Apple Cinnamon Muffins — These apple cinnamon muffins are studded with BIG chunks of apple! They’re so easy to make and are perfect for a quick snack or breakfast to-go.
Table of Contents
Basic Apple Cinnamon Muffins
These quick and easy apple muffins are full of chunky apple pieces and are spiced with cinnamon and a bit of nutmeg, which gives them a nice pop.
I’m a cinnamon fan, so I used 3 teaspoons. It’s not over-powering and I think apples can really stand up to spices. In fact, I’d probably use more next time.
These muffins are fast and easy to make, you don’t need a mixer, and are ready in under a half hour.
These apple cinnamon muffins are springy, bouncy, soft and fluffy, with the right amount of density. Light enough, but not airy. Your house will smell like a fall-scented candle, minus the candle.
Ingredients in Apple Cinnamon Muffins
To make the simple apple spice muffins, gather the following ingredients:
- Apples
- All-purpose flour
- Cinnamon
- Banana
- Granulated sugar
- Unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- Coconut oil
- Vanilla extract
- Ground nutmeg
- Baking powder
- Salt
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Cinnamon apple muffins couldn’t be simpler to prepare! Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Dice the apples and toss them with a little cinnamon and flour. (This gives the apples a little flavor and prevents them from sinking to the bottom of the muffins while they’re baking.)
- To make the muffin batter, combine the wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls, then combine the two.
- Gently fold in the diced apple, and divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. If desired, sprinkle the top of each muffin with turbinado sugar and additional cinnamon before baking.
- Bake until the muffins are domed on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let them cool in the muffin pan for roughly 15 minutes before removing them and allowing them to cool on a wire rack.
Tips for Making Apple Cinnamon Muffins
When making the batter, you may need to add extra flour if the batter looks a little runny. Depending on how juicy your apples and mashed banana are, your batter may look perfect, or it may be a little thin. If it seems too runny, add the extra flour in a tablespoon at a time until your batter seems right.
Also note that when making the batter you’ll want the milk (whatever kind you use) to be room temperature. If the milk is too cold, it may cause the melted coconut oil to re-solidify, and you’ll wind up with chunks of oil in the batter.
Lastly, after scooping the batter in my muffin pan, I topped each muffin with a few reserved apple chunks because I wanted the visual appeal of seeing hearty apple pieces crowning the soft muffins.
The apples soften while baking, and take on a chewier texture, but still have some snap and faint crunch. Their juices release, and it helps the muffins stay soft and moist.
Recipe FAQs
The banana flavor isn’t noticeable, but it adds fluff to the batter like an egg would. Applesauce could likely be substituted, although I haven’t tested it. I suspect the muffins won’t be as soft and tender with applesauce as with a banana.
These apple cinnamon muffins don’t taste like coconut, and even if you don’t like coconut, I suggest using coconut oil anyway. It adds a flavor undertone you can’t put your finger on, and lends a subtle richness that’s so comforting. Sub with canola or vegetable oil if you must.
I suspect this apple muffin recipe would work as mini-loaves, adding about 5 minutes to the baking time. It likely would work as one large 9×5 loaf as well, and would probably take 45 to 60 minutes at a reduced oven temp of 350F, but I haven’t tried it myself.
You can use any apple you’d like in these apple cinnamon muffins! I used a large Fuji apple, but any crisp apple will do. Other great baking apples include Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Crispin, and Jonagold.
Yes, any milk (non-dairy or cow’s milk) will work in this recipe. Just note that you should use an unsweetened milk, otherwise your apple muffins will turn out far too sweet.
Most likely, yes. Just keep in mind that you’ll want to actually measure out the mashed banana and diced apple, as too much moisture in the batter can make it runny (it’s easy to mess up the batter when doubling a recipe!).
You may be able to add diced pears or another fruit with a similar consistency to apples, but generally I would stick to using apples for this recipe. If you’re looking for more fruit muffin recipes, check out my muffin recipe archive for some great ideas!
Storage Instructions
These apple cinnamon muffins can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days. You’ll need to keep them in a cool spot in an airtight container.
