Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (2024)

You will instantly fall in love with this delicious recipe for soft, fluffy, and secretly healthy protein muffins!

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (1)

The best protein muffins

If you’re looking for a nutritious breakfast or healthy snack, be sure to give this super easy protein muffin recipe a try.

The muffins are just 100 calories, with over 10 GRAMS of protein each!

One pillow soft bite, and it’s almost impossible to believe the stellar nutrition facts. They taste like real bakery style muffins yet are secretly healthy at the same time.

The recipe can be whole grain, vegan, gluten free, added sugar free, egg free, oil free, low fat, and low calorie, with no banana required.

Also make these Healthy Blueberry Muffins

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (3)

High Protein Muffin Flavors

Chocolate Protein Muffins: Use your favorite chocolate protein powder. For double chocolate muffins, add a handful of regular or mini chocolate chips.

Protein Pumpkin Muffins: Instead of yogurt, use canned pumpkin puree. Increase cinnamon to two teaspoons and add a half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice as well.

Nutella Protein Muffins: Swap the oil for this Homemade Nutella Recipe or for store bought chocolate hazelnut butter. Stir in a fourth cup of finely chopped hazelnuts.

Blueberry Protein Muffins: Use blueberry flavored yogurt, and place a few blueberries into each muffin top just before baking. This same method can be used to make raspberry, blackberry, cherry, or strawberry muffins.

High Protein Lemon Muffins: Go with a lemon flavored yogurt, and stir the zest of one lemon into the batter when you add the liquid ingredients.

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (4)

Healthy protein muffin ingredients

You will need flour, protein powder, sugar or granulated sweetener, ground cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, yogurt, water, pure vanilla extract, white or apple cider vinegar, optional egg whites, and optional oil or nut butter.

Types of flour that work include oat flour, white flour, some brands of gluten free all purpose flour, and spelt flour (my personal favorite).

We cannot vouch for whole wheat flour, pastry flour, chickpea flour, almond flour, or coconut flour. If you are looking for low carb muffins, try these Keto Muffins.

Pretty much any all purpose granulated sweetener will do well, including regular sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, or date sugar. We have not tried a liquid sweetener like honey or pure maple syrup. Be sure to report back with results if you try.

For protein muffins with no sugar added, use xylitol or granulated erythritol.

Step by step recipe video

Watch the protein muffin recipe video above

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (5)

Vegan protein muffins

For dairy free protein muffins with no eggs, simply increase the water to half a cup instead of adding egg whites.

You can use a non dairy yogurt, such as coconutmilk yogurt or soy yogurt.

Or replace the yogurt with an equal amount of pumpkin or sweet potato puree, unsweetened applesauce, or mashed banana. Only if using mashed banana, it is fine to decrease the sugar in the recipe to a third cup.

Vegan guests will also love these Vegan Brownies or Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.

How to make protein muffins

Gather all ingredients, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line each cup of a muffin tin with cupcake liners, or grease the cups with oil spray.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, water, pure vanilla extract, vinegar, and optional eggs and oil or nut butter.

To save time, you can combine the dry ingredients weeks, or even months, in advance if you wish. Store this homemade protein muffin mix in a large sealed Ziploc bag or container until ready to use.

Stir the flour, protein powder, dry sweetener, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and baking powder into the mixing bowl. If adding chocolate chips, mix them in here as well.

Only stir until just evenly mixed. This will prevent the muffins from becoming tough, dense, and overly chewy once baked.

Scoop muffin batter into the prepared cups, dividing the batter evenly among the cups. It should fill around two thirds of each lined cup.

Bake the muffin pan on the oven’s center rack for nineteen minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin. If they are done, it should come out mostly clean.

Allow the pan to cool for ten minutes or so. Then remove the muffins.

What protein powder to use?

Use a brand and flavor of protein powder that you know you like.

I recommend unsweetened protein powder when baking, because it allows you to control the sweetness of recipes and avoid an artificial aftertaste.

However, feel free to experiment with other flavors, such as birthday cake batter, vanilla, caramel, coffee, or cookies and cream.

I often choose unflavored pea protein powder for these muffins. They will work with other forms of protein as well.

Grocery stores and health food stores should sell numerous types of protein powders, including whey protein, soy protein, brown rice, egg, hemp, casein, collagen, and pumpkin seed protein.

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (7)

Making protein mini muffins

If you prefer mini muffins to larger ones, grease or line a mini muffin pan.

Decrease the baking time to just twelve minutes.

This protein muffin recipe will yield around 20-22 mini protein muffins of a similar size to the ones in the video and photos here.

Recipe storage tips

I’ve found that if you let the muffins sit on the counter or in the refrigerator, loosely covered with cloth or paper towels, the liners peel off easily by the next day.

This works for the version with no oil as well.

After a day, store leftover protein muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. Or freeze the muffins for up to three months.

If you’d like to reheat leftover muffins, first slice them in half and add butter, honey, agave, or a spread of choice. Toast in a regular or toaster oven.

Gram measurements for protein muffins

If you prefer to bake with a food scale instead of the cups and measuring spoons listed further below, here are the amounts to measure:

60 grams flour, 60 grams protein powder, 100 grams dry sweetener, 120 grams yogurt, 60 grams water, 60 grams egg or additional water, 36 grams oil or additional water, and 12 grams pure vanilla extract.

(If omitting the egg whites and oil, you will simply use 156 grams of water.)

Also be sure to include the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Other healthy muffins

Banana Muffins

Bran Muffins

Applesauce Muffins

Healthy Muffins (15 flavors)

Peanut Butter Muffins

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (9)

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Protein Muffins

These soft and fluffy healthy protein muffins are a nutritious breakfast or snack recipe.

