You’ll love these simple applesauce muffins because they’re incredibly quick, reliably moist, and made with wholesome ingredients you probably already have on hand. Packed with wholesome ingredients like whole wheat flour, oats, and applesauce, these healthful muffins are naturally free from refined sugar and contain no dairy if using nondairy milk.
One reader, Anne, commented: “This is my go-to muffin recipe. Moist, delicious, and so easy. I put dried tart cherries in place of raisins and sometimes chocolate chips when I make them for my granddaughters. They are a family favorite. They freeze really well, too. Thanks for yet another amazing recipe! ★★★★★“
When I’m looking to bake something quick, easy, and wholesome—I always rely on muffins. Banana muffins, bran muffins, or these apple cinnamon oatmeal cups are my top choices because they’re simple, relatively healthy, and adult + child approved. Preparing muffin batter is a no-fuss task and you can enjoy muffins right away, which is definitely a bonus when baking for or with kids. (By the way, here are many kid-friendly baking recipes.)
These applesauce muffins join my top favorites and I know you’ll love them too!
Why You Will Love These Applesauce Muffins:
- Quick, one-bowl recipe
- Soft, hearty, and perfectly moist
- No mixer required
- Made with everyday pantry staples
- Naturally sweetened with maple syrup
- Flexible add-ins for endless variation
- Dairy free if using a dairy-free milk
By the way, if you’re looking for a more indulgent apple muffin, try these apple cinnamon muffins.
How We Tested This Recipe
Well well well. What ended up as a fairly easy muffin recipe began as a complicated mess of sticky flavorless muffins. I started testing this applesauce muffin recipe using the base of my blueberry oatmeal muffins. Adding applesauce did the batter no favors, and the entire muffin tasted bland and gloppy (technical terms). I adore that recipe and now know that it’s best to leave it alone.
So, I turned to my whole wheat banana walnut muffins as a starting point. The batter includes oats as an add-in, so it’s less of an oatmeal muffin and more of a standard muffin with some oats in it—if that makes sense. I swapped applesauce for the mashed banana, added more oats, and slightly reduced the baking soda. (1 full teaspoon is simply not needed.) As it turns out, I think I prefer these applesauce muffins because I don’t always have brown & spotty bananas on hand.
Convenience is key!
Key Ingredients in These Whole Wheat Applesauce Muffins
- Applesauce: Use unsweetened. If using sweetened, slightly reduce the maple syrup (see note below).
- Melted Coconut Oil: Adds needed moisture and richness. Vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter can work, too.
- Maple Syrup: Replaces refined sugar and complements the applesauce flavor. These muffins are lightly sweet so the apple flavor shines.
- Whole Wheat Flour: Made with 100% whole wheat flour. Like with this zucchini muffins recipe, you can substitute all-purpose or white whole wheat, or use a mix.
- Oats: Use old-fashioned or quick oats.
- Add-Ins: Stir in raisins, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, or chopped nuts (3/4 to 1 cup, depending on sweetness). You could also add 1 and 1/2 cups chopped apples. We especially love using raisins because the flavor reminds us of bran muffins, only without the heavy bran flavor.
You’ll also need cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, milk, and vanilla. For extra texture, sprinkle the tops with oats or coarse sugar before baking.
Best Applesauce to Use
The best applesauce to use for baking is typically unsweetened. In this recipe, you can use homemade or store-bought and the consistency doesn’t make a difference—thick, thin, smooth, or chunky. Applesauce with cinnamon is also a great choice, but if you don’t want too much cinnamon flavor, I would slightly reduce the cinnamon in the recipe.
My best advice is to use whatever applesauce you enjoy eating!
Imperative Success Tip: Make sure you grease the muffin liners before adding the batter or skip the liners and grease the 12-count muffin pan. This batter sticks to the liners, but greasing helps. After the muffins cool completely, they do not stick as much.
Can I Add Apples?
Yes, apples are a wonderful choice as the add-in. See recipe note below.
These are the kind of healthful muffins you’ll bake once and immediately bookmark—perfect for meal prep, freezing, and busy weeks.
Applesauce Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 21 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These moist and flavorful whole wheat applesauce muffins come together with a handful of healthful and wholesome ingredients. See notes if you wish to replace the raisins.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (260g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2/3 cup (57g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/3 cups (320g) unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature*
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (70g) coconut oil, melted (or vegetable oil or melted butter)
- 1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80ml) milk (dairy or nondairy), at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (110g) raisins*
- optional: 3 Tablespoons oats and/or 1 Tablespoon coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners. If using cupcake liners, spray the liners because when warm, these muffins stick.
