Oatmeal Muffins
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My baby bro is really funny. Last month when he came to visit, I fixed him some breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and sliced banana, my favorite way to start the morning.
I took a risk making him oatmeal — I knew that. I mean, it’s hard to compete with my mother who whips up plates of fried egg sandwiches on toasted homemade bread, slides them under her favorite child’s nose just minutes after he lounges into the kitchen mid-morning, not uttering a word but like some sort of magical magnet drawing cups of freshly brewed coffee and hot breakfast his way.
Oatmeal was a risk for sure. Even so, I expected a bit of a better reception. He took two bites, dipped his spoon in for a third, pushed it around a little bit, then scrunched up his face while nudging the bowl my direction and asked, “Will you eat it for me?” My baby bro is 25. I love him so much.
Well, like my mother, I feel this need to feed people — to make them happy with food — and when things don’t work out as planned, I feel disappointed. I felt a little depressed about the oatmeal.
Next time he comes, I’m going to make him these muffins, my latest fix. I discovered this recipe in the November Bon Appetit’s RSVP section. They are delicious. After I made a batch of the batter, I baked off one a day in a paper-lined ramekin for about a week straight. What a treat!
I also made a teensy discovery. I didn’t have enough rolled oats for the recipe, so I substituted in steel cut oats for about half of the total. To my surprise, the steel cut oats added a nice crunch and reminded me of a favorite muffin I hadn’t thought about in years. Metropolitan Bakery in Philadelphia makes the most incredible millet muffins, and when I lived there, it was hard to pass by its doors without stopping in for one. I think I know which cookbook I need to add to my wishlist. A millet muffin sounds so good right now. Santa, I hope you’re reading.
Baby bro with baby doll. She adores her uncle. It’s so cute.
Oatmeal Muffins
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 18
Description
Inspired by this recipe in Bon Appetit
Original recipe hails from Tazzaria
Note: You can make the batter ahead of time, stash it in the fridge, and bake off muffins as you wish.
Ingredients
- Nonstick vegetable oil spray or paper muffin liners
- 2 1/3 cups quick-cooking oats (I have had success with all varieties of oats including using as much as a cup of steel cut oats)
- 1 cup whole wheat or white flour
- 1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons natural oat bran (if you have it)
- 2 tablespoons wheat germ (if you have it)
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray 8 large muffin cups (1-cup capacity) or 18 standard muffin cups (1/3-cup capacity) with nonstick spray, or line them with paper muffin liners. (Note: I baked off these muffins in paper-lined ramekins. It worked beautifully.)
- Whisk oats and next 9 ingredients in large bowl. Add buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla; whisk to blend. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and let stand 5 minutes. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups.
- Bake muffins until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 28 minutes for large muffins and 20 minutes for standard muffins. Cool 10 minutes. Turn muffins out onto rack; cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 28 minutes
- Category: Muffin
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
67 Comments on “Oatmeal Muffins”
firstly, your “baby doll” is so cute!
you are speaking my language…every A.M. i eat the same thing…oatmeal with banana & fresh berries…i cannot wait to bake these oatmeal muffins…on my to bake list for monday…thanks so much!!
I love starting my days with oatmeal too! Those muffins look gorgeous 🙂
I made oatmeal scones once from leftover cooked oatmeal. Maybe it is a Joy of Cooking recipe, I’m not sure, but they were really good. If I can find the recipe again, I’ll send it on.
Did you find that oatmeal scone recipe?
Dougonwpkn@yahoo.com
I would love that recipe, too!
These muffins look really good! They remind me that I haven’t made my husband his favourite oatmeal muffins in ages. Must give them another go. But I also love the sound of your mum’s fried egg sandwiches!
I know how you feel-I’m especially disappointed when I make something that I think should knock everyone sock’s off, but it turns out only my socks are gone.
These look like a simple, satisfying breakfast muffin. We also have a local bakery that makes a delightful millet muffin–they call it the ‘birdseed muffin.’
I guess oatmeal is an acquired taste 🙂 A bowl of oatmeal is my favorite kind of breakfast, but oatmeal muffins are a good way to sneak some wholesome oats into breakfast for those who have yet to acquire the taste for it!
I also really like your idea of just baking off one muffin each morning, what a great way to have a fresh muffin to start the day.
These were delicious! I literally just ate three hot from the oven. I do like both banana and apples in my oatmeal (not at the same time though) I think next batch – I’ll add some apple to the batter.
These muffins are sooo gooooood!!!
I was a little scared of how they would turn out since last time I made oatmeal cake using another recipe, it turned out a disaster. 😛
But this recipe was delicious!
I didn’t have any oat bran or wheat germ so I substituted 4 Tb of whole wheat flour. I made my own buttermilk with skim milk and lemon juice. I reduced the white sugar to 1/3 cup. And I accidentally forgot about the salt and vanilla but they still tasted great!
