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Healthy Apple Muffins

4.55
/5
30 mins
17 Comments
Jump to Recipe
By: Rachel GurkPosted: 02/02/2011Updated: 07/14/2021

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Made with whole wheat flour and just two tablespoons of oil, these healthy apple muffins are a perfect snack or breakfast.

Made with whole wheat flour and just two tablespoons of oil, these healthy apple muffins are a perfect snack or breakfast.

Recipe Overview

Why you’ll love it: These muffins are easy to make and perfect for busy mornings!

How long it takes: 30 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: Muffin tin, mixing bowl, grater
Servings: 12 muffins

Overhead view of muffins in a basket with blue and white linen.
Table of Contents
open
  • 1 Recipe Overview
  • 2 About These muffins
  • 3 FAQs
  • 4 Making them Your Own
  • 5 Storage & Freezing Suggestions
  • 6 Is there a muffin monster in your home?
  • 7 A bit of nostalgia…
  • 8 Get the Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Muffins

My kids are muffin monsters. They love muffins, most any kind, but especially Grandma’s muffins! She’s the undisputed muffin queen. In fact, when I said I was making healthy apple muffins for this post, they said, in a nice way of course, that maybe Grandma should be making them.

Okay, my feelings aren’t hurt. I learned my love of baking from my mom.

One of my goals is to look for healthier alternatives to the high fat, loaded with sugar products offered in bakeries, coffee shops, and grocery stores. I’ve developed several muffin and quick bread recipes that cut back drastically on the fat and sugar content of baked goods. Instead I include good for you ingredients like fruit, applesauce, whole wheat flour, bran, and so on.

These healthy apple muffins made with whole wheat flour, applesauce, and grated apples are full of flavor, totally satisfying, and they’re good for you, too.  With only 145 calories each, compared to a Panera muffin at 450 calories, I think you’ll agree that homemade is better.

Apple muffins made with whole wheat flour in a silver muffin pan.

About These muffins

I like to shred the apples for apple muffins. You can leave the peeling on the apple and the shredded apple provides lots of flavor and moisture. My son, who is quick to spot discernible chunks of fruit, gives his approval to these muffins.

I use a mixture of applesauce (those little individual sized cups are exactly 1/2 cup which works perfectly in this recipe), milk, and just 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Added to whole wheat flour, baking powder, a dash of salt, and spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, these muffins couldn’t be easier to stir up.

Use the one bowl method

Stir together the wet ingredients in a large bowl and measure the dry ingredients, placing them right on top. Lightly stir the dry ingredients with your finger (or a dry spoon) and then gently stir it all together. Don’t over mix, the ingredients just have to be combined. 

Fill your muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes. Nothing to it! 

Overhead view of apple cinnamon muffins in a muffin tin.

FAQs

What kind of apples are best for muffins?

We like to use a tart, firm apple. Honeycrisp is always a great choice because they have a great balance of sweet and tart. Granny smith apples are also good in muffins. They’re on the tarter side, but the sweetness develops as they bake. Avoid softer, sweet apple varieties such as McIntosh.

Do I need to peel apples for apple muffins?

Nope! When they’re shredded, the peels are very small and not tough at all. If you dice your apples instead of shredding them, you might want to peel them (but I usually don’t!).

Making them Your Own

If you’d like to change things up a bit, I have a few ideas for you.

  • Add chopped nuts. My kids have nut allergies so I stay away from nuts, but 1/2 cup of lightly toasted walnuts would be so tasty.
  • Add raisins or chocolate chips – a 1/2 cup of these would be perfect, too. 
  • Use regular all-purpose flour instead of all or part of the whole wheat flour. My family is accustomed to the heartier flavor and texture of whole wheat but if you’re welcome to make these with white flour. 
  • Sprinkle cinnamon sugar or coarse sugar on the tops of the muffins before baking. Or make a streusel topping. Another idea: brush the tops of the baked muffins with cinnamon flavored simple syrup.
  • Instead of shredding the apple, dice it finely. 
Whole wheat apple muffins in a metal basket with a blue and white checkered towel.

Storage & Freezing Suggestions

I love to make a big batch of muffins and freeze them in individual bags for up to 3 months, ready to put into lunch boxes. They’ll thaw out by lunch time. Or warm a frozen muffin in the microwave for a quick snack.

Is there a muffin monster in your home?

Appease the monster with more delectable muffins! Try:

  • Pumpkin Bran Muffins
  • Skinny Banana Bread Muffins
  • Morning Glory Muffins
  • Healthy Apple Bran Muffins
  • Blueberry Wheat Bran Muffins
  • Triple Chocolate Banana Muffins
  • Strawberry Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Cornbread Muffin Recipe with Herbs and Cheddar
  • Air Fryer Apple Fritters with Apple Cider Glaze (like a muffin, only crispier!)
Healthy whole wheat apple cinnamon muffins in a muffin pan.

