These cinnamon-spiced blueberry protein muffins with orange zest will be your new favorite breakfast. Naturally sweetened to prevent sugar-highs in the morning, they’re a perfect on-the-go bite with subtle hints of fruitiness.
Easy Blueberry Protein Muffins
If you love dessert-like breakfasts, these freshly baked blueberry muffins are for you. They’ll fill your kitchen with a zesty, cinnamon-packed aroma. Sweetened with bananas, honey, and applesauce, they’ll also pack your mornings with fruity energy. A bit of creamy yogurt and vanilla protein powder help keep you full too. Ready in 28 minutes, these fluffy muffins are a quick and easy morning bite.
Why You’ll Love These High Protein Blueberry Muffins
These easy blueberry protein muffins are a great excuse to have dessert for breakfast.
- No processed sugars. There’s no need for granulated or processed sugars in this recipe.
- Fruity. Plump blueberries, applesauce, and bananas add natural sweetness and a bit of tartness.
- Great for on-the-go. Pop the muffins into Ziploc bag on your way out for an easy on-the-go breakfast.
- Better than the bakery. Make a chocolate batter, add matcha, or crunchy shredded coconut for more flavor.
Recipe Ingredients
Applesauce, mashed bananas, and honey are used as natural sweeteners for the batter. Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact amounts.
- Oatmeal flour – Make your own by processing quick oats until super fine.
- Almond flour – Don’t swap it for coconut flour or any other plant-based flour because the muffins’ texture will change.
- Egg whites – Carton egg whites can be used here.
- Greek yogurt – Plain unsweetened yogurt works too.
- Applesauce – Make sure it’s unsweetened.
- Honey – Maple syrup and agave nectar are great swaps.
- Vanilla extract – You can use almond extract instead.
- Bananas – Ripe bananas are best for this.
- Vanilla protein powder – It can be whey or plant-based.
- Cinnamon – Feel free to use ground nutmeg.
- Baking powder – Make sure it hasn’t expired before adding it in.
- Baking soda – Sieve it if it’s clumped together.
- Zest – Orange or lemon zest both work.
- Blueberries – Use fresh or frozen (thawed).
How To Make Blueberry Protein Muffins
They’re as easy as making a box-mix. Just mix and bake! Scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of the post for more detailed instructions.
- Prep the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Fill the muffin tray with liners and grease lightly with cooking spray. Don’t add too much because the muffins will turn out oily.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Combine the egg whites, yogurt, applesauce, honey, vanilla extract, and mashed banana in a large bowl until smooth.
- Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk the oatmeal flour, almond flour, protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and zest in a separate bowl.
- Make the batter. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined.
- Fill the tray. Add batter to each liner until 3/4s full. Top each one with 8 blueberries, without pushing them into the batter. They’ll begin to sink once in the oven.
- Bake them. Pop the tray into the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven once a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let them cool for 10-15 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Tips & Variations
These blueberry protein muffins with sweet bananas can easily beat your favorite bakery ones by adding pecans or earthy matcha.
- Use add-ins. Fold in 1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or shredded coconut into the batter for extra flavor and texture.
- Make them chocolatey. Swap the vanilla protein for a chocolate one and stir 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips into the batter for chocolatey, dessert-like muffins.
- Leave it alone. Once the muffins are in the oven, don’t open the oven door until they’re ready. Opening and closing the door changes the internal temperature and will affect the muffins’ texture, so they could turn out rubbery.
- Add matcha. Stir 1-2 tablespoons matcha powder into the dry ingredients for a blueberry-matcha muffin variation.
- Skip the liners. Grease the muffin tray with non-stick spray to reduce waste but also prevent the muffins from sticking. If you don’t want to take any chances, make parchment paper cutouts and place the circles along the bottom of each cavity in the tray.
Serving Suggestions
These fluffy blueberry protein muffins are an easy breakfast option. Enjoy them with your favorite coffee like my Iced Coffee or Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. You can also pair them with Avocado Toast with Egg or Omelet Crepe Style for a heartier meal.
Proper Storage
Microwave them for 10-20 seconds for a freshly-baked feel again.
- Fridge: Place them in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Set them on the counter for 5-10 minutes before digging in.
- Freezer: Transfer them to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or set the muffins on the counter for 20-30 minutes.
More Muffin Recipes To Try
- Pumpkin Spice Protein Muffins
- Apple Pie Protein Muffins
- Lemon Raspberry Muffins
- Banana Protein Muffins
Blueberry Protein Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin Tin
Ingredients
- 1 cup oatmeal flour quick oats ground in food processor
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 3 egg whites
- 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 medium banana peeled and mashed
- 3 scoops Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon orange zest or lemon zest
- 1 cup fresh organic blueberries or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Place liners in one muffin pan and lightly spray with organic baking spray.
