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This recipe for 100% whole-wheat muffins has been tested and tested and then tested some more. I’ve honed in on a new technique for baking with whole-wheat flour, which I believe will change the game when it comes to healthy-ish baking. Our “soaker” method creates a 100% whole-wheat muffin that’s uber-tender, light and fluffy, and stays moist for days after baking.
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Why These Are The Best Whole Wheat Muffins
Most 100% whole-wheat muffins are riddled with issues—whether it’s being dry and crumbly, rock hard, or even short and stout, most whole-wheat muffins are for the hard-core health nuts.
Not these muffins—though I do think the health nuts will eat these up too.
After a variety of tests and many failed methods, I found using a “soaking method” achieved an outrageously tender whole-wheat muffin that was springy, moist, flavorful, and light. Once I honed in on the soaking method, I then needed to refine the ratio of dry-to-liquid both during the soaking stage and mixing of the batter.
Aside from this revolutionary (in my opinion) method, I also add a bit of cornstarch which is often found in cakes to aid tenderness. Instead of a natural sweetener, I opt for traditional brown sugar but pull way back on the amount. And instead of butter, I use olive oil which keeps the muffins nice and moist, even days after baking.
Ingredients in Healthy Whole Wheat Muffins
Whole-wheat flour
I was committed to developing a muffin recipe that uses standard whole-wheat flour. I love me some recipes that use whole-wheat pastry flour and white whole-wheat flour, but it’s time we have a muffin that uses good ’ol regular whole-wheat flour.
Buttermilk
What used to be the liquid left after churning butter is now a thick and tangy cultured milk product. The slight acidity helps activate the baking soda, and the tanginess adds a nice balance of flavors to the muffin.
If you can’t find or don’t have buttermilk, you can substitute with milk + vinegar. Add 1 tablespoon vinegar to a liquid measuring cup, then pour the milk over top to reach the 1 cup mark. Stir and allow the mixture to rest 10 minutes before using. I will say, the texture of homemade buttermilk is not nearly as impressive as buttermilk from the store, so if you can, use store-bought.
Cornstarch
Cornstarch is a common ingredient in cakes and helps to create a light and tender crumb. If you can’t have corn, you can try arrowroot starch, though we have not tested that (yet).
Leaverners
You’ll need a bit of baking soda and baking powder for these muffins. We like double acting baking powder.
Brown sugar
Use light-brown sugar and be sure to pack the cup when measuring. We don’t recommend using dark brown sugar as that will alter the amount of liquid in the recipe and likely impact the texture of the muffin.
Olive oil
I love baking with olive oil, and when it’s one of the main flavors I will often use extra-virgin olive oil, like in this lemon olive oil cake recipe. However for this recipe, I often prefer regular olive oil for its mild flavor which allows the vanilla, cinnamon and whole-wheat flavor to come through.
Egg
Make sure to use egg labeled as “large.” If you’re using farm-fresh, you can weigh the egg (out of shell) to verify you have the right amount. It should weight 50 grams.
If the egg weighs less than 50 grams (out of shell), crack another egg, whisk the eggs together then weight out 50 grams. Save the rest for a breakfast scramble.
Flavorings
Ground cinnamon and vanilla add just enough oomph without stealing the show. If you want to play around with flavors, I encourage you to make these once then mix up the spices and extracts. Orange zest, almond extract, ground ginger, and nutmeg are just a few I would try first.
Tips for Making the Best Whole Wheat Muffins
- Use a food scale to measure out the ingredients. This is THE most foolproof way for measuring out ingredients. If you don’t have a scale, be sure you fluff the flour before spooning the flour into a measuring cup and leveling with a flat edge.
- Coat your muffin tin very well with nonstick spray—this is the only way to ensure the muffins pop out easily. This recipe makes 8 muffins, so before you bake I recommend you wipe out the empty well to avoid the cooking spray from burning.
- Use an oven thermometer to understand how hot (or not) your oven is! Most oven run at least 15 degrees hotter or cooler than they display. Adjust the temperature as needed.
- Preheat your oven longer. Even if your oven beeps and says it’s preheated, it likely isn’t up to temperature yet. I recommend allowing your oven to preheat for an added 10 minutes before starting to bake.
More Healthy Muffin Recipes
Check out this list of other healthy muffin recipes that use a variety of wholesome ingredients.
- These Healthy Blueberry Muffins are always a trending recipe here on ZK. They’re made with whole-wheat pastry flour and are loaded with lemony goodness.
- One bite of these Healthy Cranberry Orange Muffins and you’ll be transported to a warm and cozy kitchen in the fall. These are scrumptious.
