Wholesome and delicious Spiced Oatmeal Muffins are perfectly flavored with crunchy tops and pillowy centers, making them a delicious breakfast on-the-go or anytime snack!
I realize that there have been an overabundance of muffins shared on the blog over the past couple of weeks, but bear with me here...these Spiced Oatmeal Muffins are worth it! I wanted to make something yummy and easy for after-school snacks last week, and this recipe hit it out of the park.
What Makes Them So Good
These Oatmeal Muffins are not overly sweet and they have amazing texture. They're golden and crunchy on the outside yet pillowy and almost creamy on the inside (thanks to a secret step...see below!).
They're wholesome, loaded with protein- and fiber-rich oats.
And they're perfectly spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Let me just warn you that your kitchen will smell goooood while these babies are baking!
Ingredients
This oatmeal muffin recipe is made with pretty standard ingredients, but there's a special trick involving two of those ingredients that yields muffins with incredibly moist interiors.
The secret is soaking your rolled oats in buttermilk before stirring together the batter! If you have an hour to let them sit, great! But if not, 30 minutes will do just fine.
And be sure to use old-fashioned rolled oats (NOT quick oats) in this recipe for the best texture.
How to Make Buttermilk
But is it really necessary to use buttermilk, you may be asking? Can you just use milk if you don't have any buttermilk?
The answer is YES, you need to use buttermilk. Regular milk does not have enough acidity to start breaking down the oats during the soaking step.
Fortunately, if you don't have any buttermilk on hand, it's easy-peasy to make your own! For this particular recipe:
- Pour 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a 2-cup (or larger) liquid measuring cup.
- Fill the measuring cup up to the 2-cup line with milk. Whole milk is preferred but low-fat/skim milk will work.
- Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes until thickened and slightly curdled. Stir well before proceeding with recipe.
And that's it!
(Also, for future reference, the formula to make buttermilk is 1 tablespoon of acid for every 1 cup of milk.)
How to Make Oatmeal Muffins
So we already covered the first step:
- Stir rolled oats into buttermilk until well-combined, and allow to sit for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat the oven, line the muffin pans, and whisk together the dry ingredients.
- After the oats are finished soaking, mix in the brown sugar and the eggs. Stir in the melted butter and the vanilla, and then blend in the dry ingredients until just combined.
- Evenly divide the batter between muffin cups and pop in the oven.
- Bake until golden and ENJOY!
Substitutions & Add-Ins
You can boost the nutrition of these Spiced Oatmeal Muffins even more by making them with whole wheat pastry flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
I have also made this recipe gluten-free by using GF rolled oats plus a GF baking mix (I used Bob's 1-to-1) in place of flour.
Another nice thing about these oatmeal muffins is that you can jazz them up should you so desire.
- Tweak the spices to your liking...you could increase the cinnamon and/or decrease the nutmeg.
- While preparing the simple batter, feel free to stir in a cup of your favorite chopped nuts, raisins, or even chocolate chips (if you're feeling naughty).
- You can also sprinkle the tops with a shower of cinnamon sugar.
Or leave them perfectly plain like I did here today!
Nope...you really can't go wrong with these unassuming little gems.
So whether you need a quick, easy, on-the-go breakfast for busy school mornings (or teacher treats!), OR a relatively wholesome snack to boost energy throughout the day or welcome the kids home from school, a batch of these amazing Oatmeal Muffins will fit the bill.
And if you don't have kids and could care less about school-related recipes? Well, this recipe is for you, too. 😉
Indeed, Spiced Oatmeal Muffins FOR ALL!!!
More Yummy Muffin Recipes
Spiced Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups rolled oats, not quick oats
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 2 cups flour, all-purpose OR whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
OPTIONAL ADD-INS:
- 1 cup chopped nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir together oats and buttermilk. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line 22 to 24 muffin cups with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside.
- After oats have finished soaking, stir brown sugar and eggs into the oatmeal/buttermilk mixture. Mix in melted butter and vanilla, and then blend in flour mixture and optional add-ins (if using) until just combined.
- Evenly divide batter between prepared muffin cups. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until tops of muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool muffins in pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
EQUIPMENT NEEDED
Video
Notes
- If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by pouring 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a 2-cup (or larger) liquid measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup up to the 2-cup line with milk (whole milk is preferred but low-fat/skim milk will work). Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes and stir before proceeding with recipe.
Adapted from Food.com
Post originally published on August 25, 2015, and updated on February 20, 2020.
Lainey H.
LOVED these! Made as written with raisins -- perfect afternoon snack for me and the kids. Thanks for a great recipe!
Rose
Hi, Can you use neutral oil instead instead of butter?
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Rose! The short answer is yes. 🙂 I haven't tried it in this particular recipe, but I have swapped oil for butter in other muffin recipes and they've turned out fine. Just keep in mind that you'll lose the rich buttery flavor and the texture of your muffins could be slightly affected. Here's an article that gives a good summary of the swap...hope it helps!
Nonnie
2 questions. Can this recipe be halved and can they be frozen
Samantha Skaggs
Yes and yes! 🙂
Michelle
Can’t wait to try this recipe! I don’t usually have unsalted butter. Can I use regular buyer and use less salt?
Samantha Skaggs
Yes! 🙂
Lene' Burnett
Delicious! Followed the recipe, added a bit more cinnamon. Raisins and pecans went in. I made 12 perfect jumbo muffins. Baked about 25 minutes. A keeper, thank you!
Bunny
I'm wondering if you don't use all-purpose flour, wouldn't you need to add baking powder to the whole wheat pastry flour?
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Bunny! This recipe does call for both baking powder and baking soda, whether you use all-purpose flour or whole wheat pastry flour. Neither all-purpose flour nor pastry flour have any raising agents added to them (like self-rising flour does). Hope that helps! 🙂
Debra Addley
have tried many oatmeal muffin recipes but not happy and this one looks great but I don't normally have buttermilk on hand, can it be substituted with milk, suggestions please.
Samantha Skaggs
Hi Debra! This recipe does require buttermilk to help break down the oats during the soaking step, which is what gives these muffins such a lovely consistency.
If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by pouring 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or white vinegar) into a 2-cup (or larger) liquid measuring cup. Fill the measuring cup up to the 2-cup line with milk (whole milk is preferred but low-fat/skim milk will work). Allow to sit for 5 to 10 minutes and stir before proceeding with recipe.
Hope that helps! 🙂
Bethany Collins
The flavour and texture is superb, but they WAY overcooked in 15 minutes. The bottoms were completely blackened with the oven temp at 400!!! Going to try again and turn the oven down to 350.
Samantha Skaggs
Sorry to hear these muffins burned on the bottom for you, Bethany! I always bake them at 400 with no issues and, based on comments from others, it seems that they do as well. At any rate, ovens can certainly vary, so yes...turning down your oven next time may help avoid this problem. 🙂
Candace
These were delicious! I made 20 and baked for 17 minutes. I also added the 1 cup of chopped pecans. I liked that they weren’t sweet. Yum! Yum!
Susan H
These turned out just great. I love spicy muffins, so maybe indulged a little extra spice to mine. Texture was great. They were gone in a few days. (Shared with friends, it makes plenty!) Played a bit with the recipe today....made cocoa, banana and candied orange peel additions, 1/2 butter, 1/2 oil, and..I was out of brown sugar, so used white.
Mama G
Delicious, nutritious. I’ve made these a number of times and shared them with my family. Freeze well!