Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins are made with better-for-you ingredients!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
These muffins are amazing! They call for healthier ingredients and require very little sugar, compared with most muffins (like these Chocolate Muffins!). Plus, there is no wheat flour used. If you’re gluten intolerant, you’ll appreciate the absence of wheat flour!
One of my favorite things about these muffins is that there are no strange ingredients that you probably wouldn’t have on hand or know exactly where they are in your grocery store. Often, healthy muffin recipes call for specialty flours, oil, or sweeteners, and my goal is to use easily accessible mainstream ingredients. And — of course — at no sacrifice to flavor!
I mentioned that Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins are flourless; instead of using white flour, or even whole wheat flour, we use oats. The oats are blended into a powdery oat flour. No need to buy this from the store, since it literally takes seconds to make at home.
How to make oat “flour”
- Place old-fashioned or quick oats in a food processor or small blender jar.
- Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour (see photo above on the right).
- Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground.
- Measure the oat flour for these muffins after it’s been turned to flour and not in the original whole oat form. Two tablespoons isn’t a lot, but contributes to the overall stability and flavor of these muffins.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffin ingredients
- Cocoa powder: Use natural cocoa powder, not a Dutch-process cocoa powder. I’ve tested these muffins with Dutch-process cocoa powder, and it does not work in these muffins!
- Oat flour. More on this in the section above.
- Baking soda, baking powder, salt. These baking agents help ensure a nice crumb and rise. Here’s how to make sure your baking soda and powder are fresh.
- Creamy peanut butter. Make sure to use creamy, not chunky, peanut butter in these muffins. If using natural peanut butter, be sure it is well mixed and incorporated (not separated or overly oily) before adding.
- Unsweetened applesauce. If using sweetened applesauce, you’ll want to reduce the amount of brown sugar.
- Vanilla Greek yogurt. Our favorite yogurt to use in these muffins is Honey Vanilla Greek yogurt (made by Greek Gods® — not sponsored). Whatever yogurt you choose to use, make sure you like it plain or you likely won’t love it in these muffins.
- Vanilla extract. Vanilla adds a nice flavor to the muffins. It’s not entirely necessary, so don’t worry if you don’t have any to add.
- Brown sugar. This recipe only uses 2 tablespoons, but if you aren’t used to healthier baked goods, you may want to increase the brown sugar to 4 tablespoons.
- Honey. This natural sweetener adds additional sweetness. The reason we use part honey and part brown sugar is because too much honey makes these muffins too moist.
- Egg. These muffins need one large egg; I have not personally tested using egg alternatives.
- Dark chocolate chips: To keep these Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins more on the nutritious side, we’re using dark chocolate. Dark chocolate has essential fats your body needs and is a powerful source of antioxidants. (Source.)
Quick Tip
If you are eating a gluten-free diet, these muffins are a great addition! While no gluten is added to this recipe, be careful to read the labels on the baking products you buy. Some contain gluten where you wouldn’t expect it, and others are made in a facility with gluten and may be exposed to cross-contamination with gluten products.
Tips
- Generously grease the muffin tin. I don’t recommend muffin liners in this recipe; the batter sticks to the liners. Make sure to really grease the cavities well. Of course, a good muffin tin also makes a world of difference. These tins are my absolute favorite, and I’ve never had a problem with these muffins not releasing nicely.
- Add a few dark chocolate chips on top. I like to add three or four extra chocolate chips on top of each muffin before putting them into the oven. Not only does this make the tops look nicer, it also ensures there is a chocolate chip in every bite!
More healthy baked goods
- Healthy Zucchini Bread with Greek yogurt
- Gluten-Free Apple Muffins with almond butter
- Healthy Pumpkin Muffins with dark chocolate chips
- Peanut Butter Granola with coconut
- Healthy Banana Muffins with Greek yogurt
Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin pan
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons oat flour see note 1
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar lightly packed
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce see note 2
- 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 large egg
- 5 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Generously spray 8 of the muffin pan cavities with cooking spray, but don't use muffin liners!
- In a large bowl, stir together the cocoa powder, oat flour (see note 1), baking soda, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl, combine the peanut butter, applesauce, Greek yogurt, vanilla, honey, and egg. Mix until completely combined.
- Add dry ingredients on top of wet and chocolate chips on top of that. Stir until just combined. Transfer the batter into the prepared muffin tin. If desired, top each muffin with a few more chocolate chips.
- Bake for 18–22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and let cool in the muffin tin for 2–4 minutes and then gently coax out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh my YUM. Chocolate and peanut butter and skinny? Love how moist and rich these look! And I am so impressed there is no flour. Oat flour is my cheap GF option!
These sound and look really great! I love that they’re healthy to, but do you give nutrition information for your healthy recipes for people on programs like Weight Watchers and the like who need to count points/ calories?
