These applesauce muffins are soft, filling, and easy to make, giving you a simple breakfast or snack made with oats, yogurt, and pantry staples that feels good to eat and easy to enjoy any day of the week.
For more healthy breakfast recipes, check out our banana chia pudding, healthy blueberry muffins, banana overnight oats with Greek yogurt, and banana oatmeal muffins.
Why you’ll love these Applesauce Muffins
These applesauce muffins are a simple, reliable base recipe you can make your own. You get soft, tender muffins that are easy to customize with your favorite add-ins, so you can bake them again and again without getting bored 🧁.
Here we use raisins for a gentle, natural sweetness, but Louise and I often swap in chopped dark chocolate, walnuts, cranberries, or even a chopped banana—whatever we have on hand.
We love baking these applesauce oatmeal muffins for breakfast or an afternoon snack. The oats make them filling and satisfying, while the applesauce keeps them moist without butter or oil 🍎.
Thanks to the yogurt and oats, these are fiber-rich and fit naturally into a Mediterranean-style way of eating. The sweetness is balanced, not heavy.
If you enjoy applesauce muffins with yogurt that are simple, nourishing, and practical, this is a recipe you’ll want to keep on hand 🥣.
Ingredients
Full ingredients and substitutions are in the recipe box below.
- Applesauce (unsweetened): adds moisture and natural sweetness. Use homemade or store-bought applesauce with no added sugar. Mashed ripe banana works in a pinch. You’ll need 3 ripe bananas.
- Yogurt: keeps the muffins soft and tender. Regular yogurt works well. For extra protein, use low-fat Greek yogurt or Skyr. Dairy-free yogurt is fine too.
- Egg: helps bind the batter and gives structure. You can use a flax or chia egg if needed. We recommend 2 tablespoons chia seeds mixed with 4 tablespoons of water until gelled.
- Honey: adds gentle sweetness and moisture. Maple syrup will work, but expect a slightly softer and more moist muffin. Use the same amount as honey. For a more classic muffin, use 1/2 cup sugar for moderate sweetness or up to 1 cup for a sweeter muffin. Don’t add extra liquid sweeteners, or the batter may turn too wet.
- Vanilla extract: adds warmth and aroma. Skip it if you don’t have it.
- All-purpose flour: gives the best texture. Whole wheat flour works, or a gluten-free blend.
- Rolled oats: make these true applesauce breakfast muffins, hearty and filling. Use quick oats for a softer bite.
- Baking powder and baking soda: help the muffins rise. Both are needed for a light crumb.
- Cinnamon: adds warm flavor. Nutmeg or apple pie spice also work.
- Salt: balances the sweetness and brings out the flavor. Don’t skip it.
- Raisins: add natural sweetness. Swap with chocolate chips, walnuts, cranberries, or chopped banana.
How to Make Applesauce Muffins
Step 1: Heat the oven and prep the pan
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly oil a 12-cup nonstick muffin pan. You can also use muffin liners, but oil them too. This batter is sticky, and a little oil helps the muffins release easily.
Step 2: Mix the wet ingredients
In a large bowl, add the applesauce, yogurt, egg, honey, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and well mixed. This step helps the muffins bake up soft and moist, just like good moist applesauce muffins should be.
Step 3: Add the dry ingredients
Add the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt to the bowl. Stir gently with a spoon until the batter is just combined. Stop as soon as you don’t see dry flour. Overmixing can make these easy applesauce muffins dense instead of tender.
Step 4: Add raisins and fill the pan
Gently fold in the raisins, stirring just once or twice. Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups, filling each one almost to the top for nicely domed muffins.
Step 5: Bake and cool
Bake for about 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack to cool completely.
Tips
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stir just until the flour disappears. A lumpy batter gives softer muffins.
- Oil the liners or pan well. This batter is sticky, and a little oil makes a big difference when releasing the muffins.
- Choose your oats wisely. Rolled oats give more texture and bite. Quick oats make the muffins softer and less chewy.
- Keep the sweetness moderate. Honey works well here. If you want sweeter muffins, use sugar instead—adding more honey can make them too wet.
- Fill the cups almost to the top. This helps the muffins rise nicely and bake into a good shape.
- Let them cool before removing. Waiting a few minutes helps the muffins set and keeps them from breaking.
- Customize with add-ins. Raisins add natural sweetness, but chocolate chips, nuts, or dried fruit all work well.
