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.
For the Cocoa, are you referring to the CACAO unsweetened ?
Regular unsweetened cocoa powder 🙂
Made these for the first time today and they were great. This isn’t just a great “healthy dessert,” it’s a great dessert in its own right. Very chocolaty and rich. I’ll be making this one again and again.
So happy you’ve enjoyed these! Thanks for the comment Eric 🙂
Love this recipe. I use my coffee bean grinder to make the oatmeal flour!!
Thank you Ruth! 🙂
How long should they be left in the muffin tin before removing to wire rack to cool? They’re in the oven now, so I’ll just wing it this time.
Followed the recipe (only replaced the egg with 1/4 cup applesauce) and used all fresh ingredients. The muffins deflated immediately as I took them out of the oven and they were also hard to remain intact without falling apart when I took them out of the pan. Do I need to make them longer? Or was it over mixing? Please help! I would want to try again but I am worried I will be disappointed again 🙁
I think it’s because you replaced the egg with applesauce; you really need that egg for structure. If you try them again I’d add in the egg!
Made these last night for the first time and I have to say, I’ve never had something more delicious, lite, and guilt free all in one! I doubled the recipe to make more because I have college kids and I’m sure you can guess the rest. Everyone in the house loved them and I cannot wait to make them again. Super easy and super tasty. Oh, and making my own oat flour was extremely and oddly satisfying. Who knew?! 🙂 Thank you for this great recipe. Definitely a winner and a keeper.
I’m so thrilled these were such a big hit!! Thanks so much for the comment Ileana! 🙂
These are great! Chocolatey and delicious. A member of our family has an egg allergy so I sub’d 1/4 cup applesauce for the egg. Turned out great–Thanks for sharing!
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Hi there! Found these featuted on a FB page and as I had all the ingredients on hand (sans Greek yogurt, but subbed in sour cream), I decided to give it a try.
This is a wonderful recipe and gets both my and my boyfriend’s seal of approval! He gave both a thumbs-up AND. a head bob! 🙂
*featured
So happy to hear that!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment Erin 🙂
in the oven as we speak, and beyond delicious smelling. Super Easy to make, next time i am doubling the recipe – NINE IS NOT ENOUGH! keep up the good work.
Thank you so much Terri! 🙂 I really appreciate your comment!
I never usually comment on recipes but I just had to this time. These are great. I’d been looking for a healthier muffin recipe for ages and was a bit dubious about making these as I was worried the inclusion of blitzed oats rather than flour would make them dense. Boy was I wrong! These are gloriously fudgy, a bit like a moist brownie, without being heavy.
The peanut butter is not overpowering although you can taste it so if you don’t like peanut butter this recipe probably isn’t for you! The oats are a little bit gritty (reminded me slightly of the texture of figs) hence why it got 4 rather than 5 stars. I think if I had a better food processor I could get the oats finer, but it’s not so bad as to make them unpalatable in fact some may like the added texture. Certainly I felt that it was worth the minor grittiness as it’s healthier than muffins made with wheat flour.
I have since made another batch, which are in the oven as I type this, and I’ve doubled the quantity as they got eaten in under a day last time. I didn’t have applesauce so used Greek yoghurt only and I also used paper muffin cases which work great. I got 24 cakes out of my doubled batch, so hopefully I’ll get to eat more than a couple before my husband and the kids snaffle them all!! These will now be a regular bake in my house. Thank you for this recipe, I love it!
So happy you’ve enjoyed these muffins!! I agree about them tasting like a brownie a bit 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment!