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) avocado oil or vegetable oil or 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) avocado oil or vegetable oil or 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!
Simone Cheong
Can I double the tecipe to make 2 batches? Or do you recommend doing 1 batch at a time?
Sam
I think you would be OK to double this recipe, just take care to not over-mix. Enjoy! 🙂
Tamara
These muffins were delicious! I only discovered your website a year ago and everything I’ve made has turned out delicious! I’ve made your biscuits, buttermilk pancakes, banana bread, worst ever chocolate chip cookies, BEST chocolate cake, sugar cookies, chicken tortilla soup and now theses apple crumble muffins. I’d never really baked anything from scratch before I found you and I’m 46 yrs old! Thank you so much!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for being a fan of my website and for trying so many of my recipes, Tamara! I am so glad that you have enjoyed what you have tried so far. These muffins are one of my favorites so I am happy you loved them too. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Linda
Absolutely amazing and so easy to make! Highly recommend these.
Was wondering if you can freeze them?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the muffins, Linda! Yes, you can freeze them! I would recommend storing them in an airtight container or freezer bag. They should last up to 2 months. Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Logan Hawthorne
Hey Sam! I’ve made so many recipes on this blog with wonderful success, and my friends and family all love them. I’m super sad to say that this is the first recipe I couldn’t quite get right. The muffin itself was absolutely delicious, but I messed up on the crumble and it came out all strange. I was hoping you could help me troubleshoot what I did wrong.
The crumble wasn’t really crumbly, it was more kind of thick. It crumbled a little bit, but was easily squished together like a soft dough. It was an odd brown color and just burnt on top of my muffins. After separating the muffin from the burn disk thing, the muffins themselves were wonderful! I just really messed up the crumble somehow. I followed the exact amount of everything, packed the brown sugar, and let the butter cool before adding it to the crumble. Any ideas? I appreciate you so much!
Sam
Hi Logan! I’m sorry the crumble is giving you issues here. I’m wondering if maybe the butter was too cool when it was combined with the other ingredients? Was it still liquidy or was it re-solidified? I have a very similar crumble on my coffee cake muffin recipe (it uses 2 types of sugar and slightly more flour but the overall idea is the same and the consistency is very similar), it might be helpful to watch the video below the recipe on that post and see if that gives any clues on how the crumble should behave when you are preparing it? I am definitely happy to help try and troubleshoot further if needed!
Kristen
Hi Logan & Sam
I have the same experience with my choc chip muffin crumble but after using cold butter into the mixture, it was a success. Use your hands for better result.
JordanAndIansMom
I too had the experience of a brown goo forming as my topping using melted butter in similar recipies. Now, I always make my crumbs, crumble, struedel toppings with my food processor and very cold butter. It “cuts” the butter in and makes a nice dry topping. It may not look moist enough but if you keep processing it comes together. You can also add a tbs of cold water. If nuts or oats are called for, I wait till the end to add, maybe pulse once or twice or just mix the chopped nuts or oats in by hand. Hope that is helpful
Sam – I love all your recipies and your blog is one of my favorite. I bake ALOT – the obsession is real!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you have enjoyed my recipes and share the same love for baking! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Rita
I love all of your recipes…they are very thoughtfully developed and presented in a very easy to follow format. Keep up the great work!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Rita! I am so glad that you have enjoyed my recipes and have found the directions easy to follow. I really appreciate your kind words. 🙂
Azucena Farias
I made the muffins and they where so good the only thing I would have do is add more apples but I’ll just add more next time i make this recipe. It was absolutely delicious and all my family loved it.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that the muffins were a hit, Azucena! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Rob
I really love this recipe. I thought there was too much crumble at first, but I started picking at it before I baked it, and I realize that there wasn’t enough! I should’ve made more. Next time, I will.
I double the amount of cinnamon in the main part of the muffin. I love cinnamon.
Normally, when I think somebody for sharing the recipe, I’m saying it as a courtesy. It’s the polite thing to do. But, in this case, I am really, really, really glad that you shared. I usually avoid unhealthy recipes. But, this is so good I feel like I have to make an exception.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Rob! I am so glad that you enjoyed the Apple Crumble Muffins. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Mary
I also used your blueberry muffin recipe. I have used that as a basis for lots of other muffins before with great success, so I figured why not. Also, I didn’t want cinnamon in the batter, but I did want butter, so it made sense. I used this topping, but just a tiny bit, like a garnish. Time and temp were spot on. 12 perfect muffins. Yum.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Mary! I am so glad that your apple crumb muffins turned out well and that you enjoyed them. Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Stephanie
I just love your recipes! Do you mind me asking where you purchase those darling bakery type liners? So cute and look so professional!!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you, Stephanie! I am so glad that you enjoy my recipes. The liners used for most of my muffins are just cut-out squares of parchment paper. 🙂
Christina
The muffins were a hit , so light and fluffy and topping was soooo good. I grated the apple and my kids loved them
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the muffins so much, Christina! 🙂
Mindy
Love them. I would definitely make them again but I would make the into 14 or 15 muffins since they really puffed up and the crumble didnt stay on since the batter cam right up to the top of each muffin cup. I do like the topping and the taste of the muffin. I will definitely will cut up the apples next time since they were a bit big
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins Mindy! If they puffed up too high, maybe just fill the muffin tins a little bit less next time so they don’t go over the top. 🙂 I hope your next batch is better than the last. 🙂
Audrey
Great recipe! I used the muffin base that you used for your blueberry muffins (since it has better reviews, LOL) but followed your recipe for the rest. I also halved the crumble topping. It came out delicious! They were gone in less than two days 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the muffins Audrey! 🙂
Patti Lever
Easy recipe to follow but not one I’ll try again. The flavour is bland, not as fluffy or ‘cakey’ as I would prefer. I hardly ever cook with oil in my cakes or muffins, I use unsalted butter always and maybe that’s why I don’t like these muffins.
The recipe made for 12 muffins but the amount of ingredients for the crumble are way too much. Half would be enough to top the muffins. I now have half the amount left over.
These might work for someone who doesn’t like muffins too sweet (I liked that) but they aren’t “wow’ muffins.
Sam
Disappointed to hear they weren’t a hit for you, Patti! I know not everyone likes as much crumble as I do which is why I note in the recipe you can use half the amount. Did you use unsalted butter with this recipe or did you use the oil? I wasn’t sure from your comment.
Razina
I tend to agree…for some reason I missed this comment before attempting these. I found the crumble far too much for the recipe, and the muffin more bready than muffiny…also found it quite bland….unfortunate, but I wouldn’t suggest them for someone wanting a fluffy moist muffin. sorry 🙁
Nichole
Can i use almond milk instead of buttermilk?
Sam
Hi, Nichole! They probably won’t be as moist and tender if you do.
Margaret
Very good recipe! It was very dense, but the crumble was just amazing.