- These Healthy Bran Muffins are a sleeper of a recipe! One of our most beloved recipes for many years, it’s a classic for a reason!
- If you’re looking for a good gluten-free muffin, check out our Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins.
Baking Recipes
Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Baking Recipes
Cranberry Orange Muffins
Baking Recipes
Bran Muffins
FAQs
To test if a muffin or cupcake is done, insert a toothpick or cake tester into the center of a muffin. If it comes out with batter on it, it’s underbaked and needs more time. If it comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, then the muffins are done baking.
We don’t recommend substituting the buttermilk out—it’s an incredibly important ingredient for these muffins.
We are still testing different mix-ins and will publish those variations as they are tested and passed. A few ideas we are testing include healthy chocolate chip muffins, zucchini muffins, pumpkin muffins, and mini muffins. Any requests?
Whole-Wheat Muffin Recipe
Description
Video
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Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (150 grams) + 2 tablespoons (15g) whole-wheat flour, divided
- 1 cup (252g) buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons (20g) cornstarch*
- 1 ¼ teaspoon (5g) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoons (2g) ground cinnamon, optional
- ¼ teaspoon (2g) kosher salt
- ⅓ cup (71g) packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (56g) olive oil
- 1 (50g) large egg
- 1 tablespoon (15g) vanilla extract
- Turbinado sugar also called sugar in the raw, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- For the soaker, combine 1 ¼ cups (150g) flour and buttermilk. Stir to combine then cover with plastic or a tight fitting lid and refrigerate overnight (8–10 hours).
- Heat oven to 425ºF (218ºC). Thoroughly coat muffin tin with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together remaining 2 tablespoons flour, starch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil, egg and vanilla until smooth and pale and most of the sugar has dissolve; 1 minute
- Add soaker to sugar-oil mixture.
- Whisk soaker into sugar mixture until smooth.
- Stir in starch mixture to combine.
- Scoop batter by ⅓ cup into muffin tins top with turbinado sugar.
- Bake 5 minutes then turn oven down to 400ºF (204ºC) and continue baking until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out with few crumbs attached, 8–10 minutes more, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking. (Total bake time 13-15 minutes.)
- Let muffins cool in muffin tin on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin tin and let cool 5 minutes longer. Serve.
I love this recipe, I replace the buttermilk with 1 cup soy milk mixed with 2tsp of apple cider vinegar and let it sit for a couple of minutes before adding to flour. recently I’ve added grated carrots and raisins for a carrot cake inspired muffin and it’s really good!
Hi Amanda, I’m so pleased to hear soy milk and vinegar works in place of the buttermilk! And I love the idea of making carrot-cake inspired muffins. Do you remember how much of the carrots and raisins you added? I bet other readers would be interested in trying that too!
Just made these and tried my first! The texture is amazing! Soaking the flour is a game changer. I want to try this method for all my whole wheat baked goods!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoy these! I agree, this method is fabulous for all whole-wheat baking! I also use it in my bran muffins.
Hi, my batter was much runnier than yours in the video, I checked the ingredients twice so don’t think anything was wrong there and they did not rise evenly either! I am in Australia so am wondering about the flour here and maybe it did not absorb correctly. Would you recommend adding another 50 grams of flour?
Hi Dean, I’ve been doing some research on this and here is what I think is going on. Australian whole-wheat flour tends to have a lower protein content and is more finely milled than the whole-wheat I find here in the US. The lower protein content directly impacts gluten formation and will cause the muffins to have less structure. The finer mill will directly result in less liquid absorption and make the batter thinner. Because of these two things, I would either decrease the liquid or increase the flour.
If you opt for adding more flour, I would start with 31 grams (which will be about 1/4 cup). If you opt for decreasing the liquid (the route I would go), I would decrease the buttermilk to 190 grams.
In the case that you use a liquid sweetener like you mentioned in your other comment, I would decrease the buttermilk down even further to 170 grams.
I hope this information helps!
also can you replace the sugar with honey?
Hi Dean, I have tested these with both maple and honey—in both instances they came out just ok. The batter was really loose and the muffins took a few extra minutes to bake. The risk with replacing the brown sugar with honey or maple syrup is you can get goopy, underdone centers and over-done exteriors. I will do some additional testing to find a solution for using honey!
Easy and delicious! Not overly sweet, soft texture, and actually yielded 10 muffins with a good rubber scraper.
I’m so glad you got 10 muffins out of this recipe! I want to reformulate it to make 12, but the muffins are just too perfect to mess with.
A pain to make and came out awful. It’s impossible to split up 8 muffins in a 12 muffin pan. I would recommend making 12 muffins as opposed to 8.