These moist and fluffy Healthy Chocolate Muffins are made with oats instead of flour, and include wholesome ingredients like Greek yogurt and pure maple syrup for a mindful treat!
When I was a kid, those huge chocolate muffins from Costco were my idea of a real dreamboat. Incredibly rich, sweet, and moist, the texture alone could launch a thousand ships!
These highly addictive and loveable jumbo muffins disappeared quickly when my parents bought them, as my siblings were equally obsessed, and our healthy competitive nature meant eating what we could before the others could stake a claim.
Well the good news is I’m here with a chocolate muffin recipe that scratches the itch for sultry chocolate cake-like muffins without an ounce of guilt.
The main ingredients for this chocolate muffin recipe are oats, cocoa powder, eggs, Greek yogurt, avocado oil, unsweetened applesauce, pure maple syrup, and chocolate chips.
All of these wholesome ingredients combined yields moist, fluffy muffins that are perfectly sweet and loaded with chocolate flavor without being overly indulgent.
While they don’t taste like chocolate cupcakes, so you’d never guess they are made with better for you ingredients!
Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for chocolate muffins in detail!
Chocolate Muffin Ingredients:
Quick Oats: Whole grain oats replaces all-purpose flour for a slower burning carbohydrate. Quick cooking oats, instant oats, old fashioned oats and rolled oats all work.
For gluten-free chocolate muffins, be sure to use certified gluten-free oats. I use gluten-free sprouted oats.
Cocoa Powder: Much of the chocolate flavor comes from unsweetened cocoa powder. I like using raw cacao powder for creamier flavor as opposed to bittersweet chocolate flavor, but any kind of unsweetened cocoa powder works to make double chocolate muffins.
Eggs: A couple of whole eggs help the muffin batter rise, resulting in a moist crumb and fluffy texture. I haven’t tested the recipe using an egg replacer like flax eggs, although I suspect the muffins would turn out dense.
Plain Greek Yogurt: Bringing moisture and a little boost of protein, unsweetened plain yogurt is a lovely ingredient in baked goods.
Avocado Oil: Every amazing baked good includes some form of fat. I love using avocado oil due to its neutral flavor and its healthy fat content. It is my preference over vegetable oil or canola oil, as seed oils contain omega 6 fatty acids and is pro-inflammatory.
Unsweetened Applesauce: Applesauce serves a two part purpose. First, it adds moisture to the chocolate muffins, and imparts a slight natural sweetness. I love that this ingredient adds to the moist texture without adding extra fat.
The applesauce does impart a slight fruity flavor so you can replace it with 2/3 cup of your favorite milk (whole milk, oat milk, coconut milk, etc.) if you’d prefer.
Pure Maple Syrup: Taking the place of regular cane sugar, pure maple syrup is a great natural sweetener.
Baking Powder: The leavening agent here. Baking powder contributes to the fluffy texture and ensures the muffins bake evenly.
Ground Cinnamon & Instant Coffee Powder: While these two ingredients are optional, they add a unique flavor to the muffins. Cinnamon brings warm spice and instant coffee or instant espresso powder adds richness and makes the muffins taste more chocolatey.
Sea Salt: Salt enhances flavors, giving the muffins a richer chocolate flavor. It also makes baked goods taste sweeter without the need for excess sugar.
Chocolate Chips: The supporting actor to cocoa powder, semi-sweet chocolate chips add a gooey texture to the muffins with pockets of sweet chocolate goodness.
You can use any kind of chocolate chips you enjoy here. Sugar-free chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips help keep the sugar content lower.
Milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, and white chocolate chips work too if you want to get fancy.
There are several different ways you can customize these delicious chocolate muffins! Here are some options.
Recipe Customizations:
- Replace the pure maple syrup with ½ cup of white sugar or brown sugar.
- Use 1 ¾ cups of oat flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour in place of the oats.
- Add ⅔ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans for a nutty crunch.
- Replace the Greek yogurt with sour cream or with more unsweetened applesauce.
- Use melted coconut oil or olive oil to replace the avocado oil. Melted butter works too, though I recommend using 10 tablespoons instead of 8.
- Mash up 4 ripe bananas to replace the applesauce if you love chocolate banana muffins. This will also make sweeter muffins.
