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Hi BB! Welcome to Healthy-ish January at Begin with Butter! I’ve been looking forward to this month and can’t wait to share what I’ve developed just for you. First up: whole wheat blueberry oat muffins that will positively knock your January socks off. These muffins can be an important part of a healthy-ish meal; they’re full of fiber, they’re 100% whole wheat, and, by the way, they’re undeniably and unbelievably delicious.
Listen, I refuse to post anything on my blog that doesn’t meet my standards. These muffins exceeded my expectations exponentially.
In this Post:
About These Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins
On cold winter mornings, there’s nothing like a warm, filling breakfast. But let’s face it. In January, while we want something filling, the options can often be…sub-optimal. Our palettes crave texture, and flavor, and satisfaction, and a lot of “healthy” options lack one (or more!) of those things that truly make us feel satisfied when we eat.
I don’t know about you, but those three qualities are the things that make me enjoy what I’m eating. And, whether it’s pound cake or kale salad, I must enjoy it.
Friends, that’s exactly why these whole wheat blueberry oat muffins have become my winter morning salvation! These beauties completely redefine what whole grain baking can be. Made with 100% whole white wheat flour, they achieve that dreamy, light-as-air texture you’d expect from your favorite bakery, while still delivering the wholesome goodness your body craves. Each warm bite brings you delightful bursts of sweet-tart blueberries, perfectly complemented by hearty oats that add just the right amount of satisfying texture.
What makes these muffins truly special is how they prove that wholesome doesn’t mean sacrificing flavor. With just the right amount of sweetness and the most incredible aroma of warm grains and berries filling your kitchen, they’re that perfect balance of treat and nourishment we’re all searching for in January. They’ll keep you cozy and satisfied through your morning without weighing you down. And that, dearest BB, is the Golden Ticket to satisfaction at any time of the year.
Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins: Recipe At-A-Glance
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
- 10 minutes for flax egg prep
- 10 minutes for milk souring
- 10 minutes for measuring and prepping remaining ingredients
Total Time: 45-50 Minutes
- Allow muffins to cool for 5-7 minutes after baking, then enjoy immediately
Equipment Needed
- Standard 12-cup muffin tin
- Mixing bowl set
- Small bowls or deli cups
- Digital kitchen scale
- Measuring spoons
- Small Whisk
- Spatula
- ¼ cup measuring cup, or standard ice cream scoop (~4 tablespoons) for portioning
- Cooling rack
- Oven thermometer
Key Times and Temperatures
- Bake Temperature: 375°F (13-18 minutes)
- Internal Temperature: 205°F
Yield: 12-18 Standard-Sized Muffins
- These can also be made into 19-24 mini muffins or 6-9 oversized muffins
Other Notes
- This recipe is written with flax eggs, but you can use two room-temperature chicken eggs
- Made with 100% whole wheat flour and old-fashioned oats
- This recipe can be fully vegan if you choose; check recipe notes!
- Best eaten warm
- Freezer-friendly for up to 2 months
- Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Ingredients in these Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins
When you understand the science of ingredients, you’re on your way to unlimited creativity with your baking! Let’s take a brief but fun trip to learn the scientific secrets behind each ingredient, so that you can not only make these muffins, but deepen your baking knowledge as a whole. 🧁
White Whole Wheat Flour: Made from hard white wheat berries, this flour gives us all the nutritional benefits of whole wheat with a lighter, less bitter taste than traditional red wheat flour. If you’re using hard red wheat flour instead, combine 113 grams (1 cup) wheat flour with 128 grams (1 cup) all-purpose flour for the perfect texture.
Leavening (Baking Soda & Baking Powder): Baking powder and baking soda work together not just to help our muffins rise beautifully, but also to promote that gorgeous golden-brown caramelization we love on top.
Kosher Salt: Beyond balancing sweetness, salt helps in developing gluten structure and enhancing all the flavors in our muffins. It’s a wonderful multi-tool, so make sure not to skip it!
