Skinny Oatmeal Brown Sugar Muffins

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Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Healthy Oatmeal Muffins Recipe

Even though I feel like January is the anti-desserts month, my sweet tooth didn’t get the message. Thankfully the muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. It’s a dump-everything-all-at-once into one bowl and stir recipe — my favorite kind.

The brown sugar muffins are very soft, moist, super springy, have wonderful chewiness, and great texture thanks in part to the oats. But there’s no oil or butter, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar in the entire batch. Really.

I used Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almondmilk and it’s tied with Silk’s newer Unsweetened Cashewmilk as my two favorite milks for baking. Very low in calories, high in calcium and protein, very smooth, and irresistibly creamy. I get great results every time. Switching to Silk is an easy, delicious way to start adding more plants to your diet. Like the plants Silk is made from, when your body gets everything it needs to be healthy, it blooms. Sign up for the Silk newsletter to receive recipes and healthy tips.

I honestly couldn’t believe how much flavor these skinny muffins packed given the very small amount of sugar.

They’re a perfect grab-and-go breakfast or snack and they freeze well so you can make a double batch and pull them out as needed.

Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

What’s in Healthy Oatmeal Muffins? 

To make these healthy breakfast muffins, you’ll need:

Silk Almond Milk - averiecooks.com

How to Make Healthy Oatmeal Muffins

To make these healthy oatmeal muffins, simply add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir until just combined. 

Pour the brown sugar muffin batter into 10 greased muffin cups, then bake until the tops are set, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.

Allow the healthy oatmeal muffins to cool in pan on top of a wire rack for about 10 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely.

Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Can I Use Real Maple Syrup Instead of Sugar-Free?

Most of the sweetness in these healthy oatmeal muffins comes from the sugar-free pancake syrup. If you want to use real maple syrup, feel free, but the oatmeal muffins won’t be as skinny since real syrup is packed with calories.

Can I Use Instant Oats Instead of Rolled? 

No, rolled oats (aka old-fashioned oats) are a must. Instant or quick cooking oats are more finely ground and act more like flour. Using instant oats would result in super dry muffins. 

Skinny Oatmeal Brown Sugar Muffins - No oil, butter, or dairy, and just 1/4 cup brown sugar in the entire batch! Healthy, skinny AND yummy!!

Tips for Making Healthy Oatmeal Muffins 

To keep the muffins dairy-free, I used Silk Vanilla Dairy-Free Yogurt, although you can substitute with your favorite Greek yogurt or lite sour cream if that’s what you keep on hand.

You’re also welcome to use another milk (dairy or non-dairy), if desired. Just be sure to use an unsweetened milk, otherwise your healthy oatmeal muffins will taste far too sweet. 

Lastly, I highly recommend freezing some of these healthy breakfast muffins for later. You can quickly grab one as you’re rushing out the door in the morning, or reheat one as a mid-day snack. 

Healthy Oatmeal Muffins — These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Pin This Recipe

Yield: 10

Skinny Oatmeal Brown Sugar Muffins

Skinny Oatmeal Brown Sugar Muffins

These healthy oatmeal muffins won’t jeopardize your New Year’s resolutions and are skinny jeans-friendly. No oil, no dairy, and just 1/4 cup of brown sugar!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup old-fashioned whole-rolled oats (don’t use quick cook or instant; they’re finer and act more like flour and batter will be too dry)
  • 1/2 cup Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almondmilk (Silk Unsweetened Cashewmilk or another milk may be substituted)
  • 1/2 cup sugar-free pancake syrup (lite syrup or real maple syrup may be substituted)
  • 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed (strongly recommend dark, although light brown may be substituted)
  • 1/4 cup Silk Vanilla Dairy-Free Yogurt (Greek yogurt, sour cream, or lite sour cream may be substituted)
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Instructions

    1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 10 of the 12 cavities of a Non-Stick 12-Cup Regular Muffin Pan (note you will not use all 12) very well with cooking spray or grease and flour the pan; set aside. (I don’t prefer the cosmetic look of muffin liners.)
    2. To a large bowl, add all the ingredients and whisk until smooth and combined, without needlessly over-mixing.
    3. Using a large cookie scoop or 1/4-cup measure, evenly distribute the batter into 10 of the cavities of the prepared pan, filling each cavity no more than 3/4-full or muffins will overflow while baking.
    4. Bake for about 20 minutes or until tops are set, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Use your judgment when evaluating doneness because muffin pans, ovens, ingredients, and climates vary. Start watching closely at about 16 minutes.
    5. Allow muffins to cool in pan on top of a wire rack for about 10 before removing and placing on rack to cool completely. Gently rim each cavity with a knife if necessary for easier removal.

