You can feel great making this Healthy Blueberry Muffin recipe for your family. Lower in fat and sugar, but still full of great taste, these are the perfect snack!
My wonderful kids are always on the hunt for snacks. They are so predictable in their snacking, that when a fight breaks out at 9:50 a.m., we know it is time to deal with their blood sugar issues.
We do our best to give them healthy snacks. We know it’s better for their bodies, but it also makes more sense too. If they only eat carbs or sugary snacks, they are just going to crash again.
They are carb lovers for sure though, so these healthy blueberry muffins are the perfect compromise. They get to eat their carbs, and we get to feel great about the lower sugar and fat content.
These were the best healthy muffins I’ve made! And they were the best looking, too! I followed the recipe exactly.
What Makes These Muffins Healthy
To be clear, I would not call these muffins a health food. That said, if you are going to give your family blueberry muffins, you can feel great about these. There are a few things that help make these blueberry muffins much healthier than what you would buy in a bakery.
- Less Oil: These muffins have no vegetable oil, where most other recipes has a cup or more. While these muffins still have a little bit of olive oil in them, we replace the rest of it with apple sauce.
- Less Sugar: This recipe replaces the granulated sugar with honey. You can get more bang for your buck by using honey. You can use less honey than sugar and still have a sweet muffin.
- No Crumble: While bakery muffins have a crumble topping, that little bit extra adds a lot of fat, sugar, and calories. These are delicious in spite of no crumble.
How to Make Healthy Blueberry Muffins
These amazing muffins come together in one bowl. this is a brief overview of how to make them. But you can find the full recipe at the bottom of the post.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Stir in the wet ingredients. To the dry ingredients add the apple sauce, oil, honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the blueberries.
- Bake the muffins. To achieve the high tops of the muffins, bake them for 13 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 10 more minutes. Do not open your oven during the baking.
Your Muffin Pan Matters
In my experience different muffin tins result in different muffins. You need to find a muffin tin that works well for you. I still use parchment paper liners, but the muffin used will still greatly impact how the bottom of my muffins turn out. These are the muffin liners that I like. And this is the muffin tin that I like using the most.
Storing
These healthy muffins can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week. To lengthen the shelf life of these muffins, they can be frozen after cooled. Freeze them in a single layer and then transfer them to an airtight container in the freezer. Store for up to three months and allow about an hour to thaw when ready to eat.
Other Great Muffins
If your kids are muffin lovers like mine, try some of these recipes:
If you make this blueberry muffin recipe or any of my other recipes leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (180 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup apple sauce (63.75 grams)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup honey (84 grams)
- 1/3 cup milk (75.7 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup frozen blueberries see note 1 (150 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line your muffin tin with paper liners in 6 spots. Fill the rest of the muffin holes with a small amount of water.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons baking powder
- Add in the apple sauce, oil, honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Only stir until there are no streaks of flour left. The batter will be very thick.1/4 cup apple sauce, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/4 cup honey, 1/3 cup milk, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Gently fold in the frozen blueberries.1 cup frozen blueberries
- Fill 6 muffin cups all the way to the rim of the muffin liners.
- Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 13 minutes, do not open your oven (see note 2). Reduce the heat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 12 to 14 more minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs. (It is okay to check on your muffins about 6 minutes after you turn the temperature down to 325 degrees.)
Notes
- Frozen blueberries should not be thawed first. If you use fresh blueberries, your muffins will cook faster. Be sure to start checking on them after about 7 minutes of turning down the oven to 325 degrees.
- By starting the muffins out at a high temperature and then reducing the temperature, we are able to get the high muffin tops you see in the photos. It creates a quick high rise, and then the lower temperature finishes off the inside of the muffin. For it to work though, you must keep your oven closed.
- I have had readers add both cinnamon and lemon zest to this recipe and really enjoy it. If you add cinnamon I would add about 1 teaspoon in step two and if you add lemon zest I would add 2 teaspoons in step three.
Manasi says
I tried making blueberry muffins, and they turned out delicious!
I’m so glad you liked them!
Evelyn says
I plan to make these delicious-sounding muffins but is there any reason why I couldn’t/shouldn’t double the recipe and make a full muffin pan of 12? Thanks.
You certainly can, but of course you will need to play with the baking time as they have only been tested as written. I hope you enjoy them!
Diane Sabine says
Do you add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients? I always get confused which way to do this .
I always thought you fold in the dry gradually to the wet ingredients??
In a recipe like this, it really doesn’t matter. Typically in a cookie or cake recipe, after creaming the butter and sugar you would add in the eggs and then add in the dry ingredients. But for this, just follow the instructions as written, making it one one big bowl.
Sharon says
Can I use some whole wheat flour in this recipe?
I haven’t tested this recipe with whole wheat flour. If you go that route, I would recommend only replacing half the flour with whole wheat flour.
Rose says
Hello Lisa,
Tried these muffins, could I just make them at 325 or 350 the whole time!!
My tops are more crusty, baking them according to your suggestion ?
This recipe has only been tested as written. The two different bake times help get that nice lift. You may need to bake on a lower oven rack.
Sarah says
These did not turn out good for me. I think mainly because I used wildflower honey and the strong taste came through…. But these are very doughy. (I also used Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1:1 flour). They didn’t raise like muffins you buy in the store. They’re very dense, not at all light and fluffy. Wondering if this is because a double recipe requires three cups of flour. That seems like a lot! I doubled the recipe because it’s a lot of work to only end up with six regular sized muffins.
Hi Sarah! I think the problem was actually in the switching to gluten free flour. I agree with you that if I was making this gluten free I would start my testing with a one for one gf flour replacement. But I think it might need some tweaking beyond that, like a little more milk and a little more baking powder.
jack says
what are the calories
There is a nutritional information down arrow in the recipe card just above the video. If you click that they will show up.