These blueberry oatmeal muffins are simple, wholesome, and satisfying. Made with blueberries, oats, and zero refined sugar, you can feel good eating one or two, or three! Find the easy muffin recipe right here.
Type blueberry muffins into a search engine and within seconds, you’re gifted with millions of results, including my favorite blueberry muffins and lemon blueberry muffins! Does the world really need 1 more recipe? When the results taste this good, my answer is HECK YES! The entire batch was gone in 48 hours and it wasn’t long until I made them again. 🙂
Hearty Texture. Not Flat. Not Squishy.
These blueberry oatmeal muffins have a hearty, wholesome texture because they’re made with oatmeal. Oats in muffins and oatmeal muffins are two completely different things. Oats are a dry ingredient; oatmeal is a wet ingredient. If you want oat muffins instead of oatmeal muffins, you’ll love these applesauce muffins. Today we’re making OATMEAL muffins.
Oatmeal muffins are also different than baked oatmeal (like chocolate chip baked oatmeal cups), which are more like portable oatmeal. Still with me?
These oatmeal muffins are:
- Satisfying
- Simple to make
- Warm + buttery
- Made with oats
- Sweetened with honey
- Bursting with blueberries
Testing this recipe was massively interesting. If you look at this next photo, you can see the difference. The squat muffin on the left was wet and spongey. The tall muffin on the right was hearty, delicious, all the glorious thing I listed above. What’s fascinating is that there is only 1 small difference between the two and that difference is 20 minutes of time!
How to Make Oatmeal Muffins
There are only 2 main steps before baking the muffins.
- Soak the oats in milk for 20 minutes: By doing so, the oats will soak up a lot of the milk. This creates a thicker and creamier muffin batter. The soaked oats won’t actually be the consistency of oatmeal because we aren’t cooking the two together. Rather, the oats will rise to the top of the bowl.
- Mix the batter together: Mix the dry ingredients in 1 bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Mix together, then add the soaked oats & milk. That’s it, you’re done.
Then it’s time to bake the blueberry oatmeal muffins!
Ingredients for Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
Nothing but basics here! Besides oats and milk, you’ll need flour, butter, honey, egg, and a little cinnamon and vanilla extract for flavor. I encourage you to use melted butter instead of oil or a lower fat ingredient. The muffins lost a lot of flavor without butter and when I tested them with applesauce, they tasted rubbery and dry.
If you’re more of a muffins-should-have-chocolate person, go ahead and replace the berries with a cup of chocolate chips. Consider this recipe your oatmeal + honey master muffin recipe and play around with different flavors and add-ins!
Did you know? The thicker the muffin batter, the taller and puffier the muffin will be. A thick batter combined with my initial high temperature trick in the recipe below guarantees tall muffin tops.
More Muffin Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins & healthier Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Triple Chocolate Muffins
- Blackberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Pumpkin Crumb Cake Muffins or Simply Pumpkin Muffins
- Bran Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
They couldn’t be easier and I would love to know if you try them!
PrintBlueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These blueberry oatmeal muffins are simple, wholesome, and satisfying. Made with blueberries, oats, and zero refined sugar, you can feel good eating one or two, or three!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (240ml) milk
- 1 cup (85g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (140g) fresh or frozen blueberries (see note if using frozen)
Instructions
- Combine milk and oats. Set aside for 20 minutes so the oats puff up and soak up some moisture. This is crucial to the recipe! (I usually melt the butter now so it has a few minutes to cool.) Don’t do this the night before as that’s too long for soaking. If you find the oats haven’t soaked up any moisture after 20 minutes, give it a stir and wait 10 more minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use cupcake liners.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside. Whisk the melted butter, honey, egg, and vanilla extract together in a medium bowl until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, stir a few times, then add the soaked oats (milk included, do not drain) and blueberries. Fold everything together gently just until combined.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Top with oats and a light sprinkle of coconut sugar, if desired. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 22-23 minutes, give or take. (For mini muffins, bake 11-13 minutes at 350°F (177°C).) Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days, then transfer to the fridge for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Cooling Rack
- Milk: I tested the blueberry muffins with unsweetened almond milk, but any milk, dairy or nondairy, can work. If using frozen berries, see note below.
- Oats: I recommend whole oats. Avoid steel cut oats, quick oats, and instant oats. Steel cut oats won’t absorb the milk and quick/instant are too thin and will dissolve in the batter as it cooks.
- Flour: For best taste and texture, I recommend all-purpose flour. If you try whole wheat flour, let me know how they turn out!
- Oil: You can use canola, vegetable, or melted coconut oil instead of the butter, but the flavor will change. I strongly recommend melted butter.
- Sugar: You can use 1/2 cup maple syrup, coconut sugar, or packed light or dark brown sugar instead of honey.
