Apple Oat Muffins with Greek Yogurt
These Apple Oat Muffins with Greek Yogurt are everything a fall breakfast muffin should be: soft, ultra-moist, warmly spiced with cinnamon, and studded with real grated apple in every bite (no chunky apple pieces to fight with here). They come together in one bowl, freeze beautifully, and disappear from my kitchen counter faster than almost anything else I bake. Warm one up, no butter required, the crumb is that good on its own.
Homemade muffin recipes can go one of two ways: dry and forgettable, or soft, tender, and worth getting out of bed for. These land firmly in the second camp. They’re sweet from the apple and warm cinnamon (but not too sweet!), moist from the combination of Greek yogurt, butter, and oil, and get a little extra chew from the oats running through the batter. Plus they are super pretty with that bakery style look it them.
As a professional baker, I use all three fats on purpose, not just for moisture. The Greek yogurt brings a little tang and keeps the crumb moist without weighing it down. The oil is what keeps these muffins soft and tender days later, since oil stays liquid at room temperature (unlike butter, which firms back up). And the butter is there for flavor- you lose a little of that rich, buttery taste if you rely on oil alone. Together they do three different jobs instead of one fat trying to do it all.
I use this same technique in my banana blueberry oat muffins, its a game changer!
The real trick here though is how I use the apple. I grate it instead of dicing it, and it makes all the difference. Grated apple practically melts into the batter as it bakes, so you get that warm apple flavor in every single bite without ever biting into a big, wet chunk of fruit- gross, I can’t stand that. A mushy pocket of fruit in an otherwise fluffy muffin is such a letdown!
Make sure to squeeze the grated apple dry before it goes in and you get all the flavor with none of the sogginess.
Lemme show you how to make them!
Bakery style muffins like these (rounded tops and gorgeous garnishes!) require you to do 2 things:
1- Bake them on high heat (425°) for the first few minutes about 7 to 8 minutes, then lower the oven to 350° and finish baking.
The initial high heat makes the batter rise quickly before baking through the rest of the muffin and helps create a rounder, taller top.
2- I add a garnish to the top of the muffins before baking so the tops come out pretty and you’re not just relying on what’s mixed into the batter. For these especially, I added coarse sugar like Sugar in the Raw, and also sprinkled some oats.
Apple Oat Muffins with Greek Yogurt
Ingredients
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 cup rolled oats, 90g
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, 240g
- 1 cup white sugar, 200g
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup Greek yogurt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup grated apple, peeled and squeezed dry, you need 1 large apple
- Sugar in the raw, optional, for topping
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the 1 cup rolled oats and ¾ cup whole milk. Stir together and let sit for 15 minutes to allow the oats to soak and soften.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a 12 cup muffin tin with muffin liners.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and ½ tsp kosher salt. Set aside.
- To the soaked oats, add the 4 tbsp melted butter, ½ cup vegetable oil, ¾ cup Greek yogurt, 3 eggs, and 1 tbsp vanilla extract. Whisk well to combine.
- Fold the ¾ cup grated apple (peeled and squeezed dry) into the wet ingredients.
- All at once, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Using a large spatula, lightly and gently fold in the flour, taking care not to over mix. You want the flour to JUST mix in until there are no more large streaks. The batter will be thick.
- Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin all the way to the top. Sprinkle with sugar in the raw and more oats, if using for garnish.
- Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F, then lower the temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for another 13 to 15 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Take the muffins out and let them cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the tin, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
