There are apple muffins, then there are these irresistibly moist and tender Apple Crumb Muffins! My simple recipe is packed with apple pieces and piled high with a buttery streusel topping. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Easy Apple Muffins
This isn’t just an apple muffin recipe, this is possibly the best one you’re likely to stumble across on the internet. Bold claim, I know, but I really love this recipe and am excited to be re-sharing it with you today.
This recipe is super simple and comes together easily by hand (no mixer), including the streusel topping. Unlike many recipes that use a pastry cutter to cut in cold butter, my recipe uses melted butter and a fork to create that sweet, crumbly top. It’s the perfect way to welcome Fall, or just use up a surplus of apples from apple picking. Overall, it’s a game changer!
With fall just around the corner, you’re going to want to save this recipe for those soon-to-be chilly autumn mornings. These apple muffins will cozy up your kitchen real quick!
Why I Love These Apple Crumb Muffins:
- Springy-soft & fluffy interiors
- Punctuated with tart apple pieces
- Thiiiick layer of cinnamon/brown sugar streusel on top
- No fuss, no electric mixer, no headache
- Almost like an apple crisp in muffin form, only a bit less work.
What You Need
Here are the key ingredients you’ll need to make my apple muffins:
- Apples. I talk a little more about what type of apples to use in the video and FAQ section below. Whichever you use, make sure to peel and chop them into small pieces before adding them to the batter.
- Buttermilk. Buttermilk makes these apple crumb muffins beautifully moist and tender. If you don’t have any on hand, you can use my easy buttermilk substitute.
- Butter. Use unsalted butter in the streusel and make sure it’s cooled down after melting. If you only have salted butter, you can omit the salt.
- Brown sugar. A combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar in both the apple muffins themselves and the streusel topping adds a noticeable depth of flavor.
SAM’S TIP: If you have extra streusel, you can store it in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days or in the fridge for longer. It’s great for adding to my banana muffins and pumpkin muffins! Personally though, I never have extra–the more crumb on my apple crumb muffins, the merrier 😊
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Apple Crumb Muffins
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then stir them into the dry ingredients until everything is about 50% combined.
- Gently stir in the apple pieces until just incorporated. Don’t over-mix your batter or the muffins will be dense and dry!
- Evenly divide the batter into a lined muffin tin and set aside.
Preparing the Streusel & Baking
- Whisk together the sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon (and try to break up any large clumps of brown sugar), then drizzle in the melted butter. The butter should be melted, but it shouldn’t be scorching hot to the touch!
- Use a fork to work the butter into the streusel until you have a clumpy mixture.
- Sprinkle streusel over the apple muffins, then bake for 24-25 minutes. One thing I love about this recipe is that, unlike with my chocolate chip muffins or my new and improved lemon muffins, you only need to bake these on one temperature instead of changing mid-way through baking!
- Let the muffins cool in their tin for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely (or to enjoy still warm!).
SAM’S TIP: Don’t overwork your streusel, or you will end up with a paste that will be impossible to sprinkle over your muffins. Just toss/claw together with a fork until it’s combined and clumpy!
Frequently Asked Questions
I always recommend using an apple you enjoy eating, and for me that’s Gala or Golden Delicious (also my apples of choice for apple turnovers recipe and apple butter). Keep in mind that firmer apples are best for baking, so I don’t recommend McIntosh or anything similar in your apple crumb muffins. You could use Granny Smith apples, but I prefer to save them for apple pie since they’re so tart.
Dry muffins are typically a result of over-mixing your batter. These apple crumb muffins are a quick bread, much like apple cider donuts or pumpkin bread, and they should be mixed as little as possible. Use a gentle hand next time and make sure to mix until just combined. Over-baking the muffins can also cause them to be dry, so if you think you didn’t over-mix them, your oven may be running a bit hot and you may need to pull them out of the oven a minute or so sooner next time.
Yes! You can wrap and freeze your apple muffins for up to one month. Be careful when wrapping and make sure you don’t knock off too much of the streusel!
SAM’S TIP: If you’d like your apple muffins to have a bakery-style look, follow my tutorial for how to make muffin liners out of parchment paper. They’re surprisingly easy and instantly elevate the look of your muffins!
I know some of you will want to make this recipe in a loaf pan, and while you certainly could do that, I personally think you should try my new apple bread recipe instead!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Apple Muffins
Ingredients
For Muffins
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup (120 ml) canola oil may substitute vegetable oil or other neutral cooking oil
- ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (215 g) peeled chopped apples
For Crumb Topping
- 1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ⅓ cup (66 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter melted but cooled so no longer warm to the touch
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F (190C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon table salt
- In a separate bowl (or large measuring cup), whisk together oil, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla extract until well-combined.½ cup (120 ml) canola oil, ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk, 2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula or spoon to gently stir ingredients together until approximately 50-75% combined. Add apple pieces and continue to stir until ingredients are just combined (over-mixing may result in dense, dry muffins).1 ½ cups (215 g) peeled
- Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin tin. Set aside while you prepare your crumb topping.