- Berries: If using frozen berries, do not thaw and reduce the milk down to 3/4 cup (180ml). Frozen berries give off so much moisture and the muffins taste a little too wet. Reducing the milk helps. No other changes to the recipe ingredients or instructions.
- Why the 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.
- Nutrition: Using SparkRecipes calculator and calculated using unsweetened almond milk these muffins come out to 205 calories, 9g fat, 28g carbs, 2g fiber, and 4g protein each.
Hey Sally!
If I only put half of the honey, do I have to adjust other ingredients as well?
Thank you!
I’ve read other comments here that use 1/2 cup honey with no other changes to the recipe. However if you’re concerned, use the recipe as written with 1/2 cup of honey and if the mixture is too thick when mixed together (looking at Sally’s video more so than the pictures really helped me understand what a slightly thick batter looks like), add milk 1tbsp at a time until it looks like the video. The oats and add ins will add bulk but otherwise the batter is quite wet, not much thicker than water (I made these muffins today so it’s fresh in my mind what the batter looked like). I have adjusted this recipe a lot (whole wheat over plain, quick oats instead of whole etc.) and as long as the oats have softened for 20-25 minutes in 100% milk or buttermilk (adding Greek yoghurt is temperamental), it always sets up. I hope my advice helps and gives you some more confidence 🙂
This recipe is the best!
I make some variation of these muffins almost weekly with my 2 year old who loves baking. The batter is super easy to work with, even for my toddler, and no matter how much I experiment with the recipe, the muffins always turn out amazing. I use whole wheat flour instead of white and it still tastes great (perhaps the muffins dry out a little faster this way but we usually eat them all before that happens). Once I ran out of whole wheat flour and replaced about 1/4 cup with spelt flour and they still turned out perfect. Other variations I’ve done include walnuts, raisins, chocolate chips, apple juice pulp and even frozen mangos… Each time has been a success!
I love these muffins so much! I make them 1-2x per month. They are the perfect sweetness and healthy while still being delicious! I have made many variations, depending on what I have in the kitchen:
Raspberry
Mixed berry
Pear
Apple
Blueberry and nectarine
Banana
I also sometimes use almond extract instead of vanilla, especially great with raspberries. And I sprinkle the top with sliced almonds for extra crunch.
Thanks so much for this wonderful recipe!
I cut up a pineapple yesterday and woke up at 6AM this morning obsessed with the thought of pineapple muffins! I couldn’t find a recipe that looked promising, so I altered this one and a place of blueberries with three-quarter cup of chopped fresh pineapple. I melted the butter on the stove top and cook the pineapple a little bit to get all that pineapple flavor infused into the butter. Top the muffins with fresh chopped cherries and shredded coconut. So good! Can’t wait to try the original blueberry version as well! Can never go wrong with a Sally recipe!
Thank you for sharing! I’ve been on the lookout for a healthy muffin recipe that will take (wet) pineapple and taste of it. Now I know where my can of pineapple is going into next 😀
Fantastic recipe! Delicious muffins. I’ve tried others, but these are the best. Thanks for posting this recipe.
Fantastic recipe! Delicious muffins. I’ve tried others, but these are the best. Thanks for posting this recipe. (I give it a 5-star rating; I left that out in my previous posting.)
Excellent, healthy recipe! I doubled the quantities, reduced milk by a quarter to compensate for frozen berries, and made the larger muffin size. I found the oven timing was the same as the regular size per the recipe. I used macadamia “milk” and they turned out perfect! Thank you for this recipe. Hugs from Canada.
These muffins are delicious and so easy to make! I like that I didn’t have to drag out my mixer, just a few bowls and a spoon to mix up. I followed the recipe exactly and they are so yummy. I can’t wait to try other variations and play around next time.
I used a fine milled whole wheat flour and 3/4 cups chopped walnuts, and instead of 1/2 cup butter I used 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce. I also used dried blueberries which I soaked in water for a while to plump. Turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!
Amazing recepie, the muffins turned out to be very delicious. I used wholemeal flour and vegetable oil as well as mixing fresh cut strowberries and blueberries, 150gr of eritritol instead of honey – it worked just perfect and less calories! Thanks for sharing 🙂
My favourite muffin recipe. Love the tips.
I made a few substitutions to make this higher fiber and lower sugar and they still came out so soft, moist, and fluffy! I used 78g all-purpose flour, 39g whole wheat flour, and 39g King Arthur Super 10 blend (whole grains) for a total of 156g “flour”. I also used 50g light brown sugar and 50g Swerve brown sugar substitute instead of honey. Substituted 1 cup oat milk for the regular milk and added in an extra splash at the end when mixing since the batter seemed a little dry (not surprising with the whole grains and whole wheat added). Used 1 cup of blueberries like it’s called for but also added a 1/2 cup chopped pecans. This recipe is probably super delicious exactly as written but special diet restrictions calls for changes so we can indulge and look out for our health at the same time! Thanks so much for the recipe!