A bit of nostalgia…

We updated this recipe and post with more valuable information (and pictures!) in January, 2020. However, this recipe was my very first post way back in February 2011, shortly after my first child was born. It was called “Rachel’s Recipe Reviews” back then! What started as a creative outlet (“hobby”)  to fill long hours at home with a newborn turned into a career that I absolutely fell in love with. Because I’m too sentimental to delete those very first words that I typed, I’ll include this first paragraph written as a new food blogger:

“One of my favorite things to do is cook and bake. Now that I am a stay at home mom, I have more time to invest into this love of mine. I have tons of great cookbooks, many of which I didn’t use often. It wasn’t because they were not good cookbooks, but more because I had a few go-to recipes that I didn’t stray far from. That is obviously boring and not fun at all! It is my goal to draw from these cookbooks to create some really fantastic recipes. I love to talk with fellow “foodies” about what I have made and what I did to make it better (to mine and my husband’s palates). I am hoping that my mother won’t be the only one that will read and benefit from this blog. I am also hoping that I can stick with it. Enough talk, here is my first recipe!”

Now, with millions of readers each month, it’s definitely more than just a hobby. I’m so glad I wrote that first post!

Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!

Overhead view of muffins in a basket with blue and white linen.
Recipe

Get the Recipe: Apple Cinnamon Muffins

4.55 from 11 votes
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 mins
12 muffins
Print Rate Recipe
Prevent your screen from going dark
Easy Apple Cinnamon Muffins — a healthy and delicious breakfast or snack!

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 heaping cup shredded Granny Smith apples, unpeeled (other varieties will work as well)

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 400ºF. Prepare muffin tins by spraying with cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.
  • In large bowl, stir milk, applesauce, egg and oil, with fork or wire whisk until well mixed. Fold in apples.
  • Stir in flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, all at once just until flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy). Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. 
  • If desired, sprinkle tops of muffins with cinnamon sugar or coarse sugar. 
  • Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand about 5 minutes in pan, then remove from pan to wire rack; if baked in paper baking cups, immediately remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature.

Notes

  • If preferred, all-purpose white flour can be substituted for all or part of the whole wheat flour.
  • Any variety of apple would work well. If desired, apple can be finely diced instead of shredded.
  • There is 1/2 cup of applesauce in most individual sized serving cups.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 145kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 4g, Fat: 4g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 17mg, Sodium: 184mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 10g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© Author: Rachel Gurk
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  1. Leah Holdsworth says

    October 21, 2021 at 12:15 pm

    5 stars
    delicious :)

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      October 26, 2021 at 8:46 am

      Thanks, Leah! Glad you liked them!

      Reply
  2. Jett Whitfield says

    March 27, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    We are always looking for some healthy snack options. Your recipe was right on time! There were a few changes that were made based on ingredients at the house.  I used coconut oil, almond milk and brown sugar. They came out great and tasted delicious. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      March 31, 2020 at 2:37 pm

      SO happy to hear you liked these! :) Thank you very much for taking the time to come back and leave a comment!

      Reply
  3. denise says

    January 27, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    oh, yum!

    Reply
    • denise says

      January 27, 2020 at 12:25 pm

      Congratulations! Great achievement.

      Reply
      • Rachel Gurk says

        January 27, 2020 at 3:33 pm

        Thank you for your continued support Denise!!

        Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      January 27, 2020 at 4:41 pm

      Thanks Denise!

      Reply
  4. Danielle says

    January 27, 2020 at 10:38 am

    I have a question. Are you able to substitute almond milk instead of regular milk?

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      January 27, 2020 at 4:42 pm

      I haven’t tested them that way (nut allergy family), but I think that should work just fine!

      Reply
  5. Barbara Warner says

    January 27, 2020 at 10:36 am

    Sounds like a winner, Rachel. Love these healthy recipes and I’ll forego the caramel frosting which would be delicious on top of these! (Maybe for a tea party!)

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      January 27, 2020 at 4:41 pm

      I like the way you’re thinking! Caramel frosting sounds so delicious!

      Reply
  6. Erin Lapensee says

    March 8, 2013 at 11:47 am

    This recipe was a disaster, fallowed the instructions to a “T” and the center never fully cooked. I even tried the recipe twice and both times were a great failure…. Will not recommend…

    Reply
    • Rachel Gurk says

      March 8, 2013 at 11:50 am

      Sorry to hear that! It may be an issue with oven temperature. I’ve made these frequently and they always turn out great!

      Reply
  7. Rachel (yeah I know right) says

    October 12, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    This is great! Thanks so much for posting this. I tried the recipe and I really liked your applesauce idea, sadly we had no appelsauce in the house. Oh well. The cinnamon sugar on top really added a nice touch!

    Reply
    • Rachel says

      October 13, 2011 at 8:18 am

      Wow, my very first posted recipe! Glad you liked it!

      Reply
  8. Anonymous says

    February 6, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    I almost always add whole wheat flour to muffins and sometimes cookies, half white and half wheat. It adds to the nutrition and is tasty in a whole grain way. Mom

    Reply

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