Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins! SUPER healthy -- no flour, butter, or oil, and low sugar in these delicious treats! chelseasmessyapron.com

Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins are made with better-for-you ingredients!

Chocolate peanut butter muffins, cut in half and stacked, revealing their soft interior with gooey chocolate chips.

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!

Making oat flour by placing oats in the blender and processing them until they are pulverized into flour.

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”

  1. Place old-fashioned or quick oats in a food processor or small blender jar.
  2. Pulse the oats until they are ground into a powder-like consistency that resembles flour (see photo above on the right).
  3. Stir the oats around to be sure that all the oats have been finely ground.
  4. 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.

Combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, then pouring the batter into prepared muffin tins, baking, and preparing to enjoy.

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.

Halved peanut butter chocolate chip muffins with melted chocolate chips on the inside, showcasing their deliciousness.

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

4.87 from 60 votes

Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

Made with nutritious ingredients, these flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins are incredibly indulgent!
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Servings: 8 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 18โ€“22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and let cool in the muffin tin for 2โ€“4 minutes and then gently coax out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: To make your own 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.
Note 2: If desired, you can use just applesauce or just Greek yogurt instead of a combination of both, but make sure to still use 1/2 cup measurement of whichever you choose to use.
Storage: Store peanut butter muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 days or refrigerate for up to a week.
For longer storage, wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temp or microwave briefly to warm.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 214kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 21mg | Sodium: 241mg | Potassium: 295mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 33IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 61mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hello, and welcome to Chelseaโ€™s Messy Apron! Iโ€™m Chelsea, the recipe developer, food photographer, and writer behind the site. Iโ€™m passionate about creating simple, reliable, and delicious recipes that anyone can make.

Thanks for stopping byโ€”I hope you find something delicious to make!

More Recipes You'll Love

4.87 from 60 votes (4 ratings without comment)

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




235 Comments

  1. Melissa Parks says:

    5 stars
    These look wonderful! I can’t have dairy… Any substitution ideas for the yogurt? Thanks!

  2. Linda says:

    Is there the nutritional value for this recipe?

    Need it to calculate WW points.

  3. Suzanne says:

    I have a question about the oat flour-did you use old fashioned rolled oats or quick oats? Not sure if there would be a difference in which is used but wanted to make sure. I have this recipe saved and I am dying to try it but my oven died just a few days before Christmas and my new stove won’t come in until next week! My muffin supply in the freezer is dangerously low and on life support!

  4. Meghan says:

    5 stars
    These were so amazing!!! Already planning on making them again!

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      Love hearing that! Thanks for the comment Meghan! ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Amanda says:

    5 stars
    These are fantastic! My five year old demands that I make them for him every week for breakfast! I love them as well.

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      So happy to hear that ๐Ÿ™‚

  6. Jenn says:

    Hi! This recipes looks so good but I’m wondering if there is something that I can use besides Greek yogurt? I tried to read through the comments to make sure this question was my already asked. So hopefully I’m not repeating someone.

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      You could double the applesauce in place of the yogurt ๐Ÿ™‚ Enjoy!

  7. Barbara says:

    5 stars
    I could only get 8 muffins out of the batter. What size scoop are you using? I am using a silicone cupcake/muffin pan, so I didn’t grease the cups. They are baking right now.

  8. Jessica says:

    5 stars
    These are great! I didn’t have apple sauce so I used 1/4 cup of mashed banana…my daughter hates banana and couldn’t taste it ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. chelseamessyapron says:

      So happy to hear that! Thanks for the comment Jessica ๐Ÿ™‚

  9. Kellie,RDH says:

    5 stars
    Is there another recipe without chocolate? I love peanut butter but I’m not a fan of chocolate, and my step-mother is allergic to chocolate. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

  10. Dayle says:

    5 stars
    I replied to another comment above from years ago, but just wanted to add down here…

    These actually are quite similar to the giant 700 calorie double chocolate muffins from Costco.

    I am THRILLED to have a healthier alternative. These are soooo so good!

    I followed the recipe as written, and with the brands of ingredients I used, MFP gave me the following details per muffin: 201 calories, 22C, 11F, 7P, 3 fiber

    Also – I froze them individually. They take a few hours to fully thaw and are just as good as they were the day I baked them!

    Thank you so much
    Dayle