Muffins are an easy after school snack choice. Unfortunately the amount of sugar and oil found in most muffins puts them into the junk food category. These no flour, sugar-free, oil free Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins have an irresistibly chocolate flavor but are still good for you.
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Lunch Bag Dilemas
Packing healthy lunches is not a huge problem… until lunchtime arrives at school. Sacks are unloaded onto cafeteria tables and the sugary treats in the lunch bags of classmates call out. EAT ME!
I love to make my kids happy, but I refuse to sacrifice healthy eating. Luckily these Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins look more delicious and tempting than any prepackaged snack.
Healthy Muffin Substitutions
While no flour, no sugar, and no oil might sound like a recipe for cardboard, it actually produces amazingly delicious muffins!
- Toasted oatmeal replaces flour (use gluten-free oats for gluten-free muffins) for a smooth muffin with a slightly nutty favor.
- Bananas are used instead of oil or butter to produces tender, moist muffins.
- Honey replaces refined sugar to add just a touch of sweetness.
- Unsweetened cocoa and chocolate chips make the muffins CHOCO-rific
These treats rival the huge chocolate chocolate chip muffins from bakeries and coffee shops… with a fraction of the sugar and calories. You can feel good about making them for your family (and kids will report lots of envious lunch mates).
A Chocolate Chip Note
The muffins can be made with or without chocolate chips. I stir one-half of a cup of chocolate chips into the batter and press the remaining ½ cup into the top of the muffin batter before baking. This results in a tempting display of chocolate chips atop each muffin.
Favorite Chocolate Chips Brands
To keep the muffins extra healthy I lookfor chocolate chips that are as natural as possible. My favorites are Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate chips and Enjoy Life chocolate chips, both are made with 3 limited ingredients:
- Cane juice
- Chocolate liquor
- Non-dairy cocoa butter
If you’ve never tried these delicious chocolate chips you are missing out! They are much tastier than most chocolate chip brands.
Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats (1.5 cups ground, 1 cup unground)
- 2 Tbsp unground old-fashioned oats for muffin tops (optional)
- 2-3 large overripe bananas (1 c. mashed) or 1 cup applesauce
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp real vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 -4 Tbsp dark or dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips (divided into two ½ cup portions)
Healthy Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325℉. Place oats on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, stirring once (about 4 to 6 minutes). Let cool to room temperature. (You can skip this step, however the toasting adds flavor!)
2. Place 1.5 cups of oats in a food processor and blend/pulse until they reach a rough, flour like consistency.
3. Mash bananas well, they should have no lumps. I use my mixer to mash them before adding the other wet ingredients. Add eggs, honey, milk and vanilla. Mix to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients (including both 1.5 cup ground oats and 1 cup unground oats) to wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Allow batter to sit for 10 minutes to soften the oats.
5. Fold in approximately 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
6. Scoop batter into muffin tins lined with paper wrappers until 3/4 full. The recipe makes approximately 14 muffins. (Optional: Spray the bottom of the liners lightly with oil to make the muffins easier to remove from the wrappers.)
7. Sprinkle muffin tops with reserved oats, press down lightly. Divide remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips among the muffins and press down lightly.
8. Bake at 350 for about 20 -23 minutes, a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean. (Optional: Cut one muffin in half to check doneness.)
10. Enjoy!
The muffins don't last long at our house!
MORE HEALTHY MUFFIN RECIPES TO TRY
1 – Healthy Oatmeal Muffins – My original recipe is sweetened with bananas and uses no flour and no oil. Easy to customize with your favorite add ins.
2 – Healthy Pumpkin Muffins Recipe – Delicious pumpkin spice flavor with no flour, no sugar, no oil and no dairy… they taste like pumpkin pie.
3 – Apple Cinnamon Blender Muffins – This easy recipe mixes in the blender for no mess but delicious cinnamon apple flavor. Still no flour, no sugar and no oil.
4 – Healthy Zucchini Muffins Recipe – Zucchini and spices give the muffins classic zucchini bread flavor. Enjoy a fall favorites with no guilt!
5 – Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins Recipe – These muffins are full of chocolate peanut butter flavor but contain no flour, no refined sugar and they're oil free. Classic dessert flavor combo with no guilt!
