These healthy apple oatmeal muffins made with fresh apples are a perfect way to start your day. They're filled with apples and rolled oats, spiced with a little cinnamon, and finished with an oat streusel topping. And if you want to add a little cheddar cheese, the instructions include this too. There are also tips for baking these at high altitude.
What makes these oatmeal apple muffins such a great recipe? The oats are soaked in milk for 20 minutes. This makes the texture of these muffins incredibly soft, fluffy and moist. And irresistible!
Jump to Recipe
Want to make this recipe perfectly the first time? I want to help with that. So, check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post will help you the most.
Jump to:
- 👩⚕️ What makes these apple oatmeal muffins healthy?
- 🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
- 🔪 Recommended Equipment
- 📝 Instructions Overview
- 🎯 What makes these apple muffins so fluffy and moist?
- 💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- 🧊 What's the best way to store apple oatmeal muffins?
- 🏔️ High Altitude Baking Tips
- Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins
It's fall, and that means it's apple season!! If you're looking for a great way to use some apples, you need these muffins. These healthy muffins made with fresh apples are special enough to serve at your next brunch, and casual enough to eat when you're running out the door on busy mornings. And yes, the kids will love these too. The secret is the rolled oats, a tip I saw on Sally's Baking Addiction blog.
And if you love muffins too, check out these Spiced Pumpkin Muffins made with Applesauce.
👩⚕️ What makes these apple oatmeal muffins healthy?
- They use honey as the sweetener in the muffins instead of white sugar.
- There's half the amount of sweetener as compared to many other muffin recipes.
- Oats are among the healthiest grains - they're gluten-free and considered one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat.
- Adding oats means less processed flour.
- The peels on the apples maximize the health benefits of apples, like antioxidants, flavanoids, and fiber.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. For example, store-bought items and ingredients you make ahead and store in the refrigerator (or freezer) can turn a 60-minute recipe into a 30-minutes meal or less.
For the all of the ingredients, measurements and directions for this healthy apple muffins recipe, go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post.
- Whole milk - 2% milk also works fine.
- Rolled oats - don't use instant oats or quick oats.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon
- Honey
- Egg
- Apples - use your favorite baking apple. My favorites for these muffins are Honeycrisp and Pink Lady. And if you want to go a little more tart, use Granny Smith.
- Cheddar cheese (optional)
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🔪 Recommended Equipment
Having the right equipment for recipes makes prepping soooo much easier. If you want more fuss-free prepping and cooking, check out my updated list of favorite kitchen tools and equipment.
- Medium bowl (2) and large bowl
- Whisk
- Muffin tin - for regular sized muffins.
- Muffin liners
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making these healthy apple cinnamon oatmeal muffins are in the recipe card below, but are the four key steps.
🎯 What makes these apple muffins so fluffy and moist?
- The secret in getting the soft fluffy texture in these truly amazing muffins is soaking oats in milk for 20 minutes, and then adding the oats and the remaining liquid to the batter at the end.
- The apples contribute additional moisture to the batter and baked muffins.
- If you include the cheddar cheese, this makes the muffin a little creamy.
- Honey maintains moisture better and for a longer time than white sugar.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- Substitute maple syrup for the honey. Use a 1:1 ratio.
- Use coconut oil in place of the butter in the muffin.
- Add chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter and / or streusel for a little crunch.
- Next time you make them, try them with pears or cranberries (or both!).
🧊 What's the best way to store apple oatmeal muffins?
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4 - 5 days. Rewarm in your microwave oven or toaster oven.
- These muffins freeze great! I love having a batch there for muffin emergencies. Freeze in a freezer safe container for 2 - 3 months.
🏔️ High Altitude Baking Tips
For those of you baking at high altitude, and there's more of us than you might think, here are some great tips for getting a soft, moist texture. I baked these at 7100 feet.
- Soak the rolled oats for 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes to compensate for the dryness of high altitude.
- Increase the moisture by adding an additional egg white.
- Reduce the baking powder to ½ teaspoon.
Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins
Equipment
- 2 Medium bowl
- small bowl
- Large bowl
- large spoon
- 12-cup muffin pan for regular sized muffins
- paper muffin cups
Ingredients
Oat Streusel Topping
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar or brown sugar
Apple Oatmeal Muffins
- 1 cup whole milk or 2% milk
- 1 cup rolled oats (not instant oats or quick oats)
- 1 ¼ cups (5.5 ounces, 156 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt or ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- ½ cup honey
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 large egg
- 1 ¼ cups finely chopped apple (do not remove the peel), see Ingredients Notes in the post for best kinds of apples to use
- ½ cup grated cheddar cheese (optional)
Instructions
- Combine milk and oats in a medium bowl. Set aside for 20 minutes so the oats puffup and soak up some moisture.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and fill the muffin tin with paper liners.
- Mix together the Oat Streusel Topping in a small bowl and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium bowl until well-combined. It’s important to evenly disperse the baking soda and powder through the flour.
- Whisk together the melted butter, honey, lemon juice, and egg in a large mixing bowl until combined. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, using a spatula. Be careful not to over-stir, but only enough to completely integrate the dry ingredients. Add the soaked oats, including any remaining milk, chopped apples, and cheddar cheese (if using) to the batter. Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon only until combined.
- Baking Tip: Overworking the batter will make the baked muffins tougher.
- Spoon the muffin batter into liners using a large spoon, filling them ⅔ to ¾ full. Divide the Oat Streusel Topping between the muffins.
- Bake for 15 - 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
Nutrition
Looking for more ideas with apples? Check out these Spiced Quinoa and Apple Crumbles.
Sarah Walker Caron
Apple and cheddar is such a great combination! These muffins look divine — and what a great tip about soaking the oats!
Lynn
I love eating cheese with apples. But never thought of combining them in my cakes. These look great. I'll try to do that next time.
Karen
These sound delicious even if they are so nutritious, ha ha! Love the cheddar!
Ansh
Excellent!! You have done the high altitude work for me! All I need to do is get baking once the oven is fixed! These are so perfect to send to my husband's co workers in fall. And so good to have you back<3 , Susan.
Tamara Andersen
Great minds think alike, right? Apples and cheddar are a perfect pairing! I love the idea of combining in muffins. Lots of great info in this post... especially for the high altitude baker. I'm a little envious of your fall weather; we're still hitting close to 100, and it's pretty much year 'round summer in McAllen!
Barb | Creative Culinary
Come to think of it, we have three high altitude bakers in our group alone! Thanks for doing the work for me; I usually write my recipes for 'flatlanders' and then incorporate the difference in the process for me when I start to bake. I remember all those years as a kid when I baked box cake mixes and wondered, who are those people at high altitude?
LOVE this combination in a muffin. So much I want to bake them, like now. However, MUST get cheddar, thinking Parm and Mozzarella would not do the trick. 🙂
Dorothy Reinhold
Apple and cheddar make the perfect duo. These muffins sounds irresistable!
Hayley
The soaking oats in milk tip is a game changer! Great recipe Susan!
Sonal
I could have never thought of adding cheddar to the apple muffins. Thanks for such an awesome recipe.
Jennie Duncan
I've never thought about making apple and cheddar muffins before, but the combo is so good together! This is a great idea.
Juli
Apple + Cheddar! These sound so delicious! What a wonderful combination. Thank you for sharing!
Adriana
What a lovely idea apples and cheddar go together so well and your muffins look so delectable I need one now.
Liz Berg
These muffins look amazing, Susan! I have a soft spot for apple baked goods. And very solid info about baking at higher altitudes---I've done a little research before, but this was a good refresher!
Carol Borchardt
Apple and cheddar slices are one of my favorite snacks! I love that you put them together in these healthy muffins! These are perfect for overnight guests this fall and holiday season!
mjskitchen
I love a hot piece of apple pie with a melted slice of cheese on top, so you know I'd love these muffins with the cheese inside. YUM! Thanks for the high altitude adjustments!
GA YEON OH
I referred to this recipe and modified it for my little girl! What a brilliant idea of soaked oats! Thank you for the recipe!
The Wimpy Vegetarian
I'm so happy this idea of the soaked oats worked for you! Ii do that with all my muffins now!