Thrilled to share this 30-minute recipe for healthy bran muffins with you! Made without refined sugar and positively packed with dietary fiber, these wholesome bran muffins are a tasty AND nutritious treat. Dairy free, no mixer required, and the add-ins are up to you!
One reader, LT, commented: “Great recipe! I added 1 cup of fresh blueberries and 1/4 cup of hemp hearts, and they turned out fluffy, moist, and delicious. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Cynthia, commented: “I love a good bran muffin and this recipe is it! I added chopped apple this time, and it added a heightened level of moistness to this great recipe. From now on, this will be my add-in. Thanks for a great healthy muffin recipe! ★★★★★“
What do you think of when you think of “bran muffins”? Healthy but tasteless? Nutritious but dry? Well, I set out to change the humble bran muffin’s reputation, so get ready to rethink your preconceived notions. Because these healthy bran muffins are flavorful, moist, and anything but bland!
A few test batches later and we have ourselves a perfectly delicious, healthful, not-overly-sweet bran muffin that adults AND kids enjoy. I had a 2-year-old, 5-year-old, 6-year-old, 9-year-old, teenager, plus adult taste testers here… approval all around. 😉
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Healthy Bran Muffins
- Wholesome and nutritious
- Slightly sweet, cinnamon-spiced, nutty flavor
- Packed with insoluble dietary fiber
- Hearty but NOT dry, just like these applesauce muffins
- Sweetened with honey—no refined sugar
- Dairy-free baking recipe if using a dairy-free milk
- No mixer required
- Healthy grab-and-go breakfast or anytime snack
- Freeze well
- Add-ins are up to you: raisins, nuts, blueberries… choose your favorite
Recipe Testing for Bran Muffin Success
I adapted this recipe from my morning glory muffins and blueberry oatmeal muffins, two of the most popular healthier muffin recipes on my site. The recipe went through 3 rounds of testing:
- The first test batch I made was too wet—not enough whole wheat flour, so they tasted a little greasy.
- For the second batch, I left out the applesauce and let the batter sit for about 15 minutes before baking, so the bran could soak up some of the liquid. This made the batter really thick, but then the muffins tasted too dry. Better to bake the batter right away.
- My third try was the “just right” Goldilocks-approved batch of bran muffins, which is the recipe I’m sharing with you today.
What Is Wheat Bran?
The bran is the protective outer layer, or shell, of the wheat kernel, which is stripped away during the milling process. But it’s actually super rich in insoluble fiber and other nutrients, and has a lightly sweet, nutty flavor. What’s not to like about this superfood?!
What Type of Wheat Bran Should I Use?
A lot of bran muffin recipes call for bran cereal, but we are just using straight-up wheat bran here, so there are no added ingredients from the cereal.
I usually find wheat bran in the cereal aisle near the oats, or you can buy it online. I like Bob’s Red Mill brand (not working with them, just genuinely like their products). No need to soak it or sift it or anything before using, just add it as a dry ingredient.
A couple questions & answers:
- Can I Use Bran Cereal Instead? I recommend using wheat bran for these muffins, but I know some recipes call for grinding bran cereal (either flakes or strands, such as All-Bran or Fiber One) into crumbs to use in place of wheat bran. I haven’t tested it myself with this recipe. Keep in mind that most bran cereals include sugar.
- What if I Can’t Find Wheat Bran? If you’re unable to find wheat bran at your local store or purchase it online, you can try these blueberry oatmeal muffins or chocolate chip baked oatmeal cups instead. The recipe is similar, and you can choose any add-ins you prefer instead of blueberries (such as raisins).
- Can I Make These Gluten Free? You can’t without completely changing the recipe. I recommend my blueberry almond muffins instead.
All the Ingredients You Need:
- Whole Wheat Flour: I love using whole wheat flour in baking when I can. It can dry out baked goods, so it’s important to pay attention to the ratio of wet ingredients to balance it out. I use it in these peanut butter banana muffins, too!
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder: These leaveners help the muffins rise up tall. I usually use 1 teaspoon each in most muffin recipes, but that proved to be too much baking soda (it left a little bit of an aftertaste). So, use 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon soda here.
- Salt: Flavor enhancer.
- Cinnamon: A favorite ingredient in many muffin recipes!
- Egg: The egg helps to bind the ingredients together. If you’d like to make these muffins vegan, swap the egg for your favorite baking egg substitute.
- Honey: Likewise, you can swap the honey for maple syrup to make these muffins vegan.
- Coconut Oil: This is one of my favorite ingredients in baking. To avoid a coconut-y flavor, look for one that’s labeled “refined.” If you don’t have coconut oil, use vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter instead.
- Applesauce: Unsweetened, smooth applesauce takes the place of more oil. If you don’t have applesauce, mashed banana is a great replacement.