Notes

  • Muffins will keep airtight at room temp for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

10

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 206Total Fat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 254mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 1gSugar: 22gProtein: 4g

More Healthy Muffin Recipes: 

Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Trail Mix Vegan Muffins – Fast, easy, healthy, and made with your favorite trail mix ingredients!

Oatmeal & Chocolate Chip Trail Mix Vegan Muffins - Fast, easy, healthy & made with your favorite trail mix ingredients!

Oatmeal To-Go Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins  — Like having a bowl of warm pumpkin oatmeal in portable muffin form! Fast and easy!

Oatmeal To-Go Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins - Like having a bowl of warm pumpkin oatmeal in portable muffin form!! Fast and easy!

Vegan Mini-Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins – Fast, easy, no-mixer recipe for healthy muffins!

Vegan Mini-Chocolate Chip Mini-Muffins - Fast & Easy No-Mixer Recipe for Healthy Muffins at averiecooks.com

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins — Gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free! Under 100 calories each, easy, and taste amazing!

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins - gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, Paleo-friendly, under 100 calories each. Recipe at averiecooks.com

Skinny Blueberry Muffins — These easy blueberry muffins are made with Greek yogurt instead of butter, and there’s only a little vegetable oil and sugar in these. Don’t worry, these don’t taste healthy at all! 

Skinny Blueberry Muffins

Skinny Mini Sweet Potato Muffins — A cute title for cute little muffins that are only 64 calories each. The muffins are super soft and tender in the interior with slight chewiness around the edges.

Skinny Mini Sweet Potato Muffins

Flourless Blueberry Banana Blender Muffins — No flour or oats, no butter, and no added white or brown sugar yet they’re incredibly moist, super soft, perfectly sweet, and are bursting with blueberries! 

Flourless Blueberry Banana Blender Muffins

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

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Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Comments

    1. I don’t recommend it since it doesn’t have gluten and I don’t think the texture will be very good. If GF is the issue, try a GF flour intended for baking.

  1. I made a triple batch of these every two weeks while on maternity leave! I LOVE them and they are so easy to pull out of the freezer and the perfect snack while breastfeeding! Even my haphazard baking skills couldn’t mess up your easy-to-follow instructions! About to make a whole bunch for a girlfriend who just had a baby! Thank you thank you thank you!!!

    Rating: 5
    1. Yes. In an entire batch of muffins. That is not much. Compare it to other muffin recipes.

  2. Made this this morning, used 5% greek yogurt and pure maple syrup. Baked up perfectly, and they are AMAZING!

    Rating: 5
  3. Can you one of those store bought unsweetened applesauce cups to make moist? I use this in cakes especially carrot cakes?

  4. hi- i just tried these and the batter came out VERY runny and the muffins were still very very soft after baking for 35 mins. what would you suggest? I also had SO much batter left over- could have made 12 muffins but it said to only make 10 so they all overflowed :(

    1. All pans vary so fill to an appropriate amount for your pan. I’d say if batter was excessively thin to use a smidge more flour next time. Thanks for trying the recipe.

  5. These are so yummy. I added cinnamon, an apple, and chopped walnuts and they turned out wonderful too!!! Thanks for the recipe!!

  6. These are fabulous! I loved them. For my second batch, I did add some Splenda. Since it’s cup for cup like sugar I added 1/4 cup for a tad extra sweetness. (I have an admittedly bad sweet tooth, so I tend to like things sweet lol!) I also added cinnamon to taste. But thank you so much for this recipe. You’ve saved my breakfast!

