Oh muffins, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… First, you can serve these blueberry (or anything you want) whole wheat muffins as part of breakfast, lunch, or just by themselves as a snack.
Second, they really are easy to make, and with so many possibilities of what you can add to the muffin batter I am certain that you will find a combination that you (and your kids) will love.
Third, my kids scarf down their beloved customized versions, and I feel good about what they are eating. And last but not least, they freeze beautifully!!
The inspiration for these blueberry, fruit, nut, or anything you want whole wheat muffins
I definitely have to give credit to my 5-year-old daughter for inspiring me to make these whole-wheat muffins. She got very excited one morning when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast and responded with “blueberry muffins!” We had not made muffins in years and I think she likes the idea of them because, well, the shape is strikingly similar to a cupcake!
Once we got started my creative juices started flowing … these don’t just have to be blueberry muffins! I put strawberries in some and some leftover pear that I had on hand in others … and why not raisins? My 3-year-old loves raisins.
So anyway, you get the idea how you can take the plain batter and add whatever flavors your heart desires. Make one big batch that’s all the same or make each one different…and most importantly, have fun with it!
Are whole wheat blueberry, fruit, nut, etc. muffins healthy?
The whole wheat muffin batter that I used in this recipe is made from real food ingredients. That means no processed flour or refined sugar! And the overall amount of sweetener used is reduced compared to store-bought muffins. When you add healthy ingredients like fruit, veggies, and nuts, whole wheat muffins end up being a pretty balanced breakfast or snack.
If you’re new to doing real food swaps in your house, this is a great replacement for busy families to skip processed cereal in the mornings. Plus you can sneak an extra serving of fruit or veggies in for picky eaters!
Tips before you get started making these blueberry (or anything you want them to be) whole wheat muffins:
Why does this recipe use juice?
I’ve used both apple and orange juice to make this muffin recipe, it just depends on what I have on hand. The juice adds liquid/moisture to the recipe, which is needed for these whole wheat muffins to bake properly. It also doubles as a substitute for refined sugar.
Some people may find orange juice too bitter, so in that case I’d recommend just using apple juice (we prefer unfiltered organic juice not from concentrate). You could also substitute another juice variety of your choice such as pear. Just make sure it’s 100% juice!
Finally, you can also substitute the juice with milk if you prefer. The muffins will still turn out moist, but you may find them less sweet. If you opt for milk, I suggest using sweeter mix ins or adding a bit of additional honey, depending on your preference.
Can you use frozen blueberries or raspberries in whole wheat muffins?
Frozen blueberries and raspberries should bake the same as fresh berries in this recipe. Just make sure your berries don’t melt while you’re mixing them in! If the frozen berries start to melt, they’ll start to release juice into the batter and may not hold their shape as well.
What foods make good fillings for muffins?
I call these “whatever you want them to be” muffins because you can add pretty much anything to the batter, and they still turn out. You can also combine more than one filling for unique flavors!
Fruit (fresh, frozen, or dried, for sweet muffins)
- Blueberries
- Raspberries
- Diced strawberries
- Chopped and peeled apple or pear
- Applesauce
- Mashed banana
- Raisins
- Dates
- Dried cranberries
- Lemon or orange zest
Vegetables (for savory muffins)
- Grated carrots
- Zucchini
- Pumpkin
- Corn
- Sweet potato
- Bell pepper
- Garlic
- Onion
Nuts (chopped)
- Pecans
- Almonds
- Walnuts
- Pistachio
Dairy & Meat
- Grated cheddar cheese
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Cubed pieces of cooked meat (great for a breakfast muffin!)
If your whole wheat muffins with dried fruit, nuts, or other mix-ins come out dry
Sometimes homemade muffins can come out dry. This usually happens when you scoop the flour on the heavier side or slightly under measure the liquid in the recipe. It can also happen if you’re using dried fruit or nuts that absorb the liquid (vs fresh or frozen ingredients that have a lot of internal moisture).
Depending on how dry they are, you can add ¼ to ½ cup of applesauce, Greek yogurt, mashed banana, or grated zucchini.
How to keep muffins from sticking to the pan
I always bake my muffins inside muffin liners to make it easier to remove them. If you’re using paper liners, look for the parchment variety. Another idea is to use foil cupcake liners and lightly spritz them with an oil of your choice.
If you don’t want to use liners, you’ll need to properly grease the muffin pan. Use your favorite method, or try spreading butter inside the muffin tray’s cups, then dusting with whole wheat flour. Shake off the excess.