- 2 ½ cups old fashioned oats (2 Tbsp reserved for muffin tops, 1.5 cups ground)
- 2-3 large overripe bananas (1 cup mashed or 1 cup applesauce)
- 2 large eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 tsp real vanilla
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 -4 Tbsp dark or dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 cup chocolate chips (divided into ½ cup portions)
- Preheat oven to 325. Place oats on a baking sheet and toast until lightly browned, stirring once (about 4 to 6 minutes). Let cool to room temperature. (If you are in a hurry you can skip this step and use plain old fashioned oats, however the toasting adds flavor!)
- Place 1.5 cups of oats in a food processor and blend/pulse until they reach a rough, flour like consistency.
- Mash bananas well, they should have no lumps. I use my mixer to mash them before adding the other wet ingredients.
- Add eggs, honey, milk and vanilla. Mix to combine.
- Add dry ingredients (including both ground and unground oats) to wet ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Allow these to sit for 10 minutes to soak the oats.
- Fold in approximately 1/2 c chocolate chips.
- Scoop into muffin tin, lined with muffin wrappers (makes 14 muffins). You can spray the bottom of the liners lightly with spray oil to make the muffins easier to remove from the wrappers.
Sprinkle muffin tops with reserved oats and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, press down lightly.
- Bake at 350 for about 20 -23 minutes, a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean.
Nutrition Information
Here's a breakdown of the nutrition information. This calculation uses banana and contains chocolate chips.
Healthy Cookies
Can't get enough healthy baked goods? Check out these healthy cookies with no flour, no dairy, no eggs, and no added sugar. My kids love them for breakfast!
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Wow, those do not look healthy, but they sure look good! I can’t wait to try them out with the kids. 🙂
Jody, it’s one of my favorite tricks… making healthy food look as appealing as unhealthy treats! Hope your family enjoys them!
Great muffins! I needed to prepare this week’s snacks for my kids, and good thing I came by your website to compare your healthy muffins–which I always make with blueberries– vs. a South Beach recipe I’d just found. Realizing you’d just posted this recipe, I had to give these a try. I didn’t even process or toasts the oats as the plain muffins (with blueberries) are awesome without those steps. 1/2 cup (+) of chocolate chips mixed in the batter resulted in muffins that are chocolatey enough… And delicious! Wonderful job, Bren!
Thanks Nat! I am so glad you enjoyed the new version of my healthy muffins. We love the original version too, bit it is fun to mix it up a bit in the snack department!
Why did you not have these at your house when I was there? I would have sampled them too!
Next time you visit, we’ll make them!
Could I substitute agave syrup for the honey? Any help appreciated! 🙂
Yes, you can sub agave for the honey.
These are absolutely fabulous!! I LOVE them!!
Thanks Malory! They are a favorite in this house too. My daughter made some on Saturday for weekend visitors and they were a huge success.
Hello!
I’m very excited to try this recipe! It looks delicious for a healthy+chocolate addict like me 🙂
I want to ask you though, would using low fat milk completely ruin the taste?
Also, I’m very new to baking but I know that 14 muffins are too much to handle! Is halving all the ingredients to make about 7 muffins a reasonable idea?
Thanks 🙂
Lena.
Lena, skim milk will work just fine in the recipe. I generally use non-fat or 2%. Yes, you can halve the ingredients and make half a batch. They also store well in the freezer if you want to make a full batch and save some for later. Happy baking!
Thank you so much Bren! They turned out amazing 😀 I halved the ingredients and still got 9 cupcakes. Will definitely make more next time 🙂
Thanks Lena! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Thanks for this great recipe!!! I have to limit myself because I could eat the whole batch! We have to be dairy free so I made the recipe with water instead of milk and dairy free chips and it worked perfectly. (Then I made them again with coffee instead of milk and it’s delicious too!!!)
Cassandra, I am so glad you like the recipe! The coffee option sounds amazing. I will be giving it a try!
I made the blueberry muffins and the chocolate ones. Both yummy. My kid and partner loved the chocolate ones in particular. They are just as divine as normal ones but guilt free!
Daniela, I am so delighted that your family loves the muffins. The chocolate is a favorite around here too!
Hi, is it possible to make these muffins vegan by substituting applesauce or (?) for the eggs? They sound fabulous, and look, fabulous!
Melanie, I’ve never tried subbing applesauce for the eggs. I have used flaxseed as an egg substitute in other muffin recipes. Let me know if you try.