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Good to know it works with some Splenda. I have never actually baked with it so have no idea if it really behaves like real sugar does with the heat of the oven but sounds like it worked great!

    1. Because there’s no butter, 1/4 cup sugar in the ENTIRE batch, and they’re made with Cashewmilk and Fat Free Greek Yogurt and whole grains. If that’s not a skinnier muffin than traditional muffins made with oodles of sugar, butter, or oil, I don’t know what is.

      You don’t have to know the exact calorie count to know something is logically skinnier than the traditional alternatives.

  7. I am recovering from pancreatitis, so I can’t eat a lot of fat. I found this recipe and just substituted the almond milk with fat free milk and the yogurt with fat free greek yogurt. The flavor was very mild but it had a great texture and they are overall very good! Thank you!

  8. Hiya Averie. I just wanted to say that this recipe was great and works well with my goal of eating more grains and fiber and using up a plethora of oatmeal that i bought during Randall’s fab5 sale! I used whole wheat pastry flour and also threw in a sprinkle of cinnamon as well. Oh yes, and i chose the maple syrup route! Absolutely delicious! I’m so happy it really only took 15 minutes to bake! The crunchy edges and chewy oatmeal texture are my favorites!
    This will definitely be a staple in my kitchen to get my morning oatmeal in.
    If i omitted the Brown sugar would it change the recipe too much? Do i need to add something to replace it? Dry or wet?

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! Glad that w.w. pastry flour worked well as sometimes you can’t swap it for AP flour, but glad it was fine! I really don’t know what would happen if you omitted the brown sugar to the texture; however I fear it just would lack that sweetness you need for a muffin.

  9. As with everything I’ve tried on your website, these were awesome! I added shredded carrots and coconut… the house smells amazing and my husband is on his second muffin!

    1. Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you! With shredded carrots and coconut sounds great! Bet it did smell amazing!

  10. Sugar free syrup is TERRIBLE for you. Real maple syrup will taste better and be easier for your body to digest. Calories in do not equal calories out! Same goes for all things, full fat milk/sour cream is better for you than fat free. Almond milk is definitely better for you than dairy though! Looking forward to making these with all natural and real ingredients.

    1. We all have to make our own choices in life and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and choices about what they deem best. Enjoy the muffins.

  11. Hmmm, definitely not a leavening issue. I bake constantly and rotate through those fairly often. I’ll try again with greek yogurt and let you know.

  12. My batter came out really runny, and then very dense muffins after baked. I don’t think lite sour cream is advisable, as this is what I used. Do you have weight measurements for the dry ingredients? Perhaps I needed more.

    1. All variations and brands of sour cream do vary and there are indeed some that are much more watery and thin than most. I personally have okay luck with the brand I typically use for baking and get at my grocery store (Knudsen’s Light) but given you said that your muffins were dense, that almost sounds like they didn’t rise well and that could be due to baking powder and baking soda that isn’t super fresh. If you re-make them, I’d use brand new baking powder/soda and also full-fat sour cream and I bet you’ll be just fine. Also I have only baked these with non-dairy milk such as Silk Almond and Silk Cashew milks. The type of milk used could be a confounding factor; i.e. skim milk is MUCH thinner and runnier than the Silk milks are.

      I don’t have weight measurements. Thanks for trying the recipe.

  13. This recipe looks delicious! Is there a way I can sub quick oats if that’s all I have? Can I put in some more liquid to balance the consistency?

  14. I’ve already fallen off my New Years resolution bandwagon…but these look like a great way to get me back on it! Love how healthy they are, I’d never guess they were skinny just from looking at them! Pinned.

  15. I’ve totally been wanting to make oatmeal muffins lately, I’m on an oatmeal high! How does everything you bake look so deliciously perfect? I seriously need these!

    1. Well thanks for saying that about them looking deliciously perfect. I shot these on a weird, overcast day, and the sun was in and out, in and out, and my lighting was a massive struggle to say the least that day. So I really appreciate the compliments considering ALL of your food is 100% PERFECT :)

  16. Every January, it’s as if my sweet tooth kicks up a notch. It sees all of the healthy food and justifies dessert cravings with, “You deserve it! All of those veggies! All of those salads!” And then I give in. Whoops! ;) I love these muffins though; they look SO moist and perfect!

