You can feel great about giving your family these Healthy Blueberry Muffins. Lower in fat and sugar, but still full of great taste, these are the perfect snack!
My wonderful kids are always on the hunt for snacks. They are so predictable in their snacking, that when a fight breaks out at 9:50 a.m., we know it is time to deal with their blood sugar issues. #hanger
We really do our best to give them healthy snacks. We know it’s better for their bodies, but it also makes more sense too. If they only eat carbs or sugary snacks, they are just going to crash again.
They are carb lovers for sure though, so these Healthy Blueberry Muffins are the perfect compromise. They get to eat their carbs, and we get to feel great about the lower sugar and fat content.
What Makes These Muffins Healthy
There are a few things that help make these blueberry muffins healthier than what you would buy in a bakery.
We are reducing the amount of oil significantly. While these muffins still have a little bit of olive oil in them, we replace the rest of it with apple sauce.
This recipe replaces the granulated sugar with honey. You can get more bang for your buck by using honey. You can use less honey than sugar and still have a sweet muffin.
To be clear, I would not call these muffins a health food. No one can live on muffins alone. But! If you are going to give your kids blueberry muffins, these are ones you can feel good about.
How to Make Healthy Blueberry Muffins
These great muffins are done in one bowl! Which is great for a no fuss recipe.
- Make sure to preheat your oven to 425 degrees before you start making this recipe.
- Whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- Add in all of the wet ingredients and stir just to combine.
- Finally, stir in the frozen blueberries.
- Line 6 muffin tin hole with liners and distribute the batter.
- Fill the 6 empty holes of the muffin tin with water.
- Bake the muffins at 425 degrees for 13 minutes and then at 325 degrees for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean.
If you follow all of these instructions, you’ll get beautiful muffins with a great high top.
What Creates a High Muffin Top
The high muffin top that you see here comes from the baking method! By baking the muffins first at a high temperature, we get a nice big quick rise.
Then we lower the temperature of the oven and allow the inside of the muffin to continue cooking without burning or drying out the outside. It’s very cool, and definitely worth the extra little attention.
Your Muffin Tin Matters
In my experience different muffin tins result in different muffins. You need to find a muffin tin that works well for you. I still use parchment paper muffin layers, but the muffin tin I use will greatly impact how the bottom of my muffins turn out.
These are the muffin liners that I like. And this is the muffin tin that I like using the most.
Fresh or Frozen Blueberries
You can use both fresh or frozen blueberries in this recipe. That being said, this recipe was developed using frozen blueberries because I think they are just easier to keep on hand.
So, if you make this with fresh blueberries, make sure to keep an eye on them as they bake. They will need a few minutes shorter during the 325 degree time, about 7 minutes instead of 10.
Other Great Muffins
If your kids are muffin lovers like mine, try some of these recipes:
If you make this blueberry muffin recipe or any of my other recipes leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup apple sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup frozen blueberries (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line your muffin tin with cupcake liners in 6 spots. Fill the rest of the muffin holes with a small amount of water.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.
- Add in the apple sauce, oil, honey, milk, egg, and vanilla extract. Only stir until there are no streaks of flour left. The batter will be very thick.
- Gently fold in the frozen blueberries.
- Fill 6 muffin cups all the way to the rim of the muffin liners.
- Bake at 425 for 13 minutes, DO NOT OPEN YOUR OVEN. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake for 12 to 14 more mintutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs. (It is okay to check on your muffins about 6 minutes after you turn the temperature down to 325 degrees.)
Jennie Lynn Ervin says
I tried these muffins today – made some with fresh blueberries and some with cranberries since I have a blueberry allergy. They’re very good – only thing different was I had to bake them much longer – like 40 minutes total. Definitely a keeper recipe. Thank you 😁
Lisa Longley says
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Jennie!
Kathleen Serianni says
I did make these muffins, the only thing with them I cooked them according to the oven temperature 375 and time. But they didn’t brown on top. I did turn the oven off and let set 8 mins longer.
Mari says
These were really great. My family loved them. Could you give the nutritional information. It did not appear with the recipe. Thank you for this recipe.
Lisa Longley says
Hi Mari! If you go to the bottom of the recipe card it says “Nutritional Information” and there is a little down carrot. If you click that it will bring up the nutritional information. I’m so glad you liked them!
Renee says
Watching these bake up and rise so niceley was wonderful! Great flavor, I added a dash of cinnamon this time, will consider graded lemon next time. Great recipe!!
Lisa Longley says
I’m so glad you liked them!
Brenda Archer says
I love the flavor. Not too sweet. But, for some reason, my liners stuck to the bottom of the muffins, so I had to cut a portion of the bottom off. 💁
Lisa Longley says
Well that’s a bummer! I wonder if a quick spray of the liners would fix that.
Patricia Walker says
Not tasted yet but look how nice these turned out!
nikolina krajinovic says
This is a great recipe they are delicious. ❤️❤️
Lisa Longley says
I’m so glad you like it!
Mary says
I tried the recipe step by step, and I’m not sure where I went wrong :(. The muffins came out very dense and dry. I did use a mini muffin tray instead of a full size since I’m making them for my toddler. And the recipe did actually make 24 full mini size muffins . I thought it would only make 12 since the original recipe made 6 full size muffins. So maybe that was the issue. Definitely want to try again and maybe half the recipe to see how that works out.
Lisa Longley says
I’m wondering if there was too much flour. Did you scoop the flour with a spoon and then level it off in a dry measuring cup?
Chris says
Can I use replace the honey with applesauce?
(then I would be adding a total of 1/2 cup of applesauce)
Thank you.
Lisa Longley says
Hi Chris! I haven’t tested this recipe with that swap. My concern would be that they wouldn’t be as good, though the recipe itself would likely work.
Jennifer says
These were the best healthy muffins I’ve made! And they were the best looking, too! Lol. I followed the recipe exactly. (Serving size 1X)
Lisa Longley says
I’m so glad you liked these!