Easy and healthy Bran Muffins! Packed with fibre-rich wheat bran, low sugar, and high flavour.
I love me a solid healthy muffin recipe! I have a tough time getting through each week putting processed food into my kids lunch boxes that I’ve slowly been rotating different healthy muffin recipes, quick breads, and other snacks.
This Bran Muffin recipe is our latest favourite. It’s kid-approved (by all 3 kids, a small miracle if you ask me) and it comes together in about 10-15 minutes (100% depends on if you let your kids help make them or not).
Plus, it’s got fibre rich wheat bran in it. This means these little tasty muffins will keep you (and your kids) full for longer.
I took a lot of adapting a few different recipes across the internet, although at the end of the day, I adapted this recipe for this post. It’s speedy, requires no special equipment beyond a spoon, bowl, and muffin tin.
These bran muffins retain a wonderful crumb and the perfect level of sweetness in a hearty muffin – just enough to make the flavours come together. It is not your typical bakery muffin loaded with sugar and butter.
I used unsweetened apple sauce and some coconut oil to replace the vegetable oil component and I heavily reduced the sugar quantity. Part of the reason for reducing the sugar is that the recipe I adapted from originally used a TON of sugar – it’s completely unnecessary in a recipe like this.
The apple sauce gives moisture and acts as binding agent as well. I find apple sauce generally sweet so replacing most of the oil with apple sauce helped with the sugar reduction as well.
Where are the blueberries?! Or raisins?! I know. These bran muffins must seem “plain” until you taste one.
If you need to add a little something extra lots of options exist form blueberries (fresh or frozen), raisins, or even orange zest with dried cranberries. Lots of ways to change up this recipe if anyone ever tires of it.
Have oat bran and no wheat bran? Simply switch at the same measurement for a perfect oat bran muffin.
More healthy muffin recipes we love and bake often:
- School-Safe Mini Muffins – 5 ways
- Healthier Chocolat Zucchini Muffins
- Mini Blueberry Buckwheat Muffins
- Savoury Quinoa Frittata Muffins
Easy and healthy Bran Muffins! Packed with fibre-rich wheat bran, low sugar, and high flavour.
- 1 1/2 cups wheat bran or oat bran
- 1 cup buttermilk*** or plant-based buttermilk
- 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 tbsp coconut oil or other vegetable oil such as canola
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour or whole grain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
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Preheat oven to 375° F and grease or line with muffin liners a standard 12 cup muffin tin.
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Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk, let sit while preparing other ingredients.
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In a large bowl, whisk together apple sauce, oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add bran/buttermilk mixture.
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Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir until just combined**.
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Spoon batter equally into muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tester (toothpick) comes out clean.*
* muffins will last 5-7 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
** if you’re a diehard raisin fan, here’s where you would add 1/2 cup. Dried cranberries would also be yummy with a teaspoon of orange zest added in as well. Or in the warmer months, Blueberries (fresh or frozen) would be a dream!
*** I simply add 1 tsp of lemon juice and top with milk to make 1 cup (250 ml) of buttermilk. Let sit for 5 minutes for the lemon juice (acid) to activate. This can be done with swapping out unsweetened soy or almond milk for the dairy milk. I don’t often buy buttermilk unless a recipe calls for it in large quantities.
Enjoy! xo
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