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.
Susanna says
I don’t have applesauce. What other options can I use?
Sorry Susanna, this recipe was developed with apple sauce and I don’t have an easy swap out for you other than oil but that kind of defeats the purpose.
Alicia says
The muffins were perfect. I sprayed the muffin tin cups with pam with flour and did not use liners. Your recipe does not include the olive oil in the line that says to add the wet ingredients, but I added it anyway. I used frozen berries. I will make these again soon! Thanks!
Alicia, I’m so happy to hear that you liked them! And thank you so much for both that catch and coming back to let me know what you think.
Annette L. Hebbeler says
Muffins were dense and doughy tasting. Not crumbly like muffins should be. Also, muffins should be sweet and these weren’t. Sorry, I won’t be making these again.
I”m sorry you didn’t like them, Annette! You can certainly swap the honey for double the amount of sugar and swap the apple sauce for oil. Those changes will fix what you didn’t like. But then we also will take off the label of healthy. My kids really liked them as is.
jeanie Kusko says
Can these muffins be doubled to make 12 – I have a large hungry group
Yes, you just will lose a tiny bit of the crispy exterior by not putting water in the muffin tin in the empty six holes. You could always put a pan of water on the rack underneath!
Beau says
These were dry and tasteless
I’m really sorry you didn’t like them, Beau. Sounds like you might prefer a non healthy version, like my Zucchini Muffins.
Martha says
I liked these. I didn’t think I could squeeze it all into 6 muffin cups but did. I used 1/2 cup of cornmeal plus 1 cup flour (a Mark Bittman blueberry muffin suggestion). They were a little dry but I squeezed some lime juice over the baked muffin, plus I snuck a tiny little pad of butter into the middle.
Fina Zarzar says
Can I lower the oven temp because our oven burns things at 425 degrees. Thanks.
I haven’t tested this recipe at a lower temperature, but you can try the baking instructions for my Zucchini Muffins on this one.
Paula Crimmens says
Hi , can you freeze these muffins?
Yes! They will freeze great!
Lynda Engebretson says
When the Muffins are cooked, how long do I wait before removing them from the pan?
Just about 10 minutes until they are cool enough to handle.
Rene says
Absolutely loved these! I did substitute 1/2 cup sugar for the honey but they turned out perfectly! Nice high tasty muffins! Thank you!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!