Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
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These healthy chocolate chip muffins are a sweet gluten free treat to enjoy for breakfast or as a snack. Using a combination of almond and oat flours, plus a bit of Greek yogurt makes these muffins soft, fluffy, and irresistibly delicious!
If you’re craving fluffy, sweet bakery style muffins but wanting to eat a little healthier – these Chocolate Chip Muffins are for you!
Most healthy baked goods are made with expensive ingredients you probably don’t have on hand – but these healthy muffins are made with basic ingredients you probably already have in your pantry!
These healthy chocolate chip muffins are the perfect breakfast, snack or treat – totally nostalgic and so yummy!
These sweet Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins are hard to beat! You can feel good about enjoying one of these muffins as a snack, dessert, or breakfast.
Why You’ll Love these Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Made with wholesome, gluten free ingredients. A lot of healthy recipes for baked goods use expensive ingredients that most people don’t keep on hand. Our gluten free muffin recipe is easy to make with just a few basic, budget-friendly ingredients.
- Quick and simple to make. A batch can be whipped up in under 30 minutes, and because no electric mixer is needed, it’s a great recipe to get kids involved in.
- Convenient and portable. Pack these muffins in your work lunch, enjoy one as a pre-workout snack, or grab one to eat as part of a quick, on-the-go breakfast.
Ingredients
For these oat flour muffins you’ll need:
- oat flour – we like oat flour as the base of these muffins because it gives them a super fluffy texture
- almond flour – using a little bit of almond flour in these muffins helps add fat and moisture.
- baking powder, baking soda
- sea salt
- nonfat greek yogurt – helps to add protein and gives these muffins a moist texture
- honey – you can also use maple syrup
- eggs
- coconut oil – we like coconut oil in baking for it’s mild flavor, but you can use extra virgin olive oil
- vanilla extract
- chocolate chips & mini chocolate chips – the more chocolate the better!
It’s also helpful to have a cookie scoop and silicone muffin liners.
Substitutions
Oat Flour: Store-bought oat flour or homemade oat flour can be use in this recipe. For best results when using homemade oat flour, process the oats into a very fine flour with no chunks or visible oats. Don’t substitute oat flour for all almond flour, it will not work (trust us!)
Gluten Free: If you need this recipe to be gluten-free, be sure to select gluten-free oat flour as oats can often be processed on the same equipment that processes gluten-containing grains.
Almond Flour: Make sure to use fine or ultra-fine blanched almond flour. Almond meal will not work for this recipe. (It’s made using whole almonds, skin included)
Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Both leavening agents are used in this recipe because there is too much acid (from the Greek yogurt) to achieve a good rise using baking powder alone.
Greek Yogurt: We tested both 0% and 2% Greek yogurt without any noticeable difference. Using non-fat Greek yogurt will work, but the chocolate chip muffins will not be as rich tasting. Traditional yogurt will work, but it has a thinner consistency and not nearly as much protein.
Honey: We tested honey and maple syrup in this recipe. I preferred the muffins made with honey because the batter was thicker and easier to divide among the muffin tin, but the flavor and texture were very similar!
Eggs: I did not test any egg replacements in this recipe and wouldn’t recommend trying it!
Coconut Oil: Avocado oil or melted butter can also be used in this recipe.
Chocolate Chips: I used regular semi-sweet chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips in this recipe because it makes these healthy chocolate chip muffins a little sweeter and a little more fun. You can omit the 2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips and use only regular chocolate chips.
How to Make Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
- In a large mixing bowl, combine wet ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients and whisk well. Fold in chocolate chips.
- Divide the batter between the muffin tin wells using a level 2-ounce scoop or a spoon.
- Place the muffins into the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes.
Liz’s Tips for Making Perfect Muffins
- Use a level 2-ounce cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly between the wells. If using a spoon, try to divide the batter as evenly as possible and avoid overfilling. You don’t need to leave much space in the wells, but a small visible rim of the muffin liner will ensure that they do not spill over the edges when baking.
- Make them pretty! For aesthetics, I like to add chocolate chips to the top of the muffins before baking. This is not necessary by any means but makes the muffins look extra tasty. Avoid placing all the chocolate chips in the center of the muffins as it may cause the center to sink in slightly.
- We tested Silicone muffin liners for this recipe and they worked fine. When using paper liners, be sure to allow the muffins to cool for at least 5-10 minutes before removing them from the liners so that they are removed cleanly.
- Measure your flour correctly! When measuring both flours, be sure to use the “spoon and level” method to prevent overpacking the ingredients into the measuring cups.
- Use room temperature eggs. Allowing the eggs to come to room temperature before mixing the wet ingredients will help prevent the coconut oil from solidifying when mixed with the cold ingredients.
Oat Flour vs. Oatmeal
Homemade oat flour is inexpensive and easy to make. To make homemade oat four you will need whole old-fashioned oats (about 1.25 cups of whole oats for every cup of flour you need) and a high-powdered blender or food processor.
Process the whole oats until they become a very fine powder with no visible oats. You can find more information on how to make oat flour here. Be sure to scoop and level the oat flour when measuring because the processing can pack the flour and make it denser.
Choosing the Right Yogurt for Healthy Muffins
This oatmeal chocolate chip muffins recipe uses non fat Greek yogurt. It’s the best for baking! It adds extra protein and moistness to baked goods without a lot of extra fat.
Serving Suggestions
- Warm them in the microwave for 20 seconds. This allows the chocolate to melt just a little bit.
- Serve them with vanilla ice cream and top them with fresh berries for a healthier dessert or with a healthy yogurt bowl!
- For an easy snack, smear on some peanut butter or other nut butter.
muffin recipe FAQ
Too little fat or overbaking can cause dry muffins. Be sure to use the proper amount of liquid ingredients and check the muffins at the end of the bake time to ensure you don’t overbake them.
We love these Enjoy Life Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips and Enjoy Life Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips.
If you want high top muffins, start the oven temperature higher (400°-425°) for the first few minutes of bake time then lower the temperature to 350° for the remaining time.
Storage
Storing: These will last in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: The frozen baked muffins will keep for up to 1 month. It is helpful to par-freeze the muffins in the muffin tin for about 20 minutes, to prevent them from sticking together. Then, transfer them to a resealable freezer bag, close it up, and pop it in the freezer.
If you need more freezer friendly recipes check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook with 22 easy freezer meals!
Reheating: You can reheat these muffins in the microwave or toaster oven.
Other healthy muffin recipes:
Looking for other easy muffins? Check out these Healthy Muffin Recipes!
Healthy Chocolate Chip Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups oat flour 140 g
- 1 cup ultra-fine blanched almond flour 90 g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup nonfat Greek yogurt 180 g
- 2/3 cup honey 220 g
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted and slightly cooled (50 g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips 90 g
- 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips 25 g – optional
- Additional chocolate chips for the muffin tops – optional
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the oat flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the yogurt, honey, eggs, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract, and whisk together until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until there are no lumps or streaks of dry ingredients. Avoid over-mixing.
- Use a rubber spatula to fold in the chocolate chips (both types if using mini chips) into the batter. Stir to distribute evenly.
- Divide the batter between the muffin tin wells using a level 2-ounce scoop or a spoon. If using, add a few additional chocolate chips to the muffin tops.
- Place the muffins into the oven and bake for 16-18 minutes. Note that the combination of the oat flour and almond flour will result in a little darker when baked, so finished muffins will look golden brown.
- Allow muffins to cool mostly before removing them from the paper liners to prevent them from sticking.
Do you think it would work to substitute regular wheat flour for the almond flour?
We haven’t tried this so I can’t be sure! Sorry!