If you're a fan of fall desserts and want to stick to your healthy eating plan, we have you covered. Delicious baked goods don't have to be laden with sugar and preservatives. In fact, great-tasting treats like muffins can actually be quite good for you. At Bob's Red Mill, we pride ourselves on supplying wholesome and healthy ingredients to our customers. While we know that baking with healthy ingredients/alternatives can often be tricky, we're here to help make it as easy as possible. To ensure that your holiday season is one of health, we've put together this healthy muffin guide. From wholesome flours to natural sweetener alternatives, this guide will walk you through the ingredients necessary to make the delicious, healthy muffins of your dreams. Let's get started!
Healthy Baking Ingredients
When it comes to making healthy muffins, there are a few ingredients you should always have on hand. Keeping your pantry stocked with the ingredients below will ensure that you always have the necessary items on hand to make delicious, healthy muffins in minutes. Keep scrolling to discover which ingredients to stock up on today!
Flours
Flour is almost always the base of a muffin recipe. The flour used to create your muffin batter will largely determine your muffin's texture, shape and flavor, so it's important to choose wisely. Here are a few of our favorite healthy flours to incorporate into our muffin recipes.
Grocery Store List
Almond Flour
Coconut Flour
Rolled Oats
Almond Flour
Almond flour is exactly what it sounds like, flour made from finely ground almonds! While it's most known for being the main ingredient in macaroons, almond flour is increasingly becoming a staple in healthy and gluten free baking. One of our most popular gluten free and low-carb flours, at Bob's Red Mill, we pride ourselves on the excellent flavor and quality of our Almond Flour. To make our almond flour, first whole blanched almonds are ground into a fine meal. This meal produces a nutty, unique flavor and texture that works to add moisture to baked goods. Aside from tasting delicious, almond flour is excellent for you. Nutritious and satisfying almond flour provides vitamin E, protein, fiber and healthy monounsaturated fats. Additionally, this mixture is also low in carbohydrates and gluten free. While there are many different ways to bake with almond flour, using it to make healthy muffins is by far one of our favorites!For the perfect breakfast muffin, enjoy this Maple Bacon Pancake Muffin Recipe.
Organic Coconut Flour
Similar to almond flour, coconut flour is also plant-based and made from defatted coconut meat. Our Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour is created from the highest quality desiccated coconut and tops the list as one of our most popular gluten free flours. A perfect choice for making sweet or savory muffins, coconut flour blends well with other flours to create superior healthy, gluten free baked goods. High in fiber, a great source of medium-chain triglycerides, lauric acid and healthy fats, coconut flour is the ideal addition to healthy muffin recipes. It's worth noting that coconut flour's high fiber content often means that a recipe using it will call for extra eggs to ensure a perfect texture.Make your next muffins with Organic Coconut Flour and try out these Coconut Blueberry Muffins with Pecan Crumble Topping.
Rolled Oats
Another healthy flour-like product to keep on hand is rolled oats. When most think of oats, their first thought is oatmeal or an old-fashioned cereal. Known for being high in fiber, oats provide long-lasting energy to fuel you for the day ahead. Because of this, they're the perfect ingredient for breakfast muffins. Bob's Red Mill Old Fashioned Regular Rolled Oats are freshly milled from high-quality oats, a plant with origins in Asia. A real nutritional powerhouse loaded with dietary fiber and protein, there are so many ways to cook with oats. One of which is to use it as the flour base in your favorite muffin recipe. An oat-based muffin mix is ideal for making flavorful and healthy muffins that everyone visiting the dessert table will enjoy. Don't want to add whole oats to your muffin mix? Don't worry. If you'd prefer to use a fine oat flour rather than whole rolled oats, add your uncooked oats into a food processor and pulse them to create a fine flour. Additionally, any oat-based recipe can easily be made gluten free by using gluten free oats instead of regular ones.Incorporate oats into classic banana muffins with this Banana Chocolate Oat Muffin Recipe.
Healthy Sweeteners
When it comes to baking muffins, you'll want your creation to be sweet! That being said, many artificial sweeteners are not great for your health and can leave a bad taste in your mouth. To ensure that your muffin recipe remains as healthy as ever, choose a natural sweetener option from the list below. We're confident you won't be disappointed!
Raw Honey
Looking for a healthy alternative to table sugar? Try out raw honey! When it comes to honey, there are various flavor options, making it the perfect sweetener to add to any muffin recipe. From mildly flavored honey to a more intense syrup, where and what the honey is sourced from will drastically affect the overall taste. When using honey as a sweetener, we recommend getting familiar with the different kinds of local honey produced in your area. Once you've found your favorite, it's time to start adding it to your muffin mix. Packed full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes, raw honey is a nutritional powerhouse. Additionally, purchasing local honey produced from flowers nearby can also help build up your immunity to allergens in the area. It's a win-win!Want to make a muffin recipe that's both sweet and savory? Make these Honey and Thyme Gluten Free Cornbread Muffins.
Coconut Sugar
If you're craving a more tropical twist on your favorite muffin recipe, look no further. Organic coconut sugar is the ideal, natural way to sweeten baked goods without the use of chemicals and artificial flavoring. Or, if your recipe calls for more moisture, opt for a can of full-fat coconut cream instead. Using coconut cream in your muffin mix will help keep your baked treat low-calorie, being that just one tablespoon of coconut cream has about 50 calories.
Dates
One of the best natural sweeteners around is dates! The perfect way to satisfy your sweet tooth, dates are a naturally sweet treat that works well in a variety of recipes. An excellent alternative to sugar, dates are loaded with essential vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.For a muffin recipe that can be made in under 5 minutes, make this Salted Date and Bran Mug Muffin.
Date paste
Follow the steps below to create the ideal homemade date paste to add to your next muffin recipe.
Cover 2 cups of pitted dates with water and allow it to soak for an hour.
Once thoroughly soaked, drain the dates and reserve the soaking liquid.
Using a blender, blend the dates and slowly add the soaking liquid until you have a smooth paste.
Aside from flours and sweeteners, when making healthy muffins, you should be aware of a few additional ingredients. Incorporating the ingredients below into your next muffin recipe will help you create the dessert of your dreams.
Cocoa Powder
Does your muffin recipe call for chocolate? Cocoa powder is the perfect way to add a chocolatey twist to your favorite desserts without loading it with artificial sweeteners and calories. Made by crushing cocoa beans and removing the fat, cocoa butter is a natural flavoring and sweetener that will take your muffins to the next level.
Baking Soda and Powder
Using both baking soda and baking powder in your muffin recipe is the key to success. These ingredients work to leaven, lift and raise your muffins. And, they're made from natural sources meaning that they won't derail your diet. When making healthy muffins, use baking soda and powder much like you would in other baked goods.
Nuts
Adding raw nuts to a healthy muffin recipe is a no-fail way to take a recipe from good to great. Loaded with nutritional benefits, raw nuts like pecans, walnuts, almonds and cashews are ideal for adding texture to a recipe. Plus, nuts can be used in a variety of different forms. Soak them, crush them, blend them or add them in whole! However you decide to incorporate nuts into your muffin recipe, we're sure it will taste delicious.The majority of healthy muffin ingredients have one thing in commonthey come from natural, wholesome sources. From whole nuts to cocoa powder, the ingredients on this list will help you create delicious, healthy conscious muffins that everyone will enjoy. Plus, because many of these items are considered pantry staples, they're easy to add to your shopping list. Keeping ingredients like those on this list stocked in your pantry will allow you to bake healthy muffins whenever you please.