Healthy Apple Muffins
Amazing, healthy apple muffins made with maple syrup and whole wheat flour! No one will guess that this simple cinnamon apple muffin recipe is healthy, too.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
It’s apple muffin time! You all really seem to love my banana muffins, pumpkin muffins and carrot muffins and the blueberry muffins in my cookbook. Today, apple muffins are joining the club.
Like the others in the bunch, these muffins are made with 100 percent whole wheat flour and naturally sweetened with maple syrup or honey. They are nice and fluffy, with just enough sweetness to be irresistible.
Granted, I already have an apple oatmeal muffin recipe on the blog from four years ago, but I have significantly upped my muffin game since then. These muffins are the better of the two, by a long shot.
I based these healthy apple muffins off my carrot muffins, replacing grated carrots with fresh apple, and replacing half of the Greek yogurt with applesauce.
These muffins contain apple, three ways: freshly grated and chopped apple for the perfect texture, and applesauce for infused apple flavor. They’re the best apple muffins I’ve ever had.
Healthy Apple Muffin Notes
- These apple muffins taste even better after resting for a few hours, if they last that long.
- I particularly enjoy them with a spread of peanut butter.
- Check my recipe notes for how to use honey instead of maple syrup, and some ideas for how to make the muffins vegan.
I think it’s time for another! Please let me know how you like these muffins in the comments. I love hearing from you.
Baking Tips for Success
How to Measure Flour
How you measure your flour is important. Why? If you measure incorrectly, you could end up with up to 50 percent extra flour, which will make your muffins dense, dry and flavorless. Use the spoon and swoop method:
- Gently stir your flour to loosen any clumps.
- Spoon your flour into the measuring cup with a big spoon or a flour scoop. Do not scoop up the flour directly into the measuring cup.
- Level off the top of the cup with a knife. Repeat as necessary.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda Are Not the Same Thing
…and they are not interchangeable. Both are leaveners that help your baked goods rise (baking powder contains some baking soda, but that’s a long story).
This recipe relies on a combination of baking powder and baking soda to produce light and fluffy muffins. For ideal results, always follow the recipe and measure carefully.
How to Stir Your Batter
This muffin batter is super simple to stir together by hand, and that’s how I recommend making these muffins. Why? Whipping your batter will make the flour’s gluten protein too strong, yielding tough muffins.
I know it can be tempting to use a stand mixer or hand mixer when it’s within reach. Please don’t! Follow the instructions below and you’ll end up with light, fluffy muffins.
Watch How to Make Apple Muffins
Healthy Apple Muffins
Amazing, healthy apple muffins made with maple syrup and whole wheat flour! No one will guess that this simple cinnamon apple muffin recipe is good for you, too. Recipe yields 12 muffins.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup grated apple
- 1 cup apple diced into ¼” cubes
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup maple syrup or honey*
- 2 eggs, preferably at room temperature
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (I used full-fat but any variety should do)
- ½ cup applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar (also called raw sugar), for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If necessary, grease all 12 cups on your muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray (my pan is non-stick and doesn’t require any grease).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Blend well with a whisk. Add the grated apple (if it is dripping wet, gently squeeze it over the sink to release some extra moisture) and chopped apple. Stir to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oil and maple syrup and beat together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat well, then add the yogurt, applesauce and vanilla and mix well. (If the coconut oil solidifies in contact with cold ingredients, gently warm the mixture in the microwave in 30 second bursts.)
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix with a big spoon, just until combined (a few lumps are ok). The batter will be thick, but don’t worry! Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with turbinado sugar. Bake muffins for 13 to 16 minutes, or until the muffins are golden on top and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Place the muffin tin on a cooling rack to cool. If you have leftover muffins, store them, covered, at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Freeze leftover muffins for up to 3 months.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my healthy carrot muffins.
*If you are baking with honey: Honey tends to brown quickly, so to avoid overdone muffins, bake muffins at 325 degrees Fahrenheit until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 23 to 25 minutes.
Make it vegan: Replace the eggs with flax eggs and replace the yogurt with vegan buttermilk—try mixing 1 ½ teaspoons vinegar with a scant ½ cup non-dairy milk. Let it rest for 5 minutes before adding it to the other liquid ingredients. (You could also try using more applesauce in place of the yogurt but I’m not sure it’s acidic enough to counteract the bitter taste of the baking soda.)
Make it dairy free: See “buttermilk” option above.
Make it egg free: Use flax eggs instead of regular eggs.
Make it gluten free: Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour make gluten-free all-purpose blends that work well.
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.
I absolutely LOVE this recipe and so do my teenagers. I’ve made it a few times already this week and the muffins keep getting devoured. I just tried it last night substituting persimmons from my neighbor’s tree for the fresh apples. They turned out delightful!
That’s great, Lara! I appreciate your review.
I was under the impression your Lentil Soup is included in your Love real Food Cookbook, ordered and just received, to learn it’s not! Now, I don’t have the recipe. I was wanting the cookbook for add’l recipes, but primarily for the Lentil Soup recipe because, for health issues, I’m suppose to eat lentils every day.
Lovely
book, but disappointed couldn’t find this recipe.
Celina
HI Celina, I’m sorry to hear you are disappointed. My cookbook has primarily exclusive recipes only found in the cookbook. Best Lentil Soup can be found on my blog.
I love your recipes, and wish I could make more of them. However, I am in Germany without a US cup measure. It would be very handy if you could include the grams and millileters (perhaps in brackets) of ingredients for your recipes. Thanks!
Hi Emma, I hope to provide that sometime in the future. I just don’t have a great plug-in solution right now.
Hi Emma. Just a thought but you can buy measuring cups online and they are really cheap. I just checked and they do have them over there.
I live in the U.K. and have been using measuring cups for years. They make life so much easier and open up lots more recipes for you.
Amazing muffin recipe!!
Thank you, Becca!
Beautiful muffins. I thought they would be nearly identical to the carrot muffins, but they’re much lighter in texture. Regarding proportions, I found that one Granny Smith provided the cup of chopped apple, plus about 3/4 cup of the grated. I topped up the grate with about 1/4 of a Spartan from the fridge. We had some applesauce made from garden Orange Pippins. Turned out to be a tasty combo.
I had previously asked Kate if the grated apples needed to be peeled. She said no, so I didn’t. I did notice, though, that the unpeeled apples are harder to grate. When I got to the piece of Spartan I peeled it and that part of the operation was easier. (Using a hand box grater.)
Wondering if you have any advice on how to time mini muffins. Turns out my only full size muffin pan is only for 9 muffins! I made a double batch of batter so I think I’m going to be at this for a while… batter tastes great so I can’t wait to taste the finished product!
Wondering if you have any advice on how to time mini muffins. Turns out my only full size muffin pan is only for 9 muffins! I made a double batch of batter so I think I’m going to be at this for a while… batter tastes great so I can’t wait to taste the finished product!
LOL realize this comment never sent, but I can update it as follows:
LOVE these muffins! I only made substitutions because I didn’t have the ingredients on hand: low sugar vanilla cinnamon greek yogurt instead of plain, vegetable oil instead of olive oil, all purpose flour instead of whole wheat.
LOVE the taste and consistency of these. This recipe is a keeper. Great way to use up the apples that have been sitting a little too long to be good for eating raw.
My regular size muffin tins took 15 minutes to bake (about 2 T in each cup— probably could’ve gone a bit bigger) and my mini tins took about 13-14 (about 1.5 T in each).
Perfect – not too sweet, just sweet enough. I had no applesauce so I “grated” an apple into mush and used that. Added pecans too. But this recipe needs no changes. I’m going to go eat them all now.
Excellent. I made all mini muffins and got 36. Baked for 12 minutes.
For the applesauce, would it be ok to use no sugar added? Or should i be the regular kind?
Thanks!
That’s fine! I hope you love them.
I wasn’t aware of the effect sugar has on our bodies when I was a young mother baking for my sons but I am now and try very hard to avoid the things I have learned are not good for us. My grandchildren are not picky per se but not about to tolerate weird tasting healthy muffins from their grandmother. These apple muffins have all of us very happy campers! I just overheard two of the grands arguing over the last muffin. There will be more soon! Thank you from the whole family!
I’m glad everyone was happy with these muffins, Carol! I appreciate your review.
Hi! If I wanted to add in some oats to this recipe would you suggest altering the amount of flour I use? If so, by how much?
Thanks for your help!
Hi Kelsey, refer to my Strawberry Oat Muffins recipe for guidance.
These muffins are the best. Oh my goodness gracious thank you for this fabulous recipe absolutely scrump-dilly-icious!
Before preparing these, could you use Ambrosia apples instead of Granny Smith?
With all these great comments, I can’t wait to try them.
You can try it! I hope you love them, Ginny.
your recipes never fail to impress Kate! i made these muffins and they were really delish. i had left over pumpkin spice that i’d made and put that in the dry mix. didn’t have muscovado sugar but used the brown sugar i did have and topped a few with some finely chopped walnuts. thanks for providing other possibilities for gf options etc. your desire to make your recipes work for everyone who need to have dietary options is really apparent. thank you so much!
Yum! I would never leave a negative review for this degree of substitution but since it turned out well I can admit: I had some cream cheese that needed to be used so I substituted that for the Greek yogurt, plus a dash of apple cider vinegar. Worked perfectly! We love a flexible recipe.
