These Healthy Blueberry Lemon Muffins are going to be your new favorite muffin. They taste so fresh and delicious you’re going to have a hard time eating just one (or two, or three). They also freeze great for an easy weekday breakfast.
Healthy Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Healthy Blueberry Lemon MuffinsMy kids love these Lemon Blueberry Muffins. Especially my teenager, who has a weird affinity for little food. I think it comes from having little sisters who sometimes require things to be cut up into little bits. I often double or triple this recipe so that I can cook once but freeze several sets of muffins at one time.
Once the muffins cool, I store 6 muffins at a time in gallon-sized freezer bags. When we’re ready for more muffins, I just move a bag from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw. I prefer mine after a few seconds in the microwave with a little butter. My teenager pulls them straight from the refrigerator and into her bag for school. By the time she gets to lunch they are nice and room temperature. My two babies prefer them in both hands with fresh blueberries smeared across their faces.
Healthy Muffins with Fresh Fruit and Soft Texture
The crumb on these muffins is fantastic. The center is light is moist and the tops are just a little flaky – so good! Moving to whole wheat can be a big step – until we found white whole wheat flour.
Goods baked with traditional whole wheat are denser than their counterparts for certain. White Whole Wheat Flour has all the nutritional advantages of traditional whole wheat , but with lighter color and milder taste. It used to be harder to find but thankfully has become more mainstream. Even if you have to search, it is totally worth the search to make whole wheat baked good that are still light and fluffy.
I tend to make these more during blueberry season but frozen berries work just fine. I have a close friend who has blueberry bushes on their property so she brings me gallon bags of fresh berries, which I love! We have a ton of blueberry recipes we use each season, but these lemon blueberry muffins are definitely my favorite.
Lemon makes these Blueberry Muffins taste so bright!
We had close friends who found this recipe and wanted to try it but were not quite sold on the lemon in these muffins. After promising them that it was going to change their life, they finally baked them with the lemon.
The best part of the lemon with blueberries is that the lemon makes the fruit taste so fresh and bright. I love this combination!
Can’t get enough blueberries? Try our favorite Blueberry Ricotta Pancakes! They have the fresh lemon zest too. So good!
How to make healthy muffins
When cooking with coconut oil, remember that it is solid when at room temperature but turns liquid just a few degrees above. The easiest way to do that is to stick it in the microwave for a few seconds. If you are opposed to the microwave, put your mixing bowl over a pot of warm water. Keep in mind that if you add cold ingredients to your warmed coconut oil, it will turn solid again – same advice, microwave or warm water.
Or just let your ingredients come to room temperature before you bake. If you are new to coconut oil, it will soon be second nature and will be totally worth it! Coconut oil is wonderful in baked goods.
Looking for more healthy muffin ideas for breakfast (or snacks!)? These Healthy Chocolate Muffins are so delicious!
Healthy Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 2 egg
- 2/3 cup milk
- 1 lemon, for zesting
- 2 pints blueberries fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil muffin pan, or line with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
- Whisk liquefied coconut oil, egg, milk, maple syrup, and the zest from one lemon together in a separate bowl until smooth. Remember that if you add coconut oil to cold ingredients it will turn solid. If you have trouble, just warm the bowl and batter in the microwave or over a pot of warm water. (I always make sure to use a microwave safe bowl for just for this reason. You would think I would eventually learn this lesson.)
- Stir the liquid ingredients into the flour mixture until moistened. Lightly fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them 2/3 full.
- Bake muffins in the preheated oven until they rise and the tops are golden brown, about 16 minutes for a standard sized muffin pan. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean.
I’ve been baking blueberry muffins every Sunday for several weekends in a row and have tried a variety of muffin recipes and these are the Very best! Moist and practically melts in your mouth. Must be the coconut oil. I used 3/4 Cup maple syrup and a whole lemon for the zest. Thank you for this simply delicious recipe.
hi there
I love the taste of blueberry and lemons and was wondering if I could use almond milk instead of milk?
I have not tried it. But I would assume it would be just fine. I often substitute with oat milk in baking and it works pretty well!
These muffins are so delicious! Thank you for such a great recipe. They are light, moist, and sweetened just right. Love having a healthy muffin for my family in the morning and great use for fresh blueberries. I used 1/2 cup of the syrup, 1/4 cup agave, and 1/4 cup local raspberry honey. Yum!
Hello I want to try this recipe just using the ingredients I have at home – everything but the whole wheat flour. Can white flour be substituted as a 1:1 ratio? Thank you!
You can substitute 1:1
This looks so good! What a great breakfast meal prep for the whole family!
Can you use almond flour instead of whole wheat?
I haven’t tried with almond flour. I have had some baking luck with half almond and half oat flour. But I have not tried with this recipe.
Fabulous. I made a few adjustments – regular whole wheat flour, no lemon, olive oil instead of coconut, filled muffin tray to JUST over the line, baked for 24 mins instead of 16, and they came out absolute perfection.
These were delicious! Not very sweet but so good! I actually added just a little bit of granulated stevia before baking.
Tried these yesterday and they are absolutely fabulous!
I’ve changed some ingredients to use what I had at home and they were so so delicious.
Replaced the maple syrup with honey and used rice milk and added some lemon juice as well (just because I love lemon).
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I love them too! And totally feel you!!!! We love lemon so much around here.
hi! can i use coconut flour instead of a whole wheat flour?
Coconut flour is a weird animal to bake with. The conversions are not one to one. I would feel comfortable trying oat flour… But I am just not sure about coconut. If you give it a try let me know, I would love to know how it turns out.
do you use whole milk or coconut milk?
I use 2% but I think most any milk would work.
This recipe sounds delicious! I’m not a big maple syrup fan. Can I substitute with honey or sugar?
Hi Becca. I have not tried it that way but would assume it worked. Honey will give you a different flavor based on the type of honey you use. Sugar would work but make sure you add an extra tablespoon or so of liquid. Let me know how it turns out!
Do you measure the 3/4 cup of coconut oil before you melt it or after it is liquid?
Measure it liquid… it is not really easy to measure solid. 🙂
hi Cynthia! I just made a batch of these but substituted the whole wheat flour for half spelt and half brown rice flour and only used half of the maple syrup – added choc chips instead of blueberries for my three year old – didn’t come out too sweet (which is what i wanted) but are still light and delicious! would probably add vanilla essence next time around! xx
That sounds delicious!!! I like that they are not too sweet too. And that it makes enough I can freeze half (if my kids don’t get to them first!). I use the “muffin” part as a base for most of my muffins. It is good to know it works well with alternative flours too!
I do not like coconut oil, what will be a good substitution?
Hi Dionne. We use coconut oil for baking because it is healthier than vegetable oil but any neutral flavored oil should work just fine.
I think this is a wonderfully healthy and yummy muffin. I have started using coconut oil and milk recently and love both products. Adding blueberries makes them even more healthy and delicious. Thank you so much for this and other recipes you share with us.
These sound yummy! About how many muffins do these make?
Yum! I am pinning these! I love blueberry and lemon!! And King Arthur flour is the best!!!
These muffins sound so good. Thank you.
This muffin looks delicious! Thanks for linking up with What’s Cookin’ Wednesday!
I have whole wheat flour and organic bread flour on hand, which is lighter in color. Can I still use the regular whole wheat flour or the bread flour for this recipe? My husband loves blueberry muffins, and blueberry muffins with a hint of lemon sound even more fantastic. Thank you!
Hi Christina. I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe but would give half whole wheat and half bread flour a try. I have done that successfully with other recipes. I definitely think all whole wheat would make them dense. Please let me know how they turn out! And send a picture! Good luck!