- Use unsweetened applesauce. Sweetened applesauce can make the muffins too sweet and throw off the balance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. These muffins are lightly sweetened. If you prefer sweeter muffins, use sugar instead of honey. You can use from 1/2 cup to 1 cup sugar. Adding more honey can make the batter too wet.
Absolutely. Regular yogurt works well and keeps the muffins soft. Greek yogurt or Skyr will make them a bit more filling.
This usually happens from overmixing. Stir just until the flour disappears to keep these easy applesauce muffins light and tender.
Yes. Swap rolled oats for quick oats if you prefer a softer texture.
Yes. Let them cool completely, then freeze in an airtight container. Thaw at room temperature or warm briefly.
Store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
More Easy Breakfast Recipes
- Greek yogurt chia pudding
- Banana chocolate muffins
- Healthy banana cookies
- Apple chia pudding
- High-fiber muffins
- Sweet potato oatmeal muffins
- Healthy granola without oil
- Apple cinnamon overnight oats
If you try this Applesauce Muffins Recipe please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it turned out in the comments—we love hearing from you.
Applesauce Muffins with Greek Yogurt and Oats
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup applesauce unsweetened
- ½ cup Greek yogurt
- 1 egg
- ⅓ cup honey or ½ cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup rolled oats or quick oats
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- ½ cup raisins sub dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Lightly oil a non-stick 12-cup muffin pan. If using liners, oil them too. The batter is sticky.
- In a large bowl, whisk 1 cup applesauce, ½ cup Greek yogurt, 1 egg, ⅓ cup honey, and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract until smooth.
- Add 1½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and 1 pinch salt. Stir gently with a spoon until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Gently stir in ½ cup raisins. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling them almost to the top.
- Bake at 350°F (180°C) for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then move to a rack to cool.
Notes
- Applesauce –> 3 mashed ripe bananas, pear purée, or homemade applesauce
- Yogurt –> low-fat Greek yogurt, Skyr, regular yogurt, or dairy-free yogurt
- Egg –> 2 tablespoons chia seeds mixed with 4 tablespoons of water until gelled
- Honey –> maple syrup, agave syrup or 1/2 cup sugar
- Vanilla extract –> almond extract or skip it
- All-purpose flour –> whole wheat flour or gluten-free flour blend
- Rolled oats –> quick oats
- Raisins –> chocolate chips, chopped dark chocolate, walnuts, cranberries, blueberries, or chopped banana
- Don’t overmix the batter. Stop as soon as the flour disappears.
- Oil the pan or liners well. The batter is sticky.
- Use quick oats for softer muffins, rolled oats for more bite.
- Don’t add extra honey. It can make the muffins too wet. It’s better to add sugar for sweeter muffins or mix honey and sugar. You can add from 1/2 cup to 1 cup sugar.
- Let the muffins cool before removing. They firm up as they rest.
- Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze them once fully cooled for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Hi! We are Nico & Louise
We're here to share easy, healthy, and delicious recipes 🌿✨.
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This is a great recipe! We love it for making a double batch and freezing them for kids snacks and easy breakfasts.
Tip – I greased the pan with butter and then floured it. They then pop right out since the first batch did stick a bit even though I greased the pan.
I loved it because it was not too sweet. I mixed whole wheat flour and all purpose flour .
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Definitely, I will make it again !!
How would you adjust using white whole-wheat flour and Monkfruit as sweetener?
Thanks.
Hi Jennifer,
Nico and I haven’t tested this recipe with white whole-wheat flour or monkfruit, so I can’t recommend specific adjustments.
Baking is quite sensitive to changes in flour and sweeteners, and substitutions can significantly affect texture and rise. If you do experiment, I’d highly recommend trying it on a small batch first.
Kindest, Louise
Can I use almond flour? And if so what’s the ratio?
Hi Lynn,
I don’t recommend almond flour here. This recipe was developed and tested with wheat-based flour, and almond flour behaves very differently (no gluten, different moisture absorption). Using it would require a different recipe rather than a simple ratio swap.
If it’s any consolation, Nico and I are working on an almond flour muffin recipe that we will publish as soon as we are happy with the result 🙂 All the best,
Louise
So much sugar 14 grams. Can you make this without sugar?
Hi Arlene,
The sugar you’re seeing includes occurring sugars from applesauce, honey and yogurt. Nico and I haven’t tested this recipe without the honey, and removing it will affect both texture and flavor.
So, unfortunately, I cannot recommend omitting it altogether. Sorry I cannot be of more help 🙂 Kindest,
Louise