Have you ever wondered about how to make healthy muffins from scratch at home? Making muffins is easy enough for kids and beginning bakers. All you need is the right healthy muffin recipe and some healthy muffin making tips.
Of course, it’s easy to buy muffins from a coffee shop or bakery. But it can be dangerous to your health and weight. They are usually big and fattening. (If the muffin you’re eating tastes like cake, it probably has as much fat, sugar and calories as cake!)
A better option is to make homemade muffins from scratch.
Making Healthy Muffins from Scratch
When you bake muffins at home from scratch you are in charge of the ingredients you use and the size of the muffins you make. One or two basic muffin recipes are all you really need. Then you can customize them to include what you have on hand at any given time.
But it’s important not to go overboard when making healthy baked goods or you can end up with muffins that are dry, tasteless and/or rubbery. You need to find the healthy balance.
If you enjoy muffins for breakfast, use these tips and strategies to whip up a healthier version. At the end of this post, I’ve included a basic healthy muffin recipe that can be modified in lots of different ways.
12 Tips for Making Heathy Muffins from Scratch
- Decrease the fat, but not completely. Usually just 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil or butter per batch of 8 to to 12 muffins is enough to keep your muffins moist and tender.
- Use whole wheat pastry flour. It’s much lighter than regular whole-wheat flour while retaining the healthy antioxidant-rich bran and germ. Try substituting half the flour in your favorite muffin recipe for whole wheat pastry flour or another favorite whole grain flour such as oat, barley or spelt flour.
- Add some healthy omega-3 rich nuts. Walnuts and almonds are good choices.
- Substitute 1/4 to 1/2 cup fruit or vegetable puree for the same amount of oil in your favorite muffin recipe. This will increase the nutrition, moisture, tenderness and natural sweetness of your muffins. Applesauce and pumpkin puree are personal favorites.
- Mix together the dry ingredients well with a fork or wire whisk. You want to fluff the flour up which will help create lighter more tender muffins.
- Mix the dry and wet ingredients together gently just until blended. Over mixing will cause your muffins to be heavy and tough.
- Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup of healthy additions to boost nutrition. Such as berries, chopped apple, shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, raisins or miniature dark chocolate chips which are all good sources of vitamins and minerals and fiber.
- Use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups. It’s much faster and neater.
- Add water to any empty muffin cups. This will prevent your muffin pan from buckling.
- Don’t let the baked muffins sit in the pan too long. They will become soggy.
- Well made muffins are golden brown with slightly rounded bumpy tops. They are tender and light to fairly dense and moist inside and easy to remove from the pan.
- Most any recipe for a large (9×5-inch) loaf of healthy quick bread can be turned into 12 (2-1/2-inch) healthy muffins. Just evenly distribute the batter among the muffin cups and bake in a heated 375 degree F oven until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean, somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes.
Muffin Trouble Shooting
Sometimes things go wrong when making muffins. Here are some common muffin making problems and cures…
- Pale muffins usually mean the oven was too cool.
- Peaked and/or smooth topped muffins indicates the batter was mixed too much.
- Tough and heavy muffins means too much flour was used and/or the batter was mixed too much. (Be sure to fluff your flour well and then lightly spoon it into your measuring cup before leveling it off with the flat side of a knife.)
- Uneven texture with large holes/tunnels indicates too much mixing
- Dry muffins usually mean you used too much flour, your oven was too hot or they were baked too long.
- Sticking usually means the pan was not properly greased
- Muffins that are dark on the outside but underdone in the middle indicates that the oven was too hot.
Healthy Banana Nut Muffins
Easy Healthy Muffin Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 20 to 30 minutes
Yield: 8-12 muffins
This basic easy healthy muffin recipe can be varied in lots of ways. You can leave them plain, add in a cup or so of your favorite fruit and adjust the amount of sugar to suit your tastes. If you prefer larger muffins, distribute the batter among 8 of the muffin cups and pour 1/4 cup water into the empty cups to prevent them from buckling.
These muffins call for a minimal amount of fat – just 3 tablespoons for the entire batch. You can replace all the fat with a fruit puree such as applesauce, if you prefer, but that makes them too rubbery for my tastes.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole grain pastry flour
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
1 cup milk, plus more if needed
optional additions below
Recipe Instructions
Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-Cup Muffin Pan
In a large bowl, whisk tougher the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl, whisk together the egg, vegetable oil, milk and any optional ingredients (such as 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries).
Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined and moistened. (The batter should still be lumpy and thick, but moist. If the batter seems too dry add a little more milk.)
Distribute the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes (30 minutes for larger muffins).
Remove from the oven and let the muffins rest in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them out of the pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely. Or enjoy warm.
Many Easy Healthy Muffin Variations
Apple Muffins: Stir in one medium peeled and chopped apple with the milk and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour. Substitute packed brown sugar for the granulated sugar.
Banana-Nut Muffins: Decrease milk to 1/4 cup, stir in 1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3 medium) and 1/3 cup chopped nuts with the milk. Substitute packed brown sugar for the sugar.
Blueberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries.
Bran Muffins: Pour the milk on 1-1/2 cups whole bran cereal and let stand 10 minutes. Add this to the egg and oil along with 1/4 cup molasses. Decrease the flour to 1-1/4 cups and add 1/2 cup raisins if desired.
Buttermilk Muffins: Substitute buttermilk for the milk. Decrease baking powder to 1-1/2 teaspoons and add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda with the flour.
Chocolate Chip Muffins: Stir in 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips.
Corn Muffins: Do not use whole wheat flour. Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup cornmeal with the flour.
Cranberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup chopped cranberries and 1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel with the milk. Sprinkle the tops with sugar before baking.
Date Nut Muffins: Stir in 1/2 cup chopped pitted dates and 1/3 cup chopped nuts with the milk.
Oatmeal Muffins: Decrease flour to 1 cup and stir in 1 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon with the flour.
Raspberry Muffins: Stir in 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries and 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest.
Spice Muffins: Stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and a pinch of ground cloves and ground nutmeg with the flour.
Zucchini Muffins: Stir in 1 cup grated zucchini (squeezed dry to remove excess moisture) and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts with the milk.
More Easy Healthy Muffin Recipes
4 Easy Healthy Bran Muffin Recipes
3 Easy Healthy Banana Muffin Recipes
3 Favorite Healthy Pumpkin Muffin Recipes
750 Best Muffin Recipes Cookbook
The Only Muffin Cookbook You’ll Ever Need
750 Best Muffin Recipes by Camilla Saulsbury is packed full of every kind of muffin imaginable including all your classic muffins like blueberry, cranberry, corn and bran as well as all kinds of decadent muffins. But, what I love best about it is its chapters dedicated to healthy superfood, farmer’s market, vegan and gluten-free muffins. Everything I’ve made from it has been delicious. Read my full cookbook review.
