These oaty muffins with chopped apple, spices and a buttery top, are perfect for breakfast, brunch, and after-school snacks. They're quick to put together and ready in about 45 minutes. Reader feedback inspired these muffins as they shared variations on our popular oatmeal muffin recipe and how great their versions turned out!
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Quick and easy
Including apples and cinnamon in an already great oat muffin created these beauties, the latest additions to our very popular muffin category.
They have a crunchy, sugary top with oats, and the crumb is not overly sweet; perfect breakfast food if you ask me.
These apple cinnamon oatmeal muffins have an excellent chew and moisture, thanks to soaked oats, a step that makes this a solid recipe. And they freeze well, so you can warm them up as needed.
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Testing Notes
- Oats matter: Use old-fashioned rolled oats for the best texture. Quick oats will make a softer, less chewy muffin. Avoid instant oats, as they can turn mushy, and steel-cut oats that will not soften enough.
- Apple prep: Do so right before adding them to the batter. Finely chop the apples so they distribute evenly, so you have them in every bite. Large chunks can also weigh down the muffin batter.
- Don't overmix: Combine the wet and dry ingredients just until you don't see dry flour. Overmixing can make the muffins dense instead of tender.
- Baking time: Muffins are done when the tops are set, spring back when lightly pressed, and a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Overbaking will dry them out.
- Crunchy topping: it completes the muffin, so I recommend you don't skip it, but you can.
- Make a muffin loaf: Follow the idea for the blackberry muffin loaf. You'll get more crumb, and can also use the topping mixture from this Irish apple crumb cake for a sweeter loaf.
Ingredient Notes
Quantities are listed in the recipe card towards the end of this post. The Ingredients page has more details and lists the brands we use.
- Apples: Though I usually use Granny Smith (tart green apples), I tried these with other variations and also love them with red baking apples that are slightly tart, like Honeycrisp and Braeburn, or Pink Lady for a sweeter muffin.
- Milk and lemon juice: We mix both to create homemade buttermilk, but you can also use regular buttermilk from the store.
- Oats: I use old-fashioned rolled oats (traditional oats) because they have more texture and hold their shape more, adding great texture to these homemade muffins. But you can use instant or quick-cooking oats, which will most likely produce a more even-textured muffin. Both work; it's not like you won't get good results by using the instant kind.
- Vegetable oil: Use whatever type you like. I use sunflower oil (which I always have) or coconut oil if I want to avoid seed oils. Canola oil also works well. Even a light olive oil can be used if you're a little more daring with your flavors and are used to using it for baked goods.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Make sure they're not expired.
Variations & substitutions
- Non-dairy: Use unsweetened almond milk.
- Flour: Use part white whole wheat flour or whole wheat flour (very finely ground). The texture will not be as soft, especially with the latter.
- Flavor variations: Adding other spices or citrus will instantly change the flavor of these muffins. Apple pie spice, instead of the cinnamon and nutmeg, and orange zest are great variations.
Steps to make oat apple muffins
I love this recipe because it's the old-fashioned way of making muffins: easy and fast, with no fancy equipment or gadgets, just a few mixing bowls, a spatula or whisk, and a muffin pan.
Oat mixture
Let the oats steep in the buttermilk. It's an easy step that takes a few minutes and makes a difference in texture.
The grain will absorb some of the liquid, and the muffins will have a creamier texture, but rustic at the same time, since the oats will be chewier but not mushy.
Oil, butter and egg
You can add them to the oat mixture directly and stir everything together, or lightly mix them in a separate bowl first. In both cases, don't beat; just whisk to integrate well.
Dry ingredients and apples
Sift the flour and spice mixture first in a separate bowl, or have them measured and sift them directly over the oat mixture. It will leave behind impurities, dissolve clumps and make folding easier.
The apple is chopped and you decide the size. I like small pieces that will meld into the oat crumb. Too large and they tend to fall off when you bite.
Prepare the pan
Use paper liners or grease the molds.
With the paper cups, only the muffin tops will be crusty because the bottom and sides will touch the paper. They're easier to transport.
Buttering the muffin tins creates muffins with crusty sides, bottom and top.
Baking
Topping: a buttery oat crumble is added before baking, creating a fantastic crunchy top.
Preheated oven: This is necessary so the muffins rise well. If you forgot to turn it on and the battle is already in the muffin pan, leave it at room temperature while the oven reaches the desired temperature.
When are they done? Use the baking time as a guide and test for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the center. It should turn out clean with no wet crumbs attached.
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Apple Oatmeal Muffins with Crunchy Top
Ingredients
For the topping:
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup traditional rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the muffins:
- 1 cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ cups traditional rolled oats
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of allspice or nutmeg, optional
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup oil, I use sunflower
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped baking apple
Instructions
For the topping:
- Stir ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ cup traditional rolled oats, 1 tablespoon light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons unsalted butter in a small bowl until clumpy.
- Refrigerate while making the muffins.
For the apple oat muffins:
- Mix 1 cup milk with 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a medium bowl. Add 1 ½ cups traditional rolled oats, and leave to hydrate while preparing the rest.
- Turn on the oven at 350°F (180ºC). Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Or butter and flour them if not using paper cups. Reserve.
- Sift 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and a pinch of allspice or nutmeg (if using) into a large bowl.
- Add ½ cup light brown sugar to the oat mixture and stir to combine.
- Add ½ cup oil, 1 egg and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract to the oats, or stir to mix. Integrate everything well without beating.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, then 1 cup chopped baking apple and stir with a spatula until just combined. Don't be tempted to beat it or overmix it as it will result in tougher and less fluffy muffins.
- Fill the muffin tins or paper cups no more than ¾ full, dividing the mixture as evenly as possible.
- Sprinkle the reserved oat topping on top of the muffins.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester comes out dry. Let them cool on a wire rack.
- Store muffins that are left in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and reheat briefly before eating. Or in the freezer for a month.
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