Other muffin recipes you might like
- Whole Wheat Lemon Raspberry Muffins
- Whole Wheat Banana (Nut) Muffins
- Whole Wheat Carrot Applesauce Muffins
- Apple Walnut Muffins
Fruit, Nut, or Berry Whole-Wheat Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour I used King Arthur’s white whole-wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup coconut oil or other oil of your choice
- 3/4 cup apple juice or orange juice
Filling Options – about 1 cup needed (see below for details)
- berries
- fruit
- nuts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a large bowl with a fork or whisk mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Make a well (hole) in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the eggs, honey, vanilla, oil and orange juice. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together – do not overmix.
- Now here is the fun part. If you are in a hurry just add 1 cup of blueberries, mashed up banana & nuts, or other filling of your choice. If you have 5 or 10 minutes extra (and some anxious helpers) do not add anything to the muffin batter before continuing with the next step.
- Line a muffin pan with liners and fill 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full with batter. If you didn’t already add your filling, sprinkle 1 – 2 teaspoons of whatever you would like (from the list below or from your own creation) onto the top of each raw muffin in the pan. Then gently mix each one with a fork or spoon.
Here are some options to consider for the fillings:
– blueberries
– diced strawberries
– peeled and diced pears
– applesauce
– either diced or mashed up bananas and chopped walnuts
– raisins and chopped pecans (I add an extra pinch of cinnamon to the muffins with this filling)
– grated carrot and chopped walnuts
– orange or lemon zest (only add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of zest per individual muffin)
– a mix of dried fruit bits
– jelly - After the filling has been mixed into each muffin slide the tray into the warm oven and bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature and freeze some for a later date.
Enjoy!
Notes
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
I omitted the eggs, increased the apple juice to a cup, added frozen blueberries and baked in an 8×8 glass pan for about 40 minutes. The result was a very soft and delicious coffee cake. Love it! Will definitely make again!
Glad to hear the substitutions worked out for you and that you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing. – Nicole
Can I use frozen berries or frozen fruit? If yes, is there a change in baking time?
I’ve used frozen without any adjustments to time or temp.
Excited to try these but not sure when you all reformatted your website but I can no longer save your *amazing* recipes in my family’s Cozi app like I used to. . SUPER sad face about this!
Is the serving size one muffin?
delicious af
I was craving some muffins, which I haven’t had for a while, but I didn’t have any orange juice or apple juice. I did, however, have apple butter on hand. I mixed half apple butter and half water in place of the juice. Not dry at all! I also added chopped walnuts and cranberries. Love this recipe!
Not bad but not wow. I do recommend spraying the muffin papers first as these do stick.
looking for a fresh blackberry pie recipe
What is the nutritional value of the muffin mix without the add-ins?
Hi there. Sorry, but we do not provide nutrition breakdowns of our recipes. We just want people focusing on getting more real food into their lives by dropping the processed stuff. : )
I’ve made these several times and they’ve been wonderful every time. This time, I made blueberry muffins and used flax eggs because I was out of regular eggs. They didn’t turn out as good. Kinda dry. I would suggest using regular eggs and not an egg substitute for these.
I just made these muffins and the oil came out quite a bit during baking and left oily muffin liners and oil in the pan. I think it is because I used cold apple juice and frozen blueberries – the coconut oil didn’t have a chance to melt into the batter. Do you melt the oil before baking with it?
You do. This will help: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/how-to-cook-with-coconut-oil/.
Gross! I love eating healthy but ewww! I used them as dog treats.
Just made these today. They are fluffy light and I’m having trouble not eating all of them! I replaced 1/5 cup of the wheat flour for white so that they are less chewy, added 1/8 tesp of ginger and subbed applesauce for the oil. Strawberries were my mix in.
I plan on making a second batch this week because I already know the ones I made won’t last.
I made these today and they were not sweet enough for my kids so I added a few tablespoons of maple syrup to the second batch and they were perfect for us. Everyone has their own desired level of sweetness! :) They did stick to the liners a bit but we didn’t mind. I’ll be using this recipe again! Thank you!
Hi! I just recently made these muffins and found them to be dry. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do/add to make them not so dry? Thanks!
Hi there. Could you have gone a little heavy on the flour. My answer to dryness is applesauce or yogurt added to the recipe. :)
How much applesauce or yogurt would I use? Also is that instead of another ingredient or in addition to? Thank You
Hi again. I’ve added 1/4-1/2 cup of applesauce.
Hi, just found your site and I made these muffins tonight and they are a hit! I have 1 big problem though- they are sticking to the paper wrappers terribly! What can I do to avoid this? Are the liners/wrappers necessary? Thank you!!
(I followed your base recipe exactly, and added 1 cup of frozen blueberries)
Hi. I’ve baked them in a muffin pan without paper. I buttered/coconut oil-ed the pan first. Cleaning the pan was far more difficult without the paper. :) I have spritzed my papers with oil, too. It helps.
Making these now! I didn’t have any juice, so I added apple sauce and then sate a tablespoon at a time until I had what I thought was a good muffin batter consistency. Crossing my fingers they turn out!
