Use applesauce to add moisture, flavor and subtle sweetness to a simple muffin. These Simple Applesauce Muffins are topped with an oatmeal crumb for the perfect snack or breakfast. They are incredibly moist and perfectly sweet!
When I think of muffins I sometimes think of them as kid food because they are easy to eat and break apart. That may be true, but when I tried these muffins with applesauce I knew adults would love them too!
The applesauce makes the muffins super moist without using a ton of oil. When you take your first bite you taste the streusel crumb topping, but then the applesauce puree hits you at the end with a burst of fresh flavor.
Why This Applesauce Muffin Recipe Rocks
There are plenty of reasons why these will become your new favorite muffins; here are my favorites.
- Full of flavor – These delightful muffins are full of both apple and cinnamon flavor. Warm spices making them perfect for fall.
- Simple ingredients – In fact, you might already have all of these ingredients on hand already. I do have small kiddos, so applesauce is always a staple.
- Great grab-and-go breakfast – Need a quick breakfast? These aren’t just for little hands- they are great for breakfast on-the-go. They are freezer friendly and can be taken out one at a time.
- Topping! – Streusel is basically like sauce for a muffin. Meaning they are all better with it. This chewy oat topping pairs perfectly with the other Earthy flavors.
Applesauce Muffin Recipe Ingredients
All of these simple ingredients can easily be found at your local grocery store if you don’t already have them.
- Applesauce – you can use homemade applesauce or one from the store! I prefer to use unsweetened applesauce for a muffin that is not super sweet. You can also use it in applesauce cake or chocolate brownies with applesauce!
- Eggs and oil – use one egg and a neutral vegetable oil for these muffins. Feel free to use a flax egg to make these muffins vegan.
- Brown sugar – add just a bit of brown sugar to these muffins to sweeten them.
- Ground cinnamon – cinnamon compliments the applesauce perfectly. You can also use ground nutmeg and cloves for extra flavor.
- Salt and baking soda – make sure to use salt to bring out the flavor of the apple sauce.
- Vanilla extract – feel free to double the vanilla extract for this recipe or add a splash of maple extract into the batter as well.
- All purpose flour – If you want to make these applesauce muffins gluten free, use a 1:1 gluten free flour substitute that is a replacement for all purpose flour.
- Crumb topping – mix rolled oats, brown sugar, oil and cinnamon together to make a simple crumb topping. Then, spoon it over the muffins just before baking!
How to Make Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins
These muffins are so easy to make, they’re great for getting the kids involved in the kitchen to help you.
- Prepare the batter. Prepare homemade applesauce or open a jar from the store. Mix apple sauce, oil, room temperature egg, brown sugar and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined. Fold four, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in the wet ingredients with a spatula.
- Prepare the crumb topping. To prepare the crumb topping, mix rolled oats with brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix until the sugar and cinnamon are evenly distributed through the oats. Pour in oil and mix again. The brown sugar and oats should clump together slightly.
- Bake until golden brown. Line a muffin tin with liners or grease thoroughly with cooking spray. Evenly distribute batter into muffin pan. Sprinkle a bit of the crumb topping onto each applesauce muffin. Place in the oven and bake until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.. Allow to cool before serving.
Easy Applesauce Muffin Modifications
This recipe is fairly simple, SO you can customize it and make it your own with fun mix-ins.
- Nuts – If you are a fan of nuts, I recommend chopped walnuts or pecans or a mix of both. The nuts will add a delicious crunch.
- Dried fruit – For a trail mix style muffin, stir in dried cranberries or raisins along with the chopped nuts. You could even add some chopped dates or chopped dried apricots.
- Mix up the sauce – You can even try using pear sauce or apple cranberry sauce instead of applesauce
- Topping – Another fun variation is to drizzle the streusel tops with my powdered sugar icing recipe. Of course there is good old butter, but also try our pumpkin butter recipe for more fall flavor.
Storage and Freezing
How to Store Applesauce Muffins
Store these muffins at room temperature in an airtight container for a couple of days. Store in the fridge to keep them for up to a week.
I like to cut them in half and reheat them in the air fryer. Then, I spread peanut butter or almond butter on top! My son loves them with a hefty dollop of butter and sprinkle of sea salt.
Can I Freeze Apple Puree Muffins?
These applesauce muffins freeze very well. Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw them all together or one at a time either at room temperature or in the refrigerator.
Muffins with Applesauce FAQs
Adding applesauce to muffins adds moisture, tenderness, and natural sweetness to the baked goods.
Yes, applesauce can be used as a substitute for eggs or oil in baking for moisture and richness, but eggs play multiple roles in baking, including providing structure, moisture, leavening, and richness to baked goods so this recipe also uses one egg and as well vegetable oil as a fat.
More Muffin Recipes
Muffins are a great grab and go breakfast. Here are a few of our favorites that we know you’ll love too.
Carrot Cake Muffins
Pancake Muffin Recipe
Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins
Applesauce Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 1 cup applesauce
- 1 egg
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup brown sugar , packed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Crumb Topping:
- ½ cup rolled oats (aka quick cooking oats)
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Whisk the applesauce, egg, vegetable oil, brown sugar and vanilla together in a large mixing bowl.
- Fold the flour, baking soda, ground cinnamon and salt into the wet ingredients with a spatula.
- In a separate bowl, prepare the crumb topping. Mix the rolled oats, brown sugar and cinnamon. Mix in the vegetable oil.
- Pour the muffin batter into a 12 slot lined or greased muffin tin. Top each muffin with the crumb topping.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how you liked them in the comments or star ratings!
Nutrition
Connie says, Muffins are delicious. Great recipe! Added 1/3 cup chopped walnuts the second time I made it!
Muffins are delicious. Great recipe! Added 1/3 cup chopped walnuts the second time I made it!
it was excellent [did not have oil so I used one one half cup of melted margarine also added 1/2 cup of mini choc chips also margarine in topping
These muffins looks so delicious and easy to bake. Can’t wait to try it out.
These muffins came out perfectly! They had just the right sweetness and were super moist. Definitely worth making a batch!
OMG! These were amazing! That apple cinnamon flavor with that crumb topping was delicious. My family devoured them in minutes. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
I love the addition of applesauce in these muffins! It is perfect!
Beautiful muffins. The texture looks amazing. I have to give them a try asap. I’m going to bake them this weekend. Thanks for the recipe.
I just need to make a big batch of these – these muffins are just too good. Yum!