Spiced Oatmeal Muffins
Wholesome and delicious Spiced Oatmeal Muffins are perfectly flavored with crunchy tops and pillowy centers, making them a delicious breakfast on-the-go or anytime snack!
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I realize that there have been an overabundance of muffins shared on the blog over the past couple of weeks, but bear with me here...these Spiced Oatmeal Muffins are worth it! I wanted to make something yummy and easy for after-school snacks last week, and this recipe hit it out of the park.
What Makes Them So Good
These Oatmeal Muffins are not overly sweet and they have amazing texture. They're golden and crunchy on the outside yet pillowy and almost creamy on the inside (thanks to a secret step...see below!).
They're wholesome, loaded with protein- and fiber-rich oats.
And they're perfectly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Let me just warn you that your kitchen will smell goooood while these babies are baking!
Ingredients
This oatmeal muffin recipe is made with pretty standard ingredients, but there's a special trick involving two of those ingredients that yields muffins with incredibly moist interiors.
The secret is soaking your rolled oats in buttermilk before stirring together the batter! If you have an hour to let them sit, great! But if not, 30 minutes will do just fine.
And be sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT quick oats) in this recipe for the best texture.
How to Make Buttermilk
But is it really necessary to use buttermilk, you may be asking? Can you just use milk if you don't have any buttermilk?
The answer is YES, you need to use buttermilk. Regular milk does not have enough acidity to start breaking down the oats during the soaking step.
Fortunately, if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, it's easy-peasy to make your own! For this particular recipe:
- Pour 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a 2-cup (or larger) liquid measuring cup.
- Fill the measuring cup up to the 2-cup line with milk. Whole milk is preferred but low-fat/skim milk will work.
- Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes until thickened and slightly curdled. Stir well before proceeding with recipe.
And that's it!
(Also, for future reference, the formula to make buttermilk is 1 tablespoon of acid for every 1 cup of milk.)
How to Make Oatmeal Muffins
So we already covered the first step:
- Stir rolled oats into buttermilk until well-combined, and allow to sit for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven, line the muffin pans, and whisk together the dry ingredients.
- After the oats are finished soaking, mix in the brown sugar and the eggs. Stir in the melted butter and the vanilla, and then blend in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Evenly divide the batter between muffin cups and pop in the oven.
- Bake until golden and ENJOY!
Substitutions & Add-Ins
You can boost the nutrition of these Spiced Oatmeal Muffins even more by making them with whole wheat pastry flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
I have also made this recipe gluten-free by using GF rolled oats plus a GF baking mix (I used Bob's 1-to-1) in place of flour.
Another nice thing about these oatmeal muffins is that you can jazz them up should you so desire.
- Tweak the spices to your liking...you could increase the cinnamon and/or decrease the nutmeg.
- While preparing the simple batter, feel free to stir in a cup of your favorite chopped nuts, raisins, or even chocolate chips (if you're feeling naughty).
- You can also sprinkle the tops with a shower of cinnamon sugar.
Or leave them perfectly plain like I did here today!
Nope...you really can't go wrong with these unassuming little gems.
So whether you need a quick, easy, on-the-go breakfast for busy school mornings (or teacher treats!), OR a relatively wholesome snack to boost energy throughout the day or welcome the kids home from school, a batch of these amazing Oatmeal Muffins will fit the bill.
And if you don't have kids and could care less about school-related recipes? Well, this recipe is for you, too. 😉
Indeed, Spiced Oatmeal Muffins FOR ALL!!!
More Yummy Muffin Recipes
Spiced Oatmeal Muffins
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats, not quick oats
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups flour, all-purpose OR whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
OPTIONAL ADD-INS:
- 1 cup chopped nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together oats and buttermilk. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line 22 to 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside.
- After oats have finished soaking, stir brown sugar and eggs into the oatmeal/buttermilk mixture. Mix in melted butter and vanilla, and then blend in flour mixture and optional add-ins (if using) until just combined.
- Evenly divide batter between prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until tops of muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by pouring 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a 2-cup (or larger) liquid measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup up to the 2-cup line with milk (whole milk is preferred but low-fat/skim milk will work). Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes and stir before proceeding with recipe.
Nutrition
Adapted from Food.com
Post originally published on August 25, 2015, and updated on February 20, 2020.
These were so good! I used pumpkin pie spice and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Subbed half the flour with whole wheat and added some walnuts and raisins. Looking forward to having these beauties on work days with some fresh fruit. Thanks for a great meal prep recipe!
These are amazing. I made a few tweaks to make them a little bit “healthier” for my daughter. I looked through the comments hoping someone might have tried subbing the sugar for a natural sweetener but didn’t find anyone who had tried. I replaced all the brown sugar for 1 cup of pure maple syrup. I subbed half the butter for avocado oil, added ground ginger and crystallized ginger bits to the batter. They were perfectly sweet and just the right texture. I will definitely make these again. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
I bake lots .. this recipe seemed delicious. They turned out fluffy soft texture and VERY bland. No taste to them. Was so disappointed
So sorry to hear that, Donna. You are free to increase the cinnamon and nutmeg to your liking! 🙂
This is now our favorite muffin recipesI put unbaked batter in muffin tins and freeze. I thaw a tin and bake as directed. Such a treat to have fresh hot muffins later.
This is a brilliant idea, Susan...thank you for sharing!
Made these last night. They turned out GREAT - just as in your description! I followed recipe exactly - can’t wait to add other ‘mix-ins’ thought as I know that will add more yum to them.
THANK YOU for having delicious recipes…..!
Amazing! Will be a staple in our house. Slight crunch on the outside and perfectly moist on the inside. Great flavor too.
They are very good and light ! I added pecans in the batter very tastey !