Apple Oatmeal Muffins
These moist apple muffins are made with oatmeal and whole wheat flour. Delicious and good for you, these muffins make great fall breakfasts!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 16, 2025
These hearty and moist apple oatmeal muffins are perfect for autumn! They’re studded with red-skinned fresh apples, infused throughout with applesauce and flecked with cinnamon. Thin-skinned Gala apples are perfect for this recipe with their mellow sweetness and subtle hint of vanilla.
The muffins are made entirely with whole grains, including whole wheat flour and old-fashioned oats, but they’re surprisingly light in texture, thanks to the buttermilk and combination of baking powder and baking soda.
The remaining ingredients are to be expected—you’ll need some brown sugar, one egg, a splash of oil and vanilla extract, and an optional sprinkle of raw sugar for a lovely little crackle of sweetness on top.
Like most muffins, they taste even better the next day. They’re a decent size—not jumbo-sized like you’d find at a coffee shop, but big enough to eat for breakfast with a smear of nut butter like peanut butter, almond butter or pecan butter. For a more indulgent treat, you could also try them with apple butter or salted butter.
I originally shared this recipe in 2011 and remade it recently. I had forgotten how much I love these oatmeal muffins, so I’m sharing the recipe again to bring it to your attention. These muffins will delight adults and kids alike.
Apple Muffin Options
I have two apple muffins recipes, and they’re both wonderful in their own ways. My Healthy Apple Muffins are sweetened with maple syrup and offer a more classic, fluffy muffin experience. These oat muffins offer bigger bites of apple and more texture overall. Try them both this season!
More Wholesome Apple Treats
Here are just a few of my favorite apple recipes to make during the fall season:
- Apple Pancakes
- Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal
- Gluten-Free Apple Tart
- Homemade Bircher Muesli
- Perfect Baked Apples
- Simple Apple Crisp
Please let me know how your apple oat muffins turn out in the comments! I love hearing from you. If you enjoy this wholesome recipe, be sure to check out more of my muffin recipes here.
Apple Oatmeal Muffins
These apple oatmeal muffins are wholesome and delicious. They’re made with whole wheat flour, old-fashioned oats, applesauce and fresh diced apple. Recipe yields 1 dozen muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ¼ cups old-fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup milk of choice + ½ tablespoon vinegar, stirred together and rest for 5 minutes before using)
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil, mild olive oil or melted coconut oil
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 small Gala apples, chopped into small pieces (½-inch cubes or smaller)
- Optional: 1 teaspoon turbinado (raw) sugar, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir until the mixture is well combined.
- In a medium bowl, combine the applesauce, buttermilk, sugar, oil, egg and vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is well combined.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir just until moistened throughout (some streaks of flour are ok).
- Gently fold in the chopped apples. Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them ⅔ to ¾ full. Sprinkle turbinado sugar (if using) on top of the muffins.
- Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until the muffins are lightly golden on top. Since these muffins contain fresh fruit, they will spoil more quickly than regular muffins. Store them in the refrigerator if you don’t intend to finish them within a day or two, or store them in the freezer for up to six months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker’s oatmeal blueberry applesauce muffins (her post has since been deleted).
2025 edits: To simplify the recipe, I omitted ¼ teaspoon cardamom, ⅛ teaspoon ginger, and a sprinkle of nutmeg on top. I also suggest brown sugar instead of hard-to-find muscovado sugar. Lastly, I changed from coconut milk-and-lemon to buttermilk, which can be made with your milk of choice.
Make it dairy free: Make your own buttermilk with dairy-free milk, like almond milk.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi Kate,
I just made these muffins an hour ago and I will definitely make them again. They feel very healthful. The cinnamon lends sweetness without sugar and I love the folded in fresh apples. On that point, I had enough batter for 16 muffins and I think I may have put in too many apples. It would be great to know an amount (in cups) that two small apples amounts too.
Keep the great recipes coming!
Sending Happy Congratulations to you on Luke’s arrival! And thank you for continuing to share your delicious recipes during this busy time.
What, if anything , can I sub for applesauce?
Hi Diana, I recommend this recipe as written.
K&C recipes are a go-to. Like others, this recipe results in a tasty product. I used light brown sugar (measured by weight, not volume), made buttermilk using white wine vinegar, and used more turbanado sugar than called for (we like the crunch). Like a previous reviewer, the recipe wielded 16 muffins. Of note, they don’t rise much. Used parchment paper liners, so no need to spray. The fresh apples add a lovely texture. Next time, I will add a little cardamom, ginger and nutmeg to the batter as called for in K&C previous recipe. Should add more of a Fall flavor. Thanks Kate!
Hi Kate, can I substitute all purpose white flour for the whole wheat flour?
Hi Katie, yes you can make that substitution.
I just made these muffins, following recipe closely (only replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar) and found them to be very bland. I have enjoyed many of your recipes but this a was a miss for me.
I made these and I think I put in too much apple. What amount of the diced apple should I add in cups?
Hi Andrew, you should be able to use 1 to 1 and 1/3 cups apples. More than that will be too many.
K&C recipes are a go-to. Like others, this recipe results in a tasty product. I used light brown sugar (measured by weight, not volume), made buttermilk using white wine vinegar, and used more turbanado sugar than called for (we like the crunch). Like a previous reviewer, the recipe wielded 16 muffins.
Sound delicious!
How much can I reduce the sugar?
I will add back those great spices
Love that they’re whole grain.
Thanks!
Hi Roberta, I think 1/2 cup of brown sugar plus the sprinkle on top is a reasonable amount, but if you wanted to reduce it further, I have had commenters say they have substituted coconut sugar for brown sugar in recipes. Coconut sugar can have a lower glycemic index. I recommend the recipe as written.
Possible to make this into a bread rather than muffins?
Hi Allison, I haven’t tested this as a loaf, but I’m sure it would work.
love this recipe!! This is my 3rd time baking them this month and is only 10/8.
Very good. I will put them in my recipe notebook! I included the other spices and will probably use a bit more next time. I probably used larger apples because the recipe filled 12 muffin cups – but that’s OK — just larger muffins to enjoy.
Hi Rhonda, I’m so glad this recipe was a keeper for you! Thanks for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe.
I made these Apple muffins yesterday for the second time. We love them!! I did use 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt in place of the buttermilk and used 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup instead of brown sugar. Delicious! After cooling them, I put them in a freezer bag so we can take one out when we eat one. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi! I love your recipes! Can these be frozen?
Hi Emily, yes these easily freeze. You can microwave them for 30 seconds straight from the freezer, and it’s the perfect easy breakfast or snack.
I’d love to have a weight or measurement for the apple. Mine took a bit longer to cook (5 more minutes). I added a sprinkle of hemp hearts on top instead of the turbinado sugar. Great flavour!
Love this recipe. I always like baking with oatmeal. I think I might prefer these to the Healthy Apple Muffin recipe, but both are good. Added walnuts. Used canola oil.