Breakfast

Incredibly Moist Applesauce Muffins

4.71 from 27 votes
If you want a moist muffin, my Applesauce Muffins recipe results in muffins that are soft, sweet, and exactly what you're looking for.
Applesauce Muffins in a tin

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Hi Bold Bakers!

The secret ingredient to a perfectly moist, easy to make, flavorful muffin every single time? Applesauce. My homemade applesauce muffins are simple to make and perfect for a grab-and-go breakfast. If you like these, you should also try my Double Chocolate Muffins and my Lemon Blueberry Muffins!

These lightly sweet, moist muffins are surprisingly healthy too — so forget about grabbing that store-bought granola bar to satisfy your quick breakfast needs. These muffins are filled with healthy ingredients, including applesauce (of course), oats, whole wheat flour, and honey for sweetness. 

My applesauce muffins may become a weekly treat for you and your family! Kids don’t even know that they’re secretly healthy, and the batter comes together in just minutes. You can even double up the recipe and keep them in the freezer for when you don’t feel like baking! 

A close up of Applesauce Muffins in a tin.

What Are Applesauce Muffins

Applesauce is a key ingredient in these muffins for a few reasons:

  1. It makes the muffin taste just like apple pie.
  2. It helps keep the muffin super, super moist. Is there anything worse than a dry muffin?
  3. These muffins are surprisingly healthy. 

I use unsweetened applesauce, honey, vanilla extract, and cinnamon to flavor these muffins. They’re made even healthier with the addition of whole wheat flour and old-fashioned oats. But the kiddos don’t know that they’re healthy — just that they’re delicious. 

What You Need to Make Applesauce Muffins

How To Make Applesauce Muffins

This may be one of the easiest recipes to whip together — the batter is a cinch to make. Here’s how you make applesauce muffins (get the full recipe with measurements further down on the page):

  1. First, preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C). Line your 12-cup muffin pan with 10 paper liners and set aside for later.
  2. Whisk the applesauce, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla in a medium bowl.
  3. In another medium bowl, mix the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and oats.
  4. Mix the wet and dry ingredients until moistened and only a few lumps remain.
  5. Pour the batter into the 10 prepared muffin cups and bake for about 18-22 minutes. To test if they are done, insert a skewer into the center — if it comes out clean, they are done baking.
  6. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips For Making Applesauce Muffins

  • Use room temperature ingredients. Muffins, like cake, rise best when all the ingredients are at room temperature.
  • Don’t overmix your batter! A few small lumps are okay. Overmixing will make your muffins too dense. 
  • If you don’t have applesauce, you can make my homemade applesauce
  • You can make delicious variations by adding a ½ cup of blueberries, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or whatever else you like! 
  • This recipe can easily be doubled for a larger crowd.

The interior of my applesauce muffins after baking.

How Do I Store Applesauce Muffins?

You can store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You can also freeze the muffins for up to 2 months!

Make More Muffins!

And don’t forget to buy my Bigger Bolder Baking cookbook for more recipes!

Full (and printable) recipe below!

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Applesauce Muffins Recipe

4.71 from 27 votes
If you want a moist muffin, my Applesauce Muffins recipe results in muffins that are soft, sweet, and exactly what you're looking for.
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 10 muffins
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
If you want a moist muffin, my Applesauce Muffins recipe results in muffins that are soft, sweet, and exactly what you're looking for.
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 10 muffins

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup (6oz/170g) unsweetened applesauce
  • cup (8oz/225g) honey
  • 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
  • cup (2½ floz/71ml) vegetable oil
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup (3¾oz/105g) whole wheat flour
  • ¾ cup (3¾oz/105g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ cup (1½oz/43g) old-fashioned oats

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a 12-cup muffin pan with 10 paper liners. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together applesauce, honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
  • In a separate medium bowl, mix together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and oats.
  • Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until moistened and only a few lumps remain.
  • Fill the 10 prepared muffin cups evenly and bake for 18-22 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
  • Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
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Manny B.
Manny B.
1 year ago

Hi! How would I make this recipe in a mug?

The Mimi
1 year ago

Sorry, I hadn’t given you time to respond to my question yet, and I couldn’t figure out how to edit it, possibly because it wasn’t approved yet, but I wanted to make sure and post this and upload my photo before I forget!🤪 I only had sweetened applesauce, so I cut the honey in half, and I think it was just right… also added some mini semisweet chocolate chips and they are SO GOOD!!! Will definitely be making a double batch next time, since these taste so much better and are so much better for us than store bought! Thanks… Read more »

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Sherry
Sherry
4 months ago

Nutrition facts would be great I track everything I eat. I allow myself at treat from time to time and really need to know… Love them I added ginger and allspice along with the cinnamon.

Abby
Abby
5 months ago

Hi Gemma! I like to add a flax and chia seed mixture to a muffin recipe. How can I adjust the liquids to ensure the muffins don’t dry out? Thank you!

Cathy
Cathy
8 months ago

I made these Muffins today and they are very moist and very Flavourful!

Beautiful tender Crumb! So nice!

Thankyou for a great recipe!

Cathy x

rosiequilts
rosiequilts
11 months ago

These were fantastic! I could not stop at one.

Nataly
Nataly
1 year ago

I made this recipe and it is wonderful!! So moist and tasty, my husband loved it so much that he asked me turn this into his birthday cake, how should I increase the recipe to bake it into a round cake? At what temperature and for how long? Any recommendations on a frosting idea? Thank you

Barbara Shinkle
Barbara Shinkle
1 year ago

Can make the muffins with only all purpose flour?

Monique Judk6
Monique Judk6
1 year ago

Gemma can I make these GF?

The Mimi
1 year ago

I’m planning to make the applesauce for my next try, but noticed that your recipe calls for a small amount of sugar… since this muffin recipe calls for unsweetened applesauce, should we omit the sugar from the applesauce recipe?

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About Us

Meet Gemma

About Us

Meet Gemma

Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, a cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 500+ videos on YouTube & TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 go-to baking authority.

 

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