Crumb Topping
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt.1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, ⅓ cup (66 g) granulated sugar, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon table salt
- Drizzle melted butter over the flour mixture and use a fork to toss/claw the mixture together until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and you have a crumbly streusel.6 Tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter
- Evenly divide streusel over the muffins.
- Transfer to center rack of 375F (190C) oven and bake for 24-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow muffins to cool in muffin tin for 10 minutes before carefully removing to a cooling rack (I use a butter knife to gently pry them up and then lift them from the pan) and allow to cool a bit before enjoying.
Notes
Apples
A firm apple that you enjoy eating on its own works best for this recipe. I prefer Golden Delicious or Gala apples. Granny Smith are a bit too tart for my taste here.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. These muffins may also be carefully, tightly wrapped and frozen for up to a month.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Related Recipes
This apple muffin recipe was originally published September of 2015. I have updated the photos, added a how-to video, and updated the post to be as helpful as possible. The recipe itself has been slightly updated; I’ve slightly re-written it to help with the flow of the recipe and have cut down slightly on the amount of streusel, as some readers complained it was too much!
Eileen
I am not a huge muffin fan because I never had a recipe like this one! We loved these muffins! There is an abundance of apples in the muffins and I think it’s what makes the texture so wonderful. I would prefer a more tender crumb though. America’s Test Kitchen recommends using cake flour in their NY crumb buns. For my next batch, I’ll try that or switch the amounts for the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Natalie K.
Very simple, moist and delicious! I didn’t end up using all the streusel but not a huge deal.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Natalie, thank you so much for trying my recipe!!
Courtney
I love making this recipe every year around the fall time! The muffins are most delicious and moist the morning after baking, in my experience. My friends and family love when I share. 10/10!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Courtney! 🙂
Sarah Leverett
Super easy & amazing. Thanks for sharing & being here. From Chef to Chef you are wonderful. Thanks again for sharing 😊
Sam
Thank you so much, Sarah!
Charmaine
Really nice delicious recipe thank you.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Enjoy the muffins, Charmaine! ❤️
Chris
Hi Sam I love your recipes! Can I ask what baking time/temp you would recommend to adapt this recipe to 6 jumbo muffins instead of 12?
Sam
Hi Chris! I would probably follow the baking guidelines in my bakery style chocolate chip muffins. 🙂
Denise
Good texture and flavor. I skipped the topping and just sprinkled golden caster sugar with a bit of cinnamon on top. Delicious
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed the muffins, Denise ❤️
Briya
Has this recipe changed? I made it for the first time last week and loved it and then made it again today today and noticed less brown sugar in streusel and more white sugar, and it was nowhere near as good 😭
Sam
Hi! The muffin recipe remains the same but yes the streusel has been reduced as a large number of commenters complained about having too much streusel.
Erik
I used less than half of the amount of Streusel mixture I made. The rest went in the bin… Not sure if the ratio is correct in the recipe.
Natalie
These are so good! I’ve tried them the normal way, and they are amazing. I want to try making them for my friend who can’t have dairy, so do you have any suggestions on how to tweak the recipe? Thanks.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Natalie! You could try using a plant-based butter and make our easy buttermilk substitute with non-dairy milk. We haven’t tried this ourselves, but we think they’d still turn out fine 😊
Renee
Hi Natalie, I have family members with severe dairy allergies. I have made this recipe using ghee in place of butter (ghee is clarified butter oil with no dairy protein in it which is the allergen). Instead of milk, I used flax milk (since they also have rice & nut allergies). The muffins turned out great & even I liked them with the substituted ingredients (I’m allergic to soy which is in most dairy free margarines). Hope this helps.
Sandy
I made this recipe but had some leftover streusel. How would I be able to store it, as I’m not sure when will be the next time that I use it. Or can it only be stored for a short amount of time?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Sandy! You can store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. We suggesting adding it to a batch of banana muffins or pumpkin muffins 😊
Pamela Warner
The left over strudel is great lightly sprinkled on toast or cinnamon toast. Butter toast first.
Vicky Wallhausen
Morning Sam I have a new devotee can I use Tinned Apples
in the muffins and what would i have to alter or nothing. Yes I
normally use fresh sometimes not possible.
Thanks
Sam
Hi Vicky! I’m not sure I understand the question here. Are you using canned apples? The ones that are typical in a syrup? I’m not sure how well they would work here.
David Alexander
This is such a great recipe! I did end up using only half the streusal and that was enough for me, also added some oats to the streusal for some more texture which worked well. This will definitely be a regular recipe and its very affordable to make.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, David! 🙂