Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffins (Gluten-free)

A healthy gluten-free muffin recipe made with oats and flax seeds and lots of apples. The ample amount of apple keeps these muffins moist for days. These apple oatmeal muffins taste like fall!

Between training and preparing for the last comp, I’ve been hard at work testing this recipe for oatmeal apple muffin. Sometimes recipe testing takes a day and sometimes it takes two weeks. I’m quite particular about the quality of my baked goods, and I always want my baking recipes to be as precise as possible, so baking recipes usually take longer to develop than other kinds of recipes.

These muffins are low sugar (sweetened only with molasses and fruit), low fat and are a good source of fiber. The muffin batter is made from ground oats and flaxseeds instead of wheat flour, which means that these apple muffins are naturally gluten free. Ample amounts of grated apples make these muffins extremely moist, and they stay that way for days.

The idea for these healthy oatmeal muffins came from my blender oatmeal muffin: Healthy Blender Oatmeal Berry Muffin (No Sugar, Gluten-Free) I wanted a fall-themed oat-based muffin with lots of apple.  I had to make a couple of changes to optimize my oatmeal muffin base recipe to accommodate the large amount of grated apple including tweaking the liquid ratio and the blending process.

My blender oatmeal muffin was easy to make (literally blending everything in one step) but I found the batter to be somewhat hard to scrape away cleanly. In this recipe for apple oatmeal muffin, instead of blending the batter in the blender, oatmeal and flax is pulverized in the blender, then combined in your standard dry-wet muffin making process.

The grated apples are folded into the muffin batter last. Initially, the muffin batter may seem quite stiff (especially as the oat and flax absorbs the liquid). After mixing in the grated apples though, the batter will become more loose and scoopable. There’s a lot of moisture and juice from the apples that gets released into the batter.

In fact, excessive moistness from grated apple was a major issue in recipe testing. At first, I thought that this was caused by the variety of apple used. My working theory was that dessert apples like gala will release more moisture and juice during baking than cooking apples like granny smith or other varieties. However, after testing three different varieties of apples, I don’t think the apple cultivar made a significant difference to this muffin recipe (see below).

What kind of apples to use in apple oatmeal muffin?

For this apple oatmeal muffin recipe, most varieties should work fine, so long as you avoid Red Delicious and McIntosh.

While it’s common knowledge that some apples are better than others for baking, there’s no definitive standard on which apple cultivars are “cooking apples” and which are “eating” or “dessert apples”. According to Food Network, baking with Gala, Fuji, and Red Delicious may lead to disastrous results as they tend to dissolve and become mushy. On the other hand, the Yummy Life recommends Gala and Fuji for baking but suggests avoiding Red Delicious and McIntosh.

I tested three varieties of apples for my healthy oatmeal apple muffins. Gala, which Food Network does not recommend but other sources recommend for baking; Golden Delicious; and Honeycrisp; both of which are generally highly recommended for baking.

Out of the three apple varieties that I tested, there was not one apple variety which stood out from the rest. I did not find Gala to be especially mushy – perhaps the muffins using Gala were a touch more moist, but it was hard to say definitively given the other variables during recipe testing.  I think since the apples were grated in relatively small pieces and incorporated into the oatmeal batter, any difference in taste or texture between apple varieties were less obvious than they would have been in more apple-heavy dishes, say, in a pie or a cobbler.

Although the Golden Delicious and Honeycrisp tasted noticeably different when eaten raw, I did not find the difference to be as noticeable in the muffins. Both varieties became somewhat soft after baking. Aside from the color of the peel, it was hard to tell them apart.

Oil or no oil in apple oatmeal muffin?

Oil is optional in my healthy apple oatmeal muffin recipe. If you are counting your fat or calories, you can easily omit the oil.

In addition to the slight difference in nutritional value (see section below), adding oil to the muffin batter will also lead to a more cake-like texture.

In this comparison photo, the muffin on the left has no oil. It has a more open crumb with bigger air bubbles and a slightly moister texture. On the right we have the same muffin using oil. It has a finer crumb, and a dryer, cakier texture.

One important difference between the two is that while the muffin with oil can be eaten straightaway, the one without oil should be enjoyed after resting for a bit. I find the no-oil muffins to be slightly too wet and tacky fresh from the oven. As it cools and rests, the oatmeal will continue to absorb moisture in the muffin and will even out the texture. Personally, I find the no-oil apple oatmeal muffins to be better after resting overnight. However, my partner has said that he does not mind the moister muffins so perhaps it is personal preference.  Try it for yourself and let me know in the comments!

Nutritional content for healthy apple oatmeal muffin

Detailed nutritional information can be found here. The linked nutritional value is based on the version of the apple oatmeal muffin recipe that uses oil. It has 174 calories, 3.3 grams of dietary fiber, 5.1 grams of protein and 5.9 grams of fat per muffin.

If you omit the oil, one muffin will have 153 calories and 3.4 grams of fat.

Recipe Card

Print Recipe

Healthy Apple Oatmeal Muffin (Gluten Free)

A healthy gluten-free muffin recipe made with oats and flax seeds and lots of apples. The ample amount of apple keeps these muffins moist for days. These apple oatmeal muffins taste like fall!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time25 minutes mins

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Fat

Keyword: Apple, Baking, Flax, Muffin, Oatmeal

Servings: 6 muffins

Equipment

• 1 muffin tin

Ingredients

• 120 g quick oats or rolled oats
• 15 g flax seeds
• 100 g milk
• 1 large egg 50 g
• 15 g oil optional
• 25 g molasses
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg optional
• Pinch salt optional
• 150 g apple roughly grated using the largest hole (see note 1)
• 35 g raisins

To Garnish

• Pepitas flax seeds, or other seeds
• More grated apples

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Add oatmeal and flax seeds to a blender or food processor and process to a fine powder.
• Add the finely ground oatmeal and flax mixture to a bowl, along with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt if using. Whisk the dry ingredients together.
• Add the ingredients milk, egg, molasses and oil (if using) to the dry ingredients and whisk until well combined. Fold in the grated apple and raisins.
• Line or grease a muffin tin. Distribute the batter into your prepped muffin tin. Top each muffin with pepitas and more grated apples if desired.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. When done, the muffins should be golden and domed. A skewer inserted into the muffin may come out slightly tacky but should not be wet.
• Let cool before enjoying. If you did not use oil in these muffins, note that the muffin will have better texture after resting a bit. These apple oatmeal muffins can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

Note 1: Choose apple varieties suitable for baking such as Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Gold Delicious, Cortland, Baldwin or Pink Lady. Red Delicious and McIntosh are NOT recommended. It is important to grate using the largest hole in a box grater (around 1 cm in diameter).

Did you make this recipe? I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a rating and comment below. If you share on socials, tag me on Instagram @hellenshouseblog or Tiktok @hellenshouse, or hashtag #hellenshouse. Cheers!