These ridiculously soft and tender muffins are made with NO oil or butter! Subtly sweet and bursting with apple flavour, they make for a delicious and healthy breakfast or snack.
I think I just found my newest grab-n-go breakfast obsession.
But before we get into that, can we just talk about breakfast in general? Because in an effort to combat a serious case of the “durrrrr… what?“s (aka: writer’s block), I figured I would talk about the first thing that came to mind, and… BAM… breakfast.was.it.
Why I’m thinking about breakfast at 3 PM on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon is anyone’s guess, but we’re just going to roll with it. Keep rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ (what!). Err. Sorry. Had a little Limp Bizkit moment there.
Anyways…
I love breakfast. Love. It’s not rare for me to eat a breakfast-type food for all my main meals, and while I wouldn’t say breakfast is the reason I get out of bed in the morning, it’s definitely one of the highlights of my day. Which just makes it sound like I lead an incredibly dull life, but whatever… I’m going with it. No backspace in this post. Or “delete,” as is the case on my Mac.
Ugh. See where my brain goes when I let it? All over the place. Back to the point…
Truth be told, I’ll never understand people who don’t love breakfast (or who don’t eat it at all 😯 ). I mean, I try to keep an open mind when it comes to different eating habits and dietary preferences, but… breakfast haters — you nuts! Oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, crepes, cereal, smoothies, muffins, coffee… be still my pounding heart.
And if you noticed that I left things like hash browns, eggs, and bacon off my list, it’s because this girl likes her breakfasts sweet. The only exception to the rule would be cold leftover pizza, and that’s only because it brings back fond memories of my late teens and early twenties. Memories that we’re not going to get into in today’s post. Brain! Move along *makes shooing motion with her hands*…
Where was I. Ahh yes.
I’ve been through a tonne of breakfast phases in my day. The kind where you fixate on one food and eat it every morning for months and months on end before moving on to your next obsession? There was a cereal phase. An Eggo phase. A Poptart phase. A granola bar phase. A muffin-as-big-as-my-head-phase. An oatmeal phase. And, most recently, a smoothie phase.
But that’s assuming I’m at home with plenty of time to leisurely enjoy my noms (tell me I didn’t just say ‘noms’… ugh). If I [hypothetically] sleep in, need to get ready and leave home early, or I’m just feeling lazy and want to be in-and-out of the kitchen in less than 2.2, then these Apple Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins are perfection. Heck, they’re perfection even without all of those conditions, but let’s just keep the breakfast train going…
These muffins were inspired by my ever-popular Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins… with a few changes.
First, apples instead of bananas. Obviously. Second, the inclusion of plain old flour. I tried making these muffins solely with oats, and while it still worked, it didn’t work quite as well. I mean, they still tasted amazing, but they looked a little wonky and the texture was a bit off… Nothing serious, but denser than I wanted.
In any case, these apple muffins are good stuff. They’re oil-free, contain a minimal amount of added sugar, and have a good amount of protein and fibre thanks to the yogurt and oats. But, more importantly, they taste fabulous. The combination of apples, yogurt, and oats is to.die.for, and the fact that they’re soft and dense just makes them a pleasure to eat.
Happy eating!
I’d love to know if you make this recipe! Leave a comment and rating down below to let me know what you think, and subscribe to our mailing list to receive new recipes in your inbox!
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Apple Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat pastry flour*
- 1 cup (80 g) old fashioned rolled oats**
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup (225 g) plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup (50 g) brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 medium-sized apple (120 g), peeled, cored, and grated
- 1/2 cup (80 g) raisins
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F (176C) and prepare a muffin pan by spraying the cavities with cooking spray or lining them with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Lightly beat the egg in a separate bowl. Whisk in the yogurt, applesauce, brown sugar, vanilla, and grated apple, stirring until well-combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing gently until just combined. Fold in the raisins.
- Divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups, filling them almost to the top. Add a sprinkle of oats if desired.
- Bake the muffins for 20-22 minutes, or until top is firm to the touch and toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in pan for ~10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store them in an air-tight container for up to 5 days, or freeze them for up to 3 months.
Notes
* You can also use a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat. I’d suggest 1/2 cup (60 g) of AP and 1/2 cup (60 g) of whole wheat. ** Do not use quick oats. They are too fine and will dry out the muffins too much.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
Looking for more healthy muffin recipes? Try one of these!
Flourless Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
Banana Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
Flourless Vegan Banana Muffins
Blueberry Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins
I know it says you don’t recommend using quick oats, but have you actually tried it with quick oats? I have a whole bunch I want to use up 😛
I haven’t tried it, but quick oats have a tendency to make baked goods drier than whole oats, so you might just have to add an extra spoonful of yogurt to balance it out.
