This is one of my go-to breakfast recipes because it offers everything I love about oatmeal in a baked treat that I can easily take on the go! These delicious honey oatmeal muffins will satisfy your cozy, wholesome breakfast cravings without having to cook in the morning!
Sweet, fluffy, and hearty, these honey-flavored oatmeal muffins fuel me through the start of my day and keep me full for hours!
My favorite part about this recipe is how well these muffins keep frozen, so I can double the recipe and keep an extra batch in the freezer! I’m always surprised by how quickly these disappear, even oatmeal skeptics love these muffins!
Be sure to check out my topping and flavor suggestions, listed below the recipe. Happy Baking!
Before You Get Started
- Take the eggs and buttermilk out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to bake time so that they’re at room temperature when you need them. This ensures that your batter has the right consistency so the muffins bake with the perfect texture.
- Gather your equipment and ingredients so that you have them ready to go when it’s time to start cooking!
- Melt the unsalted butter prior to mixing any ingredients so that it can begin cooling.
Suggested Equipment/Appliances
- 1 muffin tin with 12 cups (or two 6-cup muffin tins)
- 2 large mixing bowls
- Wire cooling rack
- 1 wooden or plastic spoon
- 1 whisk
- 1 rubber or plastic spatula
Recipe Cook Time and Yield
- Recipe Yield: 1 dozen muffins
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- ¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs, beaten, at room temperature
- ½ cup buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup honey
- ⅓ cup (between 5-6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line the 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners if you have them on hand. Grease the lined or unlined muffin cups of your baking pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. These include the rolled oats, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and brown sugar. Whisk these ingredients together until everything is thoroughly mixed together.
- In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients. These include the beaten eggs, honey, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Whisk the wet ingredients together until a smooth cream is formed.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold everything together using a spatula only until fully combined. Stop mixing the batter once it’s evenly combined, or else your muffins will turn out dense and tough!
- At this point, you can gently fold into the batter any toppings you want in the muffins! Check out the end of the recipe for some of my tried and true favorites.
- Spoon the batter into the greased muffin cups, dividing it evenly and filling the cups about ⅔ of the way up.
- Bake the muffins on the middle rack for 16-20 minutes, or until a toothpick shoved into a muffin comes out clean.
- Let the muffin tin cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before digging into a warm one!
Tips and Tricks
- For optimal baking and perfect muffin texture, keep the oven door closed during the cooking time and center the muffin tin on the middle rack.
- If using salted butter instead of unsalted, use ¼ teaspoon of salt in the batter instead of the ½ teaspoon listed in the recipe.
- For softer muffins, cook the oats along with the buttermilk in a small saucepan on medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Let the cooked oatmeal cool before adding it to the muffin batter along with the other wet ingredients.
- These honey oatmeal muffins will keep well if stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- They also freeze well for up to 3 months! Just wrap the muffins tightly and freeze them in an airtight bag or container. Before serving, let the muffins thaw overnight at room temperature.
- If you have any empty muffin cups in your baking pan, fill them ⅔ full with lukewarm water to ensure even baking of your muffins! Be careful not to spill some of the water onto the batter-filled muffin cups.
Topping Ideas to Try
- Raisins, golden raisins, fresh blueberries, and sweetened dried cranberries are delicious in these honey oatmeal muffins! I’ve tried all 3 and each adds a lightly sweet flavor and a bit of color to these morning treats.
- Chopped or halved nuts of your choice are also great for adding some crunch to these yummy oatmeal muffins! I like using walnuts, pecans, and even macadamia nuts!
- For the breakfast version of my favorite cookie (oatmeal chocolate chip), add ½ cup of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips to your muffins for step 5. To prevent the heavy chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom of each muffin cup, sprinkle the chips on top of each of the 12 batter-filled cups instead of stirring the chips in with the muffin batter.
- For honey banana oatmeal muffins, add 1 very ripe banana to the recipe! The best way to do this is to mash the banana with a fork and to stir it in alongside the wet ingredients prior to folding them in with the dry ingredients.
- These muffins are also incredible with a streusel crumble topping that is quick and easy to make! To do this, combine ½ cup brown sugar, ½ cup granulated sugar, ½ cup all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a mixing bowl. Cut ¼ cup of cold unsalted butter into small pieces and gradually combine it with the dry ingredient mix. This is most easily done with your hands, especially toward the end! Sprinkle the streusel crumbles over the batter-filled muffin cups before baking!
Substitutions
The following ingredients can be swapped out for your desired alternative at the same quantity included in the recipe:
- Brown Sugar can be replaced with granulated (white) sugar, coconut palm sugar, or raw cane sugar! If you want to leave out the sugar entirely, you can use the same quantity of honey in addition to the honey listed in the recipe.
- Buttermilk can be substituted with soymilk (add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar), coconut milk (add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar), or almond milk (add 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar).
- Whole Wheat Flour can be replaced with all-purpose flour if you’d prefer to use only 1 type of flour for this recipe. Some other good options include spelt flour, coconut flour, almond flour, chickpea flour, brown rice flour, and teff flour.
- All-Purpose Flour can be replaced with whole wheat flour if you’d prefer to only use that for this recipe. Some other good options include spelt flour, coconut flour, almond flour, chickpea flour, brown rice flour, and teff flour.
