I don’t make muffins often, but when I do I want them to be big, fluffy, and totally epic like the ones you get at a bakery. And since these Triple Berry Oatmeal Muffins are apology muffins (to replace my boyfriend’s muffin that my dog ate), I needed to make sure they were on point. The muffin tops are big and delicious, they’re dotted with juicy berries, and even have a little oatmeal goodness mixed right in. These will be my go-to muffins in the future. And hopefully next time I’ll be making them just for fun, not as an apology.
Bakery Style Muffins with Just a Few Healthy Additions
I wanted to make these oatmeal muffins resemble the big delicious muffins that you buy from a bakery, but try to sneak in at least a little something healthy. I used King Arthur Flour’s basic muffin recipe, but subbed in rolled oats, as per their notes, and some frozen berries that I had stashed in my freezer. I was at the very end of my all-purpose flour, so I used a 1/4 cup whole wheat flour to make up for what I was missing. And hey, that’s more fiber! Lastly, I added a touch of cinnamon to the batter, and made a delicious cinnamon-oat crumble topping. Yaasssss.
What Kind of Oatmeal Can I Use?
I used old-fashioned rolled oats because that’s what I always have on hand and they have the most delicious hearty texture. You can probably get away with using quick oats, which are much thinner and flakier, but your muffins won’t have quite as much texture.
How to Freeze The Leftovers
If you don’t have a friend and a dog to help you eat the whole batch, oatmeal muffins freeze really well. Just make sure they are fully cooled before wrapping them tightly in plastic and then zipping them up in a freezer bag. The frozen muffins thaw fairly quickly at room temperature or can be reheated briefly in the microwave.
Triple Berry Oatmeal Muffins
Servings 8 large muffinsIngredients
MUFFINS
- 1 cup all-purpose flour ($0.19)
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour ($0.10)
- 1 cup rolled oats ($0.26)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.16)
- 1/4 cup white sugar ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder ($0.11)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
- 1 cup milk ($0.49)
- 1/4 cup cooking oil ($0.16)
- 2 large eggs ($0.75)
- 1 cup frozen berries ($1.00)
OAT CRUMBLE TOPPING
- 1/2 cup rolled oats ($0.13)
- 2 Tbsp butter, cold ($0.28)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.08)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
Instructions
- Prepare the oat crumble topping first, so it’s ready to go on the muffins as soon as they’re mixed. In a small bowl, combine the oats, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Use your hands to massage the oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon, into the butter until it’s evenly combined and clumpy. Refrigerate the mixture until you’re ready to top the muffins.
- Preheat the oven to 500ºF. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose and whole wheat flours, oats, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Stir well.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, and oil.
- Pour the whisked wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir just until they are combined, it doesn’t need to be perfectly mixed. There may still be clumps and a few dry spots, but it’s important to avoid over mixing.
- Add the frozen berries to the mixture and gently fold in. Again, avoid over mixing because the berry juice will turn the muffins blueish grey.
- Line eight muffin tin cups with paper liners, then fill each one to the top with the muffin batter (use more cups if needed, just make sure to fill to the top). Sprinkle the prepared oat crumble topping onto each muffin.
- Transfer the muffin tin to the oven and immediately turn the heat down to 400ºF. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until the muffins have risen into peaks, have cracked slightly, and are deep golden brown on top. Remove the muffins from the oven and the muffin tin (use a knife to loosen any parts that have spilled out over top) and allow them to cool.
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Nutrition
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
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How to Make Berry Oatmeal Muffins – Step by Step Photos
Make the oat crumble topping first so that it’s ready to go later. In a small bow, combine 1/2 cup rolled oats, 2 Tbsp chilled butter, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon.
Massage the ingredients into the butter until it forms a well-mixed “crumble” texture. Refrigerate the topping until it’s ready to go on the muffins.
Begin preheating the oven to 500 degrees. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 Tbsp baking powder, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Mix these dry ingredients together really well.
In a separate bow, whisk together 2 large eggs, 1 cup milk, and 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil. Whisk until smooth.
Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients.
Stir the two together JUST until they’re combined. It’s really important not to over-mix here, so it’s okay if it’s lumpy and there are a couple of dry spots left. You’ll stir just a bit more after adding the berries.
Add one cup frozen berries and gently fold them into the batter. Don’t stir too much because they’ll turn the batter blue. Also, keeping them frozen until you stir them in helps prevent the juice from spreading and turning the batter blue.