I adore breakfast too. Best meal of the day! I can’t really remember what I ate for breakfast in high school, but in early university I loved the tater tots and scrambled eggs from the cafeteria. Then I switched to yogurt with banana and cereal, then oatmeal, and then…. wait, I’m still in my oatmeal phase. 😛
These look delicious! And perfect for me because I’ve been wanting to do some baking but I swear 3/4 of my pinned recipes call for ripe bananas, which I never seem to have on hand because I eat them too quickly lol.
That’s been my problem too! And it’s especially bad in the winter when it’s cold and the bananas don’t ripen fast enough 😡
I think you need to go on a challenge….no sweet food for breakfast for a week. I think you may not last 😉
These look amazing- But we both know they don’t look as good as someone else’s…
what about a sweet and savory challenge?!! I bet she can! Right Amanda?
I failed even just thinking about it…
What if I was the one cooking those meals because savory breakfast are my jam! Potatoes would be involved. I’ll even let you eat them cold.
For you… I’d make an exception.
I am on a Kale Skoop Smoothie tear these days…I find myself eating/drinking one almost 4-5 times a week…HAHA! They’re so good and what’s more important is that they make me feel good.
Love all your posts but am really missing your WIAWs. All the same girl you rock! And love how you figure out what you want to eat–is it peanut free? does it taste good? This is from a previous post but it made me stop and think about what I ate before I ate it.
Aww that’s really great to hear, Heather 😀 And I might still do the occasional WIAW every now and then — I’ve just been too busy to fit them in!
Those muffins look great! Would be perfect to take on-the-g0!
Can you please come ova and bake me a batch of these?! I have approximately a million apples sitting on the counter. They’re dying for an Amanda visit!!
As long as you pay in almond butter and chocolate
Any muffin that has apples in it has my name all over it!
I love breakfast. I am, however, quite lazy about it if I don’t have things already made. I love to make some egg white/cheese english muffins with Ezekiel english muffins to keep in the freezer. SO good. But I love sweets also, so muffins and the recipe you just posted would work perfect for me as well. I can do sweet pretty much any (all) the time 😉
I have to admit that I recently put Limp Bizkit on my workout playlist. “Break Stuff.” It’s a great song first thing in the morning 😉
Omg the breakfast phases. I’m definitely guilty of that. The most memorable would be the vanilla greek yogurt/granola/fruit breakfast that I had every single morning for over a year, (with a very specific brand of yogurt and granola,) and then the more recent eggs/chicken apple sausage that also lasted about a year. Now I’m doing different things with my diet so my breakfast is varied depending on the day, but it’s still pretty redundant. I tend to stay pretty happily in food ruts until all of a sudden I can’t stand it anymore.
I definitely find that to be the case for me as well. And I do the same thing with music! Play a song on repeat for weeks until I can’t stand it anymore and don’t listen to it again for a few years 😆
These muffins look gorgeous! I actually made something similar recently using spelt flour and the texture was perfect. I didn’t use greek yogurt though. I may try making these with spelt flour and leaving out the sugar so my baby girl can have some too!
Yuuum, I love a health-ified muffin 🙂 I’ll have to try these.. maybe add some grated carrot as well. Hope youre having a great week!
Lady – You are the Muffin Queen! I love your butter free creations! And I am so making my daughter read this just because “but… breakfast haters — you nuts!” – see, she kinda falls in that category – I’ve been forcing breakfast on her for the longest time and she grudgingly tolerates my antics! 🙂
Greek yogurt is one of my favorite additions to baked goods! It makes them so moist and more fluffy to me! PS: I love how you call it ‘plain’ flour instead of white flour! 🙂
I tried soooo many different times to eat breakfast in the morning, but my stomach cannot handle anything before I workout. I just burp it up the entire time – uncomfortable. This is where protein powder as a “creamer” becomes useful in my life. ANYWAYZZZZ, I just told my mom yesterday I could live off of breakfast foods when we left the diner. Oatmeal, pancakes, and waffles… I’m sold. It’s like a warm hug.
Best way to describe it <3
I’m with you! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Honestly I hate being rushed and not enjoying my breakfast in the morning. I’ve been really into hard bolied eggs, Greek yogurt and blueberries but yesterday I made some muffins that are a quick easy breakfast meal.
YES. Agreed, 100%. Breakfast is THE BEST. Lately, I’ve been craving PB & banana toast. I love how simple yet delicious the combo is.
I’ve also been eating yogurt bowls. I go through phases where I eat yogurt bowls ALL THE TIME then won’t touch ’em for weeks or months. I’m happy to be back on the bandwagon.
For more, breakfast is all about the nana ice cream (just a hint addicted). If I don’t have time for that, my go-to is a big bowl of chocolate oatmeal (cause, hey, who can turn down chocolate?) I just whipped up some killer vanilla chia seed pudding for this morning, though, so I may have some competition….
Ohhh banana ice cream is amazing. I totally approve
I am definitely an egg person when it comes to breakfast but I always have it with an egg. Lovely recipe as usual my dear!
Breakfast is my absolute favorite too. I can’t even begin to relate with people who don’t like it.
These look absolutely perfect! The apples and the oats sound so good together. And I had to laugh at the Limp Biskit reference. That takes me back just a few years, 😉
THese sound and look so good!!! I really want to make these with my boyfriend on weekend!
Yummy! Just pinned :). You always have the best muffin recipes. For breakfast, I’m sticking with the usually. Either oats, sprouted toast with PB/banana, or a green smoothie.
I totally went through a phase where Pop Tarts were daily noms (hehe!) when I was watching Gilmore Girls, as they always ate Pop Tarts and because I didn’t grow up with anything fun, I decided that as an adult, I would eat whateverthehellIwanted. Fruit Loops were an option, but they hurt the roof of my mouth.
Fruit Loops were crazy bad for that! Those and Captain Crunch 😯 And I actually used to eat cold Poptarts for a snack on a pretty regular basis. S’mores were always my favourite.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… you are the QUEEN of muffins! And I’ve been doing a weird cycle with my breakfasts as well. I went through major oatmeal obsession, which lasted about a year, to a scrambled egg obsession, and now I’m kinda just coasting along with whatever strikes my fancy (and I’m totally jumping onboard your smoothie bandwagon as well. Hope there’s room for me 😉 )
Pinning! And hopefully eating as soon as I restock my kitchen with apples!
I love how perfect those baked goods look. I would never be able to get the oats to form perfectly on top like that. Breakfast is by far my favorite meal of the day.
I can’t remember the last time I skipped breakfast, it’s been that long. It’s definitely my favorite meal of the day! I usually go for the savory breakfasts- eggs, potatoes, toast. I love it all!
Mmm this recipe looks SO good! I’m totally on board with you – breakfast is amazing, and I don’t quite understand people who don’t love it too 🙂 Pinning this! Also, I made your recipe for the strawberry coconut overnight oats, and they were DELISH. Thank you 🙂
Thanks, Jess! I’m glad you liked them 😀
I am loving saut̩ed onions and cabbage for breakfast right now РI know it is SO WEIRD but I love it and it makes my tummy happy. I normally follow it up with a smoothie or hot chocolate as you can have one of them at any time of day in my opinion:)
Okay this breakfast sounds weird but I’ve been eating sweet potatoes with greek yogurt, nut butter and a little granola or nuts for crunch. I also love sweet potatoes with goat cheese and eggs. I’ve done the oatmeal phase, overnight oats phase, smoothie phase, greek yogurt and fruit phase… I’ve been switching it up more than normal lately which is weird for me!
Doesn’t sound weird at all! That’s actually my favourite way to eat sweet potatoes 🙂
I hate the word moist, but these look really moist (in the best way!!!)
I hate it too… so I say “soft” 😆
I’m so with you about breakfast phases- when I like something, I tend to eat/drink it for days! Like you, lately that phase has been based around smoothies- I can’t get enough! Aside from smoothies, I’ve gone through phases of waffles, oatmeal, overnight oats, yogurt messes & eggs with toast. I’m a huge fan of apple-flavored baked goods so I am loving this muffin variation…love the idea of snacking on them!
As usual we are the same in that it’s all sweet all the time for breakfast. Except I never got into the smoothie thing. I did drink Carnation instant breakfast as kid sometimes though! Yikes.
What a delicious-looking recipe!! I went through several breakfast phases: the cereal mess, the green smoothie, the overnight oats… But for the past year or so I have been loving oatmeal. It’ so versatile and comforting. I can’t get enough! Especially with almond butter on top.
Oatmeal is an amazing breakfast. My phase with it lasted for around 4 years!
Breakfast is my favorite meal! These options looks great – the oats and apple speak to me. 🙂 Have a great Wednesday!
Seriously, cold pizza for breakfast is THE.BEST.EVER. That’s actually cold pizza for me in general, I love it more than fresh out of the oven. I think.
Oooo that’s a tough call! I love it cold, but I also love that melty gooey cheese. Omg craving 😯
Yum! Breakfast for the win! And these look delicious and I will absolutely be making them soon…
I’m guessing people who don’t like breakfast also are not morning people! My husband is not really a breakfast lover but winds up snacking a lot later on if he skimps on it. Of course I’m a breakfast lover 🙂 These muffins look so delicious, as usual!
I’ve been craving muffins recently, and these look really good! I just pinned them 🙂
Thanks, Liv 😀
I have most of these ingredients on hand already so I will be making them this weekend! They look and sound delicious!
Breakfast has always been my main motivation to get out of bed. I love breakfast! I go through phases as well. I’ve been in an oatmeal phase for almost a year… I don’t see it ending anytime soon.
Mine lasted for about 4 years!