These easy bakery-style oaty muffins with fruit are just delicious. They are packed with flavour but also fibre and are perfect for breakfast, snacking and picnics!
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Why To Try These Oaty Muffins With Fruit
There are many good reasons why you should try making these muffins with oats and fruit:
- They are super easy – only take 15 minutes to prepare!
- These muffins are soft and fluffy, yet full of fibre and flavour.
- The recipe is budget-friendly and versatile, you can add various toppings according to what you have in your freezer or pantry.
- These oat muffins with fruit can be frozen, and are great for making ahead.
Key Ingredients For Berry Oat Muffins
There are only nine ingredients in this easy berry oat muffins recipe, and most of them can be found in your store cupboard or in the freezer:
- Oats are a fantastic source of fiber, protein and other important nutrients (ie. iron, manganese, magnesium, vitamin B1, selenium, zinc and more). Steel-cut oats (also known as porridge oats) are ideal for the batter.
- Fresh or frozen fruit – a mix of fresh or frozen berries (forest fruit), blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries or blackcurrant will work well in this recipe. Whilst fresh fruit is great to use in season, frozen fruit is less expensive and can be added straight from the freezer, no need to defrost (thaw) it beforehand. Add what is available to you and create your own combination of flavours (ie. blueberry and lemon). Rinse and dry fresh fruit before adding it to the recipe.
- Semi-skimmed milk is used for soaking the oats, and to ass moisture to the muffin batter.
- Plain flour is added to thicken the batter. Mix it with baking powder to make sure it rises well.
- A free-range egg helps bind all of the dry and wet ingredients together.
- Vegetable or sunflower oil gives the muffins a soft and fluffy texture and helps combine flavour together.
- Sugar adds a bit of sweetness. Granulated sugar or caster sugar will work.
- Vanilla extract provides these muffins with a touch of delicate flavour.
For exact measurements and instructions, please see the recipe card.
I love using frozen fruit in baking and cooking, as it is a way of serving good quality fruit for minimum expense. See more recipes that use frozen fruit: easy traybake with fruit, no-bake blueberry cheesecake, super easy pancakes with fruit, pancakes without added sugar.
Substitutes and Variations
Do not worry if you are short on any of the above ingredients, here are some helpful swaps:
- Use quick oats (instant oats) instead of porridge oats.
- Swap cow's milk for plant-based milk (ie. oat, almond, or soy).
- Swap vanilla extract for lemon zest.
- Add sweetener, honey or maple syrup instead of sugar.
Exact ratios for these substitutes are in the recipe card below.
Recipe Variations
As I mentioned before, this recipe for oaty muffins is very flexible! Add toppings and fruit according to what is available to you or what you fancy. Here are some tips for combinations that taste great:
- Blueberry and lemon – use fresh or frozen blueberries and lemon zest (instead of vanilla).
- Raspberry and chocolate – add fresh or frozen raspberries, and substitute part of them with white or milk chocolate chips.
- Apple and cinnamon – diced fresh apple and cinnamon are the perfect combo and taste great, especially in autumn (fall) and winter.
How To Make Oaty Muffins With Fruit
This recipe is ready in 3 simple steps:
- Soak the oats in milk. Prepare the remaining ingredients and line a baking tin with silicone or paper cups. Preheat the oven.
- Make the muffin batter and add fruit.
- Scoop the batter with oats and fruit into individual paper cups, and bake until fully risen and golden on top. Serve warm or cold.
Top Tips
- To create muffins that will rise beautifully, bake the muffins in a very hot oven for about 8-12 minutes first, then lower the temperature and bake them for further 15-25 minutes until baked trough. Keep the oven door closed for the first 25 minutes of baking.
- To help prevent the berries from sinking in the muffin batter, rolls them in some plain flour before adding to the batter.
Storage
These berry oat muffins will keep fresh for up to 2 days. Keep them covered or in a food container at room temperature.
You can also freeze these muffins with fruit. Wrap them in a resealable freezer bag or put them into an airtight food container and freeze them for up to 2 months.
Defrost them completely before serving - leave them on a countertop for two hours, or thaw them slowly in the fridge (this may take up to 12 hours).
Looking for more muffin recipes? Try these red velvet muffins with cream cheese frosting.
FAQs
These muffins with fruit will last for up to 2 days. Keep them covered or in an airtight food container at room temperature, there is no need to refrigerate them.
No. You can use frozen berries in this muffin recipe, they are indeed perfect for it. You can rinse frozen fruit under running cold water, but this isn’t necessary.
Muffins with oats are a healthier option compared to classic muffins. Oat muffins are richer in fiber and keep you fuller for longer, which makes them ideal for breakfast or as a snack.
📖 The Recipe
Oaty muffins with fruit
Ingredients
- 65 g porridge oats, or ¾ cup steel-cut oats
- 160 ml semi-skimmed milk
- 110 g plain flour
- 95 g sugar
- 1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 medium free-range egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 40 ml sunflower or vegetable oil, plus some for greasing the tin
- 200 g frozen fruit, forest berries mix or similar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220C/200C fan/390F. Mix together oats and milk. Leave to soak for 15mins.
- In the meantime: spray your muffin tin with cooking oil, or go over it with a paper towel soaked in a little bit (½tbsp) of cooking oil. OR, line your baking tin with silicone forms or paper muffin cups.
- Mix flour, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
- Add egg, vanilla extract and sunflower oil and stir. Add the oat and milk mixture and stir thoroughly until combined and gluten just starts to develop.
- Add fresh or frozen fruit and stir one more time.
- Using two tablespoons, scoop up the muffin batter into the prepared muffin cups or baking tin.
- Place the muffins in the middle of a preheated oven and bake at 220C/200C fan/390F for 8-12 minutes or until the muffins have risen. Lower the temperature to 200C/180C fan/355F and bake for further 15-25 minutes or until fully baked. Do not open the oven door for the first 25 minutes of baking.
- Test if the muffins are done: Prick them with a wooden skewer, if it comes out clean, it means they are baked thoroughly. If there are little bits of dough stuck to the skewer, bake them for few more minutes. Check again, leave to cool down and serve.
Notes
- quick oats (instant oats) - use ¾ cup,
- plant-based milk (1:1 ratio),
- lemon zest from 1 lemon,
- honey, maple syrup or sweetener instead of sugar - ratio according to your taste or follow instructions on the packet.
- These muffins will rise beautifully, if you bake them at a very high temperature first, and when they rise and start to turn golden, lower the temperature, keeping the oven door shut for at least the first 25 minutes into the baking process.
- To help prevent the berries from sinking in the muffin batter, rolls them in some plain flour before adding to the batter.
Azilde Elizabeth
😋 another delicious recipe for me to try!
Country Girl in London
Hello, thank you for reading! They are awesome, we already ate the second batch I made 🙈 Let me know how they were afterwards! 🙂 and happy Monday! x
Azilde Elizabeth
I bet! I can’t wait to make them! Happy Monday! ❤️
leenasind
These look great. Trying them tomorrow. Thank you for sharing
Country Girl in London
Brilliant, hope you'll like them! 🙂 Thanks for reading x
cookingwithshy
So good!! Fruits in muffins make them super moist and delicious!
Country Girl in London
Hi, thank you! That is very true! Personally, I prefer them to the chocolate versions. Which ones are your favourite?
cookingwithshy
I love blueberry and cranberries in my muffins:))
Country Girl in London
Ohh I haven't had cranberry ones yet, but they sound nice! 🙂
Richa Bhargava Mitra
They look sooo yumm and colorful 😋
Country Girl in London
Thank you! They are very tasty! 🙂