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
These were yummy and a great way to use up my applesauce!! Thanks for the recipe!
I was disappointed I. This recipe. Very bland , not enough cinnamon . Very dry and I added apples .
Hi Sandy, thank you for giving this recipe a try! How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Wondering, is there a muffin recipe you would recommend specifically for baking in a heart-shaped cast iron mold?
Hi Tom, we don’t have much experience with baking in cast iron molds, so I’m afraid we can’t offer advice on this. But if you try it, please report back on how they turn out!
Is there something I can substitute for the milk? More applesauce? Plain/greek yogurt? Thank you!
Hi TZ, the milk helps thin out the batter just a bit, so we don’t recommend replacing it. You can use a non-dairy milk alternative if needed.
I’ve made this several time and I love it. I use my mom’s homemade canned apple or pear sauce if I have it on hand and it makes it even more delicious. I also keep this recipe on hand when I am doing a sugar-lite diet occasionally. I throw in half a cup of chocolate chips when I want my kids to enjoy them with me.
I did a 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour mix. Then topped them with a cinnamon oat streusel crumble before baking. Very nice.
These are delicious! I subbed half of the apple sauce with pumpkin puree and upped the spices with added ginger. I only had plain white flour so replaced half a cup of flour with ground linseed. Such a great recipe, and so versatile!
Could I substitute almond flour for the whole wheat flour?
Hi Patty, we don’t recommend it. Almond flour has very different baking properties than whole wheat flour and is not always a 1:1 swap. It would take a bit of recipe testing to determine the right amount. You might enjoy these blueberry almond muffins instead.
These applesauce muffins are one of my favorite muffin recipes out there. Comes together in minutes and is pretty easily adaptable. Since I rarely ever have maple syrup in the house, I subbed about 40g of brown sugar which was plenty sweet enough. I’ve also made them with monkfruit sweetener with success. Plus, the whole wheat flour and oats make these a welcome addition to my breakfasts. They’re wonderful plain, though perhaps next time I’ll add some apples or nuts. I love that they are freezer friendly as well. Thanks for another winner, Sally!
Do you think I could substitute some or all of the applesauce for Greek yoghurt?
These are so good! Not too sweet. I made ours with 2 flax eggs rather than real eggs and they turned out great. Oh, also added a little handful of hemp hearts. Thanks for yet another great recipe!
I really like these muffins and make this recipe often. I substitute avocado oil for the coconut oil. I have heard that it is healthier and it is flavorless which I prefer. Also by using the avocado oil I don’t have to worry about my other ingredients being room temperature. I just throw in all of the ingredients straight from the refrigerator and I have never had a problem with the recipe.
These were very tasty. I made half the recipe and did a 60/40 whole wheat to white flour mix, used canola oil and a mix of white and brown sugar. I’ll definitely make them again, but maybe add some walnuts next time just to add protein.
I’ve now made these 4 times in the last two weeks! My husband loves them too. They aren’t too sweet, have great texture and are pretty quick to make if planning ahead — making sure ingredients are room temperature. I actually have been using 70% whole wheat flour and 30% white and depending on who makes the applesauce in this house (my husband adds too much sugar), I may not put any sweetener at all in the muffins. But then I have been adding more raisins than the recipe calls for.
Excellent
Healthy and delicious
Hi Sally, I really love your recipes but I’m having a hard time understanding how much 1 cup of whole wheat flour is in grams. Maybe I’m just bad at math but several of your recipes that call for whole wheat flour uses different grams. Do you have a set number of grams for whole wheat flour like you do for all purpose and cake flour? Thx in advance.
Hi Vanessa, 1 cup of spoon and leveled whole wheat flour is about 125-130g. And we usually get about 118g for 1 cup of spoon and leveled cake flour.
These muffins are delicious and perfect for breakfast. Thanks very much 🙂
These muffins are amazing! I added frozen blueberries and honey they were perfectly sweet and moist. We will be adding these to our morning muffin rotation. Thanks again, Sally!
While being healthy these muffins are not sweet enough. My main pet peeve is that sweets are too sweet! However I cannot taste the applesauce distinctly and they are very Bland
Made these last night, just had to use different oil bc of coconut allergy. Made them in the giant muffin tins (had to bake wee bit longer)… They turned out AMAZING. All your recipes do! Thank you again
I was looking for Raising Bran muffins as I have already started printing all your others and have signed up for your email delivery.
Hi Paula, we don’t have a bran muffin recipe at this time but we do love them! Let us know if you find a recipe you love 🙂
All of the recipes I’ve made from your website have been winners, and this one is no different!! I added all the suggested mix-ins besides chocolate chips. They are wholesome and amazing. I loved the coarse sugar and oat topping. Your recipes are my favorite baking recipes on the whole internet!
How can I make this recipe without oats? Would simply omitting them change the consistency or flavor? Thanks!
Hi Lisa, You can skip the oats if desired, but we recommend adding a little more flour to help soak up some liquid, such as 3 Tablespoons (about 24g).
These muffins are amazing! I reduced the maple syrup to 1/4 cup since I like my muffins on the less sweet side and they turned out great. The applesauce and raisins not only add flavor, moisture, and texture but also sweeten the muffin. The second time I made these muffins I was out of raisins, so I decided to add about two cups of blueberries instead and, well, that was a really great decision. Overall, these muffins are fluffy, wholesome, moist, and delicious!
Hello, I was looking for a bran muffin recipe and this one popped up. Would you say this is comparable to a bran muffin? Or would you recommend a different recipe? Thanks so much in advance!
Hi Alejandra, We wouldn’t call this a bran muffin. Here are all of our muffin recipes if you want to take a look!
This is one of the BEST muffin recipes I have ever made. Consistently moist and delicious. I added a half cup of dried tart cherries and they are simply outstanding. I make them about every two weeks as they disappear pretty quickly. Thanks for this wonderful, healthy and easy recipe.
Can you substitute anything for the maple syrup?
Hi Shiloh, you can use honey instead of the maple syrup. Regular granulated or brown sugar would work as a substitution for maple syrup. (There is enough liquid in the batter).
I have always been a hit and miss baker. Now I read all your tips AND get your daily recipes. These muffins were awesome…..and now I can be a baker! Thanks Sally!
Can I add regular flour and regular oats? I can’t have whole wheat.
I don’t know how to add my own comment that’s why I am adding to another comment.
Hi Emily, yes, you can use regular all purpose flour instead — same amount. 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 we recommend adding a little more flour to help soak up some liquid, such as 3 Tablespoons (about 24g).
Delicious, thanks!
Hi, I am looking forward to trying this recipe. I was thinking about making it in a 9 by 5 loaf pan instead of doing muffins, is there any reason why that wouldn’t work? Thanks!
Hi Rachel, You definitely can! Any muffin recipe yielding around 12 standard size muffins can double as a quick bread recipe. We are unsure of the best bake time, but use a toothpick to check for doneness.
Forgot to add, I saw another reader add pumpkin purée instead of applesauce successfully and another reader added grated carrot as an add in (instead of apples) which is what gave me the idea to adapt this recipe (to use up leftover fruit/veg and fill out my breakfast cupcake tin haha)