Apple Oatmeal Muffins make a great breakfast or quick afternoon snack. Filled with apples, cinnamon, and oatmeal, then topped with an easy oat streusel, these apple muffins are an easy grab and go breakfast.
Table of Contents
I’m having a hard time deciding what my favorite thing is about these muffins. I’m torn between the chunks of sweet apple, the perfectly moist and gently spiced muffin batter which gets a texture boost thanks to the addition of oatmeal, or the crumbly oat streusel topping.
I have another muffin recipe on the site that calls for apples that I adore (my morning glory muffins, which are loaded with grated apples, carrots, zucchini, pecans, and coconut), but in the fall when apples are abundant I want to focus on their flavor even more. Enter these apple oatmeal muffins.
My family devoured these and while I normally have leftover muffins that I stick in the freezer to have on hand for busy mornings, these almost never last longer than a day in our house.
If you love muffins for breakfast, be sure to also check out our Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, The Best Double Chocolate Muffins, and Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins.
Why this recipe works
- It uses fresh, real apples for the apple flavor.
- The wholesome, hearty texture of the oatmeal gives them a satisfying chew factor.
- The muffin batter comes together with just a bowl, whisk, and spoon, requiring minimal effort. Even beginning bakers and kids can make these!
- Applesauce replaces some of the oil, resulting in a lighter muffin with more apple flavor.
Recipe Ingredients
- Apples: Use your favorite baking apple here! Many varieties work, but some of our favorites are Envy, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Jazz, and Honeycrisp.
- Oatmeal: You can use old-fashioned oats, quick oats, or even instant oats for these muffins. The old-fashioned ones will have a chewier, heartier texture. The quick cooking oats and instant oats are rolled thinner to cook quicker, but they still work. This article has a great explanation of the differences.
- Applesauce: I used applesauce in these easy apple muffins, even though the recipe doesn’t rely on the applesauce for most of the apple flavor. Apple muffins with applesauce are a little healthier than other muffins because the applesauce takes the place of some of the oil that would otherwise be required for moist, tender muffins.
- Apple juice/cider or milk: Most apple oatmeal muffin recipes call for milk as the liquid, but I decided that as long as I had plenty of apple cider in the fridge for apple cider donuts, pumpkin juice, and a creamy apple cider chicken skillet, I might as well use it in the muffins to see if I could get even more sweet apple flavor. It was one of those duh moments and I’m so glad I made the switch. But you can just use milk if you don’t have any apple cider or apple juice on hand.
How to Make Apple Oatmeal Muffins
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Add the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, apple cider (or apple juice or milk), applesauce, oil, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir just until combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Stir in apples. Use a spoon or spatula to gently stir or fold in the diced apples. The chunks should be small so there are some in every bite of muffin and the muffins don’t fall apart when torn open.
- Fill the muffin pan. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray, then fill all 12 muffin cups full of batter – it should pretty much go almost right to the top and divide perfectly into 12 muffins.
- Make the topping. In a separate bowl, make the oatmeal streusel topping by stirring together the oatmeal, flour, brown sugar, melted butter, and cinnamon. Then sprinkle a spoonful over each muffin.
- Bake the muffins in a 400 degree F. oven for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean with just a few crumbs sticking to it.
Recipe FAQ’s
The muffins will stay fresh on the counter in an airtight container for about 4 days, if they last that long in your house. Ours never do.
Yes, you can freeze any leftover muffins for 2-3 months and just thaw them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so for a quick and easy breakfast. I will sometimes double the batch to make sure to have extras on hand.
Yes! The muffin base would be excellent with pears, cranberries, blueberries, and other fruits.
Recipe Tips
- You can use paper muffin liners or baking spray on the pan. Personally I like muffins made directly in the pan best, but either way works.
- Don’t overmix the muffin batter. You will get lighter, fluffier, more tender muffins by just mixing everything together but not stirring too hard. It’s why you should always mix muffins by hand with a spoon rather than using a hand mixer.
- You could even concentrate the apple cider by reducing a larger amount in a small saucepan for a bit, just like I do when making apple cider donuts. But unlike apple cider donuts which are a sweet, once-a-year treat that we enjoy on weekends, apple oatmeal muffins are something that I will whip up in 10 minutes in the morning on a school day while my girls are still waking up and have them ready for breakfast, so I like keeping things easy here.
- Try adding some chopped walnuts or pecans to the batter or streusel topping for extra crunch!
