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These incredibly delicious chocolate chip muffins bake up soft and fluffy – and with no butter, sugar, or gluten in the recipe – they’re healthy enough as an everyday snack. They taste even better than the muffins you’d grab at the bakery!
Healthy Homemade Muffins Recipe
Let me begin by telling you healthy or not – these are some of the best chocolate chip muffins to ever come out of my oven! The entire time I was making them I was felt like there was no way they would bake up into anything even semi-delicious, and when I saw how thin the batter was… the dread only doubled! Typically muffin batter is very thick, so as I poured the liquid batter into the prepared muffin tins, I was basically just gripping myself for muffin failure.
20 minutes later my low expectations were met with a wonderful surprise! Our house smelled amazing, the muffins looked perfect (light brown in color with a crunchy lid and plenty of melted dark chocolate chips), and as I polished off two in just a matter of minutes (no really, I couldn’t stop myself!), I knew I had to photograph the rest asap so I could share them with you before the weekend! So here we are 🙂
Low Calorie Applesauce Muffins
So, let’s talk about how these seriously amazing muffins are healthy. To do that we’ll dive into the ingredient list head first!
These muffins are made with oat flour which is low in calories and gluten free (at least most oat flours are, be sure to check if you’re gluten intolerant). If you can’t find oat flour at your local grocery store, or you’d rather not buy a whole bag before trying it – I’ve got you covered! Simply pulse oats in your blender or food processor until they’re ground like flour. That’s how I do it every time. The other dry ingredients in this recipe are the baking basics: cinnamon, a pinch of ginger (optional but I love the subtle kick it adds to these muffins), baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
They’re also made with NO sugar – at all. Instead of using granulated sugar or brown sugar I use a hearty dose of pure maple syrup. I like to use grade B maple syrup here (the real good stuff!) but grade A will work, too. Just be sure you use real maple syrup, and not pancake syrup (which is usually loaded with tons of junk).
The other wet ingredients in this recipe include eggs, milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk here, but if you have a nut allergy feel free to sub in cow’s milk or soy milk), unsweetened applesauce (you won’t taste it), and oil.
For the oil you have some options! My personal favorite to use here is melted coconut oil, but you may use olive oil, or even melted butter if that’s all you have on hand. I think canola oil and vegetable would work too… but since I haven’t tried it myself, I can’t say for sure. Also, I personally think those oils would make these a little less healthy. But that’s just me.
For the chocolate I chose to use mini dark chocolate chips that I’ve been saving for a rainy day! You could definitely use regular chocolate chips here, too. If you’re not a fan of dark chocolate, give semi-sweet or milk chocolate a try instead. I only call for a half cup in the recipe below, but feel free to have a heavier hand here if you’d like to be a little more indulgent 😉
These muffins bake for 20 minutes, but you’ll need to adjust the temperature half way through. You’ll start them at 450 degrees, then reduce the temperature to 400 degrees. This method gives the muffins their crunchy lids and soft, fluffy interiors – so be sure to set your timer. The muffins will be quite soft when they come out of the oven. Please let them cool in the muffin tin completely before gobbling! This final step is a hard one (they smell so good!) but important for their texture.
And that’s that! These muffins are perfect for breakfast, brunch, dessert, and anywhere in between. I’ve already made another dozen and popped them in the freezer so I can pack them in lunch boxes or grab one for a quick breakfast on-the-go. If you a have a large family, you might want to double it up, too 😉
So, what are you doing this weekend? We’re having dinner at home tonight (I’m cooking steak and tons of vegetables and am hungry just thinking about it) then we’re going to hear some live music. Should be pretty fun! I hope whatever you do it’s safe and relaxing 🙂 See you tomorrow with something sweet. xoxo
More Healthy Muffin Recipes:
Healthy Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups oat flour (you can make this by simply grinding up oats in the blender until they’re powder)
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
- Pinch ground ginger (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup maple syrup
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, olive oil, OR unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F). Line a muffin tin with paper or foil liners; set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the oat flour, mini chocolate chips, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger (if using), and salt; whisk well to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the maple syrup, eggs, oil (or butter), applesauce, and milk; mix well until thoroughly combined. Gradually add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, stirring until combined. The batter will be quite thin - not to worry!
- Divide the mixture among the prepared muffins. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400 degrees (F) and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow the muffins to cool completely in the muffin tin. Serve at once or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. We love to freeze these, too. They'll last in a freezer bag stored in your freezer for 1 month.
Notes
Wow! We are camping by a river and I felt like baking something healthy. I realised I had some oat flour that I haven’t done anything with and after some googling found this recipe and wow! They are great! Miss 2.5 has had 2 for lunch and Mr daddy has had 3! Which is amazing because he hates muffins 🙂
Thanks! Pretty sure these will soon become a regular visitor to our motorhome!
Camping by a river sounds like so much fun!!! So happy you could impress your family with these muffins 😉
This recipe actually made 18 muffins for me, but mine were not quite as fluffy, and sadly, most of the chocolate chips sank to the bottom. Also, bites without chocolate chips tasted more like baked oatmeal than a muffin – – a little bit gummy. I might try subbing half rice flour next time to avoid the oatmeal vibe, and also, the ginger made me think that pumpkin might be a good sub for the apple sauce, for a fall flavor. I’d give the recipe 4 stars, bc even though mine weren’t perfect, my kids gobbled them up, and they are definitely healthier than traditional white flour/white sugar muffins!
Hi Holly. I’m sorry your muffins didn’t turn out exactly the way you imagined. I’ve never had an issue with gummy muffins, or my chocolate chips sinking. Question: Did you use oat flour or instant oats?
To prevent the chocolate chips from sinking mix them into the dry ingredients beforehand.
I made these today for my very picky 9 year old and they got his seal of approval! Delicious!
Hello those muffins look awesome. What is the name of the almond milk that you use? There are a lot of difference kinds. Also, what is the name of the oat flour that you use to make these muffins?
Am baking them now and the house smells fantastic! Just a caution, however. While there is no white sugar, between the maple syrup and the mini chips, each of the 14 muffins I’ve yielded will have 16 grams of sugar. These will be a nice treat but I can’t expect them to be the lunchbox staple for which I’d hoped.
Hi Kay! Happy they can be a nice treat for you and your family 🙂
I was able to find sugar free choc chips that are delicious. That might make the sugar content a little less? 🙂
Absolutely! Enjoy 🙂
Are the ingredients in fact for 24 muffins? Making them now- a double batch- and have filled 24 regular and one pan of mini and still have batter left.
These look great! Has anyone tried these with honey instead of maple syrup?
I replaced honey with maple syrup and the batter was very thick, other than that they came out just fine!
Can I use sugar free maple syrup?
There is no such thing. Maple syrup is natural sugar.
Sugar free must just be flavored syrup.
But you can probably use it, but may contain aspartame.
These look great, if you are trying to avoid eggs, do you think you could use flax eggs instead?
Hi Danielle. I honestly have no experience baking with flax eggs so I couldn’t say 🙁
How many calories does each muffin have?
Hi DeeDee. I’m not sure on what the caloric summary is for this recipe. There are many calorie counting apps for smartphones and online if you’d like to give that a try 🙂