  17. Oh these look awesome! Just what I need for a sweet treat whilst hopefully slimming back into my jeans!

  18. First, I LOVE that these are diary free! I’m a huge fan of recipes that use Silk products or any kind of coconut product! And second, these look just like an old-fashioned oatmeal cookie… and I love cookies for breakfast :) Totally pinned!

    1. Are these dairy free? I was looking for a substitute for yogurt. Do you know what to substitute for it?

      1. The yogurt I used is dairy free. I am not sure what else you could use to sub for the yogurt if you´re trying to avoid yogurt all together. In this recipe it is necessary.

      2. I’m so sorry. I didn’t see the dairy-free part of the yogurt. Maybe I can find it.

  19. I’ve been buying Silk for us since Michael and I are dieting so I already have everything I need for these great muffins! LOVE how healthy and taaasty these are! a guiltless treat!

  20. Omg Averie you got me with that they will still let me fit in my skinny jeans which btw I am myself trying to fit!! So hard with all the good food around!! tOTALLY CRAVING THESE MUFFINS NOW.

  21. Yum! I love a healthy muffin and with the chewiness of oatmeal? I can’t wait to try them!

  22. Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk is my go to almond milk. LOVE it! Love these muffins too, Averie! <3

  23. YUM!! I am so pumped about how delicious and healthy your gorgeous muffins are! :) I’m in love with muffins, but I don’t love how so many are as sugary as a piece of cake when I eat them for breakfast (or dinner!). Thanks for solving my dilemmas! Pinned!

  24. These sounds delicious! Any chance you would be able to provide the nutritionals on this recipe? I am watching calories, carbs ,sugars and fats these days. Thanks so much!

  25. I like oatmeal in many different forms, including muffins. My baked goods seem more moist when I use it. How can you go wrong with brown sugar AND oatmeal?

  26. A perfect skinny jeans-friendly recipe! I also feel better giving these to my kids than those loaded with sugar and chocolate chips!

  27. Lower sugar recipes are always nice for breakfast or snacks–there are plenty of other options for sugar filled treats! Oats are my go-to ingredient when I want to bake something on the healthier end of the spectrum. Maple and a little brown sugar is probably my favorite way to flavor oatmeal!

  28. Yes for skinny muffins! And I really love this flavor combo, Averie! I just made a cookie recipe with oatmeal and brown sugar, but in muffins? So creative! Pinning :)

  29. These are fantastic, as always. My sweet tooth definitely didn’t get the memo and I still want muffins every day. Now I can have them!

  30. These look so moist and the fact that they’re lighter is a huge bonus! I would snack on these not just in the a.m. – You inspired me to up my running mileage, but, man, I’m SO HUNGRY. I’m having to watch my snack calories closely.

    1. Thanks for all your pin love and yes just saw your post about your skinny muffins and another friend has skinny muffins up today, too! Great minds :)

  31. That almond milk is all I drink, so I have a carton in my fridge now! Must make these muffins, swoooooonnnn!!!

  32. Skinny muffins in January is definitely the way to go. I’ve never tried oats in a muffin before, but I’m loving this, Averie! And brown sugar seems like the perfect touch. Pinned!

  33. These look like the perfect way to satisfy my sweet tooth while still – ahem – allowing me to zip up my skinny jeans. Yeah, I’ve got a bit of work to do!

  34. I have tried your muffin recipes in the past, and they were show-stoppingly fantastic, so I know that these will be every bit as delicious! And it’s a bonus that they’re skinny!

    1. Thanks for LMK you’ve tried other muffin recipes of mine and that they were hits! Love to hear that, thank you!

  35. Brown sugar, maple syrup and oats sounds like the greatest muffin combo EVER! And they’re skinny? You’re a muffin magician!
    Pinned!

  36. I’m all about skinny in January. These muffins look tender and tasty. I love using Silk in recipes. It’s so good!

    Happy Wednesday Averie!

  37. They sound lovely! I really like the idea of using dairy free milk and yoghurt as a substitute and the oatmeal in them make the muffins a healthier treat!