These cozy gluten free muffins are spiced and lightly sweet, featuring apples, oatmeal, cinnamon and nutmeg. (They’re dairy free, too!)
Let’s be clear: these gluten free muffins are for all eaters! They just conveniently happen to be gluten free. This gluten free oatmeal muffin recipe came about because, confession: Alex and I are not muffin people. To us, muffins are an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. Right?! And it’s not that we’re so un-fun we don’t want to eat cake for breakfast. Maybe if we were 12 again?
But in adulthood, we’ve found that cake for breakfast really messes up how we feel the rest of the day: sugar crash, hungry 30 minutes later, shaky, upset stomach. So we wanted to create a muffin that was nutrient dense and satisfying, but at the same time tastes good. Meet our gluten free oatmeal muffins! Keep reading for the recipe.
Related: 18 Delicious Healthy Snack Recipes | 28-Day Healthy Meal Plan
Gluten free by way of oats!
In very few of Alex and my recipes do we use gluten free flour. Instead, we try to make gluten free items with natural, whole food ingredients like oat flour and almond flour. Using this philosophy does make it difficult in baked goods to come up with a suitable texture. Gluten does go a long way in bringing in a fluffy, beautiful muffin texture. However, the texture of these muffins is a nice compromise. We’ve used oat flour and rolled oats as the base for the muffin. As you can see, they’re a little denser and not as tall as a typical muffin. But these gluten free muffins are moist and beautifully fluffy.
Related: Gluten Free Banana Muffins
How to make gluten free muffins
This gluten free muffins recipe is an update to an older recipe of ours, but totally revamped with the help of our star recipe tester Rochelle. Rochelle loves baking and muffins, which made her the perfect collaborator for making gluten free oatmeal muffins. She kept the concept of our previous muffins, but added a few twists. Here are the secrets to these NEW gluten free oatmeal muffins:
- Oat flour: Instead of all purpose flour, these gluten free muffins feature oat flour that you can make in a food processor! All you do is process normal rolled oats until they are ground into a fine flour. If you don’t have a food processor, you can purchase oat flour at a grocery store or online.
- Coconut oil: Coconut oil keeps the muffins moist and also dairy free. Make sure to follow the instructions about using coconut oil as it can sometimes solidify when mixing with cold ingredients. If you’re not into coconut oil and eat dairy, you could use butter as well.
- Maple syrup: We love using natural sweeteners in our baked goods, and maple syrup brings the right gentle sweetness here.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice: This blend of spices helps to evoke the feeling of apple cinnamon oatmeal.
- Apples: To bring more moisture and a hint of sweet, mixing in diced apples makes the perfect texture.
Want another apple muffin? Our apple muffins have a crunchy streusel topping that’s to die for (and there’s a vegan variation, too).
This gluten free muffins recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten free, dairy free and naturally sweet.
Related: Gluten Free Breakfast Ideas for Everyone | Vegan Breakfast Ideas
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Apple Gluten Free Muffins
(78 votes, average: 3.96 out of 5)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Description
These cozy gluten free muffins are spiced and lightly sweet, featuring apples, oatmeal, cinnamon and nutmeg. (They’re dairy free, too!)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups oat flour OR rolled oats processed in a food processor into a flour consistency (see below)
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled (substitute butter if desired)
- 1 cup milk (non dairy milk, for dairy-free), room temperature
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup diced apple (1 medium apple)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
- To make the oat flour, place 1 1/2 cups rolled oats in a food processor and process until it is very fine. (Note: Do NOT try this with steel cut oats, as they are a very different texture from rolled oats!)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, oats, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, baking powder, and kosher salt.
- Melt and cool the coconut oil. Bring the milk and egg to room temperature (so that the coconut oil does not turn solid when mixing). In another bowl, mix together the milk, egg, maple syrup, and vanilla, then gradually whisk in the coconut oil.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until smooth. Allow to sit for 10 minutes while the oats rehydrate.
- Meanwhile, dice the apple. After 10 minutes, gently fold in the apples to the batter. Then use a 1/4 cup measure to spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until puffed and golden.
