Honey Sweetened Oat Whole Wheat Blackberry Muffins
Highlight the season’s delicious blackberries with these healthy oat and whole wheat blackberry muffins that are lightly sweetened only with honey, which really allows the berries to shine. Plus they’re freezer friendly for easy on-the-go snacks everyone will love. For other recipes your family will love, head to the Best Bread Recipes page.
Oh it’s a happy day around here when the blackberries are ripe! Whether it’s my favorite Triple Crown Thornless blackberries, the classic Northwest favorite Marionberries, or even our Oregon wild blackberries – our whole family loves them all.
We pick and eat a ton fresh but we also make sure to have some to use in recipes like 10 minute, no-cook chia seed freezer jam, whole wheat skillet blackberry cobbler, individual big crumb berry crisps, or whole wheat blackberry crumb bars.
Even though you can easily freeze blackberries (just like strawberries) so you can use in pies, crisps, smoothies, and more, there’s just something wonderful about those months you can get them fresh, isn’t there?
I decided to create a new recipe for this season’s blackberries – a whole wheat blackberry muffin sweetened only with honey – since I thought it would be great to have as a healthy, portable snack or breakfast option. After a few near misses when I experimented with a gluten-free all oat version, I came up with this oat and whole wheat muffin that we all LOVE.
Note: If you’re interested in the gluten-free muffin, I’m sharing the oat flour version below with a photo – they’re good, they just don’t puff up like the whole wheat muffins and the flavor is of course a bit different.
If you don’t grow blackberries and you live in an area you can, I highly recommend planting a couple of Triple Crown Thornless. They are easy to grow and maintain and once established will reliably produce for you every year for a few months in the summer. Plus with no thorns, picking is a breeze! The berries pictured above, though, are our local Marionberries which are a bit smaller but packed full of flavor. Whatever type of blackberry you can get is better than no berries I think!
I go into lots of details about growing blackberries (and raspberries) in The Ultimate Caneberry Guide, where you’ll also find a TON of recipes for preserving and cooking with both types of berries. It’s a great resource to bookmark or pin on Pinterest so that you have it available when the berries are producing!
Honey Oat Whole Wheat Blackberry Muffins
Greasing and Lining Options
Okay, lets make some muffins! I wanted to start by mentioning the muffin tin lining/greasing options. You can always line them with cupcake liners, but I prefer muffins to have that crisper crust so I always choose to grease the pan instead. To do this easily, use softened butter and a small pastry brush to get each cup fully covered, including the bottom edges. When I do this, they pop out easily.
I’ve found that spray oils leave residue all over the pan that is hard to remove after time, so I avoid them. You can use regular oil and a brush, though I’ve found that the oil pools a bit on the bottom resulting in a greasier bottom. Experiment to see which way your prefer.
Making Whole Wheat Blackberry Muffins
Muffins are so easy! They only require prepping a muffin pan and then mixing all the ingredients together before distributing the batter between the muffin cups.
It’s really only a 10 minute prep time, even with collecting all your ingredients (well, if you don’t have to go out to a garage or storage room or have a huge kitchen I guess…).
This recipe makes a dozen, so it’s easy to get the right amount of batter in each muffin cup. They will be about 2/3 to 3/4 full after evenly dividing the batter.
TIP: Use an ice cream scoop with a spring release to add the batter without too many drips on the pan.
Oh my goodness do they have a nice crumb and flavor! And that berry goodness along with the lightly honey sweetened batter – what a great combo. I did sprinkle a bit of cinnamon and raw sugar on the tops for a bit of crunch, but it’s totally optional.
One thing that’s nice with the berries in the muffins is there’s not much need for butter or anything, which makes them perfect to take with you as a snack or on-the-go breakfast. This and a hard boiled egg would be a filling and healthy breakfast.
Gluten Free Oat Flour Blackberry Muffins Option
If you’re looking for a gluten free version that uses just pantry ingredients (and you don’t mind that they are flatter…) here are the changes you’d make to the recipe:
- follow the directions on the full recipe (click on the arrow below)
- substitute oat flour for whole wheat flour – you can make oat flour by whirring rolled oats in a blender or food processor to the finest grain you can achieve.
That’s it – use oat flour instead of whole wheat and you’ll have a healthy, honey sweetened gluten free blackberry muffin!
Be sure to let me know what you think of either version of these muffins, the all-oat or the whole wheat blackberry muffin!
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Honey Sweetened Oat Whole Wheat Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour*
- 1 cup whole rolled oats
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup oil expeller pressed sunflower, melted coconut, or mild olive
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3/4 cup milk or milk substitute
- 1 cup fresh berries plus more for tops if desired**
- optional: sugar-cinnamon sprinkle on tops
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with butter and a pastry brush (alternatively use oil or liners).
- Add dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon and salt) to a large bowl.