I used a large ice cream scoop to scoop them out onto a standard muffin pan. They made exactly 12 muffins.
Great recipe, will be making more things from your website.
Mary — So happy to hear this! I love this recipe, too, and I often am substituting various ingredients for the wheat germ and oat bran — I don’t always have those on hand. I’m making these this weekend for a roadtrip up to DC. Can’t wait!
What an inspiring site! I now have plans this weekend to make five of your recipes. I’m saving this one for Monday. Thinking of olive oil cakes… And nutty more than sweet-fruity… And particularly with your excellent discovery of steel cut crunch… I am thinking about substituting olive oil for the canola. Any thoughts or concerns? I wonder if I do that if I should take out cinnamon…or perhaps just leave well enough alone.
Thank you, Christine! I think olive oil will be a fine substitute for the canola oil — the orange and olive oil cake is one of my all-time favorites, so I have no objections to using olive oil in muffins, too. And if you aren’t a huge fan of cinnamon, leave it out — I don’t think it’s essential. Happy baking!
I keep coming back to this recipe over and over again! I have made it so many times. I’ve made it plain, with berries, in large muffins, in small muffins and today with peaches (I had a few too many on my hands). Love these muffins (and your blog as it turns out!). 🙂 Thank you!!
I am so happy to hear this because recently I have been doing the same exact thing. This is the base formula I used for the millet muffins, and I think it creates the tastiest, best-textured muffin ever. So happy to hear you approve. Thanks for writing in 🙂
Just came out of my oven ! I replaced 1/3 cup of quick cooking oats with steel cut oats to add some lovely crunch. I also added some black raisins. Just fabulous & no guilt eating these !! They will be on our breakfast table a lot 🙂
Thank you for such an amazing blog ! Love your photography as well !
so happy to hear this! Isn’t the texture so nice? Love the idea of raisins. Thank you for your nice words!
I tried your recipe yesterday and it turned out to be great. Everyone in my family loved it and all the muffins were gone in 10 minutes. I added brown sugar and honey instead of just plan sugar. Loved it
Thank you very much for an awesome recipe.
Yay, so happy to hear this! These are one of my favorite muffins. And they were the inspiration for my millet muffin recipe, if you like a little crunch in your muffins: https://alexandracooks.com/2013/08/31/millet-muffins/
Love these. I have been experimenting with the oatmeal. I really don’t like Quaker oats…they seem tasteless to me. So, I have arrived at this – 1 cup of steel cut oats (Bob’s Red Mill) toasted with a bit of butter (if I have time) and the rest of the oatmeal I am using Bob’s Red Mill quick cook oats. This seems to produce that ‘creamy’ texture and good flavor. I also cut the white sugar by 1/4 c and added an extra teaspoon of vanilla ( Penzey is my favorite).
I love these too. I find the oats give so much flavor and the recipe is adaptable to so many variations/flavors. I love bob’s red mill products, and I haven’t tried their steel cut oats — I must! Love the idea of cutting back the sugar. Thanks!
I made these before Christmas on a whim a few years ago. They are now known as “Those Christmas Muffins” and are repeatedly requested every year beginning around mid-October. Wonderful recipe! Love the steel cut oats. We usually use about a cup of steel cut and a cup of whatever else I have — either quick cooking or old fashioned. I sprinkle a little cinnamon on top before they bake.
Wonderful to hear this! Love that they are called Those Christmas Muffins. I might have to steal that. Merry Christmas!
I want to try these, and am wondering if I could use hot OJ in place of the boiling water. I want to try to replicate a orange cranberry cookie(store bought) that I had at a friends the other day into a muffin.
Everybody in my house loved the taste of these, and I like the ingredient list ;-). The only issue I had was the texture: they turned out pretty crumbly? None of the previous commenters seems to have had this issue. Could you help me trouble-shoot? We don’t have quick-cooking oats here, so I used an immersion blender to partially blend fine rolled oats I used for the full amount. Could that be the problem? If that’s not it, add another egg to “glue” everything a little better?
Thanks for the great-tasting recipe. Looking forward to make this more often. And by the way, quite a few of your recipes have made their way into our rotation ;-).
Anyone tried gluten free flour?
Have you ever substituted applesauce for the oil?
I haven’t but I say go for it! Lots of people comment on other recipes with that same substitution. You could start by subbing half of the oil with applesauce.
I am not a “comment” writer, but I have to say THANK YOU! I search healthier recipes a lot lately trying to find foods for my teen-turned-finicky son. I made a variety of foods his whole life, but now craves fast food. He actually said, “Make these again, please.”