They turned out really great! In the previous comment I meant that I added water until the desired consistency. I also peanut butter/oat/almond struesel from a different site. I slightly overbaked tgem by 1 or 2 minutes, but they were still good. I can’t figure out how to upload a picture, but I would if I could!
Just made these using apple cider for the juice to make these more of a “fall muffin”. Delicious!
I made these muffins very recently with frozen blueberries. I was not impressed with the results nor was my family. The muffins had a slightly bitter flavor. And they weren’t sweet enough. My spouse described them as “healthy tasting” which was not meant as a compliment. I wouldn’t make them again. I question why the orange juice in the recipe and would suggest readers try a different recipe for muffins.
I agree. They were not sweet at all. Disappointed that I made a double batch.
Thank you for This recipe! I tried this last night with fresh blueberries. They were fantastic warm out of the oven with a little butter spread on top. I was honestly worried that my kids would find them a little bland as these are not sweet, but they loved them and asked for them in their lunch again for tomorrow. Has anyone tried this with chocolate chips? I might try it.
I like to serve freshly baked muffins. To speed things up in the morning, the night before I mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, leave it covered on a counter and mix the wet ingredients in a large measuring cup. and store it in the refrigerator, In the morning all I have to do is mix the two and scoop the batter =
into muffin pans and bake them ……. usually takes about 30 minutes.
Any substitutes for the orange/apple juice? I don’t really want to add more sugar if I’m trying to make a healthy alternative to typical muffins. Can it be left out?
Hi. You could use another liquid that is not sweet and up the honey a little.
I’m trying to find the nutritional value of these muffins. Is it on here somewhere?
Thanks
Hi there. Nope, we do not provide those details. This post explains the philosophy behind that choice: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/04/healthy-eating-defined/.
You must be blessed enough not to have to count carbohydrates due to diabetes.
Plug ingredients individually into Myfitnesspal.com and it will give you total. Depending on what you put in it , it would be different from the recipe anyway. Good on you for taking control of your Diabetes!
Hello! I’m planning on making these and the banana pancakes and freezing them to take on an upcoming vacation. My question is…..is it best to pull them out of the freezer the morning of and zap in the microwave? Or should I thaw them out in the fridge the night before and then microwave them the next morning? Thanks so much! This website has been so helpful to me and my family!
I always thaw overnight.
Hi, this seems like a great base recipe for customising & baking your own muffins. What does the juice in the recipe do? Is it just for moistness? If so , can I add mango juice or milk or anyother ?
Hi. The juice provides moisture and sweetness so mango juice should work just fine.
These were delicious. I used half wheat and half spelt (it is lighter like it was stated on the pumpkin spelt muffin recipe). Try using the power C-machine Naked brand juice instead of apple or orange! Wow it was a great choice. It has orange and apple in it, but also strawberry, mango and peach and guavas….nice and sweet but natural!
I just made these and I’m completely new to coconut oil (I know, for shame, shaaaaaaame!) … but am I supposed to melt the coconut oil before I put it in the batter?
Hi. Yes and this will give you more info: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/02/07/how-to-cook-with-coconut-oil/.
Well, that was exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!!
I just baked these today, and although they are tasty they lack in color. What do you recommend for giving my muffin a nice golden brown color?
Thanks in advance.
Xoxo
Hi. Have you tried buttering the muffin top?
I have used this recipe twice – once with srawberries and pecans, and once with overripe bananas and walnuts. The first batch wasnt my favorite out of the oven, still had a bit of that bitter wheat flavor, but the next day I microwaved them, and the flavor was improved. I mashed the overripe bananas so they blended with the dough, and this batch was delish, did not taste like a wheat muffin. Only chage I would make is I used 1 cup (2 bananas) of bananas and 1/2, maybe of walnuts, the dough needs to be saturated with walnuts for texture. Good base recipe to play with to your liking.
I made these and my daughter loved them (she hates whole wheat) The next batch I substituted 1/2 cup ground flax seed for the whole wheat flour, added 2 cups of blueberries and 1/2 cup of walnuts and I used red palm oil.
Tasted great.
I just made these this morning and they were so good! I was making them for toddlers so I did half banana and half blueberry. I wanted the banana to add sweetness. The little girls LOVED them. My daughter is used to food like this, but the girl I nanny is finicky with food, but she was shoving these in her mouth. And I loved them too. I used apple juice because orange juice can be bitter and some comments were about it tasting bitter.
Thanks for always posting high quality recipes! I appreciate your integrity as a blogger!
I made these last night with my almost 3 year old. The muffins were quick and easy and very tasty! My mother in law would like them sweeter, but those that only eat whole grain – they are a treat to feel great about! We added raisins, apricots and bananas.
