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These apple oat muffins are the perfect treat to welcome Fall! They are easy to make, with a light and fluffy texture, and bits of apple in every bite. Topped with a yummy cinnamon oatmeal streusel that makes them the ultimate comfort food. I’ve tested this recipe with dairy ingredients and with dairy free ingredients for you too!

Freshly baked apple oat muffins with golden cinnamon streusel tops cooling on a wire rack, with whole red apples in the background

There is something about the end of summer and back to school season that just makes me crave a cozy muffin. Whether it’s for breakfast, or an afternoon snack – these muffins are the first thing I’m reaching for.

Like all of my homemade cozy muffin recipes, these apple oatmeal muffins are freezer friendly and are made without a mixer.

While you can definitely make these muffins without it, the crumb topping is absolutely heavenly and in my recipe testing process I found that it elevated the muffins tenfold!

Ingredient Notes

Flat lay of apple oat muffin ingredients including diced apples, rolled oats, flour, brown sugar, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt on a light blue tile surface
  • Apples: just like my apple cake loaf, you can use any variety of apples in this recipe. The only one I would recommend avoiding is red delicious apples as they can get a bit mushy and don’t hold their shape as well when baked.
  • Butter: as I mentioned, you can use regular butter (I like to use salted), or dairy free butter. The recipe has been tested both ways.
  • Milk: regular or dairy free – I often use a creamier milk like oat or soy when opting for dairy free milk as it more closely mimics whole milk as opposed to a thinner milk like almond milk.
  • Oats: I always recommend using old fashioned rolled oats over quick oats, especially in these apple oat crumb muffins. It gives them a fluffier, heartier, and lighter texture.
An apple oat streusel muffin broken in half and resting in a vintage muffin tin, showing the soft apple-studded crumb inside, with red apples and rolled oats nearby

How To Make These Muffins

Wet muffin ingredients including melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, and milk whisked together until smooth and golden in a cream-colored ceramic bowl

Whisk wet ingredients.

Completed apple oatmeal muffin batter with rolled oats and diced apple pieces folded throughout in a cream-colored ceramic bowl

Add in dry ingredients, then apple pieces.

Cinnamon oat streusel topping with brown sugar and rolled oats mixed to a crumbly texture in a speckled ceramic bowl

Make the streusel topping.

Apple oat muffin batter topped with a generous layer of cinnamon oat streusel in a silver muffin tin lined with white parchment liners, ready to bake

Sprinkle over the batter then bake!

An apple oat muffin with its wrapper peeled back to reveal the soft, moist interior with apple pieces and oats, surrounded by more streusel-topped muffins and a vintage muffin tin

Recipe Developer Tips

  • Make sure your oven is at the correct temperature! If you don’t have an oven thermometer, it’s always good to do a test muffin.
  • Don’t be tempted to over-mix your muffin batter – it can make their texture tough and rubbery. For these apple muffins with oats, stir in the dry ingredients just until you can’t see any specks of flour, and then stir in the apples until they are just combined into the batter.

More Cozy Recipes You’ll Love

apple cake loaf sliced with cinnamon cream cheese icing and a sliced apple beside it

Apple Cake Loaf
two banana chocolate chip oat muffins stacked on top of each other

Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Single-serving apple crisp in a white bowl, topped with a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream, with fresh apple slices on a wooden table.

Easy Apple Crisp for One
Close-up of freshly baked banana chocolate chip muffins in brown paper liners, topped with chunks of melted chocolate

Pumpkin Banana Muffins

If you make this recipe, let me know how it went in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!

Baking FAQ

These are the topics I’m asked about most frequently:

You can get these answers and more in my frequently asked questions post!

Freshly baked apple oat muffins with golden cinnamon streusel tops cooling on a wire rack, with whole red apples in the background
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Soft Apple Oat Muffins (with Streusel)

Gabby Kislanko
These apple oat muffins are the perfect treat to welcome Fall! They are easy to make, with a light and fluffy texture, and bits of apple in every bite. Topped with a yummy cinnamon oatmeal streusel that makes them the ultimate comfort food. I've tested this recipe with dairy ingredients and with dairy free ingredients for you too!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake: 17 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 12 muffins
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Ingredients
 

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

  • ½ cup (105 g) butter, melted, (dairy free or regular)
  • ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup (250 ml) milk, (dairy free or regular)
  • 1½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1½ cup (188 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (100 g) old fashioned oats (rolled oats)
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 cups apples, chopped small, (dairy free or regular)

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

  • ½ cup (63 g) all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup (33 g) old fashioned oats (rolled oats)
  • ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ cup (53 g) butter, softened

Instructions
 

Apple Oatmeal Muffins

  • Preheat oven to 400°F. Line muffin tins with liners.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract.
  • Whisk in the light brown sugar.
  • Add in the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda, then whisk. Finally, stir in the chopped apples. Set aside while you make the crumb topping.

Cinnamon Streusel Topping

  • Add all streusel ingredients to a small bowl and mix with a fork until fully combined.
  • Divide the muffin batter between the liners, filling each one almost full. Sprinkle a generous amount of the crumb topping over each muffin, then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
  • After 5 minutes, transfer the muffins to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Equipment

Whisk
Muffin tin
Muffin tin

Notes

Flour: The right way to measure your flour is to weigh it using a kitchen scale, or use the scoop and level method.
Storage and Freezing Instructions:
Store in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 3 days. Freeze for up to 3 months by placing in a Ziploc bag. Thaw at room temp or heat one at a time in the microwave before serving. 
Calories: 280kcal, Carbohydrates: 40g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 30mg, Sodium: 209mg, Potassium: 142mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 624IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 53mg, Iron: 2mg
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The calorie information provided for this recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.