Thanks Bren for the recipe! I just made these delicious muffins for my healthy on-the-go breakfasts and found that I didn’t have chocolate chips, but only white chocolate chips! Flavor wise, that’s OK by me! However, a bit of caution to anyone else who is interested in using white chocolate chips, I had a difficult time getting the muffins baked to completion (clean toothpick) without the white chips about burning. I got it to work, albeit the muffins are a tad under but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it…
Thanks for sharing, Stephanie! I rarely bake with white chocolate so this is great to know.
I used date sugar instead of honey!
Great suggestion, Christopher! Hope you enjoyed the muffins.
Can i use almond milk instead of skim milk?
Yes
I made these today and 3 scoops of used vegan chocolate protein powder and 1 scoop of coco powder. Made them even healthier and sooo yummy!
*and used 3 scoops of vegan protein powder….
Thanks for the idea, Rebekah! So glad you like the muffin recipe.
I’m looking for the nutritional information. Is it posted somewhere and I just can’t see it? Please help! Thanks!
I added it to the bottom of the post just for you, Hannah! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
How long do these last? Do I store in fridge or pantry?
I store in the fridge. They last a week. I freeze any we cannot eat in one week and defrost when needed.
I’m very excited to try this recipe! Will the muffins still be as moist if I use sugar instead of honey? How much sugar would you suggest? Also, can I simply use 1.5C whole wheat flour in place of the ground oats? Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Rosalynd, you can substitute honey, maple syrup or agave for one another but I have never made them with sugar or whole wheat flour. Sorry! if you want to use those ingredients I would go to the healthy banana bread recipe and make that into muffins. It uses sugar and whole wheat flour.
How much cals and nutritional information per 1 muffin!
Chloe, the nutrition information is at the end of the post. It’s 242 calories per muffin. -Bren
I made these muffins and I liked them better than regular muffins! The best part is I do not have to feel so guilty after eating them. I added a little almond butter and it turned out very moist and fluffy. Love this recipe! Thanks so much:)
Thanks Sobana! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I just came across your blog and I’m hooked! This is the third time I’ve made these and my husband and 3 year old gobble them down every time! We are dairy-free so I always use almond milk and dairy free chocolate chips. I also useapplesauce instead of bananas because they don’t last long around here! An added plus is that they come out perfectly every time despite us living at 7,000 feet elevation! Thank you so much for the recipe, I am excited to try the apple cinnamon ones next!
Thanks, Libby! I am so glad you (and your whole family) enjoyed the recipe.
Is it 325 or 350? It says both
Hey Carlie, you toast the oats at 325 at the start of the recipe and then turn the oven up to bake the muffins at 350. If you read the entire recipe you’ll see where you should use each temperature. Enjoy!
Thanks for sharing.. tried both the chocolate muffin and the banana plain oat and both are super yummy and easy to prepare.. my kids love it.. a recipe definitely to repeat
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipes, Maya! Thanks for commenting.
Hi Bren.
This sounds like a terrific recipe and I plan to give it a try.
However, I want to make them in a mini-muffin pan for a bite-sized snack.
How would you suggest I adjust the temp/time for the mini pan?
I’m not much of a baker, but trying to find tasty healthier snacks and these sound perfect.
Thanks in advance.
Jim.
Jim, I would set the timer for 5 minutes less than the original recipe calls for, so bake for 15 minutes and then check to see if the muffins are done. They may need more time if they are still moist in the middle. Good luck!
I LOVED this recipe! I first tried your just banana oat muffins and personally they were a bit to plain for my taste but this recipe added just that extra bit of chocolate and sweetness my sweet tooth craved! I actually halved the amount of chocolate chips and added half an apple instead and i think it added a little extra healthy sweetness so I still felt good about eating it for breakfast! So thank you for sharing this recipe, it’s now apart of my muffin repertoire!
Thanks, Maria! I’m so glad you found the recipe that fits your taste. Between the plain, chocolate, zucchini, apple, and pumpkin versions I think I have most tastes covered! The chopped apple sounds great too! 🙂
Delicious! I used them as my birthday cake – still indulgent but not obnoxious in calories! I will admit that I used too much ground oatmeal because when following the directions paired with the pictures, it says 1.5 cups of ground oats, not 1.5 cups of oats, ground. I’ll remember next time.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins!