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 350โ. 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 18โ22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and let cool in the muffin tin for 2โ4 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.
These are DELICIOUS! My three, (very picky,) sons devoured these. Thank you so much for a fabulous recipe!
Yeah!! So great to hear!! Thank you Jodi ๐
I just made these and they were delicious!!! Even the muffin batter was so nice and fluffy I wanted to eat the batter but I controlled these urges. I made 6 bigger muffins instead of 9 so I can eat this as a meal instead of a snack and they leave me full and satisfied. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Haha!! I always sneak a few bites of the batter ๐ Love the idea of making these into mega sized muffins — I need to do that next time ๐ Thanks for the comment!!
OH MY GOSH!!! Chelsea! I just made these and tweaked it a little bit to lower the carbs. I used almond flour instead of the oat flour and replaced the sugar and honey with that Swerve sweetener I told you about. They were divine!!!! I am so excited that I can have a baked good and stick to my diet. You are a genius! Thanks so much!!!!
Sara I am SO happy these worked out for you and you loved them!!! Totally made my day ๐ I hope you are able to find some other treats/baked goods that you can use the sweetener with and enjoy. Hope you and your cute family are doing well! Xoxox
Wow – I’m making these for the second time this week, because the batch was so small and we all love them so much for breakfast and snacks. I love the flavor combination, and that they are clean and delicious too. This time I am going to try just one Tbsp of brown sugar, they were a little sweet and I think I can cut back just a little. Definitely a winner ๐
So glad to hear it!! Thanks so much for the comment Erin ๐ I really appreciate the praise and you trying the recipe!
Hi
For the double choc & peanut butter muffins, I know it’s called peanut butter muffins but can I omit the peanut butter? Do I need to substitute it with another ingredient?
Yvonne
If you omit it these won’t work out at all – the peanut butter is very important to the recipe! You could try substituting a different flavor of nut butter (perhaps almond or sunbutter), but I don’t believe the flavor will be as good.
Tks.
Yvonne
I LOVE the ingredients that you’ve used for these muffins! They look so moist and fudgey! I’ll definitely be making these!
I love these muffins (I am baking some right now!) this is the best health snack/indulgence out there! I love that there are no crazy obscure, expensive ingredients too! Thank you so much for share this recipe!
These look great! But you mentioned they are gluten-free and because they have oats in them, they are not. Oats contain gluten as well, just not to the same extent. Thanks for the recipe!
If you find certified gluten free oats it is indeed gluten free.
Just sweet enough! I made these with almond butter and also made them mini in a 350 oven for 9 mins. Thanks Chelsea!
These muffins are a real keeper for me. I have hypoglycemia and am very limited as to deserts I can have or snacks I can have. These are just perfect. I can have all I want and they do me well.
I do use double the amount of oat flour in mine and they turn out just fine.
I also use apple butter which I made substituted for the apple sauce the recipe calls for.
Thank you for this recipe.