I purchased the silicone sheets and cut some in circles to use in my muffin tins. They are wonderful, place them on the bottom and grease the sides – no problems. I also cut up sheets to fit my bread pans, cake pans, etc. Perfect – can be used over and over again and just wash them with water and a bit of dish detergent.
These muffins got us through the past year of pandemic, and I’m not even kidding. They are so good–even better than you expect. They were the perfect “recess” snack for remote school. I’ve made them with regular milk, almond milk, oat milk and even (half) buttermilk. Also did a version using chopped apple and raisins as the fruit and upping the cinnamon.
Once again an amazing recipe! I substituted with almond milk and they were sooo good!
I personally loved this recipe as it is, but the husband and kid weren’t fond of the texture from the oats. I may try to chop the oats up next time to make it smoother for them. I appreciate all the notes for modifications too. I didn’t have everything on the original ingredient list and was still able to get gorgeous blueberry muffins for breakfast.
Fabulous flavor and texture!! Love these!
Loved this recipe. I used multigrain flour instead of all purpose flour and they turned out great!
I can’t get over how light and fluffy these baked up! Used buttermilk, per another commenter’s suggestion (and to use it up and clear fridge space) which added a nice little tang to these delicious muffins. Fabulous recipe, Sally!
Does anyone know if these can be made with almond flour instead? If so, is the measurement the same? Thank you!
Hi Kimberly, we don’t recommend it. Almond flour has very different baking properties and is not always good substitute, as it doesn’t absorb liquid as well as all-purpose flour. We’d recommend checking out our Blueberry Almond Power Muffins instead, which is written to use almond flour. Let us know if you give it a try!
These are wonderful!! Your details and background information make the good baker that I am always striving to be.
I took your advice to play with it just a little. By using 3/4 cup King Arthur all purpose floor and 1/2 cup King Arthur whole wheat, the fiber and protein were increased. I also used high protein / less carb Fairlife Milk to increase the fiber another gram per muffin. (Oh, and I doubled the cinnamon; I always do. )
QUESTION TO ALL:, I used Fairlife 2% with Omega 3 all the time. It’s so good and nutrition is superb. It is also the only way I know to get omega 3’s into my son’s diet. He has severe allergies to peanuts, all tree nuts, all fish, all shellfish. Does anyone have any suggestions for increasing omega 3s?
I just made these today! They are…. AMAZING ! Pleasantly surprised! I did use vanilla almond milk
Absolutely love this recipe!
Hello! Have you tried using agave instead of honey? Would the amount be the same? Thanks!
Hi Emily, sure can! Same amount.
I have made this recipe following it exactly and it has been wonderful. In case anyone is wondering”what would happen if I substituted x…” I have made it with may substitutions and haven’t had a bad experience thus far. I tried it dairy free by using soy milk instead of milk and instead of butter I substituted vegetable oil by about 3/4 the amount. Still good! I have tried a variation using oat flour instead of regular and it was good, but I think I prefer half oat, half white. I have also, upon realizing we were out of vanilla extract, substituted almond extract and it was my favorite substitution yet. Basically, it is a really good muffin recipe that doesn’t seem to suffer from substitutions.
Do you have any honey alternatives?
Hi Angeline, You can use 1/2 cup maple syrup, coconut sugar, or packed light or dark brown sugar instead of honey.
I made 2 healthy blueberry muffin recipes this morning…time on my hands! These win! They are light, delicious and just sweet enough. A hit with me and the picky eater kids. I used unsweetened almond milk and country crock plant based butter to make them dairy free.
Hi
Don’t know what I’ve done wrong but they have sunk.
I have a fan oven and work in English grams and fluid ounces
Hi Sue! These are extra moist muffins and can sink down as they cool. However, they could be under-baked if they’re sinking too much – a couple extra minutes in the oven won’t hurt. Trying baking for an extra 2-3 minutes next time.
These muffins are absolutely delicious!! My kids are requesting them over & over again – lol! “So much better than the store-bought ones” they are telling me. Plus I have friends asking me to make them for their kids’ after school snacks since there is no refined sugar in them. Thanks Sally 😉 😉
Perfect! I have made these a few times and made substitutions like golden raisins and walnuts instead of the blueberries and they turned out great! I have also used your oat soaking trick with other recipes with amazing success.
Hi!! Could I add bananas to this somehow? Like a banana bread oatmeal muffin! Thanks!
Hi Alyssa, we haven’t tried it but feel free to test the recipe out with mashed banana. You may need to tinker with the other wet/milk ingredients. We do have a recipe for whole wheat banana muffins (with oats and WW flour) if you’re interested. (You can leave out the nuts.)
Have just made these this morning and they’re absolutely delicious! Made them exactly as stated . I will be freezing some and take out as needed.