These muffins are great – so easy to prepare, not too sweet and my family loves them. I used home made apple sauce instead of juice (probably changes texture a little), hand picked (frozen) blueberries twice and apple/date pieces the third time. I’ve been using paper cups, but for my first baking I did not have any so cut small circles from parchment and placed in bottoms of the pan, and greased sides. Every time the muffins have come out clean and the papers peal off easily. The hardest part of this recipe for me is grinding my whole wheat flour from wheat berries before combining ingredients, and I used an organic, aluminum -free baking powder: There was no bitterness at all. These are definitely the most hassle free – tastiest muffins I’ve ever made! This is the first review I’ve ever written, so it must be a good recipe for me to take the time to write about it.
Excellent. I used apple cider. Mixed frozen blueberries right into the batter. Just the right amount of spice and sweetness. Was surprised that they really did bake to perfection in just 15 minutes. Thank you!
I made these today with my little girls and we all loved them. We actually used milk instead of juice and just used diced bananas. The muffins turned out great. Not sweet except for the bananas, but for us the sweetness was perfect. It really lets the fruit shine through. Awesome recipe! Thanks!
It worked well with the milk?
It did for us. The juice would probably make them sweeter, but I liked them with milk. I made them a second time and added diced thawed peaches. Also delicious! I also subbed applesauce for the oil, and that worked well too.
Did everyone cook the muffins at 400 degrees? That seems a little hot? Just curious, as I’m accustomed to baking muffins closer to 350.
Thank you!
These turned out great. I wasn’t looking for sweet muffins. I added walnuts and dried cranberries. As for the pan sticking, I highly recommend these silicon baking cups http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N4ONBGY?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00.
Extremely bitter… Too much baking powder? We made them exactly as written with frozen blueberries. We’ve had bad luck with Clabber Girl baking powder, but this recipe also seems to call for much more than Lisa’s other muffin recipes — 2 tsp vs 1/4 tsp plus baking soda, etc.
These were bitter for me as well.
Did you use orange juice? I feel like orange juice can be very bitter. I made these with apple juice and they weren’t bitter at all.
I made these twice, once with mulberries and once with mixed berries. Both times I used apple juice. The texture was good, but they weren’t very sweet. We don’t eat a lot of sweet things in our house, so they worked our okay for us. Next time I may try cider to see if I can get them just a tad sweeter.
Love these! Close to the old BH&G Cookbook muffin recipe that I grew up with — my recipe called for milk but I subbed OJ on a regular basis. I loved my old recipe because they were NOT sweet, and you could taste the fruit, so I love this one just as much, and the whole wheat makes them “nuttier.” Allow the muffins to cool completely & most muffin papers will slip right off, BUT I picked up a “professional” brand at a scratch-n-dent grocery and those suckers will NOT come off — not the fault of the muffins! These are GREAT with blueberries that were u-picked and frozen, and a few drops of lemon extract in place of the vanilla. Yummmmm!
Not a fan, I read these reviews after I mixed everything up, right before baking so I added more honey and maple syrup. I still didn’t like the outcome.
What can I substitute for the juice if I don’t have any on hand?
Hi Jennifer. Apple sauce mixed with some water will work.
I made these with blueberries this morning. Both my daughter and I liked them. I used apple cider because I think it sweetens things better than orange juice. We don’t eat much sugar so thought they were sweet enough. I could actually taste the honey flavor since there wasn’t a bunch of sugar to cover it up. We’ll be making these again.
I made these today with strawberries and banana as the “add in”. I don’t like really sweet muffins, but these weren’t sweet at all. They also stuck really badly to the liners. Guess it’s back to the drawing board, I won’t try this recipe again. Too bad I made a double batch to use up some berries that were getting a bit old.
I made these for the first time today for my muffin-loving kiddos, and I added frozen blueberries. I have grown used to the less-sweet real food baking recipes, but this one came out very slightly sweet, almost not sweet at all. Otherwise, it was a good muffin! I added everything exactly except I added equal parts unsweetened applesauce and olive oil instead of just oil. Should I add a bit more honey next time or some maple syrup? I liked them but I think the kids would like them more if they were a bit sweeter. Just not sure how to slightly sweeten them vs over-sweeten them. LOVE this site, and your pumpkin muffins are our favorite around here! :)
Hi. You can always add a little more honey.
I just popped these in the oven. I used olive oil. I grabbed a handful of mixed frozen fruit (strawberry, blueberry, cherry, raspberry) and stuck them in my ninja. I made very small peices of fruit and mixed them in after separating the plain batter into cupcake liners. Then made some with thinly sliced banana and a dollop of cbs nuts peanut butter (1 ingredient pb). I’m pretty excited, I’ve always had good luck with Lisa’s recipes. My son loves muffins in his lunch!