- Vanilla Extract: Baked goods’ favorite flavor enhancer (shh, don’t tell the salt).
- Nondairy Milk: I tested this recipe with plain (unsweetened) almond milk, but you can use oat milk or your preferred type of nondairy milk. You could also use regular dairy milk or buttermilk.
- Optional Add-ins: I used raisins in the pictured muffins, but you can certainly leave the bran muffins plain or fill with fresh, frozen, or dried blueberries; dried cranberries; chopped nuts; apples; etc.
How to Make Your Bran Muffins
Making these bran muffins is as simple as combining the dry ingredients in 1 bowl, combining the wet ingredients in another bowl, then whisking them together and folding in your raisins or other add-ins. Honestly couldn’t be easier—even simpler than whipping up a batch of zucchini muffins.
*Success Tip: The batter will quickly start to thicken up as the wheat bran absorbs the liquid—think instant oatmeal, or bran flake cereal absorbing milk the longer it’s left in your bowl. Scoop the batter into your lined muffin pan as soon as all your ingredients are combined, and bake.
Always appreciate quick, uncomplicated prep work for breakfast recipes.
Enjoy the baked muffins warm and feel free to swipe a pat of butter on each, or apple butter, or my favorite honey butter. So satisfying!
For even more inspiration, see my complete list of 30+ healthy breakfast recipes.
Print
Healthy Bran Muffins Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Flavorful, wholesome, and tender, these bran muffins are an easy and quick healthy baking staple. Make sure you’re using pure wheat bran, not bran cereal. Use your favorite add-ins, or leave the muffins plain. See Notes for freezing instructions and mini muffin instructions.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (195g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 cup (52g) wheat bran
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey or pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup (75g) coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup (80g) unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) nondairy milk* (or dairy milk), at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (about 100g) raisins*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use muffin liners.
- Whisk the flour, wheat bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside.
- Whisk the egg, honey, melted coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla, and milk together in a medium bowl until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and whisk to combine. Switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and fold in the raisins (or other add-ins).
- Spoon the batter evenly into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 14–15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20 minutes, give or take. 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 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 | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Muffin Liners | Cooling Rack
- Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to replace with all-purpose flour, or use a mix of both all-purpose and whole wheat.
- Wheat Bran: I usually find wheat bran in the cereal aisle near the oats, or you can buy it online. I like Bob’s Red Mill brand (not working with them, just genuinely like their products). No need to soak it or sift it or anything before using, just add it as a dry ingredient. If you’re unable to find wheat bran at your local store or purchase it online, you can try these blueberry oatmeal muffins instead. The recipe is similar, and you can choose any add-ins you prefer instead of blueberries (such as raisins).
- Can I Use Bran Cereal Instead? I recommend using wheat bran for these muffins, but I know some recipes call for grinding bran cereal (either flakes or strands, such as All-Bran or Fiber One) into crumbs to use in place of wheat bran. I haven’t tested it myself with this recipe. Keep in mind most bran cereals include sugar.
- Coconut Oil: If you don’t have coconut oil, use the same amount of vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter instead.
- Applesauce: If you don’t have applesauce, mashed banana is a great replacement.
- Milk: I use plain (unsweetened) almond milk, but you can use any type of milk—dairy or nondairy—that you prefer, or buttermilk. Nutrition information calculated using plain unsweetened almond milk.
- Raisins/Add-ins: You can use 2/3 cup of any add-ins you prefer instead of raisins, such as dried cranberries, chopped walnuts or pecans, fresh or dried blueberries, or peeled and finely chopped apples, or leave the muffins plain. If using apples, I usually use closer to 1 cup. Nutrition information calculated using raisins.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower-temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
- Mini Muffins: If making these in a mini muffin pan, bake 12–13 minutes total at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
- Nutrition Information Per 1 Muffin: Calories (191), Total Fat (7.3g), Sodium (174mg), Carbohydrates (31g), Dietary Fiber (4.2g), Sugar (14g), Protein (3.7g)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 191
- Sugar: 14.1 g
- Sodium: 174.7 mg
- Fat: 7.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.4 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 15.5 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
Can I use oat bran and all purpose flour?
Hi Sally, we haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using oat bran in this recipe.
I love these, only use t tbl maple syrup so very low sugar but still taste great.
I’ve made these so many times I’ve lost track! One thing I want to try next is to make the batter chocolate. I was planning to use unsweetened cocoa powder but not sure how much and what other ingredient I should back off of (flour?) to compensate for dry ingredients. Anyone try this yet?
I love these with zero sugar chocolate chips!
Now that it’s pumpkin season, I wanted to try a pumpkin version of these. What modifications would I need to make to the recipe to make it work?
Hi Jenn! We haven’t tested it but you can try replacing the applesauce with pumpkin. Let us know if you give it a try!
