These perfectly spiced vegan peanut butter apple muffins are soft, gooey, and full of cozy fall flavors! They come together with simple pantry ingredients, crisp fresh apples, and creamy peanut butter, all in under 40 minutes.
Snacking on apple slices with peanut butter has been a go-to snack of mine for years. From my childhood days to now, enjoying it with my kids, it always hits the spot. And combining both of these in a muffin recipe has been a very satisfying experiment!
Baking when apples are in season is also so much fun! From apple crisps to apple butter bread to apple hand pies, the combination of butter, sugar, flour, and crisp, juicy apples is just delicious. These muffins with their crunchy streusel, the nutty butter, and fresh apples are just as full of flavor.
Moist and fluffy, you’ll want to bake these apple peanut butter muffins again and again! They’re great for breakfast, anytime snacking, and also double up nicely for dessert!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
✨ Super quick, super moist, and so easy to make. These muffins are great for school lunches or on-the-go breakfast for busy mornings, just like my feta spinach muffins and eggless chocolate protein muffins.
✨ The recipe is fuss-free. Just 40 minutes from start to finish, with simple pantry ingredients and no waiting around.
✨ Vegan and wholesome without being boring! These apple peanut butter muffins are hearty enough to keep you full, but still a treat you’ll look forward to.
✨ The recipe makes 12 muffins, and that’s too few in my opinion. You’ll want another dozen because they store well and taste delicious the next day!
Apple Streusel Muffins Ingredients
Apples are the heart of these muffins. Honestly, any apple you have at home will work beautifully. I like to peel and dice them small for little pops of fruit. You can grate them for a more even distribution throughout the batter.
Peanut butter: Smooth or crunchy. Homemade or store-bought. Any work in this easy muffin recipe. As long as it is unsweetened. Crunchy peanut butter gives the muffins little nutty pops, which is lovely!
Flour: I use all-purpose flour to make the streusel and whole wheat flour for the muffin batter. You can use 100% all-purpose or whole wheat for the recipe.
Sugar: I used granulated sugar. Use what you have in the pantry- coconut sugar, regular white sugar, cane sugar, or raw sugar. For the streusel topping, I prefer brown sugar because it gives the apple peanut butter muffins a deeper, molasses-y flavor.
Oil: I made vegan muffins, which is why I used coconut oil. But if you don’t have it on hand, melted butter works like a charm. Any neutral-tasting oil (like sunflower or canola) will also do the trick.
Milk: I tend to opt for non-dairy milk (soy, oat milk, or almond milk are all excellent). Feel free to use whatever milk you keep in your fridge.
Vinegar: Both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are great options. This gets mixed with the milk to make buttermilk, which gives the most tender crumb to these muffins!
Cinnamon: A pinch warms up the muffins with cozy fall flavor and pairs beautifully with both apples and peanut butter.
Vanilla rounds out the taste. Homemade vanilla extract or store-bought, either works.
Oats: Rolled oats make the apple muffins with peanut butter hearty. But regular instant oats will work just fine. With leftover rolled oats, make these gooey and chocolate peanut butter oat cups.
Please see the recipe card below for full information about ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Peanut Butter Apple Muffins
Preheat oven to 220 °C / 425°F. Grease and flour a muffin tray or line it with paper baking cups.
Step 1: Combine rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon powder, flour, and oil in a bowl.
Step 2: Mix with your fingers until you have a crumbly texture. Keep aside.
Step 3: Mix soy milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Keep aside for 5 minutes. In the meantime, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon powder in a bowl.
Step 4: In a large bowl, whisk together the milk-vinegar mixture, oil, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla extract.
Step 5: Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients. Mix until no white streaks remain. Please don't overmix.
Step 6: Toss the diced apples with 1 teaspoon of flour and fold them into the muffin batter.
Step 7: Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about ¾ full.
Step 8: Top with the streusel topping.
Step 9: Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 220 °C/425°F. Then turn the temperature down to 180 °C/ 350°F and bake for about 18-20 minutes.
Step 10: Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out on a cooling rack. Then drizzle with the cinnamon glaze. Enjoy!
Pro Tips
- Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or skewer in the center. It should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Toss apples in flour. This little trick keeps the apple pieces from sinking to the bottom of your muffins.
- Don’t over-mix the batter. It’s the secret to soft, moist muffins. When you combine wet and dry ingredients, stir just enough to bring everything together. Over-mixing makes hard, dense muffins.