You can also freeze these muffins quite easily for up to 6 months. Just let them cool completely before sealing them inside a freezer bag or another freezer-safe container.
When you’re ready to enjoy the frozen apple cinnamon muffins, either let them come to room temperature on your countertop, or microwave them for 15-second intervals until they’re heated through.
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Vegan Apple Cinnamon Muffins
Ingredients
Apples
- 1 ½ cups apple, diced small + 1/4 cup apple, diced small, reserved for topping (I used 1 large unpeeled Fuji, and it yielded about 1 3/4 cups)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Batter
- ½ cup mashed ripe banana, about 1 large
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, other milks may be substituted including coconut, soy, rice, cow, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted (vegetable or canola oil may be substituted)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- pinches turbinado sugar, optional for sprinkling
- pinches cinnamon, optional for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan very well with floured cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners and I am not sure if the paper will stick to the muffins).
- Prep the Apples
- In a medium bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups apples, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, and toss to coat. The flour helps prevent apples from sinking during baking; set aside.
- Make the Batter
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork.
- Add the sugar, milk (room temp milk will prevent coconut oil from re-solidifying; if it does anyway, some small clumps are okay), oil, vanilla, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, nutmeg, and whisk until combined.
- Add 1 cup flour, baking powder, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix. Batter is quite thick and if yours is seemingly too thick, add a tiny additional splash milk to thin it.
- Fold in 1 1/2 cups apples and any loose flour in bottom of bowl.
- Divide batter equally among the cavities of the prepared pan. Each cavity will be about 3/4 full. Spraying a one-quarter cup measure with cooking spray so the batter slides right off is handy here.
- Using the reserved 1/4 cup diced apples, top each muffin with a couple pieces, divided equally.
- Optionally add a pinch of turbinado sugar and pinch of cinnamon to each muffin top.
- Bake for about 17 to 18 minutes, or until tops are domed, puffed, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs dangling but no batter. Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 to 15 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made this using 1/2 cup of applesauce as I didn’t have any bananas and they turned out amazing! Still nice and moist on the inside but a bit crispier on top which I love. I also used coconut sugar instead as it’s a bit less sweet which I prefer.
I made this using 1/2 cup of applesauce as I didn’t have any bananas and they turned out amazing! Still nice and moist on the inside but a bit crispier on top which I love. I also used coconut sugar instead as it’s a bit less sweet which I prefer.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your substitutions worked out great for you!
So yummy! These muffins are fluffy, moist, and not dense like a lot of vegan goods are. Super flavorful but not too sweet. Will definitely make again.
So yummy! These muffins are fluffy, moist, and not dense like a lot of vegan goods are. Super flavorful but not too sweet. Will definitely make again.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad you will definitely make them again!
I tried to make this muffins sugar free using dates and that’s amazing!
I tried to make this muffins sugar free using dates and that’s amazing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad the dates turned out great in them!
Super amazing apple muffins! Glad I could find a really solid vegan recipe (just getting into vegan baking). Made these for work and then for a camping weekend, everyone loved them, tons of compliments. Definitely very moist & delicious. I followed the recipe as is, except I shook the cinnamon & (to a lesser extent) nutmeg shakers w/reckless abandon, which probably added much more than what the recipe called for but made it extra tasty in my opinion. Oh, and instead of full size muffins, I made mini muffins at 375 degrees for about 10 ish minutes, just because I like how snackable mini muffins are. Can’t wait to try the pumpkin and blueberry versions!
Super amazing apple muffins! Glad I could find a really solid vegan recipe (just getting into vegan baking). Made these for work and then for a camping weekend, everyone loved them, tons of compliments. Definitely very moist & delicious. I followed the recipe as is, except I shook the cinnamon & (to a lesser extent) nutmeg shakers w/reckless abandon, which probably added much more than what the recipe called for but made it extra tasty in my opinion. Oh, and instead of full size muffins, I made mini muffins at 375 degrees for about 10 ish minutes, just because I like how snackable mini muffins are. Can’t wait to try the pumpkin and blueberry versions!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I glad these are getting tons of compliments and I totally agree, mini muffins are sooooo snackable!
