Oatmeal Muffins are a hearty (if not glamorous) breakfast muffin. Soft and moist thanks to a blend of oil and butter and a splash of buttermilk. Textured with oats, and full of flavor thanks to brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
With a hearty texture reminiscent of an oatmeal cookie, these oatmeal muffins are a classic, reliable muffin that’s likely to join the ranks of your favorite breakfast staples (buttermilk pancakes, anyone?). Be sure to check out the how-to video below the recipe!
We’re about due for a new muffin recipe around here.
How about a good, solid, reliable oatmeal muffin. Sure, it might not be the most glamorous (it’s no fluffy frosted cinnamon roll, after all), but is still sure to brighten up your Monday morning.
It’s a practical muffin with practical ingredients. A blend of butter and oil for the best flavor and moisture. A generous splash of buttermilk (or this buttermilk substitute) for flavor and tenderness. An extra egg white for extra rise and a nice proud muffin top (let’s give ourselves a point for extra protein, too). Generously flavored with molasses-rich brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Oh, and who could forget that glorious mountain of streusel topping (recipe for that adapted from the top of my favorite coffee cake). This oatmeal muffin is sounding more and more glamorous by the minute, now that I think of it.
Tips for Making Oatmeal Muffins
If you’ve tried some of my other muffin recipes (my chocolate chip muffins, by chance?), these tips might not be new to you. They’re important, though, and bear repeating.
Measure your flour with a light hand
If you are using cups (rather than weights), never scoop your flour directly into your measuring cup. This increases your chance of over-measuring your flour, leaving you with too dense, too dry oatmeal muffins. Instead, stir your flour and spoon it into your measuring cup, then level off the cup with the back of a knife. Even better, get a kitchen scale (this is the one I use, inexpensive and accurate, affiliate link), this was a game changer for me!
Don’t over-mix your ingredients!
Over-mixing is one of the cardinal sins of muffin and cake-making. Stir your ingredients too thoroughly and you’ll end up with dense, dry results. Your dry and wet ingredients should be combined gently and hand-stirred (use a spatula or spoon, and never an electric mixer) and noticing a few fine flour streaks in the batter is fine.
Oh, and another cardinal sin: over-baking. Even a minute or two too long in the oven can degrade the end result. Make sure your oven isn’t running hot and always start with just a little less baking time than you think you need. You can always add another minute or two to the end.
Two oven temperatures is better than one
We start our oatmeal muffins in a hot, 425F oven and then after a few minutes (without opening the oven door) we drop that temperature to 350F to complete the baking process. Baking our muffins this way allows the batter to begin to rise, and then dropping the temperature allows the interiors of your muffins to finish cooking without drying out. This gives us tall muffin tops and soft, moist centers.
What Kind of Oats Should I Use for Oatmeal Muffins?
I tried this recipe with both old fashioned and instant oats and it works both ways, with just subtle differences.
Using old fashioned oats will make your muffins overall lighter and slightly fluffier, but you’ll have more of a chewy texture from the oats. They’re more… noticeable… in every bite. That’s not a bad thing, just worth noting!
Using instant oats will make your oatmeal muffins a bit denser (the oats in general will make them more dense than your typical muffin) but I found that, if I had to choose, I preferred the finer texture that resulted from using instant oats.
Enjoy!
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Be sure to check out my Oatmeal Muffin Recipe VIDEO just below the recipe! If you enjoy these videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube Channel so you can be the first to see all of my cooking videos <3
Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- ¼ cup melted butter (57g)
- ¼ cup canola oil may substitute vegetable oil (60ml)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar (150g)
- ¼ cup sugar (50g)
- 1 large egg + 1 egg white room temperature preferred
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup buttermilk room temperature preferred (120ml) **click link for an easy buttermilk substitute**
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch cornflour in UK
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg optional
- 1 cup old fashioned or instant oats* (70g)
Oatmeal Streusel
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
- ⅓ cup oats
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar tightly packed (66g)
- 1/3 cup sugar (66g)
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 Tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (215C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners.
- Combine melted butter and canola oil in a large bowl. Add sugars and stir well.
- Stir in eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg. Add oats and stir again until combined.
- Gently stir ingredients together using a spatula until just combined.
- Divide batter into prepared pan, filling liners 3/4 of the way full.
- Prepare your streusel topping
Streusel Topping
- Prepare streusel by whisking together flour, oats, sugars and cinnamon.
- Pour the melted butter into the mixture and, using a fork, stir until crumbles form.
- Using your hands, evenly divide streusel over muffin batter, piling the crumbly streusel over the batter and gently pressing the topping into the batter.
- Transfer to 425F (215C) oven and bake for 8 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 350 (175C) and bake another 12 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to turn golden brown.
- Allow to cool and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More Muffin Recipes You Might Like:
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Caryl Cammer says
Can raisins be added with no adjustments?
Sam says
Hi, Caryl. I think that would work just fine. 🙂
Cindy W says
Can I use steel cut oats? and do I really need to use the streusel topping?
thanx
Sam says
You can go without the streusel, the muffins just may need a little less time in the oven 🙂
I haven’t tried with steel cut oats so I can’t say for sure. I’m guessing they could be pretty tough and chewy in the muffins so I’m not sure I’d recommend it, but if you try them out please let me know how it works!
Karen says
What if I don’t have dark brown sugar? Can I use light brown sugar? Just wondering why you use cornstarch in the UK?
Sam says
Hi, Karnen. You can use dark brown sugar. The corn starch really helps with the texture of these muffins. 🙂