These easy Apple Muffins are one of my favorite things to bake during apple season. They are full of warm spices, stuffed with chopped fresh apple and bake up fluffy with the prettiest domes!

Apple muffin on a wooden board with the wrapper unwrapped.

I bake these apple muffins so many times during apple season!

Truly, these muffins are one of the things I bake the most during apple season. But let me give you a heads-up right from the start: As my kids have been getting older, I stopped chasing the “bakery-style” muffins you see on social media a lot – you know the ones, huge jumbo muffins with a filling and two toppings, and seventeen bowls and five hours of your time…

Anywho, now that I’m in the sports mom season of life, and somehow need to feed several kids between homework and practice (and let’s not forget the lunchboxes…), I’ve come to appreciate normal muffins. Normal muffins, like these apple muffins: The batter comes together in ONE SINGLE BOWL, in about 5 minutes. They are normal sized, and simple. And the most tedious part is chopping the apple small, but trust me: It’s worth the extra time this takes, because it gives you the best distribution and flavor!

The muffins don’t really need a topping, but you can sprinkle them with a little extra sugar and a dash of cinnamon if you want them to feel extra special. I tuck them into lunchboxes or give them to my kids on the way to practice – truly, a normal but somehow close to perfect little snack, perfectly spiced and wonderfully apple-y!

Ingredients I like to use, plus notes

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredients for apple muffins with text labels.

Sugar: I highly recommend using the combo of granulated and light brown sugar, however, you can use all granulated if that’s what you have! I haven’t tried the muffins with all light-brown sugar, but I would assume it works. I have also made them with less sugar (⅓ cup each light brown and granulated) – it works just fine, but the muffins will taste a little less flavorful and sweet.
Oil: Melted butter is a little more indulgent, and it works well in place of the oil. However, the oil keeps the muffins from drying out a little better, so keep that in mind if you want to prep them ahead for several days.
Flour: I use white flour here, which I don’t mind because we eat wholewheat bread every day and get a lot of fiber from other food sources. If you’re looking for a more wholesome apple muffin, try my Greek yogurt apple cinnamon muffins!
Apple pie spice: To be honest, this is usually pumpkin pie spice for me because I don’t have space to store every spice I’d like to own 🤷🏻‍♀️ apple and pumpkin pie spice don’t differ much from each other, so it’s fine to just use pumpkin spice.
Milk/Greek yogurt: I love using whole or 2% milk, and whole milk Greek yogurt, to pack in plenty of nutrients for my kids. If you use a lower fat percentage, the muffins will taste a little less rich but are still delicious. I have also made them with 0% fat Greek yogurt, and it works just fine.
Apples: My favorites here are Granny Smith! If you like a sweeter apple, Pink Lady also works great. I don’t peel them because I chop them very finely. Feel free to peel if you prefer, it never bothers us and I can’t even tell there is apple peel in the muffins. Also, it’s somehow much faster to chop up 2 larger apples vs 3 smaller ones, just FYI!

How to measure the flour?

OK, I know, we should all fluff, spoon and level our flour! And yes, that’s how you get the correct amount of flour that’s supposed to be in a cup. However, my reality is very different – in my day-to-day life, I just lack the time and patience to spoon and level these days.

I have the large OXO container for my flour, because it has a large opening. I can fluff my flour and then scoop it – it results in slightly more flour in the cup, but I just adjust for it. In this particular recipe for my apple muffins, this is how it breaks down depending on how you measure your flour:

If you fluff, spoon and level: 2 cups of flour
If you fluff and scoop: ~1 ¾ cups of flour
If you scoop: ~1 ⅔ cups of flour
If you weigh: 250g

How to make apple muffins

Let’s walk through my way of making apple muffins quickly, and I’ll share any tips I can offer. These are SO easy, but I want to make absolutely sure they turn out perfectly for you from the very first batch you bake!

Batter for muffins in glass bowl. — make batter

Chopped apples with cinnamon in a white bowl. — make batter

Recipe walk-through/baking tips

Making the batter:
This is a really, really easy method I’ve started using this year for all of my muffins, quick breads, waffles, pancakes… You whisk together all of the wet ingredients plus sugar, then you whisk in your spices and leavening agents, and finally you fold in your flour. Takes just one bowl, and they come out perfect every time!

Chopping the apples:
I HIGHLY recommend taking the time to chop the apples really small. We’re talking ⅛ inch to MAX ⅓ inch if you like chunkier muffins! I chopped them around ¼ to ⅓ inch for the photos so they would be more visible, but we do prefer them chopped to ⅛ inch. It just gives the best distribution of apple, and so much more apple flavor throughout the entire muffins!

Finely chopped apple in a bowl. — chopped to ~¼ inch

Also, this is how I chop up my apples: Cut around the core, then chop the resulting slices like an onion 🙂

Chopping up a Granny Smith apple on a wooden cutting board.

Order of steps:
Look, I’m not the most patient person in the kitchen. People who take baking science very seriously keep telling me to rest my muffin batter before baking it and I just won’t do it. However, in this particular recipe we can take advantage of the fact that we need to chop up our apples. If we make the batter first, and THEN chop the apple, we are letting our batter rest for the best rise and most beautiful domes without losing time. So, highly recommend to stick to this order of doing things.

Assembling:
Once you have folded your apples into your batter, you’ll want to scoop the batter into lined muffin cups. Now, I use a cookie scoop for that because it’s much easier and way less mess. You can also use 2 tablespoons to transfer your batter – scoop with one spoon, and use the second spoon to scrape the batter into your muffin cup.

Why is there so much batter?

There is a lot of batter because the muffin cups will be FULL. We’re talking entirely and absolutely full. My muffin pan is from Le Creuset (I know fancy fancy, I bought it on sale and it was worth every penny) and it has a raised rim and quite wide spaces between the muffin cups.

If your pan isn’t spill-proof, I recommend placing it on a lined baking sheet just in case there are any drips. My muffin pan has never overflowed, but better safe than sorry!

Topping and baking:
I sprinkle some granulated or coarse sugar if I have it on top of the muffins, and dust with a little cinnamon. Easy!

Then, bake the muffins until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out without any liquid batter attached – crumbs are fine! I like to cool the muffins in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove them to a cooling rack. They do not usually last much longer than that in my house 😉

How do you bake muffins?

I always do staggered baking temps for muffins, because it will give you the best rise. I heat the oven to 425°F, then turn it down to 400°F right as I put the muffins in the oven. After 5 minutes, WITHOUT opening the oven door, I turn down the heat to 375°F and finish baking for ~18 minutes. It’s an easy technique that makes a big difference! I have been baking muffins this way for 14 years now!

How to store your muffins

The muffins keep well on the counter for 1-2 days. I wrap them in a kitchen towel to keep them from drying out.

Heads-up: If you put them into a zip-top bag or a closed container, they will become a little dense and sticky. Still super delicious, just a little different 🙂

Easy Apple Muffins

I bake these apple muffins so many times during apple season!