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: gluten free, oatmeal, oatmeal flour, muffins, gluten free oatmeal muffins, homemade, easy
Looking for more gluten free recipes?
Many of our gluten free recipes are made with nutrient dense whole foods like oat flour and almond flour. Here are a few of our favorite gluten free recipes:
- Healthy Banana Bread Muffins
- Acai Bowl Recipe
- Chocolate Chip Almond Flour Skillet Cookie
- Amazing Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Pistachio Honey Gluten Free Donuts
- Healthy Banana Bread
- The Best Cup of Coffee or Cold Brew Coffee
- Chocolate Tahini Vegan No Bake Cookies
- The Best Toasted Oatmeal
- Lemon Poppy Seed Oatmeal Pancakes
- Vegetarian Spinach Quiche
- Healthy Granola Recipe
- Sweet Potato Hash Browns
- Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
- All gluten free recipes on A Couple Cooks
More muffins recipes
We’ve got lots more where these come from! Here are our favorite muffin recipes:
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Healthy Zucchini Muffins
- Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Healthy Banana Bread Muffins
- Apple Muffins with Streusel
- Apple Zucchini Muffins
- Vegan Blueberry Muffins
- Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins
About the Authors
Sonja Overhiser
Cookbook Author and writer
Sonja Overhiser is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best healthy cookbooks of 2018. She’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the food blog A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Sonja seeks to inspire adventurous eating to make the world a better place one bite at a time.
Alex Overhiser
Cookbook Author and photographer
Alex Overhiser is an acclaimed food photographer and author based in Indianapolis. He’s host of the food podcast Small Bites and founder of the recipe website A Couple Cooks. Featured from the TODAY Show to Bon Appetit, Alex is author of Pretty Simple Cooking, named one of the best vegetarian cookbooks by Epicurious.
51 Comments
Ashley
March 6, 2013 at 11:37 pmAwesome! I love how simple these are. Definitely will be making them soon!
Anonymous
October 14, 2019 at 12:41 pmThese look awesome, but not sure how they are not “cake” maple syrup acts like sugar…..
Fashion_iCook
March 7, 2013 at 6:42 ami’ll definitely try this recipe!
xxxFiC.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
March 7, 2013 at 7:31 amThese look absolutely lovely! I would love waking up to these!
Natasha
March 7, 2013 at 10:36 amI’ve been playing with alternative flours a lot lately, and next on my list is oat flour. Will definitely have to try this!
[email protected]
March 7, 2013 at 12:04 pmI eat oatmeal almost every day, so it’s nice to find recipes like this where I don’t have to fuss with preparing a bowl of oatmeal. Grab and go is a nice change of pace, and these would be great snacks!
Sonja
March 10, 2013 at 1:54 pmYes! I actually didn’t think of this being a great “to go” breakfast (since we ate them along with some dinners). Great idea!
Christine
March 7, 2013 at 7:13 pmWill be trying this recipe! I make an oatmeal bread by grinding oats in my Magic Bullet (love my magic bullet!) and it is very yummy. Great, healthy alternative and oats are so flavorful. Thanks for the muffin recipe!
Kasey
March 8, 2013 at 12:58 amGorgeous, gorgeous! I love that you guys are doing a Google Hangout! I’m not sure if I’ll be at my computer on Sat afternoon, but if I’m free, I would love to join. Also, I love cooking with oat flour – it gives baked goods such a nice texture and flavor (and I’m not even GF!)
Sonja
March 10, 2013 at 1:39 pmYou are so sweet – thank you! Sorry to miss you, but we’ll have to do another soon. Yes, we are not GF either, but tend to feel better when we have a nice balance of gluten-filled versus gluten-free items, so it’s always fun to experiment for us :) We haven’t done too much with oat flour, but look forward to more in the future!
Kathryn
March 9, 2013 at 11:31 amSadly every celiac I know also can’t tolerate oats but that just means that there will be more of these for me! Love that shot of the muffins, really gorgeous.
