These apple cinnamon streusel muffins are sweet and crunchy thanks to a streusel topping, and packed with nutritious carrots and zucchini. Make a double batch and enjoy one now, and save one for breakfast or snacks the next day!
The air is crisp and the winds are strong. The boots and sweaters are out. It’s definitely fall here in the Pacific Northwest, and for me that means apples and baked goods!
I love cooking with apples and baking with them! They enhance fall dishes like Pork Tenderloin with Hard Cider, Apples, and Sage or Roasted Brussels Sprouts. And they are perfect for delicious treats like Apple Pie Bars, Skillet Apple Crisp, Baked Apple Cinnamon Donuts, and Apple Fritters.
We had so many apples from my recent trip with Travel Oregon to Kiyowaka Family Orchards. So I decided to make healthy apple cinnamon muffins.
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❤️ Why you’ll love this recipe
I cannot emphasize enough how much my family has LOVED these cinnamon streusel muffins for almost two decades.
My son once declared these muffins to be the best I have ever made. Both kids when they were toddlers said they could not even tell there were vegetables in the muffins.
These muffins are:
- Fun and easy to make
- Light and fluffy
- Topped with a crunchy, sweet, absolutely delicious streusel topping
🍏 Ingredients
These delectable muffins are packed with healthy fruits and vegetables.
There are two secret ingredients that make these healthy apple cinnamon muffins so soft and tender. It’s thanks to the added moisture from the grated carrots and zucchini.
I use finely grated – not shredded veggies – because that helps bring out the liquids in the veggies and helps them blend in more in the muffins.
The full ingredient measurements are in the printable recipe card below. To start, you’ll need:
- green apples
- carrots
- zucchini
- all-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- light brown sugar
- baking soda
- baking powder
- vanilla extract
- large eggs
- almond milk
- ground cinnamon
- butter
✅ Step-by-step instructions
Pre-heat oven to 375° degrees. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin/cupcake liners. Set aside.
Make the streusel topping
- In a medium or large bowl, sift together flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, and green apple until well blended.
- Using your hands or two forks, add the cubes of butter and knead them into the dry mixture until you get a nice crumble. Set aside.
Make the muffins
- In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer over a large bowl, cream the butter and both sugars until well blended, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and the almond milk.
- With the mixer on slow speed, gently add the green apples, carrots, and zucchini. Mix for 1-2 minutes until well blended.
- While the wet ingredients are mixing, in a separate, large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well blended.
- Using a medium cookie scooper or spoon, fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way.
- Top each muffin cup with enough streusel to cover the top of the muffin batter.
- Bake at 375° degrees for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick placed in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
👩🏻🍳 Baking and muffin FAQs
Store baked muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. You can also freeze them in freezer-safe containers for up to two months.
You can do a few things to make these delicious muffins even healthier. You can omit the streusel topping, and replace the sugar with an all-natural sweetener.
More muffin recipes
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you really loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!
Apple Cinnamon Streusel Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Muffins
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup almond milk
- ½ cup peeled and diced green apples
- ¼ cup finely grated carrots
- ¼ cup finely grated zucchini
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Streusel Topping
- ⅔ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup finely diced and peeled green apple
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375° degrees. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin/cupcake liners. Set aside.
Make the streusel topping
- In a medium or large bowl, sift together flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, ground cinnamon, and green apple until well blended.
- Using your hands or two forks, add the cubes of butter and knead them into the dry mixture until you get a nice crumble. Set aside.
Make the muffins
- In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer over a large bowl, cream the butter and both sugars until well blended, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and the almond milk.
- With the mixer on slow speed, gently add the green apples, carrots, and zucchini. Mix for 1-2 minutes until well blended.
- While the wet ingredients are mixing, in a separate, large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well blended.
- Using a medium cookie scooper or spoon, fill muffin cups about 3/4 of the way.
- Top each muffin cup with enough streusel to cover the top of the muffin batter.
- Bake at 375° degrees for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick placed in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These look so good. I love apple muffins they are my fav. I will have try this recipe.
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These are so big and fluffy and beautiful! I absolutely love the ingredients, too! I can imagine how wonderful they smell while baking :)
These so delicious! This would be a great way to sneak veggies into a kid’s diet! I will have to try this.
Now these apple cinnamon muffins look so darn good! I love that there are carrots and zucchini in them! I can’t wait to make these! Thank you for sharing!
This is great way to eat veggie as many as we can.. sounds best way for my kid also :) thx for sharing this recipe Marlynn
They look so crispy, tempting, and delicious! I would love to make this recipe!
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Yay for hidden fruits and veggies! That topping looks amazing!
Mmmmmmm, these look DELICIOUS! And, I’m totally a sucker for recipes with hidden veggies inside. I mean, genius!!! Seriously though, I wonder how they would turn out if I used a multi-purpose gf flour, like Pillsbury. Thanks so much for sharing! <3
These look SO amazing! I love the apple cinnamon combo more than anything! My hubs loves muffins so I am always looking for various recipes! Thanks for sharing!
These look delicious! I’ve never made muffins aside from blueberry – I’ll have to try these!
These look awesome! What are your thoughts on using whole wheat flour instead of AP white flour? I’ve been doing a lot of muffin recipes lately from 100 Days of Real Food and the whole wheat comes out great. But in other recipes that I sub whole wheat they are super dense. Think it could work here? At least for the main muffin (not the topping)?
Thanks, Mary! I think because these muffins are even lighter and fluffier than most because of the added moisture from the grated carrots & zucchini, that they should be good if you sub whole wheat flour. That said, they likely will be more dense than the original, You could try added a little more grated zucchini for added moisture if you use whole wheat. Or, you could do what I do sometimes and try subbing in 1/2 of the flour amount with whole wheat and leaving 1/2 AP flour and seeing how that first batch turns out before going 100% whole wheat. If you try it, please do let me know how it goes!
These look amazing! I love the addition of some veggies to make it even more healthy.
Thanks, Ali! Gotta seize any opportunity to sneak in more veggies in the day ;)
Drooling just looking at that chubby overflowing muffin top, it is exactly the perfect combo of healthy and unhealthy and crumbly top texture with the moist inside, love it! And it really celebrates autumn with the use of the apple and the aroma it scents the house… Thanks for sharing the recipe!
It’s the one time I can say “I love my muffin top!” ;-) And it really does make the whole house smell like fall…love it! Thanks, Pech!
these look delicious!!!
Thanks, Liz!
Im always looking for more ways to add veggies to my diet and I love the idea of shredding up carrots and zucchini for these! Cant wait to make these
Muffins are a great, tasty vehicle for sneaking in more veggies, for sure :) I grate the veggies so that the pieces are really small and more moisture is added to the muffins. Hope you like them, Ariel!
Love the totally combinations for these muffins. Those baking cups are adorable.
Thanks so much, Candy!