More Apple Recipes
- Apple Pie Ice Cream
- Apple Salad with Candied Walnuts and Poppy Seed Dressing
- Homemade Apple Fritters
- Secret-Ingredient Baked Apples
- Apple Crisp
- Crockpot Apple Butter
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Apple Oatmeal Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup milk or apple cider
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely chopped apple
Streusel Topping
- 1/4 cup quick cooking oatmeal
- 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 Tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a 12 count muffin tin with cooking spray or line with paper liners and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal, ¾ cup light brown sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, applesauce, oil, and vanilla.2 large eggs, ½ cup milk, ½ cup unsweetened applesauce, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients, stirring just until combined. Fold in the chopped apple, then divide evenly between the 12 muffin cups.1 cup finely chopped apple
- Combine all of the streusel ingredients together in a small bowl, then sprinkle over each muffin. Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.¼ cup quick cooking oatmeal, 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, 2 Tablespoons melted butter, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in September, 2018. The photos and content were updated in September, 2021.
I’ll go with the topping. Not that the other components don’t sound awesome. It’s just……streusel!!!
I love muffins and these so easy and amazing! Can’t wait to try them…they’ll make the perfect breakfast for us to grab on busy mornings!
i don’t eat enough muffins! these look so delicious and i love your step by step process photos! they’re so helpful!
These are so beautiful!! The perfect way to start a nice cool fall morning… especially alongside a cup of hot coffee 🙂
I can’t wait to make these in the morning! Scrolling Pinterest and these caught my eye! Can I just say though, thank you so much for having a nutrition label with carb count? I have a type 1 diabetic 6 y/o and that makes it frustrating when I want to make new baking recipes. The wonderful sounding recipe along with that just won me to be a follower of your blog!
I’m so glad you found my site and find the nutrition labels helpful!
hey Amy: I adapted this recipe to suit our dietary requirements and found this to be a great recipe. Thanks much for a wonderful recipe, and here’s a linkback to your post from my blog ! Keep them coming 🙂
Glad you enjoyed the recipe and adapted it to your dietary needs!
Amy,
I love muffins, anytime of the day!
I have made your one bowl Banana muffins. They are super delicious! My family and I eat them up.
I have a question for you about theses apple oatmeal muffins. Do you think it would be ok to use old fashioned oats? I am not a fan of quick oats.
Yes, you can use old fashioned oats. They will just give a bit more of a chewy texture than the quick oats.
Could I use applesauce to completely replace oil? Thanks!
Yes, technically. I’ve tried it before and they were fine, but not great. It affects the texture of the muffins, making them a little rubbery and not as soft and moist if using all applesauce instead of oil.
I love this recipe. The muffins came out deliciously yummy. I did however, add two small boxes of raisins in the mix for my husband. I absolutely love that they are not too sweet; just sweet enough. This is my favorite muffins recipe so far.
Those look delicious! Thank you for sharing!
We just made this gluten free. It was stunning! Looked fabulous and tasted even better. The texture was delightful – and that’s a big deal cooking gluten free. At this point I just want to add at least 15 more exclamation marks!
I’m glad to know this recipe worked well with gluten free substitutes! Can I ask what you used?
I made these. Replaced butter with date syrup and added walnuts& pecans. They turned out delicious!
Can I use all oil instead of applesauce??
Yes, absolutely!
This looks so good! Apple and oatmeal go hand in hand. What a great breakfast meal prep for the whole family!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
They will keep for a few days in an airtight container, but you can freeze them too and that works great! I just pull out however many I want and warm them in the microwave!
These muffins look insane! My children love them, thank you for the recipe.
Can you substitute sugar with maple syrup or honey? How much? Thanks!
I haven’t tried it, but typically you can substitute 3/4 cup of honey for every 1 cup of sugar when baking.
These were good and flavourful. I used 1.5 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg. Next time I would use 1/8 tsp of nutmeg. I lowered the brown sugar to 2/3 cup and they were still sweet enough.
Muffins were good, but not a fan of the streusel topping. Made it per the directions, but it was so wet after adding butter, it sank in each muffin I put it on. It was not to a consistency you could sprinkle it over the muffin tops.
Can I replace oil with butter?
Yes – the muffins won’t stay quite as moist, but it definitely works.
This is hands down the BEST apple oatmeal muffin recipe and I’ve tried MANY. I felt like baking as we were in the midst of a snowstorm and I found this recipe. Trouble was, I was missing applesauce (and couldn’t go out on the roads due to the storm)so I substituted whole berry cranberry sauce that I had leftover in the fridge from the holiday. It worked out great and these are delicious!!!!! My husband stated three times while eating his first one how good they were. Perfect with a cup of tea!!! It’s a keeper!
These were delicious! I loved how easy they were to make and the flavor. Usually I always reduce the sugar because I don’t like overly sweet desserts but this was perfect the way it was. I did add two tablespoons of finely chopped walnuts to the streusel mix but that’s a personal preference. Thanks you for a recipe I will definitely make again!
We loved them. Easy and very hearty. I did switch in some wheat flour and added some chopped walnuts. I omitted the strudel topping as we don’t like things too sweet. I’ll be making those again!
