These healthy Applesauce Muffins are delicious, freezer friendly, and the perfect filling snack or breakfast. They're made with whole grain oats, unsweetened applesauce, and whole wheat flour.
Looking for more muffin recipes? Try these Cranberry Orange Muffins, Carrot Muffins, Blueberry Muffins, or Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins.
Why I love this recipe:
- Healthy – These applesauce muffins are less than 150 calories each and made with whole grains and low sugar, so you can feel good about feeding them to your family.
- Freezer Friendly – I love to make a big batch of these and put them in the freezer. We use them for school lunches, snacks at the pool or anytime.
- Delicious – They have the same delicious taste and perfect texture of bakery muffins, so no one can tell they're “healthier”.
Ingredients Needed:
How to make Applesauce Muffins:
Make Batter: In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, butter and sugar.
Add Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cranberries or raisins. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients then pour in the applesauce mixture. Stir just until combined.
Bake: Spoon batter evenly into the muffin cups then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don't over-bake or the muffins will be dry.
Enjoy or Freeze: Remove to a cooling rack then cool oatmeal applesauce muffins completely before freezing.
Storage and Freezing Instructions:
To Store: Keep at room temperature, in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
To Freeze: Allow to cool completely then place in a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 3 months.
More Healthy Snacks:
- Protein Bars
- Granola Bites
- Banana Oat Muffins
- No Bake Granola Bars
- Applesauce
- Easy Healthy Granola
- Charcuterie Board
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- Instant Pot Yogurt
- Chocolate Overnight Oats
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Recipe
Applesauce Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 Tablespoons butter , melted (or coconut oil)
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with liners or grease with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
- Wet Ingredients: In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, butter and sugar.
- Dry ingredients: In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cranberries or raisins or chocolate chips.
- Combine: Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the applesauce mixture. Stir just until combined.
- Bake: Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Don't over-bake or the muffins will be dry. Remove them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
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Original recipe adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe.
I originally shared this recipe December 2015. Updated July 2019 and January 2024.
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WOW!!!! These were so delicious and really easy to make. I put raisins in mine but next time I will try chocolate chips. I love how healthy these muffins are because they are not too sweet. It’s a keeper!
Really delicious! Perfect for breakfast, not too sweet & filled with lots of healthy ingredients. I used light olive oil instead of melting butter, as I was in a hurry, & the recipe still worked great. I’ll definitely make again.
These muffins always come out too wet. It’s unclear if they should feel like a conventional muffin when finished, but it takes nearly 10 minutes beyond the listed baking time to get something even close to a clean toothpick.
If the intent is to freeze a goopy baked oatmeal in muffin form, then I suppose I understand the enthusiasm. I think the next time I try this recipe, I would consider eliminating the milk entirely. The batter is sufficiently hydrated by the applesauce, butter, and egg. At 20 minutes, this recipe always comes out of the oven looking nearly unbaked. Checking at 4 minutes, then 3, then 2, I finally get a toothpick with a few crumbs and slight golden brown edges.
Are people letting their oatmeal sit in the applesauce for a while? Is it critical that all ingredients be at room temp? I am confused on how to make this turn out better in my kitchen, but I love the idea and nutritional value.
These muffins are softer and more moist than a standard muffin because of the applesauce and oats combo, but they shouldn’t be wet or gooey.If they’re still really underbaked at the 20-minute mark, it might just be a matter of oven temp running low—worth a check with an oven thermometer.
-Stacy
WOWZA! I had leftover apples that were accumulating in the freezer, did your applesauce recipe and followed along to make the muffins. Crowd pleaser: easy, fast and foolproof. Very moist. I went for the raisins. It’s going in the lunchbox rotation 🙂
These were great! I made them gluten free by directly substituting Bobs Red Mill GF flour blend and about 1/8 tsp xantham gum.
They’re so quick to make and make a great lunchbox snack.
Thanks Rachel! Also, I just created a gluten-free sections if you’re interested in more recipes! https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/category/gluten-free-recipes/
Great recipe! Thank you!
I should have written this over a month ago. These muffins are delicious. Plus I use this recipe as the base for cranberry nut, banana nut, cinnamon nut – all kinds of muffins. Adding in these extra ingredients doesn’t mess up the original recipe. They still bake well. The very best thing is that eating one muffin fills you up and “sticks to your ribs” like oatmeal does. Oh and did I mention that I use Splenda and Light Olive Oil to make them more friendly for my diet? Even those changes don’t mess up the muffins. Thanks so much for coming up with this recipe!
moist and delicious! especially with vanilla ice cream, right when muffins comes out of the oven!
Well, I guess you won’t answer LK’s question about substituting wheat flour with any other gluten free flours.😂
Made these today with leftover applesauce with goals of eating healthier. Deliciously moist and full of flavor. More apples, oats and whole wheat definitely in the future and sharing your recipe with others.