- Whisk the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the applesauce, eggs, oil, maple syrup, milk, and vanilla together until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stir a few times, then add the raisins. Fold everything together gently just until combined and no flour pockets remain.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Top with oats and a light sprinkle of coarse sugar, if desired. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F and then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15–16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20–21 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake for 11–13 minutes at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.)
- Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, and then transfer to a cooling rack to continue cooling or enjoy warm.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Cooling Rack
- Oats: This recipe uses whole rolled oats, but you can use the same amount of quick oats if needed. You can also skip the oats if desired, but I recommend adding a little more flour to help soak up some liquid, such as 3 Tablespoons (about 24g).
- Applesauce: It’s best to use unsweetened applesauce. If using sweetened, slightly reduce the maple syrup down to 1/4 cup (60ml). You can use homemade or store-bought applesauce and the consistency doesn’t make a difference– use thick, thin, smooth, or chunky. Applesauce with cinnamon is also a great choice, but if you don’t want too much cinnamon flavor, I would slightly reduce the cinnamon in the recipe.
- Maple Syrup: You can use honey for the maple syrup, but the flavor will be different.
- Raisins/Add-Ins: Feel free to leave the muffins plain, but they’re excellent with add-ins such as raisins, 3/4 cup (about 110g) dried cranberries, 1 cup (about 120g) chopped walnuts or pecans, 1 and 1/2 cups (165g) peeled & chopped apples (about 2 medium apples such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala, Pink Lady), or 3/4 cup (about 135g) chocolate chips.
- Initial High Temperature: The hot burst of air will spring up the top of the muffin quickly, then the inside of the muffin can bake for the remainder of the time. This helps the muffins rise nice and tall.
- Room Temperature Ingredients: It’s best if any cold ingredients are brought to room temperature before starting. The coconut oil will slightly solidify if other ingredients are too cold and you may notice greasy oily pockets in the baked muffins.
- Nutrition Information: Using VeryWellFit calculator and calculated using coconut oil, unsweetened almond milk, and raisins, these muffins come out to 181 calories, 7.2g fat, 27g carbs, 3.3g fiber, 9g sugar, and 4g protein each.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Delicious! I bumped up the spice a bit woth 1 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t nutmeg and 1/4 t ginger.
Reminds me of the raisin bran muffins my grandmother made, but these are more tender.
Delicious “healthyish” muffin recipe. Made as instructed and used dried cranberries instead of raisins. Will definitely make these again.
Hello, I’m going to make these cupcakes. Can I make them with apple butter? Thank you very much. Greetings from Europe.
Hi Laly! Since apple butter is sweetened, applesauce is really the best for these muffins.
These muffins are beautiful and delicious. I followed the initial high heat instructions and these muffins are towering! I subbed AP for the wheat flour and omitted raisins just because I don’t like them.
These seem wonderful! I can’t wait to try them! Do you think I could use oat flour instead of whole wheat flour?
Hi Louise, We wish we could help, but we haven’t tested this recipe with oat flour. It would not be a 1:1 swap and would require additional tweaks to the recipe. Let us know if you decide to do any experimenting.
Ok, thank you!
Hi Sally,
My granddaughter is allergic to eggs.
What do you suggest to replace it with in this muffin recipe.
Hi Zain, We haven’t tested these with any egg substitutes but let us know if you try anything.
Hello Sally. At the top of the recipe you state:
Can I Add Apples?
Yes, apples are a wonderful choice as the add-in. See recipe note below.
But I do not see any notes regarding how to add Apples in.
Please advise and thank you.
You are my GO TO baking site and love that you have metric measurements for us Canadians who bake with scales.
Thank you
Hi Susanne, see recipe Notes for details: “1 and 1/2 cups (165g) peeled & chopped apples (about 2 medium apples such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gala, Pink Lady).” You can add the chopped apples at the end of Step 2, instead of the raisins. Enjoy and thank you for making and trusting our recipes!
Made the muffins and loved the tip about spraying the paper muffin cups, which meant the muffins came right out, which doesn’t usually happen when I make whole wheat thick muffins.
Added in 150 g of diced apples & I that added great texture & moistness to the muffins.
can regular A/P flour be substituted for wheat flour in these muffins?
Hi Patti! You can use the same amount of all purpose flour.