- Replace the applesauce with 2/3 cup of non-dairy milk such as almond milk or oat milk.
Now that we’ve covered the basic ingredients for this healthy chocolate muffin recipe, let’s make it!
How to Make Chocolate Muffins:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with muffin papers.
Transfer the oats to a high-powered blender and blend on low speed until a flour forms, about 20-30 seconds.
Add the cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, instant coffee powder, baking powder, and sea salt (remaining dry ingredients) to the blender with the oat flour and blend until all of the dry ingredients are combined.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, Greek yogurt, avocado oil, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract until the wet ingredients are well combined.
Transfer the flour mixture to the bowl with the wet mixture and mix until a smooth batter forms.
Add the chocolate chips into the muffin batter and mix well.
Fill the muffin holes up all the way with chocolate muffin batter. If you’d like, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with extra chocolate chips.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20-23 minutes, or until the muffins are fully baked. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of a muffin to test its internal temperature.
Muffins are cooked through when they reach and internal temperature of 190 degrees F. The ideal temperature for baked goods for the best results is between 190 and 205 degrees F. This tip ensures you end up with moist muffins that are perfectly cooked and prevents dry muffins.
Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack. I use my stove top which has large grates for plenty of air flow.
Allow the muffins to cool completely before attempting to peel off the muffin liners to eat. If you try peeling off the paper liners while the muffins are still warm, you will loose much of the muffin to the paper.
Storage Tips:
- Room Temperature: Store the muffins at room temperature in an airtight container or a zip lock bag for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerator: Store leftover muffins in a sealed container or large zip lock for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Freeze muffins in a freezer bag or large ziplock bag for up to 3 months.
The next time your sweet tooth is demanding something fluffy and chocolatey, bake up a batch of these oatmeal chocolate muffins! They taste even better the next day after they have had a chance to set up.
Heat one these easy chocolate muffins in the microwave with a pat of butter for a flavor extravaganza.
I find muffin recipes like this are perfect for putting on constant rotation to honor the chocolate craving in a mindful manner. They are the best chocolate muffins to both entertain your love for chocolate and keep a healthy diet.
If you love healthy muffin recipes, also try out these reader favorites!
More Healthy Muffins:
- Grain-Free Morning Glory Muffins
- Healthy Sweet Potato Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Banana Baked Oatmeal Muffins
- Blueberry Protein Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
Chocolate bliss for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do!
Healthy Chocolate Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick oats or rolled oats
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon optional
- 1 tsp instant coffee or espresso powder, optional
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup unsweetened applesauce *
- 1 (5.3-oz) container plain Greek yogurt (a scant ½ cup)
- ⅔ cup avocado oil
- ½ cup pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract optional
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a muffin pan with muffin papers.
- Transfer the oats to a high-powered blender and blend on low speed until a flour forms, about 20-30 seconds.
- Add the cocoa powder, ground cinnamon, instant coffee powder, baking powder, and sea salt (remaining dry ingredients) to the blender with the oat flour and blend until all of the dry ingredients are combined.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, Greek yogurt, avocado oil, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract until the wet ingredients are well combined.
- Transfer the flour mixture to the bowl with the wet mixture and mix until a smooth batter forms.
- Add the chocolate chips into the muffin batter and mix well.
- Fill the muffin holes up 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full with chocolate muffin batter. If you’d like, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with extra chocolate chips. This recipe makes 15 muffins, unless you fill the holes all the way up, in which case it makes 12. If you have two muffin trays, you can bake them at the same time, otherwise, you can make two batches of muffins.
- Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 20-23 minutes, or until the muffins are fully baked. Insert a digital thermometer into the center of a muffin to test its internal temperature. Muffins are cooked through when they reach and internal temperature of 190 degrees F. The ideal temperature for baked goods for the best results is between 190 and 205 degrees F. This tip ensures you end up with moist muffins that are perfectly cooked and prevents dry muffins. Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffin tin to a wire rack. I use my stove top which has large grates for plenty of air flow.
- Allow the muffins to cool completely before attempting to peel off the muffin liners to eat. If you try peeling off the paper liners while the muffins are still warm, you will loose much of the muffin to the paper.
Notes
Nutrition
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