Oatmeal Muffins
Hearty oatmeal muffins sweetened with brown sugar and cinnamon, baked for 20 minutes into moist, domed muffins with a rolled oat topping.
Photograph credit: Vegan oatmeal chocolate chip muffins by Caroline Hadilaksono · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Oatmeal is a staple of the Scottish and American breakfast table, and putting it in a muffin is a way of making a bowl of porridge that you can carry in your hand. The name for the type of oat matters: rolled oats give chew and body, while instant oats turn pasty.
Soak the oats in buttermilk for 30 minutes before mixing the batter. The oats swell and soften as they absorb the liquid, which stops them drawing moisture out of the muffin as it bakes. It also means the oat texture is tender rather than gritty, and the batter itself becomes thicker and more robust.
Fill the cases to the top. A muffin that is not filled to the brim does not get the domed top. Oatmeal batter is thick and stays where it is put, and a good spoonful of batter above the paper rim bakes into the high, craggy dome that makes a muffin look like a muffin. Sprinkle the tops with a few oats and a pinch of brown sugar.
Bake in a hot oven, 200°C / 390°F, for the first 5 minutes to give the muffins a quick burst of lift, then turn down to 180°C / 355°F to finish. Cool for 5 minutes in the tin, then move to a rack. They are good warm with butter and honey.
Questions About Oatmeal Muffins
How long does Oatmeal Muffins take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking, plus 30 minutes of standing, so allow 1 hour 5 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 12.
How to Make Oatmeal Muffins
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Stir the 150 g oats into the buttermilk and leave for 30 minutes.
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Heat the oven to 200°C / 390°F and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
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Mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk the egg, 120 g sugar, oil and vanilla into the oat mixture.
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Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Fill the cases to the top and sprinkle with the oats and sugar.
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Bake for 5 minutes, reduce to 180°C / 355°F and bake for 15 minutes more. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Worth Getting Right
- Soak the oats before mixing.
- Fill the cases to the top for a domed muffin.
- Start hot, then turn the oven down.
Swaps and Variations
- Out of buttermilk? The usual stand-in is a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar stirred into 250 ml of ordinary milk and left five minutes; it is thinner than cultured buttermilk, so a batter may need a little less of it.
Pairs Well With
Butter · Honey · Fresh fruit · Coffee
Storage
Keeps in an airtight container for 3 days, or frozen for 2 months.
Oatmeal Muffins Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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