- In a large bowl combine egg whites, yogurt, applesauce, honey, vanilla extract and mashed banana.
- In a second bowl combine oatmeal flour, almond meal, vanilla whey protein powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and orange zest.
- Combine flour mix and egg mix together until smooth.
- Fill each tin 3/4 of the way full, spreading evenly.
- Place about 8 blueberries on top spreading evenly over top of each filled muffin batter. Do NOT push blueberries down into batter.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
Hi Amy,
How would you modify the recipe if you wanted to use unflavoured protein powder?
Thanks,
Audrey
Audrey, No modification. You could add a 1/4 teaspoon more of vanilla extract to ensure the flavor, but otherwise you will have no problems with consistency. Best, Amy
Thanks, Amy! I wondered if I would need to add more sweetner as most vanilla flavoured protein powder is sweetned whereas unflavoured is not.
Hi these look awesome! Can I substitute the almond flour with oat flour to make it all oat flour?? Thank you!
Hi Alexis,
You can substitute and use all oat flour, but it will change the flavor and consistency of the muffins. When I wrote this recipe I was trying to get rid of that “spongey” consistency and I need the Almond flour to do that + I liked the added flavor. If you don’t mind that consistency, substitute away. Amy
I tried the recipe. I need to read labels more thoroughly though. My whey protein and yogurt had sucralose in them, which I don’t mind so much for me, but my kids are begging for some. I found a different recipe for them. Hopefully it works out. These didn’t turn out so well for me. I’m not good at baking. They were a little burnt around the edges. What I did taste after peeling off the edges was okay. I’m not used to oat flour and whey.
Can I substitute anything for the almond flour?
Hi Katie,
You could use gluten free flour (which I would recommend), or you can substitute a mix of 2 tablespoons tapioca flour and 2 tablespoons of coconut flour. Both substitutes will change the flavor of the muffins. Hope one of these work for you. Amy
Hi! Are you measuring the oats after they have been ground or adding a cup of whole oats to the processor and then taking those as the cup? Just wondering what order to work with! Also, my protein powder is without flavor so how much vanilla extract would you consider adequate to get the flavor benefit?
Thank you!
Brittany, You measure the oats, then process. Best, Amy
I was really hoping that these would be good. But they didn’t work for me. The texture is a little coarser than what I’d like in a muffin, but that could be because my oatmeal wan’t ground finely enough. Also, it is barely sweet, to the point that my husband had to eat them with jam/honey on the side. Maybe the taste will improve with refrigeration.
Veena,
Sorry to hear you didn’t like my muffins. Not sure why they were “coarse” the oatmeal should be a powder consistency after being ground up, and the blueberries should offer plenty of sweetness. Amy
Does anyone know if I can fold in the blueberries into the mix at the end instead of just putting them at the top of the mix in the pan?? I would like the blueberries to be throughout the whole muffin.
Hi Kelsie, The reason you want to put the blueberries on the top is because they sink while baking. They will end up more evenly distributed in the batter. If you mix them in the batter before baking they will all end up at the bottom of the muffin. Best, Amy
Kelsie, i wasn’t paying attention when i made them and mixed my frozen blueberries in the batter. I didn’t notice if the sank. They were still yummy!
Made these this morning; turned out great! Always looking for high-protein and gluten-free breakfast options for on the go! They stuck a bit to my paper wrappers so I’ll try something different next time. Planning to freeze these so i have them handy when i need them.
Any other flavors in the works? I was wondering about omitting the blueberries, replacing half of the applesauce with pumpkin and adding pumpkin pie spice? Or trying raspberries instead of the blueberries and upping the lemon zest?
Thanks for the great recipe!
This is my go to protein muffin recipe; I can’t begin to explain how delicious these are I’ve made these on numerous occasion all of which turned out delicious ….I’m especially fun of the hint of or orange that hits the taste buds….I always follow the recipe to a T an always will( need no changes).
Thanks for such a great clean recipe
Hi Aniker,
So glad you like the recipe. It took many tries to get the recipe to where I liked it, so I am thrilled that you are enjoying the recipe. There always seems to be a batch in my fridge. xo Amy
These look amazing. Do you think they would freeze well? I’d love to make a big batch and freeze them for future snacks!
Jody,
Yep you can freeze them. Enjoy! Amy