Old-Fashioned Oats: Hearty oats aren’t just packed with fiber and protein – they team up with our whole wheat flour to create a satisfying breakfast that keeps you full all morning long.
Butter: At the beginning of the mixing, we mix melted butter with our sugar and stir until it’s lighter in color. If you’re using vanilla bean, you’ll want to add them to this mixture as well. Doing this pre-mix ensures a consistently-mixed muffin batter, without over-mixing.
Granulated Sugar: I gave this recipe a modest amount of sugar, while ensuring it’s just enough to help with browning and give a gentle sweetness. It’s all about balance!
Flax Meal + Water: When combined, these create our flax eggs, which are lower in cholesterol and higher in fiber than chicken eggs. Just remember to sift out those hulls before mixing – we want silky smooth flax eggs!
Chicken Eggs (Alternative): Not into flax eggs? No worries! Regular eggs work perfectly here too – just make sure they’re room temperature.
Vanilla: Whether you’re using extract or fresh vanilla bean, this ingredient enhances the natural sweetness of our blueberries and adds incredible depth of flavor. (If you’re wondering, I have a strong love for vanilla bean in this recipe!)
Milk: Whether you choose whole milk, 2%, or oat milk, they all bring different but equally delicious results to our muffins. Each option adds moisture and helps create that tender crumb we’re after.
Lemon Juice or Vinegar (apple cider or white vinegar): This ingredient works with any milk choice to create a DIY buttermilk, tenderizing our whole wheat flour and adding a subtle tang that makes these muffins extra special. I have a strong preference for lemon juice, but apple cider vinegar works too! You can use plain buttermilk, but there’s actually more acid in the milk/vinegar mixture than regular buttermilk, which leads to better tenderizing of the flour!
Blueberries: These little gems aren’t just bursts of natural sweetness – as they bake, they release moisture that helps create perfectly moist muffins.
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Techniques for Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins
Muffins and quick breads are an incredibly quick way to make an extremely efficient, delicious breakfast treat that can freeze beautifully and be available for multiple days! But there are a couple of notes that will help you avoid common pitfalls of making quick breads and working with whole wheat. Check out the video, below, for all of the techniques that will help you achieve confidence and success!
After the video, if you’re still wanting to learn more techniques (I love you for that btw), take a gander at the following resources. They cover so many fun techniques that will take your baking to the next level, and will allow your confidence to soar to new heights!
- Sifting: Quick Technique, Huge Impact
- Meet Your Kitchen BFF–Your Digital Kitchen Scale!
- Baking 101: How to Measure Ingredients
- Flax Eggs: A Multi-Tool for Vegan Baking
- The Role of Eggs in Your Baked Goods
- The Science of Sugar
These resources are super helpful as you’re building your baking skills. I hope you enjoy them!
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I keep these muffins from becoming dense?
Dense muffins mean over-mixed muffins. This happens when the flour has been mixed too much, causing too much gluten formation, and too much gluten formation means that the muffins will take on a bready texture. To avoid this, carefully fold the flour and the blueberries into the mixture.
Are these healthy? Or just “healthy-ish”?
These muffins are healthy-ish. While they use a healthier flour, oats, and flax eggs, they still use wheat flour, sugar, and butter. This isn’t a diet food, but it’s part of a balanced diet, and they’re designed to help you feel full longer than a traditional muffin would.
Got more questions? Feel free to send an email to bakingbestie@beginwithbutter.com and you’ll get a real answer from a real person! We’re here to help you improve your baking knowledge so that you can be a more confident baker with all of your future bakes!
The Recipe
Print
Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins
These Whole Wheat Blueberry Oat Muffins contain 100% white whole wheat flour, but they’re still deliciously fluffy! They’ll keep you full, longer, and they are a perfect addition to a healthy-ish lifestyle!
- Total Time: 45-50
- Yield: 12–18 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- 226 grams (2 cups) white whole wheat flour (I tested with King Arthur’s Golden Wheat Flour for this recipe, but there are a number of them available on Amazon) – see note about how to make this recipe with hard red wheat flour.