- In a 4 cup glass measure (or similar sized bowl), whisk all the wet ingredients: oil, egg, honey, and milk.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon just until you don't see any dry flour. Gently fold in the 1 cup of blackberries.
- Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups, making sure to get an even amount of berries in each (about 3-4 in each, depending on how big your berries are). The cups should be 2/3 to 3/4 cup full. Optional: add 1-2 more berries to each cup and/or dust the tops with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.
- Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until browned on top and a toothpick has no batter on it (there will probably be berry juice, though). Rotate the pan at the halfway mark if you're using a regular oven for even browning.
- Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.
- When completely cool, store at room temperature in an airtight container for 1-2 days or move to the freezer for longer storage.
Notes
Nutrition
Other Blackberry Recipes To Try:
- Whole Wheat Blackberry Crumb Bars
- Chia Seed No Cook Blackberry Freezer Jam Recipe
- Whole Wheat Skillet Blackberry Cobbler -A Pour-in-Pan, 10-minute Prep Recipe
- How to Freeze Berries
- Simple, Refreshing Berry Parfaits with Honey-Sweetened Cream
- Low Sugar Canned Berry Syrup And Topping
- Individual Berry Crisps with Fantastic Big Crumb Topping
My batch turned out a little dry. Looking at your pics, my mixture was definitely thicker than yours and I measured everything out. What do you think happened with that? What could I have added to make them more moist?
Thanks!
It could’ve been your flour or how you measure? I gently scoop and then use a knife to level. Maybe next time add less flour (a couple tablespoons) and then compare the batter to see if you should add the rest.
Great recipe. I wish there an alternative to the oil. Any suggestions?
What kind of alternative? Like butter? You could melt it and use that.
It’s only a 1/4 cup for the whole recipe, so each muffin has just 1 teaspoon of oil in it.
You could try applesauce and see if you like that.
Thanks, for the suggestion. I’ll try applesauce. I made six large muffins instead of 12. And. Realize now I made a mistake with the flour. I’m new to baking and trying to come with alternatives to oil and sugar… overall these muffins were awesome, gone in one day!! Thank you, and looking forward to testing more of your ideas.
Delicious healthy recipe!
I’m glad you enjoyed these, Hannah – thank you for the review!
Delicious muffins! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
So glad you enjoyed these, Kathy!
I used coconut oil because the muffins the muffins that’s all I had on hand the muffins turned out ok didnt really care for them mabey ill try the other oil see if they turn out better
This is perfection! I made them today for the first time. I love heartier muffins and this hits the spot. I’ve been picking berries almost every day and flash freezing them… I’m heading out again this evening to stock up just so I can make this recipe all year long. Thank you for perfecting the recipe for us.
You’re welcome, Cas – so happy you like the muffins! And yes – pick all the berries. 🙂
This recipe was just what I was looking for when my 3 year old asked to bake with our freshly picked blackberries. I loved the use of honey as the sweetener making this a much ‘healthier’ way to create a tasty, kid friendly treat! I followed the recipe as you wrote it, gluten free version with just oat flour with a small blackberry on top, and I will definitely be using it in the future. Thank you!
Wonderful, Danielle! It is a great way to enjoy blackberries (after you’ve eaten your fill fresh, ha!).
I am so jealous of all the berries in the PNW!! My blackberries are just ripening. Fingers crossed I’ll get enough to try out this recipe. Looks delicious, Jami!
Hope you get some, too, Michelle!
I will be making these for breakfast Thursday. Thank you!
Wonderful, I hope you like them!
So, just this past weekend, my fiance turned to me and said “we should really make some muffins soon!” I just harvested a bunch of my blackberries that I let go wild in the backyard. This is the perfect recipe, so I’m definitely going to share it with him. Hopefully we will be making some together (hopefully sooner than later) because now I’m starving 😀
Perfect timing, Angie – I hope you enjoy them!
I love it that your honey oat blackberry muffins are both healthy and delicious sounding. This would be a perfect breakfast for me and I can’t wait to try it.
These muffins look so yummy! My family loves muffins and we are going to have to give these a try soon. Even though we don’t have to eat gluten free I like to use oat flour in place of wheat flour now and then. It’s good to know that either will work in this recipe.
Yes, I’m with you and like switching up the flours in things just to keep it interesting and reap the different health benefits from the different flours. 🙂
Can you use almond flour in place of wheat flour?
I haven’t made these muffins with almond flour, so I can’t say for sure. You can experiment, though they will be flat and maybe crumbly.
Well I can certainly get some good use out of this recipe! Blackberry heaven is where we live and these muffins look heavenly indeed! Our blackberries are not quite ripe yet. Pinning for next month. Thanks for sharing!
Yep, us too – we will have some wild blackberries to pick here, too – I’ll take anything I can get in the berry world. 🙂