Fruit-Sweetened Apple Muffins

Fruit-Sweetened Apple Muffins. Lightly sweetened with bananas and apples, these apple muffins make for the perfect quick breakfast or snack. Simple, healthy and delicious.

Canadian Thanksgiving is just around the corner and for those of you who are looking for recipes to make this weekend, I’ve got a great healthy dessert for you. Or snack. Or breakfast. These apple muffins can pass for all three.

It may be Thanksgiving in Canada this weekend, but this is an everyday recipe that I hope you’ll love. Healthy whole wheat muffins sweetened with bananas and apples. While I did call them apple muffins, they do have a banana bread flavor to them. Either way, they’re delicious!

One bowl and 30 minutes is all you need to get muffins all week.

Similarly to my banana bread, I recommend serving these with nut or seed butter. Maybe some apple butter too… I need to try this as soon as possible.

Best of all, these apple muffins can be kept in the freezer and thawed before eating. I have about two batches in the freezer at the moment, which I thaw in the microwave less than 1 minute and top with peanut butter. It’s the best snack or first breakfast (second breakfast being overnight oats at work after my morning workout).

It’s apple season, so I hope you’ll get the chance to bake these muffins with all your freshly picked apples. I still have a big box of apples to use, so we’ll have a freezer full of muffins soon!

Before I leave you to the recipe, here are some of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes for this weekend’s celebrations:

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Vegan Aioli (you can omit the aioli and simply make the potatoes)
Savory Sweet Potato Casserole with Rosemary Pecan Parmesan
Vegetarian Lentil Pot Pie
Spiced Root Vegetable Soup
Sweet Potato & Toasted Bread Winter Salad
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Chai Cream Cheese Frosting
Whole Wheat Apple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
The Best Sugar-Free Apple Crisp
Date-Sweetened Apple Crumble Bars
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Bread
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Latte

What are your Thanksgiving traditions? We usually have a big traditional dinner with the family, but as we’re a little far this year, Shaun and I will be spending Thanksgiving on Vancouver Island. We’re visiting Victoria, Tofino and the West Pacific Trail, so if there’s anything we need to do or see, let me know! With that, have a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Fruit-Sweetened Apple Muffins

Simple, healthy and delicious. Lightly sweetened with bananas and apples, these apple muffins make for the perfect quick breakfast or snack. Top them with nut butter for a little extra protein and deliciousness.

Course Snack

Cuisine vegan

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings 12 muffins

Ingredients

2 medium apples, finely shredded (about 2 cups)
1 large overripe banana
1/4 cup avocado oil (or other neutral tasting oil)
1/2 cup milk of choice (I used unsweetened soy milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease your muffin pan with oil or butter/margarine. You could use muffin liners instead if preferred.
Mash the banana in a medium mixing bowl. Finely shred the apples (don’t worry if they brown a little when exposed to air).
Add the finely shredded apples, oil, milk and vanilla to the bowl with the banana and whisk everything together.
Stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Transfer the mixture to your greased muffin pan, making 12 muffins. Top with roughly chopped walnuts, making sure to push them lightly in the batter. This helps them stick to the muffin once cooked. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let them cool a few minutes before removing from the pan.

Notes

These muffins aren’t very sweet as they don’t contain added sugar. For that reason, I love them served with nut butter or even jam for a healthy, naturally sweetened snack or breakfast!

If you make these fruit-sweetened apple muffins, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! I love to hear from you guys. And of course, if you try this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram!

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View Comments

Pauline says:

2018-10-05 at 2:26 pm

Hey Caroline! I’m on low glycemic diet which means bananas are not an option for me. Any idea what I could use instead?
- Unsweetened Caroline says:
  
  2018-10-06 at 5:37 pm
  
  Hi Pauline! Bananas have a medium glycemic index, which is not bad considering it's paired with other low glycemic index ingredients, which will result in a low glycemic index muffin. However, I understand if you want another option. My first idea would be to mash a pear instead. Otherwise, you could make your own applesauce without removing the skin (keeping more fiber) and use that. I've never tried it, so I can't guarantee the results, but I think it should work. Also, if you serve the muffins with nut butter, the protein will also lower the glycemic index of the snack. Hope this helps! :)
Pauline says:

2018-10-08 at 10:05 am

Thank you for your advice, I’ll try with a pear. Ungortunately ripe bananas, let alone overripe ones, have high glycemic index. And it’s possible (but I haven’t found any info on that) that baking them increases the GI even further - this happens with quite many vegetables actually, which are recommended raw, but should be eliminated from the diet when cooked or baked. So I’d rather not risk it ? Thanks again!
- Unsweetened Caroline says:
  
  2018-10-09 at 5:22 pm
  
  Hi Pauline, you're right, the overripe bananas have a higher glycemic index! I guess in my mind I was thinking of regular ripe bananas. Let me know how they turn out though with the pears. And yes, cooking fruits and vegetables (as well as pureeing them) increases the glycemic index. I hope you enjoy the muffins though!
rachel says:

2018-10-23 at 10:39 am

the first time i made it i found it to be a bit blah, so the next time i added a generous amount of frozen blueberries and its realy realy realy good! my kids are so excited to bring it to school! thank you for another great recipe!
oh and i find that it gets even tastier over time!
- Unsweetened Caroline says:
  
  2018-10-24 at 6:07 am
  
  Hi Rachel, I'm sorry they weren't as good the first time, but I'm happy you loved them with the blueberries! They're not overly sweet for sure, which is why I love them with nut butter. I'll have to try it with blueberries next time!
Kirsten M says:

2020-05-16 at 1:22 pm

These muffins are AMAZING! I really struggle with things that contain a high amount of sugar, and so when I found these I was super excited to make them. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe!
- Nourished by Caroline says:
  
  2020-05-16 at 4:45 pm
  
  Hi Kirsten, thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I'm so happy you love them! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Danica says:

2020-06-20 at 7:45 am

These are surprisingly sweet! I really enjoyed these! Thanks for another great recipe!
- Nourished by Caroline says:
  
  2020-06-20 at 8:42 pm
  
  That's so great to hear! Thank you and you're so welcome. :)
Robyn Hurley says:

2021-10-20 at 8:07 am

These Look amazing I plan to make them soon! I have two quick questions (from a non-experienced baker!)
-Does adding a couple tablespoons of ground flax affect the wet/dry ratios?
-How many cups would one large banana be? (I've had other recipes that asked for one of something produce too runny/uncooked batter, so just wanted to be sure)
Thanks so much :)
- Nourished by Caroline says:
  
  2021-10-20 at 8:49 am
  
  Hi Robyn, thank you so much! To answer your questions, adding flax will make the recipe a little more dry. That being said, the recipe is quite forgiving and it should still work. If the batter is too dry, I would add an additional 2 tablespoons of plant-based milk, just to compensate. The batter is already thick, but it should be easy to scoop and transfer to the muffin tins. For the bananas, it really depends on the size of the banana. Typically, one large banana will make approximately 1/2 cup when mashed. I hope this helps!
ROBYN says:

2021-10-21 at 11:56 am

Great, thanks very much!
- Nourished by Caroline says:
  
  2021-10-21 at 2:17 pm
  
  No problem at all! Enjoy. :)
Cynthia says:

2023-02-24 at 7:44 pm

How many cups of apple would two medium apples make?
- Nourished by Caroline says:
  
  2023-02-27 at 10:42 am
  
  Hi Cynthia, sorry for not including that detail in the recipe. I need to update that. It would be 2 cups. The recipe is forgiving, so don't worry if it's a little more or a little less. I hope that this helps!