt at room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease or line the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 cup of sugar. Whisk to combine well.
- In a separate, medium-size bowl, place the diced apples and toss with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cornstarch. Toss to combine.
- Add about 2/3 of the apple mixture to the large bowl of dry ingredients, and toss to coat.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. The batter will be thick.
- Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tin all the way with the batter, and smooth the tops with wet fingers.
- Scatter the tops with a few pieces of the remaining apple mixture each, and press gently to help the apples adhere.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over and firm to the touch, about 22 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with no more than a few moist crumbs attached.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with any remaining batter.
- Store any leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature.
Notes
Chunky Gluten Free Apple Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 10 tablespoons (125 g) granulated sugar
- 1 ½ cups (200 g) peeled, cored, and diced apples (about 2 medium-size apples)
- 2 teaspoons (6 g) cornstarch (or try arrowroot)
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup (240 g) sour cream or plain Greek yogurt at room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease or line the wells of a standard 12-cup muffin tin and set it aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg and 1/2 cup of sugar. Whisk to combine well.
- In a separate, medium-size bowl, place the diced apples and toss with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cornstarch. Toss to combine.
- Add about 2/3 of the apple mixture to the large bowl of dry ingredients, and toss to coat.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, sour cream, eggs and vanilla, mixing to combine after each addition. The batter will be thick.
- Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tin all the way with the batter, and smooth the tops with wet fingers.
- Scatter the tops with a few pieces of the remaining apple mixture each, and press gently to help the apples adhere.
- Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over and firm to the touch, about 22 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with no more than a few moist crumbs attached.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with any remaining batter.
- Store any leftovers in a sealed container at room temperature.
Notes
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!
MARIETTA VICTORIA says
love love love any recipe you give us! I happen to have lots of apples at the moment, sothis is what I am doing..it’s like an adventure in my NEW upgraded kitchen <3 thank you for sharing always!
Nicole Hunn says
You’re so welcome, Marietta. Good luck and have fun in your new kitchen!!
Mare Masterson says
Michelle Beck, thank you so much for preserving the recipe! Nicole, thank you so much for tweaking it slightly! I am drooling here at my desk at work! As you can tell, I am having a very hard time being grain free!
Oh, yeah, my Small Bites book is on its way to me! Woo Hoo!
Nicole Hunn says
I am in Michelle’s debt for sure, Mare! ;)