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.
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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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Equipment
- Muffin Pan
- Wire Cooling Racks
- Glass Mixing Bowls
- Measuring Cups Spoons
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!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.”
Follow the recipe exactly made them twice already. Perfect thanks!
I’ve made these in the past exactly as prescribed in the recipe and they are delicious! But since then, my family has become whole food, plant based so today, I made some adjustments. I used almond based vegan cream cheese instead of butter in the crumble. I used flax egg instead of eggs, apple sauce instead of oil and oat milk. They are still delicious! Could not be happier with this recipe. It’s a go to for me and now I know I can make them for anyone in my family!
I’ve made these in the past, I wanted an easy recipe to make with my 3 year old that didn’t have butter in it because we’d ran out and I remembered this recipe.
Because we had no butter I didn’t add the crumble topping so upped the cinnamon and added a tsp of vanilla.
They turned out great and a
Have gone down well with my 3 year old and 15 month olds. Not a crumb was left.
My daughter did all the stirring and we measured the ingredients together and spooned it into the muffin pan together. A great recipe for making with wee ones x
Awesome recipe, turbed out great. Thank you!
Why do we preheat the oven to 500 and bring it down to 400? Is it to prevent loss of heat?
That way you get a sudden burst of really hot air that helps them expand quickly, but then lowering the heat slows down the cooking a bit so the inside has time to heat up and cook through before the outside burns.
These were quite good! I added a berry mix with sweet cherries and chopped them up and that was definitely a win.
This is my first time making muffins from scratch, so long as you don’t count banana bread muffins. I’m so pleased with how easy it all came together :) I used white sugar instead of brown and used only blueberries because I love blueberry muffins. Oh and i also forgoed the crumble on top. I just found that after eating them, I felt like it was missing something. Would the white sugar make that much of a difference? Could I add vanilla instead of cinnamon, would that add a little something? I’m at a loss with my lack of baking experience. Any advise would be greatly appreciated :)
Yep, brown sugar has a lot more flavor than white sugar, so that could have been part of it. :) Brown sugar has molasses in it, which adds both moisture and flavor to the muffin batter.
I would put a little1 Teaspoon of vanilla in not instead of cinnamon. By not putting the crumble on top you are missing out on a little flavor
Yum! I made and and they are delicious! I had some blueberries and blackberries that were really sour so I thought the best way to make sure I don’t waste them is to bake berry muffins! The berries taste much better baked into these oat muffins
Mmmmm muffins. I usually eat chocolate chip and coffee cake muffins but this seems like a slightly healthier alternative. Thanks!
I made these this morning and they were perfect! I loved that they weren’t extremely sweet. They would be so good with some coffee! I had just about everything on hand except a few things and they still came out delicious: I didn’t have the whole wheat flour so I used all-purpose flour (so a total of 1 and 1/4 all purpose flour.) I only had almond milk so I used that for the “1 cup milk” and I only had avocado oil, so I used that l for the ” 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil.” Again, I LOVE how delicious they turned out and I especially love the crumble on top. Also, my husband loved them ;)
Can I use buttermilk instead of regular milk?
Potentially, but buttermilk is much more acidic than regular milk, so that may change the flavor and texture. I’d have to test it out to know exactly what effect it would have on the muffins.
Can you make this recipe with rice flour or gluten free?
Unfortunately I haven’t experimented with other flour types, so I’m not sure. :(
Try cup4cup GF flour blend plus a little flax to mimic the texture and earthiness of whole wheat flour. And sub a GF rolled oat for the regular oats. If it feels gritty or heavy, add another egg and/or let the batter sit for a few minutes so the GF flour can absorb more liquid.
I’d re-proportion the ingredients to get 12 muffins (who wants just 2/3 of the muffins you could be having for the same effort?).
I just stuck these in the oven and am crossing my fingers! I followed the recipe exactly (I’m no novice – I can actually bake muffins without a recipe for the most part), but this batter seems awfully runny!
It seemed runny to me too. Mine didn’t come out all that great, and I’m not a novice baker either. Not sure what went wrong.
They look so beautiful! I can’t believe I made them myself. I hope they taste as good as they look. I’ll be surprising my coworkers with homemade muffins tomorrow. :)
Delicious!!