Hi from Auckland, NZ. Just made these apple muffins and wanted to let you know they turned out beautifully and tasted amazing. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll be baking these again and again.
I followed the recipe exactly except adding sugar on top and my only mistake was not doubling the recipe!! Preteens/Teens loved having them for breakfast and even dessert.
I have to make them again now.
Hi! I’ve tried this recipe. Followed all the measurements of the ingredients but I noticed that my wet mixture is a bit watery. So when I combined it to the dry mixture it wasn’t thick.. When it cooked the texture is more like a pudding. What seems to be the mistake I’ve made?
I’m sorry to heat that, Kathrine. It sounds like a ratio may be off. What type of flour did you use?
I added blueberries and used butter instead of oil. I also had a few figs handy, can you belive it in Nov in Hood River? My 6 year old decided to top it with sliced apples and figs before baking. It was so good. Thank you.
looks so delicious, hoping I could make one of those
HOLY COW! These are SOOOOOO sinfully delicious!!!!! Definitely a party in my mouth. Just LOVED the different textures, the sweetness was just perfect (I used locally made wildflower honey), and that cinnamon lends that nice finish. So moist too! I made these for my breakfast this week but afraid they won’t make it another day. I just love your recipes, Kate! Following you on Facebook too. Oh and congrats on your new baby! So adorable
That’s too funny, Teresa! Thank you for sharing your experience.
After the carrot muffin success, I made these apple muffins. I used 1/2 log cabin sugar free maple syrup and 1/2 honey, unsweetened apple sauce .. it was just perfect enough sweet.
I would like to request, pls add calories and nutritional value etc for each muffin if you can. I count my calories and it would be so helpful. Thank you
Hi There
If I am going to use liquid coconut oil (Brand: Coco Earth Liquid Coconut Oil) is the measurement the exact same as using solid coconut oil and melting it down? Thanks
I haven’t used it so I can’t say for sure, but I think that may work. Let me know!
Oh my goodness is this delicious! I didn’t have whole wheat flour so I subbed organic white flour. Absolute perfection. Taste so good and makes my house smell so good too!
I’m glad you loved them, Lauren!
Hello – it’s Tuesday and I want to make these for Thanksgiving Brunch (in 2 days). Do I need to freeze them? How do you recommend I store them until Thursday (in fridge or at room temp)
Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes!
Hi Mary! Sorry for my delay. They would be fine in the refrigerator. What did you decide to do?
oops – just realized the answer to my question is in step 5 of the recipe!
Certainly no need to reply!
thanks ;)
Hi Kate! I love this recipe and make it all the time! Wondering if I wanted to make this in bread form (vs muffins), how would I adjust oven temp and cook time?
Hi Katherine, I haven’t tried it. It will need more time, but I’m not sure how much.
It’s a very poor user experience to have a recipe card that is five pages long. You should really think about adjusting your print template.
Hi Helen, I’m sorry you are frustrated. Did you use the ‘print recipe’ button? It should be only a couple pages. You can also choose in your printer settings which pages you want printed. Some recipes are longer than others and can only be scaled down so much.
Yes I did use the print button. Your nutrition takes up an entire page. There’s also a ton of stuff before even the ingredients and instructions. I know how these plugins work and I definitely recommend you take some time to check settings.
Hi Helen, Again, I’m sorry you are frustrated. You can choose to not print the nutrition page if you like. I appreciate your feedback.
Hi there! Do you have any suggestions for substitute for applesauce? Can I do without it?
Hi Sher, this recipe is best as stated. I hope you are able to enjoy it!
Hi Sher,
I didn’t have applesauce so I substituted with a 1/4 cup pineapple juice. They were amazing! I’m thinking any type of juice would work fine as well. Maybe even almond or rice milk.
Delicious! Following someone else’s comment, I used an extra cup of grated apple instead of applesauce, as I had a hunch it’s different in the UK and US. In the UK we eat applesauce with roast pork and it’s a processed sauce full of sugar, so I had a feeling it couldn’t be what this recipe was calling for.
It worked perfectly well with the extra grated apple. The recipe seemed so yummy and healthy that I doubled it right off the bat, so I could eat and share twice as much :) Thank you for yet another delicious recipe, Kate!
I’ve made these muffins yesterday and they’re absolutely delicious! I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe:
– I replaced the oil with 85g of unsalted butter.
– I replaced the syrup/honey with apple syrup. I don’t know if this easily available in other countries but in the Netherlands this is a staple in many pantries.
– I did not put sugar on top of the muffins.
– I used cottage cheese instead of Greek yoghurt.
