Fluffy Apple And Oat Muffins
on Oct 02, 2025
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These apple and oat muffins are the perfect cross between a big, fluffy bakery style muffin and an on-the-healthier-side breakfast muffin. Nicely risen and golden, packed with chunky apple texture and sweet and warming apple pie spices, they also have a subtle but satisfying chew from the oats.
The perfect apple and oat muffins
I’m always looking out for on-the-healthier-side muffins that don’t actually taste like healthy muffins. If you know what I mean. I love to freeze them for my son’s lunch boxes, or make a batch for a friend.
A favorite both with ourselves and readers for years, you really can’t go wrong with these healthy blueberry muffins. But what if it’s the Fall and it’s apples that are at their best? You can certainly use the blueberry muffin recipe and just substitute the blueberries for chopped apples, but I highly recommend trying this newer recipe as well!
What’s so great about them? Well, I think you’ll love the perfect cross between fluffy dome-topped bakery style muffin with chewy and fruity oatmeal breakfast style muffin. They’re beautifully moist, thanks to a whole cup of buttermilk — that you’ll make yourself by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk. And with just a touch of mildly caramel flavored brown sugar in them, they are not overly sweet.
📌Recipe snapshot
- What you’ll get: Fluffy, golden and domed muffins that are lower in sugar and all-in-all a little healthier than average. Packed with chunks of tart apple and studded with chewy oats.
- Skill level: easy
- Great for: apple season (Granny Smith’s or similar are best!), freezing for lunch boxes or satisfying snacks
- Check that you have: basic pantry baking ingredients (flour, eggs, baking powder etc.), rolled oats, a lemon, cinnamon and apple pie spices/allspice
About the ingredients
This is what you’ll need to make these apple oatmeal muffins. I’ve included any notes that might be helpful, but for exact amounts just scroll down to the printable recipe card below.
All-purpose flour + baking powder + baking soda + salt: You’ll see that there’s a relatively high amount of baking powder – 3 teaspoons. Muffins with oats can be on the heavier side, so this makes sure that you still get beautifully fluffy muffins!
Cinnamon and either allspice or ‘apple pie spice’: For ‘apple pie’ flavor vibes. If you like, add half to one teaspoon of ground ginger as well for extra warmth.
Rolled oats: Make sure not to use quick cooking oats – it’s the chunky ones we’re looking for.
Eggs
Brown sugar: For gentle caramel flavor.
Oil + applesauce: I experimented a little to get the right amount of each of these for a good compromise between moisture, softness and lightness. If you don’t want to use applesauce, you can easily just use more oil instead. I like light olive oil, but canola oil or another vegetable oil works well, too.
Milk + lemon: You’ll zest a lemon and add that in with the wet ingredients for a touch of freshness and brightness. Add a tablespoon of the juice to the milk for a homemade ‘buttermilk’ for an extra tender texture.
Apples: Tart, firm apples are best for apple muffins. You don’t want them to turn to mush as they cook. I like Granny Smiths, but others such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady would work too.
How to make apple and oat muffins
All you have to do to make these apple and oat muffins is this:
Preheat the oven to 355F/180C (in a convection/fan oven), or 375F/190C (in a conventional oven).
Mix together the dry ingredients, then mix together the wet ingredients.
Stir the two together until ‘just’ combined.
Fold in the apple – cubed finely.
Line a muffin pan with muffin liners. Then fill with the batter. You can fill almost to the top. This will give you nice domed muffins!
I like to sprinkle a few more oats over the top, along with a bit of extra brown sugar.
Bake for 17 to 21 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the center comes out clean.
Helen’s Top Tips
- Use non-stick parchment paper muffin liners to prevent sticking. Alternatively, spray the muffin liners lightly with oil.
- Only stir the wet ingredients with the dry until ‘just’ combined. This makes sure you don’t overwork the gluten in the flour, which can make muffins tough.
- If you have time, let the batter rest for a short while before scooping into the muffin wrappers. This will help to hydrate the oats, making them more moist and soft. It will also help the flavors to meld together.
