These sourdough applesauce muffins are a favorite around here! Soft, tender, and lightly sweetened with applesauce (and just a bit of sugar), they are a healthy breakfast and snack muffin the whole family loves! Made with sourdough discard, these are a no wait sourdough recipe that comes together in less than 30 minutes!
I'm always working on using sourdough discard in my favorite recipes, and I love sharing them with you here on my blog! Since I started making sourdough about two years ago, I've loved how creative I get trying to use my excess starter. I have a big list of recipes I'm working through and tweaking to share with you here, and this recipe for sourdough applesauce muffins is at the very top of the list!
The perfect sourdough breakfast muffin
What I love most about these muffins is that they are really light on the sugar. Because we use applesauce in the batter, which is naturally sweet, I was able to cut the sugar down considerably while still maintaining a pleasant and soft muffin! Most muffins are loaded with sugar and lots of empty calories, but not so with these muffins. They are so light and lovely, and use very little added flour. If you like to use fully fermented recipes, you could always substitute the all purpose flour for sprouted wheat flour.
Because these muffins are low in added sugar, I feel good handing them out as a snack or as part of our breakfast offerings. Both my toddler and my husband were obsessed with these muffins, and I'm planning on making a big batch soon so I can stash the extras in the freezer. Freezing these sourdough applesauce muffins will make for perfect last minute snacks to pack for picnics and road trips. I'm definitely wanting these on hand for the summer!
Ingredients
- Sourdough Discard: You can use active sourdough starter, recently discarded sourdough starter, or even starter that you have stored in the fridge! This recipe is an easy sourdough discard recipe and requires little fuss over starter. The one stipulation is that it is a 100% hydration starter, which is very typical when it comes to sourdough starter.
- Applesauce: I like to use unsweetened applesauce in this recipe. I'm particularly fond of these sourdough applesauce muffins because they have a lower sugar content than a lot of muffins, and so I try to keep that as low as possible by using unsweetened applesauce. I suggest you do the same, but you can use sweetened applesauce if that's what you have on hand.
- Oats: You're going to want to buy "old fashioned" rolled oats for this recipe. Quick oats or instant oats will not give you the same consistency, and your muffins may crumble if you use them. Rolled oats are larger flakes and are perfect for baking, as well as for my favorite Peanut Butter Cookie Oatmeal.
- Flour: Regular all purpose or all purpose unbleached is fine here.
- Sugar: We need just ⅓ of a cup of sugar to give a little sweetness. Since this is spread over 12 muffins, I don't worry at all about reducing the amount and haven't tested it with alternative sweeteners as of yet.
- Milk: I used whole milk, but you can use buttermilk (store-bought, or my homemade cultured buttermilk).
- Raisins: As long as these are seedless, you can use whatever variety you like! We use Thompson.
Other baking basics like: milk, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and egg.
How to make Sourdough Applesauce Muffins
One of the best things about these yummy muffins is how easy they are to make! Most sourdough recipes are pretty involved, but not so with this recipe! It's super easy to get the muffin batter mixed up and ready to go in about 10 minutes. This is one of my favorite easy sourdough discard recipes for this reason.
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or parchment muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, add the oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, melted butter, sugar, and sourdough discard. Stir well to combine.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and raisins together. Make a well in the center.
- Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Fold everything together until all of the flour has been moistened.
- Use a large scoop or spoon to portion the batter into 12 muffin cups. The batter should fill each muffin cup approximately ¾ of the way.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of each muffin.
- Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Storage Tips
Once the muffins are completely cooled, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for up to one week.
For Freezing:
To freeze the muffins, cool them completely and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Place the muffins in a large freezer bag, remove the excess air, and label it. Place in the freezer and thaw completely before serving. Use within 1 month.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes:
- Apple Walnut Sourdough Discard Muffins
- Sourdough Discard Buttermilk Cornbread
- Sourdough Discard Irish Soda Bread
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Sourdough Discard Baked Pancake
- Blueberry Cream Cheese Sourdough Discard Baked Pancake
Getting Started with Sourdough:
- Making an Incredible Sourdough Starter From Scratch - The Perfect Loaf
- Sourdough Bread: A Beginner's Guide - The Clever Carrot
Sourdough Applesauce Muffins
These tender sourdough applesauce muffins are the perfect breakfast or snack! Made from sourdough discard, they are the perfect way to avoid wasting any excess sourdough starter. Freezer friendly and perfect for school lunches, you'll want to make these easy sourdough muffins again and again!
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup whole milk or buttermilk
- 1 lg. egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ cup salted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
- ½ cup sourdough starter or discard
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- ¾ tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ cup seedless raisins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper or parchment muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, add the oats, applesauce, milk, egg, vanilla, melted butter, sugar, and sourdough discard. Stir well to combine.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and raisins together. Make a well in the center.
- Pour the mixed wet ingredients into the well in the middle of the dry ingredients. Fold everything together until all of the flour has been moistened.
- Use a large scoop or spoon to portion the batter into 12 muffin cups. The batter should fill each muffin cup approximately ¾ of the way.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the center of each muffin.
- Cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Notes
Storage Tips:
Once the muffins are completely cooled, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days, or in the fridge for up to one week.
For Freezing:
To freeze the muffins, cool them completely and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Place the muffins in a large freezer bag, remove the excess air, and label it. Place in the freezer and thaw completely before serving. Use within 1 month.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Muffins Serving Size: 1 MuffinAmount Per Serving: Calories: 157Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 247mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 3g
Nutrition information is an estimate only.
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Sally says
Is there a substitute for the apple sauce? Do you think you could use a mashed banana instead?
Dolly says
I haven't tested it with a mashed banana, but I imagine it would work well! I would just aim to have the same volume of mashed banana as applesauce, so you may need to use more than one banana!
Brittany Bright says
would I be able to use quick oats for the recipe?
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
If that's all you have on hand, you could definitely give it a try! Since quick oats pack more easily into a measuring cup than rolled oats, try using scant measurements and adding more oats as needed if the batter seems too thin.
Paige says
We love these muffins!! We do mini muffins, bake for 9 minutes and sub mini chocolate chips for the raisins. Love that it’s pretty low sugar and has the added protein of the oats. Also a great way to use up sourdough discard. These freeze very well and are easy to pop in the microwave for a quick breakfast right out of the freezer! So moist and delicious. Love, love, love!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
That's so awesome! Thanks for your rave review Paige, and I'm so happy you guys like them!
Jenna says
These look amazing! Do you think I could use honey instead of sugar? If I wanted to gain the benefits of fermentation for this recipe, how long would you recommend I let the batter rest before baking? We try to avoid gluten, but can tolerate sourdough. Thanks!
Dolly | Little Home in the Making says
Hi Jenna!
I've made many muffins with honey instead, and really the only problem tends to be they are a bit more dense, and then also you need to scale the liquid back a little bit in order to prevent the batter from being too thin. You could sub the sugar for honey, and maybe scale the milk back to 2 tablepoons instead.
As for long fermenting, there are a few ways you could go about it. You could combine all the ingredients (except baking soda, baking powder, and raisins) and do a cold ferment for 8-12 hours or so. OR you could combine the sourdough starter with the flour and milk (or buttermilk) and ferment at room temperature for 4-8 hours, then add the remaining ingredients. (Sprouted oats work well for this recipe if you find yourself sensitive to unsoaked oats).