Sonja
March 10, 2013 at 1:44 pmYes, it is interesting all the levels of gluten tolerance! I think there are some gluten-free oats out there as well? But yes, these are just as delicious for non-gluten free diets! :)
Elizabeth
May 5, 2019 at 10:53 pmCeliacs can’t eat most oats because they have been cross-contaminated with wheat, but there is actually no gluten naturally in oats. So, a few companies now offer “gluten-free” oats, which, to be more accurate, are actually oats that have been protected from contact with gluten. Quaker is one such company.
ere are gluten free oats (ie. Uncontaminated oats). Quaker brand makes them and a fee other companies.
Courtney Jones
March 9, 2013 at 11:41 amThese look perfect. Such a simple recipe, but very wholesome and healthy. I’ll have to make these for breakfasts this week.
myfoodpassion
March 10, 2013 at 7:22 pmI can`t wait to make these for my dad. He needs a glutenfree diet and gets tired of the same bread. Where I live you can buy glutenfree oats.
Everette
March 11, 2013 at 6:18 amYUM! These look great! Does the recipe require regular/whole milk or could I use Almond Milk instead? Or could I use fat-free milk? Thanks so much for another great suggestion!
Sonja
September 27, 2018 at 11:52 amYou can definitely use almond milk here!
Ashlae
March 12, 2013 at 1:12 amI’m not much of a sweet breakfast person either, but somehow waffles have made a regular appearance at my breakfast table, as of late. I think it helps that they get smothered in peanut butter instead of syrup ;)
Anyway, I am loving these. And need to give them a whirl because I haven’t baked with oat flour in ages.
PS – I owe you an e-mail. Soon, I promise :)
Sonja
March 14, 2013 at 8:21 amPB waffles — what an excellent idea! Can’t wait to hear from you! :)
janae
May 13, 2013 at 7:37 pmVery nice muffin recipe. Second time I made them I tossed in some raisins, sweet potato and banana puree, ginger, and a tad of molasses–so you have a very versatile muffin formula! Thanks for the post.
Alex
May 13, 2013 at 9:26 pmFun! I love the sound of your twist. Thanks for writing!
Andrea
June 24, 2013 at 1:26 amMade this for breakfast yesterday, so yummy and customizable. I ate mine with a bit of honey drizzled on top, and my boyfriend ate his with jam. I used soy milk and it worked great.
Do you know if they freeze well?
Sonja
October 21, 2013 at 10:50 pmYou know what, we have not tried them frozen, but I’d think they’d do pretty well! We may try this out in the future – let us know if you have any luck!
Nicole
July 18, 2013 at 2:55 pmJust wanted to share- they came out excellent!!! Thank you!!!
Nicole
July 18, 2013 at 2:57 pmOops- should have mentioned I used coconut milk. Will definitely be making these again.
Alex
July 18, 2013 at 3:03 pmGlad you enjoyed them!
Shanna Koenigsdorf Ward
July 18, 2014 at 3:16 pmWhat is the total yield of oat flour in this recipe? I usually use around a cup. Looks super delicious! :-)
Sonja
September 27, 2018 at 11:57 amHI Shanna, this recipe has been updated and the total yield of oat flour is the same as the rolled oats, 1 1/2 cups.
Billy Rhythm
September 1, 2014 at 8:27 amVery yummy. I’ve made them twice for my wife, who is “gluten sensitive.” I’ve substituted molasses for honey with good results. One thing your readers might want to note: the batter is runny. Don’t be worried!
Alyxx
September 6, 2014 at 1:40 amI JUST MADE THESE AND THEY’RE DELICIOUS!! They’re the perfect breakfast muffin. I added a handful of cinnamon chips for a little extra burst of flavor, and it’s great :)
Anonymous
February 8, 2015 at 3:57 pmMaybe they meant 1 teaspoon instead of 1 tablespoon of baking powder?? I just tasted my batter and it was so bitter!!! They’re in the oven now… fingers crossed!
Natalie
March 25, 2015 at 3:50 pmI appreciate the simplicity of this recipe. Exactly what I was looking for. They turned out great! Mine were done in 20 minutes. Thanks!