Hi Patricia! Here is the nutritional information for these:
Skinny Double Chocolate Muffins
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 Recipe total Servings 12
Calories 144
Total Fat 7.71 g
Saturated Fat 2.82g
Monosaturated Fat 3.64g
Polysaturated Fat 1.25g
Total Carbohydrate 14.4 g
Fiber 2 g
Sugar 8.7 g
Protein 4.6 g
Cholesterol 18.02 mg
Calcium 31 mg
Iron 0.92 mg
Potassium 176 mg
Sodium 164 mg
Zinc 0.7 mg
Thiamin 0.02 mg
Riboflavin 0.05 mg
Niacin 1.19 mg
Vitamin B6 0.08 mg
Vitamin C 0.2 mg
Vitamin B12 0.08 Ug
Vitamin A 31 IU
Vitamin E 1.03 mg
Vitamin D 0.1 Ug
Vitamin K 0.4 Ug
Points 3
Points Plus 4
*The nutritional values are determined by the total ingredients divided by the number of servings for each recipe. Serving sizes may vary. The formula used here for points was obtained from public sources and is an empirical match to Weight Watchers calculators, but it is not an “official” Weight Watcher’s calculator.
Nine or 12 servings?
9 muffins 🙂
Fyi the nutritional info says 12
These look fantastic! I’m always on board when I can have double chocolate for breakfast – especially love that these are skinny too 🙂 Pinning!
Thanks Kelly! 🙂
I love these!!! They’re perfect.
Thank you Dorothy!
These sound fantastic, I love oat flour!
Me too! Thank you Sue 🙂
Is there anything I can substitute for the peanut butter? I made these tonight, and they are wonderful! My son just does not like peanut butter that much!
I’ve never tried anything in place of the peanut butter, but I know other readers have had success with sunbutter, almond butter, or even nutella 🙂 Glad you enjoyed these!
I honestly didnt taste tje peanut butter!
I did not taste any peanut butter in these either. I love peanut butter, too. I think I’ll add peanut butter chips to them next time!!
So, I absolutely love the Costco double chocolate muffins…but I never get them because they are really unhealthy and have trans fat. These seem like a great alternative to them. And I have all the ingredients! Yay!
Oh man those Costco muffins are the BEST! I wish they weren’t so unhealthy haha. These aren’t quite as tasty as those but a lot better for you haha! THanks Katie 🙂
I find these quite similar to the double chocolate Costco muffins. THRILLED to have a healthier alternative!!
That is such a great compliment! 🙂 Those Costco muffins are amazing! 🙂 Thanks Dayle!!
This recipe popped up on my facebook page today, and judging from the comments, it might be an ‘old-one-recycled’ I am SOOOO glad you reposted it cause it sounds right up my alley! Can’t wait to try these! Thanks!
I hope you love these! 🙂
These look amazing!! They are packed with all the right flavors and are skinny!!
Thanks so much Zainab!
Just checking that the oat flour measurements is correct. 🙂 that seems like a tiny amount of flour for the amount of muffins? Can’t wait to try them!
Yep it’s right! But a great question since it is so little! I hope you enjoy! 🙂
I love a skinny muffin! I’ve never worked with oat flour before, but it sounds simple enough to make! These just might be my first experiment with it!
Oh great! Well I hope you love them 🙂 Skinny muffins are my favorite go-to breakfast!
These look amazing!!! Can’t wait to try them. Every single recipe of yours that I’ve tried out has worked amazing!
Oh this made my day! 🙂 Thanks so much Julia – you are so sweet to stop by and comment! I hope you enjoy them and have a wonderful week 🙂
Yay I am so happy you saw my comment. I have made these 3 times now I love them!! So does my picky boyfriend 🙂 please never stop posting recipes!
your recipes look great! Any chance you may add the calorie count?
Lol! Never I d just saw it!!
Where did you see the nutritional info, please? I must be missing it. Thank you.
I’m curious about the nutritional info too.
I ran the recipe on my fitness pal and came up with 168 calories, 10.7 fat, 16.4 carbs, 5.6 protein. To many carbs for me, I only eat 20 grams per day.
Do you know saturated fat content in the 10.7 grams?
How about fiber?
I would love to know the weight watchers point value to your recipes …
I’m sorry I’m not familiar with calculating the new weight watchers points so I don’t have those on my recipes. Wish I could be of more help, but I don’t want to publish incorrect information!
Mine are baking as we speak.. what’s the nutritional values?
What is the nutritional information? The carb count? They look amazing! Thank you.
Hi, just calculated the calorie intake as many people are asking for it and the whole batch comes up to 1480 calories (6192 kJ) or 164 calories per muffin (686 kJ).