Line about eight cups of a muffin tin with paper, then fill each one to the top with the muffin batter. Usually you only fill the cups of a muffin tin 3/4 full, but if you want a nice big crown on the muffin like they have at the bakeries, fill them to the top. Finally, top the muffins with the oat crumble mixture.
Here’s the side view for reference, so you can see how full they are. Transfer the muffin tin to the oven, turn the heat down to 400, then let them bake for 22-25 minutes.
Or until they’ve risen into nice rounded muffins, the tops have just a couple of cracks, and they’re deeply golden brown. YUM. Remove them from the muffin tin to let them cool. It helps to use a knife to gently loosen the muffins where they’ve spilled over top.
And then once they’re coooool, peel and enjoy!
Mmmmmmm….
“Don’t even think about it, Zoe!”
“You mean you didn’t bake those muffins for me?”
“No.”
Not very sweet
I made these and they came out very good. I did sub the wheat flour for oat flour 22gm equals a 1/4 cup. Also snipped the berries Into smaller pieces with a scissors.
Definitely need to use liners. I made in a 6ct xl muffin pan and max cook time in recipe worked perfectly.
Very good. Not sweet at all which I liked.
I’ve made this recipe several times over the years and it always turns out great. The crumble topping makes them amazing!
If I don’t have a muffin tin could this be made into a coffee cake instead? Would the bake time be the same?
The bake time will likely be different because you have a lot more surface area in contact with the heat when they’re in small muffins. But unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to suggest a cooking time for the loaf without testing it first.
Thank you taking time to answer the question. Your right. I guess I’ll go buy a muffin tin.
This is a wonderful recipe with little sugar (I used a banana to replace some sugar) and little oil (I used avocado oil). I soaked 1 cup of oats with milk first which made my kids did not realize that there are oats in the muffin! Thank you!!
Will these cook right if using only AP flour and no whole wheat flour?
Hi Deb! We haven’t tested it without whole wheat flour, but I don’t see why making it all AP would make a significant difference. XOXO -Monti
Subbed vegan butter for the crumble and oat milk for the muffins, and they turned out great. One thing I didn’t pay attention to was I purchased WHOLE frozen berries – I think this would have turned out better if the berries were chopped or something, but the result was still good. Also, these made 11 muffins in my standard size muffin tin, not 8.
To make these vegan friendly, I subbed 1/2 cup apple sauce for the eggs and used oat milk instead of regular milk. They turned out great! I used vegan butter for the crumble, but another commenter suggested coconut oil which I’m sure also works! Thanks for the recipe. Absolutely delicious!
How do I alter the recipe or baking time for regular muffin?
These muffins are amazing! I like that they are not overly sweet, and they are very filling! I live at high altitude (7200 ft) so I reduced the baking powder to 2 1/2 teaspoons and also made it with almond milk, but followed the rest of the recipe to a T and they turned out nice and tall. I didn’t have muffin liners on hand, so just greased the pan and they came out perfect. Thanks for sharing!
I needed to heat my house up this morning and these muffins looked like the perfect ticket. Nice high heat at the beginning! And they turned out great. They are just the right amount of sweet, like a good quality scone, the berries give an extra punch of flavor, and the oatmeal gives good texture. I doubled the cinnamon in the batter just on a hunch, and it seemed like a good move. I also didn’t have muffin liners, so I just sprayed the pan good and baked them “naked” and that worked fine. Less garbage anyways. Made exactly 9 muffins full to the brim and I ate 2 right out of the oven with some butter. Mmm.
I forgot to mention that I did not have butter for the oat crumble, so I replaced it with coconut oil instead. It’s a good substitute!
I just made these. I followed the recipe exactly as it was written, except I doubled the cinnamon to 1/2 tsp. For me I got 10 large muffins (batter filled to the top) and there was a tiny bit leftover for half a muffin. It’s great!
Like another commenter, my batter was also runny, but the end result was great. I baked it for 25 minutes. The only problem was that the muffin sticks to the paper liner instead of peeling away clean, and I’m not sure why. I used the same paper liners for other recipes and they were fine. Maybe it was because my batter was runny? Next time I’ll try to use a greased muffin pan without liners.
I think this recipe, without the berries, makes a good basic muffin recipe.
If you spray your liners with cooking spray the muffins won’t stick.
I made these earlier in the week. They were delicious. Much more filling that othrr muffins without being overly sweet. These will become a regular option around here.
Quarantine shopping left me with an enormous can of rolled oats, so I tried this recipe as a way to help use them up. OMG! The oats and whole wheat flour give these muffins a very satisfying texture, and the cruncy topping is to die for! They were a hit with the whole family, and a new addition to the morning lineup for sure.