Donna
December 25, 2015 at 10:00 amThese are wonderful. Adaptable. Good for you. And did I mention wonderful. I am very tired of gf muffins that are more likely to lumps of lead than food, and we don’t like gf flour mixes so these are really a treat!
Julie
January 22, 2016 at 7:00 amso you say 1 1/2 cups of oats or oat flour. if i process 1 1/2 cups of oats i get less than 1 1/2 cups of oat flour… so which should i measure… the oats before they go into the vitamix to make flour? or the oat flour after it comes out of the vitamix?
thanks! looking forward to trying these!
Sonja
September 27, 2018 at 11:59 amJulie: this should come out the same: 1 1/2 cups rolled oats should equal 1 1/2 cups oat flour. If it’s a little less, that’s ok! You can use the 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats to make the flour.
Susan
February 15, 2016 at 9:53 amThese turned out very good. They Rose up and stayed moist. I measured the oats before grinding them, not after, and it worked fine. I did make two additions. I put in a handful of cinnamon chips. My family that can eat gluten gobbled these right up. I made mini muffins and cooked for 18 mins. Made 24.
Brittany Audra @ Audra's Appetite
October 1, 2018 at 10:03 pmI adore cooking with oat flour! Especially in muffins. and I’ve been all about apple recipes lately; these are perfect! :)
Peg L Arnett
February 25, 2019 at 7:56 amI made them yesterday. Loved them. I put walnuts in mine and used homemade applesauce in place of some of milk. Loved them
Sonja
February 25, 2019 at 8:58 pmSo glad to hear it! Thank you for making them!
Dee
April 19, 2019 at 5:26 pmI am looking for a bread using oat flour but no apples just something a bit more plain. Do you think I could leave out the one cup of apples?
Alex
April 19, 2019 at 7:13 pmI think this would work — it might taste a bit more bland without the apples but I’m not sure!
Anonymous
May 10, 2020 at 2:16 pmI replaced the apple with a mashed banana and they were moist and delicious.
Cindi
June 22, 2019 at 12:20 pmI am always looking for gluten-free recipes for my B&B guests who ask. I’ve not been impressed with any recipe that calls for gluten-free flour as they always turn out tasting terrible, and coming inside. These were absolutely perfect! Beautifully risen, not crumbly, and also tasty. I followed the recipe exactly, except I created the apple instead of chopping it. Very important to let this sit To thicken up as the oats are absorbed. I might try another patch using a different kind of oil as I did find the coconut oil came through more than I wanted it to. But truly a great recipe. Definite keeper!
GG
August 1, 2019 at 12:34 amI went to Farmers Market and had a Gluten Free Oat Cake Muffin and was looking for something that would be moist and flavorful. I made your recipe and was very pleased with the taste – very moist. I added ground ginger and raisins. Thank You so much for sharing your wisdom and detail on the HOW TO. Excellent recipe for GF
Sonja Overhiser
August 1, 2019 at 2:12 pmYou’re welcome! Love the addition of raisins — we’ll have to try it.
Korina
April 10, 2020 at 7:04 pmCan you replace the oat flour with almond flour? I asked the hubby to get oat flour from the store today and he came home with almond flour. :) Thanks!
Alex Overhiser
April 11, 2020 at 10:37 amWe haven’t tested this variation — I’m not sure!
Elissa
May 7, 2020 at 1:40 pmI tried this recipe Tuesday night to have for breakfast Wednesday morning, they were amazing. The kids devoured them and were full until lunchtime, a breakfast miracle! They are moist and delicious, will definitely be making them regularly from now on.
Alex Overhiser
May 8, 2020 at 9:55 amAwesome! Thanks for making :)
claudia i shine
May 23, 2020 at 9:40 amDo you know of an egg substitute that would work with the somewhat heavier texture of oat? My little one can tolerate baking soda and vinegar as a rise, but have no idea the amoun to use for this recipe? He has a tremendous number of allergies and oat is the only grain he can have. It would be wonderful for him to have these as I’ve found no other recipe for muffins.
Sonja Overhiser
May 23, 2020 at 7:19 pmYou can use a flax egg! Here’s our recipe: https://www.acouplecooks.com/flax-egg/ Good luck!