I added my adjustments to the recipe in myfitnesspal and the calories of (my version) come to about 190 calories per muffin.
hi! absolutely love this recipe but my muffins always come out too wet and after they come out of the oven they dip in the middle. Made this multiple times but it still does that so im quite confused. But i absolutely adore this recipe!
Hi Rachelyn! I’m sorry to hear that. Are you baking at an elevation?
We made these with fresh ripe peeled pears in place of apple (and left the sugar topping off) and they turn out lovely.
I’m glad you enjoy them, Rachael!
I make these muffins about once a week. Sometimes I substitute blueberries for the apple chunks. My husband loves them. I have type 2 diabetes and it doesn’t raise my glucose level. It’s a healthy choice for me.
Amazing! Perfect muffin for my kids. Perfectly moist and not too sweet!
I’m delighted you enjoyed it, Holli.
Love this recipe
how many calories per muffin.
Hi Penny, I’m glad you love this recipe! The nutritional information is below the notes section. You just need to click to expand.
These turned out great! Had too many apples. I subbed oat flour and added a little extra brown rice flour (because it looked wet) and they turned out great! It made 15
I found myself with an absurd amount of pears, so I made pear muffins and they turned out AWESOME. My kids love them! Substituted diced pears, some “pearsauce”, and baby pear yogurt (it’s all I had available!). Otherwise followed the recipe. Thank you!!
That’s great to hear, Katie! I appreciate your review.
Best apple oatmeal muffin recipe! Love this!
Thank you, Wendy! I’m glad you loved it.
My family is absolutely addicted to these – as are my 3 daughters boyfriends. I can’t make them fast enough!! … wondering if I can make them with homemade applesauce instead of the cubed and shredded apple? I just made a batch of homemade applesauce and used up all my apples. :/
Hi Stephanie, I’m glad you love them! I haven’t tried them with applesauce, sorry. I’m hesitant to say try it as they might not set-up right baking.
Really nice muffin recipe. I didn’t have apple sauce so made some by microwaving some apple slices and blitzing it up with a little stevia. I added toasted coconut and a scoop of tasteless protein powder to increase the protein macros. I also added sugar free chocolate chips.
I don’t know why but all of your recipes always turn out great for me except these. I’ve made them multiple times and they are always VERY dry. I even added a bit more oil this time.
These always turn out perfect! Although I think they turn out best when the muffins are taken out of the tin right away, otherwise they are more moist than I like
These turned out perfect! So moist with great flavor.
Just made these for my one year old in mini form, using 2 cups of grated apple instead of 1 cup grated and 1 cup diced. They took 11 minutes and it made 48 muffins. He loved them! So much better than any actual toddler muffin recipe ive tried while still being sugar free and full of apples.
That’s great to hear, Chelsey! Thank you for sharing.
Made these for the first time and they were delicious. Making the blueberry muffins as I am writing this. I tried substituting applesauce for the oil in the blueberry muffins. Will let you know the result when they finish baking and cool enough to eat.
This is one of the best muffin recepies I have ever baked with. Thank u!
Very easy to follow and almost fail proof.
Are these freezable?
Hi! I believe these would be a good option to freeze. I haven’t tried it. Let me know what you think!
Did you test the lower temp if honey was being used? I followed that recommendation and mine came out absolutely flat, didn’t rise :( I’m sure (I hope) they still taste the same but that was disappointing.
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that. I did test this recipe. With your user name being Colorado if you are in elevation in Colorado that can impact your results.
Great recipe! I loved the idea that the sweetener was Maple Syrup. To up the “healthy” quotient, I ended up reducing the amount of Flour and substituting Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. So I did 1 1/4 Cup Flour and then a 1/2 Cup of Oats. I also added a 1/4 Cup of Apple Butter since I did drain the grated apple (I used Honeycrisp), I wanted to add a bit more moisture to compensate for the dryness of the oats. It worked beautifully, resulting in a very moist muffin, packed with apple flavor. Thank you for this!
I made these to use up some extra apples. My friends, who were used to other muffins, said these were the best. I add chopped nuts and chia seeds. They go great with my coffee in the morning.
Thanks Kate!
You’re welcome, George!
These came out great. I appreciate the tips on veganizing the recipe, particularly the yogurt sub. Also love that they’re sweetened with maple syrup, which I sub out with monkfruit syrup. These will be made again-thanks!
Thank you for sharing, Laura!
What is your feeling on using parchment paper cups instead of greasing the pans? That is how I usually do muffins as my tins are kind of old and harder to grease. I am going to try it and let you know.
Sure you can try it! Let me know how it turns out.
Hi just wondering if you think it would work to replace the yoghurt with plain coconut yoghurt instead?
Hi Sharni! See my vegan alternatives in the notes. I hope you try them!