- Mind the oven temperature. I found that baking at two temperatures makes for high, bakery-style domed muffins! So, I switched to 220 °C/ 425°F for the first five minutes and then 180 °C/ 350°F for the remaining baking time. Do keep an eye on the timer when you're doing this temperature switching!
How To Serve
These apple muffins are best served warm and taste wonderful as-is. But you can also slather more peanut butter, or better yet, a homemade apple butter! I love to have them with my evening tea.
My matcha girlie daughter loves them with a blueberry matcha latte or when it gets cooler, with hot chocolate!
How To Store
These apple and peanut butter muffins with oats keep well for 2-3 days. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge. Reheat before serving.
Recipe FAQs
I wanted a muffin my kids could snack on anytime, so I tested this recipe three times with different apples and peanut butter textures. I found that any apple variety works. But the best ones are crisp, a little tart, and can hold their shape. Think Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or Fuji.
Yes, you can! It’s completely optional, but it adds such a fun twist.
I’ve been snacking on apple slices smeared with peanut butter for years. It’s a wholesome snack that kids will love!
📖 Recipe
Peanut Butter Apple Muffins
Ingredients
Streusel
- 1/4 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Rolled oats
- 1/4 cup Brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
- 2 tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 tbsp Peanut butter
Muffins
- 2 1/4 cups Whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Cinnamon powder
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1/3 cup Coconut oil You can use any neutral tasting oil you prefer or melted butter
- 3 tbsp Peanut butter
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup Soy milk You can use any milk you prefer
- 1.5 tbsp Vinegar White vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 large Apples Peeled and diced into small pieces
- 1 tsp All-purpose flour
Cinnamon glaze (optional)
- 1/3 cup Powdered sugar
- 2-3 tbsp Milk
- 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220 C / 425 F. Grease and flour a muffin tray or line it with paper baking cups.
Streusel
- Combine the flour, oats, coconut oil, peanut butter, sugar, and cinnamon powder in a small bowl with your fingers until you have a crumbly texture. Keep aside.1/4 cup All-purpose flour, 1/2 cup Rolled oats, 1/4 cup Brown sugar,1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder, 2 tbsp Coconut oil, 1 tbsp Peanut butter
Muffins
- Combine soy milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Keep aside for 5 minutes.1 1/4 cup Soy milk, 1.5 tbsp Vinegar
- In a large bowl, sift whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon powder.2 1/4 cups Whole wheat flour, 2 tsp Baking powder, 1/2 tsp Baking soda,1/4 tsp Salt,1 tsp Cinnamon powder
- In another bowl, whisk together milk-vinegar mixture, oil, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla extract.3/4 cup Sugar, 1/3 cup Coconut oil, 3 tbsp Peanut butter, 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- Pour over the dry ingredients and mix well. Toss the apples in 1 tsp flour and fold them into the batter. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them about ¾ full.Divide the streusel topping equally among the muffins.2 large Apples
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 220 c/ 425 F.Then turn the temperature down to 180 C/ 350 F and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning them out on a cooling rack.
Cinnamon Glaze ( Optional)
- Combine the powdered sugar, milk, and cinnamon powder in a small bowl. Whisk well to make a thick pouring consistency. Drizzle over the cooled muffins. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick or skewer in the center. It should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Toss apples in flour. This little trick keeps the apple pieces from sinking to the bottom of your muffins.
- Don’t over-mix the batter. It’s the secret to soft, moist muffins. When you combine wet and dry ingredients, stir just enough to bring everything together. Over-mixing makes hard, dense muffins.
- Mind the oven temperature. I found that baking at two temperatures makes for high, bakery-style domed muffins! So, I switched to 220 °C/ 425°F for the first five minutes and then 180 °C/ 350°F for the remaining baking time. Do keep an eye on the timer when you're doing this temperature switching!
Julia says
Made this recipe as is, minus the soy milk due to a soy allergy, used lactose free milk instead & it's unreal! I could eat these every day, they didn't even last 24 hours in the house. I really appreciate how much how much time was invested in this to figure it out. I will be making these constantly & sharing with everyone!
Natasha Minocha says
Hi Julia, I'm so so happy you enjoyed these muffins! Thank you for this glorious review, it really made my day and makes everything feel totally worth it!