They are crumbly b/c of the low flour content, but the flavor makes up for it. I did amend b/c I know cinnamon is a flavor he likes: I used 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon, a dash of ground cloves, added a bit of unsweetened applesauce (to make up the difference in oil I didn’t have enough). Nor did I have oat bran or wheat germ
Oh, and it was late at night so I mixed it, but baked it in the AM – the Rolled Oats I had used had time to soak up the liquids and it had a nice texture. And a favorite flavor hack: I chopped some frozen pecans and laid them atop the batter and the heat of the oven toasted them nicely for more complexity.
So happy to hear this, Dawn!
Lovely classic easy recipe. Thank you 🙂
I’ve been making this recipe for years and it is my favorite muffin! Thanks for sharing!
So happy to hear this 😍😍😍😍
Hi Alex! We LOVE these muffins, thank you for sharing the recipe. I’ve been wanting to add apples to them for a while, and am wondering if I’d have to cut back on the oil or buttermilk to account for the moisture coming from the apples? Thanks!
Hi Megan! I would just go for it! Are you thinking about using peeled, diced apples? Or grated, skins-on apples? Regardless of what you are using, I would make the recipe without changes; then based on your results adapt it the next time around. Good luck!
These are so delicious. I usually make them according to the recipe, but today I added orange zest. Someday, I want to try to make them nondairy, but I have to work up the courage – I don’t want to ruin them.
Hi Meli! So nice to hear this. Orange sounds lovely. I think oat milk would work well here!
Absolutely delicious! I only had rolled oats and the texture was great. I also added chopped pecans. Another winner from your site!
So nice to hear this, Allison! Chopped pecans sound so good here.
We have been making these muffins the last 2 weeks (3 batches) and changing them up a bit each time. In most recent batch we used KA white whole wheat flour, used only 1/4 of the white sugar, all regular oats sub in for the bran as well. Also did not have buttermilk so used a mixture of whole milk yogurt and 1% milk. One cup of frozen blueberries folded in at the end. They taste like a delicious and healthier version of a blueberry muffin. Thanks another great recipe!
So great to hear this, Lisa! Love all of your healthy substitutions and changes. More and more I find you can almost always cut back the sugar. Can’t wait to try these with blueberries. Thanks for writing!
I’ve been making these frequently for years, but I want to try switching to a loaf. Any thoughts on if I’d need to adjust anything?
So nice to hear this, Alison! I think a loaf is a brilliant idea. I wouldn’t make any changes. My only thought is in regard to the amount of batter — just be sure to not overfill whatever loaf pan you are using. Fill it no higher than 3/4 full. If you have extra batter, you can bake it off in little ramekins or other small vessels.
Hi Ali … I’m making these muffins later today. I have good buttermilk & want to use it up so searched your site for recipes with it. These muffins sound yummy!
I bought a few of the other ingredients then started to measure & noticed the recipe is in grams.
Do you have a go-to online conversion chart? There are disagreements between some charts re: the gram weight of flour, whole wheat flour, and oat bran weight in grams.
Thanks!
Hi Anthea! I unfortunately do not have a go-to conversion chart I can send you to, though I will say KAF’s site has a reliable one. Good luck!
Delicious! And that baby picture !! ❤️
I planned on making my usual pumpkin muffins and had no pumpkin purée, and then no blueberries for my other usual muffins. This recipe fit the bill with staple pantry items and was delicious. My kids love them too!
So great to hear this, Teal 🙂 🙂 🙂 My kids love these, too. Haven’t made them in ages. xoxo
These are DELICIOUS, crazy easy to make, and I love that I can feel not-too-terrible about eating one for breakfast. (I mean, it’s not a bake-sale-winningest bar, so I’m doing pretty well, I think! 😄) My kids also told me that “the only thing better than these are cupcakes… because cupcakes have frosting”. Thanks for another keeper recipe!
Oh my goodness, I love this so much. I’m so happy to read all of this 🙂 🙂 🙂 These have been such a staple for so long. So glad your family approved!
I had to tell you that since I posted my review, my 6yo son has requested these (with cream cheese frosting) for his birthday dessert. I’d say that’s just ’bout the highest of compliments 👍👍 haha
Awwww I love this so much 🙂 🙂 🙂
After making the wonderful peasant bread on Friday I came back for more and this one did not disappoint either. I like whole grains so this was perfect. I decided to follow another reviewer’s advice and sub some steel cut oats so I used 1/3 steel cut and 2 cups rolled oats. Coconut sugar for the white sugar. Didn’t have oat bran or wheat bran so I used 1/4c ground flax meal. Almond milk with a tsp of apple cider vinegar for the ‘buttermilk’. And threw in 1/2 cup raisins at the end with the boiling water. Had never done the boiling water before and I can see why it’s helpful. Never too old to learn new tricks! Just had one 15min out of the oven and it was delicious! Not too sweet, hearty but not too heavy. Thank you!
Wonderful to hear this, Theresa! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your notes — so helpful for others 🙂 🙂 🙂