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 81 grams (1 cup) old-fashioned oats, plus more for topping the muffins
- 114 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled but still liquid (also works with vegan butter)
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons flax meal, hulls sifted out (see note about flax eggs and chicken eggs)
- 63 grams (1/4 cup) water
- 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, or 1/4 vanilla bean
- 188 grams (3/4 cup) whole or 2% milk (also works with oat milk)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice (apple cider vinegar works too, but lemon juice is best)
- 167 grams (3/4 cup) blueberries, fresh or frozen (not canned), plus more for topping the muffins
Instructions
- Heat your oven to a true 375°F. An oven thermometer will help you determine where you need to set your oven in order to reach this true temperature. (See note about why this true temperature is so important!)
- Add sifted flax meal and water to a small bowl. Stir well to combine. Allow to sit for about ten minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, while you prepare the other ingredients. (Want to learn more about flax eggs? Check out this blog post!)
- Combine milk and lemon juice in a small bowl. Allow to sit for ten minutes to “sour”.
- Place butter in a microwave safe bowl. Melt until just liquefied and allow to cool.
- Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add sugar and butter to a small bowl. If using a vanilla bean, add the vanilla beans to this bowl as well. Stir together until the mix is fully combined, the vanilla beans are distributed evenly, and the mixture is slightly lighter in color.
- Add the rest of the wet ingredients (flax eggs, vanilla extract if using, and “soured” milk) to the butter/sugar mixture. Whisk together until fully combined. The mixture should be lumpy at this point.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold together until fully combined. Make sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during folding so that there is no unmixed flour.
- Combine the blueberries and old-fashioned oats in a small bowl or deli cup. Stir to combine the oats with the blueberries. Fold the oats/blueberry mixture into the batter until they are evenly distributed. The muffin batter will be very thick at this point.
- Spray muffin pan with baking spray and brush each muffin cup to distribute the spray. (You can also use muffin liners, but I much prefer this method.)
- Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to add muffin batter to each prepared muffin cup. Finish by adding 2-3 more blueberries to the top of each muffin, and then a sprinkle of oats to the top of each muffin.
- Bake for 13-18 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and beautifully domed. Remove from the oven test for doneness: perfect doneness is 205°.
- Allow the muffins to rest in the muffin pan for 3-5 minutes, then remove immediately to a cooling rack. Enjoy the muffins while warm.
- Once fully cooled, freeze leftovers for up to two months. To reheat: place a muffin in the microwave for 45-60 seconds on 70% heat. Then, heat at 10-second intervals until the desired temperature is reached.
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
- Meal prepping? Make a double batch and freeze what you’re not going to eat immediately!
- I wrote this recipe for use with white wheat flour, since it’s a lighter wheat flour that’s made with hard white wheat instead of hard red wheat. If you’re using hard red wheat flour, write the recipe for 113 grams of hard red wheat flour and 128 grams of all-purpose flour to get the same effect.
- Flax eggs are lower cholesterol, lower in saturated fat, and add fiber to these muffins. But you can also add chicken eggs to this recipe and get an amazing result.
- The wet ingredient mixture might be lumpy and that’s to be expected. The final batter will be very thick and that’s to be expected too!
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 13-18 minutes
- Category: Breakfast and Brunch
Conclusion: Welcome to Healthy-ish Baking!
I’m really excited about these wonderful muffins, BB. They offer all of the qualities that make me feel so satisfied with my favorite breakfasts: they’re warm (which is important in January 🥶), they’re positively delicious, they’re texturally incredible, and they scent the kitchen with the most wonderful fragrance.
These blueberry muffins will be on steady rotation, this January and well beyond. I hope you love them!
When you make them, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @beginwithbutter! I can’t wait to see how you make them your own. ❤️
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Hi! I’m Shani!
My name is Shani Whisonant, and I’m the Chief Butter Ambassador and owner at Begin with Butter and the Begin with Butter Home Baking Academy. I’m serious about your baking achievement. 😊 Whether you’re here for a recipe or you’re wanting to solve a baking conundrum, I’m here to help you!