I just made them for my sister’s birthday tomorrow and they turned out very well!
I used gluten-free flour and 1,5 tbsp apple sauce instead of the banana because I don’t like the banana taste in baked goods. Also I didn’t have almond milk so I used rice milk instead.
I put the leftover apple slices on top of the muffins and sprinkled them with brown sugar to get something like a caramelized taste + look and it worked out very well!
After ~20mins in the oven I took them out and they were soft with a slightly crunchy top (due to the sugar + apple slices) which I really like!
Great and easy recipe for cinnamon-lovers, not too unhealthy like cupcakes e.g. and still you can make them look very nice and not basic at all!
I sometimes find it hard to bake vegan muffins/cakes since the texture and/or taste often don’t fit my expectations, but these apple-cinnamon-muffins definitely did!
Easy, tasty, cruelty free, I love it!
I just made them for my sister’s birthday tomorrow and they turned out very well!
I used gluten-free flour and 1,5 tbsp apple sauce instead of the banana because I don’t like the banana taste in baked goods. Also I didn’t have almond milk so I used rice milk instead.
I put the leftover apple slices on top of the muffins and sprinkled them with brown sugar to get something like a caramelized taste + look and it worked out very well!
After ~20mins in the oven I took them out and they were soft with a slightly crunchy top (due to the sugar + apple slices) which I really like!
Great and easy recipe for cinnamon-lovers, not too unhealthy like cupcakes e.g. and still you can make them look very nice and not basic at all!
I sometimes find it hard to bake vegan muffins/cakes since the texture and/or taste often don’t fit my expectations, but these apple-cinnamon-muffins definitely did!
Easy, tasty, cruelty free, I love it!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad these muffins lived up to your expectations!
My family loved them too, even my picky grandma! ;-) They asked for the recipe immediately! <3
These were delicious – thank you! I didn’t have a banana so I used flaxseed meal and a few tablespoons of chia seeds. I add light brown sugar instead of white sugar as well. They turned out super moist and delicious.
These were delicious – thank you! I didn’t have a banana so I used flaxseed meal and a few tablespoons of chia seeds. I add light brown sugar instead of white sugar as well. They turned out super moist and delicious.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad they turned out great with your substitutions too!
I made these muffins and they turned out quite well! I added 1/2 cup of rolled oats to mine because of concerns for thin batter, and I used applesauce (no bananas on hand). Admittedly, I forgot to coat the apples with flour, but they were still
well distributed. Thank you for the recipe, it’s excellent!
Just a note, I calculated the calories per muffin (assuming one makes 12 total muffins) and I got about 160 calories apiece (175 with oats), which is much lower than the calculated value from the Nutrition Information button. Did I miscalculate something?
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad you loved the muffins!
The nutrition stats listed are a computer generated program and not always perfect.
These are AMAZING! Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Thanks for the five star review and I’m glad they turned out amazing!
They are in the oven, the batter was very very thin. I am kinda worried these will never firm up. The batter tastes amazing though!
Hi Avery! Thanks so much for this delicious recipe. I have the triple-challenge in baking in my kitchen: high altitude (5000+ ft), celiac disease (so everything gluten-free) and now we have chosen to go with a primarily plant based diet. I made this quickly this morning using less baking powder for the altitude (1-1/2 tsp), and GF flour for the all-purpose flour. Unfortunately, I was in a hurry and forgot my go-to baking trick for GF baking and they turned out gummy in the center… totally my fault. But even so, THEY TASTED AMAZING and no one is complaining about the texture. Next time I will use 3/4 cup GF flour and 1/4 cup almond meal (that’s my trick that has so far worked every time for changing a non-GF baking recipe successfully). I will try them again next weekend with that adjustment and let you know how it goes (for any other vegan celiacs 🙂). Thanks again!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad this recipe fits the bill for you and yes you do have a triple baking challenge going on but glad these work for you. Thanks for sharing what you did, I’m sure others reading it will find it helpful.
Thank you for the tip from someone who is dairy,egg, and gluten free!