These look delicious! Could you clarify if you used sweetened or unsweetened applesauce? Thanks!
I used unsweetened applesauce. Thanks for the question – I will update the recipe card to reflect this. 🙂
I made them this morning and they turned out so well. We had them for breakfast 😋 Delicious!!
Could I double this recipe and baked it in a loaf pan or in a Bundt pan? I’m so excited to try it. Easy simple ingredients. Thank you!
Yes, definitely! As written you could make 1 loaf of apple oatmeal bread with it. But you would need to double for a bundt pan or if you wanted to bake multiple loaves.
These were delicious! I added walnuts to them and the topping was streusel topping was perfect. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Delicious, moist, and a breakfast staple from now on!
Used sweetened cinnamon applesauce and not too sweet. Recipe yields 15 muffins.
I made these gluten free by using Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 GF flour and Quaker GF quick oats. I also shredded the apple instead of chopping it. Excellent muffins – very moist. Made them even healthier by using 1/2 cup brown sugar instead of 3/4 cup.
So good. Made one batch and decided to make a double batch an hour later and unfortunately my plans were too close to the sides of the oven or something because they are as black as can be. 😭😭😭 Will definitely make them again though.
Oh no! That is the worst! All that work and then they get burned. I’m so sorry! I’m glad you like them though!
This is not a bad recipe. The texture and the streusel are both good. The body of the muffin is a bit bland, perhaps some nutmeg? More cinnamon? Other spices? It’s a LOT of prep/measuring. Gotta make it worth the time and effort. I did use milk instead of cider. Perhaps that would be a good idea. Maybe a bit more streusel too.
Best rise I have gotten from muffins thus far. Haven’t even tasted the muffins yet but am scouring through other recipes because you seem like you know your baking science!
I’m so glad you had a great experience with them!
* delicious idea, and after they came out I looked for when to remove them from the pan. Not seeing anything I left them to cool overnight. The apples interacted with the metal pan and turned black. Not pleasant at all. So be sure to take them out of the pan shortly after baking. My lack of experience…means I need to make another batch for our luncheon today.
This is my husband’s FAVORITE muffin recipe by far. He loves them. Sometimes I make 6 big ones instead if 12 small so he can easily take one to work for a filling breakfast. They don’t stay long in our house because they are delish. I use the quick oats (in apple cinnamon flavor) and I am definitely thinking about making them with peaches soon! Thanks for a great versatile muffin recipe!
That’s amazing! 6 big muffins is a great idea! I am glad your husband enjoys this recipe! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious. I’ve made them numerous times. They are my new breakfast muffin.
I just made these for breakfast and they were excellent and not too sweet! They also made my home smell amazing! Another A+ recipe by Amy!
Thank you! Such a perfect fall muffin!
These are delicious, but crumbly to eat (not dry). I’ll not do the topping next time, but think my muffins are off. They were nicely cooked in 15 minutes. Any ideas would be appreciated.
That’s an interesting observation. Something that would bind it more might be more to your liking like possibly an additional egg, which tends to help baked goods be less crumbly.
Added extra apples and left off the streusel (because I am lazy). A huge hit with young and old alike! Added recipe to my muffin rotation. Thanks!
I’m honored to be a part of your muffin rotation! This is a good one!
Moist, Delicious, grandkids also loved them. I did not have applesauce so I used pumpkin puree and I doubled the topping.
Best muffin recipe I’ve ever made. Light and moist with a delicious crispy topping!
My kitchen smells amazing right now! Can’t wait to try one when they cool down. Thanks for the great breakfast option – my kids LOVE muffins and so easy to grab and go on a busy school morning.
I’m about to make these apple oatmeal muffins, but I have only sweetened applesauce available. Will that spoil the recipe?
You’ll be just fine!
Thanks for the recipe, it worked well, muffins taste lovely.
I don’t ever have applesauce in the house. Can I eliminate it in this recipe? Also can I use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 all purpose flour.
Thank you.
You can eliminate the 1/2 cup applesauce and replace it with an additional 1/4 cup oil (so 1/2 cup oil total). And yes, I think you would be fine with half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour.
about to make these… did you peel the apples before chopping? Thanks!
Yes, I prefer the apples peeled.
These are delicious! I added chopped walnut in the strudel/streusal topping!
These are so good I ate 3. ❤️💕🥰
I used Monkfruit brown sugar substitute, almond milk, white w/w flour, and added walnuts. Turned out good, but I learned don’t bake them more than 15 minutes to avoid getting a little dry.
Oh wow great substitutions. Thanks for commenting. It’s especially helpful for other readers!
WOW, they turned out perfect – but I didn’t have sugar, instead I added molasses when I made my own applesauce first – when the applesauce is done from the stove, just add ice-cubes to cook them down.
These are delicious! I substituted butter for oil. And I made a double batch and the measurements were perfect.