Easy Oaty Muffins With Fruit

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:

1. Soak the oats in milk. Prepare the remaining ingredients and line a baking tin with silicone or paper cups. Preheat the oven.
2. Make the muffin batter and add fruit.
3. 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