The best recipe ever for oatmeal muffins is here. I know you'll love them because these are everything we want in a breakfast muffin: moist, fluffy, and super easy to make! They can be frozen and reheated to order, and are fantastic warm with a dollop of butter and jam or honey.
As a person who only has coffee when she wakes up, these (together with the blueberry oatmeal muffins and the raisin bran muffins) were a great addition to my mornings, as I'm always looking for easy, delicious, and not sugar-laden ways to grab a bite.
They remind me of old fashioned soft scones, the ones my great grandmother made.
But these muffins have a great chew thanks to the oats, and great moisture thanks to the mixing milk with said oat before adding them to the rest of the ingredients. The result is perfect.
Ingredients
They are so simple that you probably have all of them at home right now.
- Buttermilk: it makes the muffins more tender, so I love using it. You can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the cup of milk and let stand a few minutes until it curdles) or you can use milk.
- Oats: traditional is better than instant because they are larger and hold their shape more, adding great texture to the muffins. Instant will be mushier and produce a more even (sometimes too moist for my taste) textured result. But both work, it's not like you won't get good results by using instant.
- Oil: use whatever type you like. I use sunflower (which I always have) or coconut if I want healthier muffins.
- Sugar: both granulated white or brown sugars work well. The latter will give these oatmeal muffins a more golden hue and also add a slight caramel undertone which works really well.
Preparing the oatmeal
It's as easy as mixing oats with the buttermilk in a bowl and letting it stand a few minutes (image below). During this time 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.
Easy steps
I love this recipe because it's the old-fashioned way of making muffins which is easy, fast, and there's no need for fancy equipment or gadgets.
- Prepare oatmeal by mixing oats and buttermilk in a bowl.
- Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients to the oats.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture all at once and mix just until it's integrated. Don't overmix!
As you can see in the image above, you can either use paper liners or not.
The difference is that with the liners the muffins will have less of a crunchy surface (similar to the top part) because the bottom and sides will be touching the paper.
If you butter the pan and don't use the paper cups, it will have more surface baking against the metal and it will result in an outer crust (and not just on top).
Frequently asked questions
Oats is the unprocessed grain itself and oatmeal is the grain that has been milled and turned into a coarse flour. This is probably a more technical explanation.
The everyday answer is that oatmeal is also the preparation that results from mixing the oats with a liquid. Porridge or prepared oatmeal as it's sometimes called. I like to point out how different they are when it comes to baking. In this recipe we use buttermilk and the result after the muffins are baked is amazing! They turn out fluffier and moister than you thought possible.
Quick cooking oats are simply small pieces of oats meant to be cooked faster. Traditional or old-fashioned ones require a process where they are flattened but maintain their shape. For this recipe, traditional oats work better because they do absorb liquid well but at the same time hold their shape. But, don't be discouraged from making them just because you only have instant oats.
While oats is used to make porridge, they're not exactly the same. Porridge can be made from other ingredients though the most common it probably oats, that's why they are used interchangeably. But don't buy a box of porridge for this recipe as it may contain other ingredients besides oats.
Related recipes you might like:
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Easy Moist Oatmeal Muffins Recipe
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 medium muffins 1x
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
The best recipe ever for oatmeal muffins is here. I know you'll love them because these are everything we love about a breakfast muffin: moist, fluffy, and super easy to make! They can be frozen and reheated to order, and are fantastic warm with a dollop of butter and jam or honey.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (150g) traditional oats
- 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature (see Notes below for substitutions)
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose or cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup oil (I used sunflower)
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- ½ cup white or brown sugar
Instructions
- In a medium bowl mix buttermilk with 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. Reserve.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add the sugar and mix.
- Add the oil and egg to the oatmeal mixture. Mix everything well without beating.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula or hand mixer, and only until just combined, don’t be tempted to beat it as it will result in tougher and less fluffy muffins.
- Fill the muffin tins or paper cups ¾ full, dividing the mixture as evenly as possible.
- Cook 20-25 minutes, or until a tester comes out dry. Let cool completely on a metal rack.
Notes
Buttermilk: it makes the muffins more tender, so I love using it. You can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the cup of milk and let stand a few minutes until it curdles) or you can use milk.
Oats: traditional is better than instant because they are larger and hold their shape more, adding great texture to the muffins. Instant will be mushier and produce a more even (sometimes too moist for my taste) textured result. But both work, it's not like you won't get good results by using instant.
Oil: use whatever type you like. I use sunflower (which I always have) or coconut if I want healthier muffins.
Sugar: both granulated white or brown sugars work well. The latter will give these oatmeal muffins a more golden hue and also add a slight caramel undertone which works really well.
Storing: they are best the day they are made, but they keep well for a day or two at room t°. After that refrigerate for several days or freeze for up to a month. Reheat directly in a 350° oven.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/12
- Calories: 235
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 180.7 mg
- Fat: 10.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 30.7 g
- Protein: 3.8 g
- Cholesterol: 17.7 mg
Keywords: oatmeal muffins
Soooo good!!
★★★★★
Hi Paula. What proportions should I keep when adding whole flour instead of all-purpose flour? add more liquid, less flour? how much whole wheat flour and how much all-purpose flour? I did something wrong - the mixture came out very thick, difficult to mix. I used 150g of whole flour and 60g all-purpose flour. Greetings 🙂
★★★★★
Hi Joanna! I never made them with whole wheat flour, and the texture will be very different as this is a coarser flour, even when ground very fine. I have successfully replaced all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour when I used a superfine one. Really very fine, quite similar to the all-purpose one. What type of whole flour did you use? Maybe soak it in the milk together with the oats so that the flour absorbs some liquid and softens before going into the oven. Adding a few tablespoons more buttermilk is fine.
As for the thick batter can it be that you measured something wrong, maybe the scale was not well calibrated if you weighed it, or the oats were ground or too small so you ended up using more than the amount mentioned?
But most important, how did they come out? Did you like them?
They're really good. I will definitely do them again. This time I will stick to the recipe strictly and I will not change the flour 🙂 my oat was very fine so I probably weighed more ... Thanks for all the advice. greetings
★★★★★
Thank you for sharing Joanna! Much appreciated. Have a great week.
Did you ever add blueberries to the batter?
Hi Sandy, I haven't to this recipe and you shouldn't have a problem adding them. There is also a oatmeal blueberry muffin recipe in the blog that you can use.
These are the best oatmeal muffins l’ve ever made! So tender and yummy. I used plain milk and added a smidge more sugar because it didn’t seem like a half cup would be enough though next time l’ll make them with just a half cup because they’re plenty sweet and so good. I’m saving this recipe and will definitely be making it again!
So happy to hear that Karen! And I feel the same way, love them. Happy week!
I made these last night but I was out of oil. So I used butter and added vanilla and blueberries. They came out pretty cakey. They were delicious. I will likely be using this recipe again.
★★★★★
Glad to heat that Sage!
I really love these, Thanks for the recipes.
Can’t wait to try it.
★★★★★
In Italy breakfadt is pretty simple. Cappuccino and a croissant. Here our breakfasts are pretty similar and muffins are great with a good cup of coffee. Your muffins look wonderful and such an easy recipe!
Thank you!
★★★★