- Let the baked muffins cool completely on a cooling rack before peeling off the muffin wrappers. If you eat them while still warm, they can stick to the wrappers.
- For extra protein in the muffins, add half a cup of chopped walnuts or pecans. A little dried fruit such as raisins or cranberries is nice, too. They are also great eaten re-warmed and with a smear or two of peanut or almond butter!
Recipe FAQs
Subbing a bit of the oil with applesauce just helps to make them a bit healthier, that’s all. If you prefer, use natural or Greek yogurt, or even another kind of fruit puree instead. Alternatively, just use more oil.
Once fully cooled, they’ll keep well stored in an airtight container at room temperature for one to two days. To keep for a few days longer, store them in the fridge. If you like, you can warm them for a few seconds in the microwave before eating. They also freeze well for up to 3 months in a freezer bag or airtight container.
No, keep them unpeeled to keep their rustic texture and appearance in the muffins.
More portable snack recipes
- Greek yogurt muffins are very popular with Scrummy Lane readers! Choose from Greek yogurt blueberry muffins, Greek yogurt choc chip muffins, or Greek yogurt banana muffins.
- In the fall, you just have to try this healthy pumpkin cake. You won’t believe how moist and delicious it is for a ‘healthy’ cake.
- I always make a batch of these mini quiche lorraine for the freezer before every school term!
- Peanut butter cheerio bars are perfect crowd pleasers for after school snacks, BBQs or picnics.
Fluffy Apple And Oat Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 small to medium lemon, (The zest, plus 1 tablespoon of juice.)
- 1 cup milk
- 2½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup rolled oats, plus a few extra for sprinkling over the top of the muffins
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon allspice, (or apple pie spices)
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup brown sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling over the top of the muffins
- ⅓ cup oil, (I usually use canola oil and/or light olive oil. Another type of vegetable oil is fine, too.)
- ¼ cup applesauce, (Sub with another fruit puree, or just use more oil.)
- 3 medium apples, or about 1½ to 2 cups, chopped into small cubes (Tart and firm apples are best: I like Granny Smiths.)
Instructions
- Start by stirring the tablespoon of lemon juice into the cup of milk. Leave it while you prepare the other ingredients. Also, lightly spray 12 muffin cases in a muffin pan with oil and preheat the oven to 355F/180C (convection/fan oven) or 375F/190C (conventional oven).1 small to medium lemon, 1 cup milk
- Then mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl – flour, oats, baking powder and soda, salt, cinnamon and allspice.2½ cups all-purpose flour, ¾ cup rolled oats, 3 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon allspice
- In a separate medium sized jug or bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients – lemon zest, eggs, brown sugar, oil, applesauce, and milk and lemon mixture.2 large eggs, ⅔ cup brown sugar, ⅓ cup oil, ¼ cup applesauce
- Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until 'just' combined. Try not to overmix. It doesn't matter if there are a few streaks of dry flour still.
- Finally, fold in the chopped apple.3 medium apples
- Use a metal spoon to fill the muffin cases almost to the top. Sprinkle the tops with a few extra rolled oats, and a bit of brown sugar.
- Then bake for 17 to 21 minutes, or until the muffins are nicely risen and golden, and a skewer pushed into the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a cooling rack, then enjoy.
On the other hand, I made mine slightly smaller and got 18 muffins … and my husband ate 4 in fairly quick succession!
I may be missing something, but presumably the ‘buttermilk’ goes in with the wet ingredients?
These tasted too healthy for my boys 😆, but I used extra oil in place of the applesauce. I love the idea of this recipe, particularly the addition be of oats to fill them up, and am confident with applesauce and maybe a little extra sugar I can make them work for us.
Appreciate your recipes, Helen!
Whoops, sorry! I omitted the ‘buttermilk’ by accident. I’ve corrected that now. Thanks for drawing my attention to that. I think you might be able to make them work with the extra sugar, and I’m so glad hubby liked them! Thanks for the feedback! 🙂