I’ve now made 200 of these delicious muffins and they are perfect every time. I usually use the mixed raisins from Sun Maid, but sometimes I plop in a teaspoon of jam between the batter. That’s how my mother used to make them. It’s a bit of extra work, but a nice little surprise!
These are my favorite bran muffins. I make a batch every couple of weeks and always have them around for my coffee at breakfast. My tweaks are: 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 120g of honey and maple syrup (60g each), 50g raisins, 50g cranberries (reduced sugar variety), 50g chopped pecans, 60g of chia seeds, and 20g of vanilla whey protein. For cooking, I cook for 9 minutes at 425 degrees F and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F for 11-12 minutes whenever the toothpick comes out clean. Perfect every time! (Note: I do live at 6000 feet altitude.)
Love your recipes! I am dairy free and they are so adaptable, I never miss the dairy.
I would like to bake these bran muffins with pumpkin. What would I swap out for the pumpkin purée ?
I would add pumpkin spice instead of cinnamon.
Hi Dolores, We haven’t tested it but you can try replacing the applesauce with pumpkin. Let us know if you give it a try!
Once again Sally delivers! All the other bakers’ recipes are hit and miss. Sally always bats 1000! BYW I cut prunes in fourths and used them instead of raisins. I feel healthier than ever!
Love this recipe as a base. I do however add a “few”things… blueberries, ripe bananas, whole flax seed, chia seed and pumpkin seeds.
I bake these almost every week!
Can batter be refrigerated and used over a few days?
Hi Susie, we don’t recommend making muffin batter ahead of time. It won’t rise properly when baked.
I made these exactly as the recipe called for. I used buttermilk for my milk choice and maple syrup. They were just what I was looking for. Excellent recipe as always from Sally
I have oat bran in the pantry, will that work?
Hi CJ, we haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using oat bran in this recipe.
Made the bran muffins…..so good and moist too. I have added pumpkin seeds, blueberries and dried fruit….wonderful! This is a must for my freezer as I am so busy ….who needs take out muffins with this recipe. Thanks
Took me 30 minutes to cook completely. For some reason my batter came out on the wetter side. Not sure if that’s because I used maple syrup which maybe has a higher water content than honey? Its definately not very sweet and soft. It’s okay but I wouldn’t say it’s great.
Easy to put together and I appreciated the tip to combine the wet and dry ingredients at the last minute so that the wheat bran doesn’t soak up the liquid so quickly. These are lighter in colour than my usual recipe (my mother’s) so not sure if it was the substitution of the maple syrup for sugar or something else! I also used your tip for a higher temperature for the first 5 minutes so that the muffin tops could form, but it didn’t seem to make it so.
These bran muffins are by far the best bran muffins I’ve ever tasted. They are full of flavor, light and fluffy . The texture is on point , no gritty bran texture. Thank you for a delicious muffin. I look forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Scrumptious muffins!! Wow simple but excellent!
I was wondering do you think the recipe would work if I substitute the maple syrup with blackstrap molasses?
Hi Kat! You certainly could, but the flavor would change quite a bit.
This is such a great recipe! Thank you for this recipe!! I was craving bran muffins and couldn’t find any store-bought without terrible nutrition facts and junk inside. This made my Saturday lol. They came out perfect first time. This will be my new go-to for bran muffins.
Hi there,
Has this recipe been changed in the past few months? I could have sworn that the original called for wheat germ not wheat bran. I remember having a hard time finding it in the store and buying the wheat germ glass jars from Kretschmer.
Could I use wheat germ instead of wheat bran?
Thank you for all your awesome recipes. My daughter and I are big fans of your website!
Hi Daniela, we’ve only used wheat bran in this recipe (it hasn’t changed!) and haven’t had the chance to try wheat germ. Let us know if you test it.
Sally, I love these muffins. I’m wondering how far I can cut the honey or maple syrup back and still get a bit of sweetness. Thank you!
Hi Elizabeth! That will depend on your tastes (everyone is different) but remember that the sweeteners add moisture to the muffins as well as flavor.
This is the best bran muffinnI have ever baked. The texture of bran flakes and fruit plays well on the tongue and the fragrance of cinnamon and vanilla the nose. They are married by the honey. These are even good cold and un adorned by added butter.
Thank you for the recipe. The 4th batch is leaving my oven right now.
Bran. Muffins absolutely 5 star. Delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
These were so freakin fantastic! I made a few minor swaps (butter for coconut oil, dried mixed berries for raisins) and added some dark chocolate chips, ground cardamom & 1/4c ground flax. Seriously, these are going to be part of my regular rotation, looking forward to trying out some other mixins!
Thanks for this recipe! Does it matter if I bake them on too, middle or bottom rack of the oven?
Hi Nate! We usually recommend baking in the lower third of your oven.