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (10)

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Print Recipe

Cook Time 19 minutes minutes

Total Time 19 minutes minutes

Yield 9 muffins

5 from 53 votes

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup yogurt (use nondairy for vegan)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup egg whites or additional water
  • 3 tbsp oil, nut butter, or additional water
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 tsp white or cider vinegar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup protein powder
  • 1/2 cup sugar, unrefined or xylitol if desired
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp each: baking powder, baking soda, and salt
  • optional chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease or line a muffin tin. Whisk the wet ingredients in a bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients just until evenly mixed. Pour into the muffin tins. Bake 19 minutes. The protein muffins should look domed when you take them out. Allow to cool before removing from the tins. If you let them sit loosely covered overnight, the liners peel off easily by the next day.

    *If you prefer to make mini muffins like the ones in the photos and recipe video, decrease baking time to 12 minutes. It will yield 22 mini muffins.

    View Nutrition Facts

Notes

Readers also love this Protein Banana Bread.

Have you made this recipe?

Tag @chocolatecoveredkatie on Instagram

More Recipes With Protein Powder

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Protein Bars

Protein Brownies

Chocolate Protein Mug Cake

Protein Ice Cream

Chia Pudding Recipes

Strawberry Smoothies

Protein Cookies

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Balls

Protein Muffins - The Healthy Recipe with 15 Flavor Ideas! (2024)

FAQs

What makes a muffin healthy or unhealthy? ›

What Makes a Healthy Muffin? Signs of a healthy muffin recipe are whole-food ingredients like fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, eggs, and low-fat milk and yogurt (or a dairy-free alternative).

Can you add protein powder to boxed muffin mix? ›

Whey protein powder can be stirred into most boxed muffin mixes, but you'll likely need to add extra peanut butter to smooth out the batter. How long do protein muffins stay fresh? Once cooled, leftover muffins can be transferred to an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Why are my protein muffins dry? ›

The key to the best muffins is to not use too much protein powder in relation to the other ingredients. You never want your batter to be over half protein, as this would make your muffins rubbery and dry, not light and fluffy. Think about the flavour profiles too when adding protein to your muffins.

How do you incorporate protein powder into baked goods? ›

One tip for how to add protein powder to baking recipes without making the final product gritty or chalky is to dissolve the protein powder in the liquid for the recipe first and then add it to the rest of the dough or mixture. Don't add the protein powder directly to the dry ingredients.

Is it OK to eat a muffin everyday? ›

Now muffins aren't all bad. These things are only unhealthy if eaten on a regular basis. If every so often you want a muffin for breakfast or a snack, that's no big deal. When you grab a bakery muffin for breakfast daily, that's when you increase your risk for unwanted weight gain and other health issues.

Will I gain weight if I eat a muffin? ›

Eating one muffin daily can contribute to weight gain, but whether it's an "easy" way depends on various factors. Muffins can be calorie-dense due to ingredients like sugar, flour, and fats. However, the type of muffin matters.

What not to mix protein powder with? ›

The addition of real milk powder may lead to bloating, constipation and probably dysentery because of it's high lactose and sugar level. Don't add ingredients such as soy protein which contains chemical compounds that can lead to hormonal disturbance in some people. Avoid mixing vegetable oils that contain trans fats.

What happens if you use protein powder instead of flour? ›

Although you can replace part of the flour with protein powder, you should never replace more than ⅓ of the flour with protein powder. Ideally, you should be aiming to replace just ¼ of the flour with protein. Anything above will get you a dry texture.

What is best to mix with protein powder? ›

The Best Liquids to Mix With Protein Powder With
  • Water: You knew this was coming, we know it too. ...
  • Milk: Milk is most people's favorite liquid to mix their protein powder into. ...
  • Fruit Juices. ...
  • Smoothies. ...
  • Peanut butter: ...
  • Oats: ...
  • Bananas: ...
  • Greek Yogurt.
Feb 5, 2024

Is it OK to bake with protein powder? ›

Protein powder is a good choice for crafting desserts like cake or cookies or other kinds of baked goods such as bread, pastries, pizza dough, or even pasta. It's not a 1:1 substitution, though. Flour and protein powder have different properties.

What can I substitute for protein powder in muffins? ›

Did you know that you can make high protein muffins without protein powder? Just replace it with more oat flour or almond flour, you are still going to get plenty of high quality protein from the yogurt. Greek yogurt can be replaced with Skyr, quark or with any other thick yogurt of your choice.

How do you keep muffins moist and fluffy? ›

The Best Way to Store Muffins
  1. STEP ONE: Let the muffins cool completely on a wire rack.
  2. STEP TWO: Line an airtight storage container with paper towels.
  3. STEP THREE: Place muffins in the container, on top of the paper towels.
  4. STEP FOUR: Place an additional paper towel layer on top of the muffins.

What type of protein is best for baking? ›

Whey protein concentrate

Whey concentrate is generally good for baking, depending on the rest of the ingredients in the recipe. In cake or bread, whey typically needs other dry ingredients or carbs to offset its protein content (for example this protein cake and this protein bread).

How do you add taste to protein powder? ›

Add a sweetener.
  1. Peanut butter both sweetens and thickens shakes.
  2. Chopped fresh fruit and fruit juice provide vitamins and fiber as well as sweetness. Banana is popular because of its strong flavor and thickness. ...
  3. If you want sweetness without additional flavors or calories, try an artificial sweetener.

How do you make powdered protein taste better? ›

Add fresh or frozen fruit to your shake for sweetness and flavor. Some great fruit combinations to try are banana and strawberry, blueberry and peach, or raspberry and grapefruit. If you want a more tropical flavor, try adding mango or pineapple. You can also add some vegetables to your shake for extra nutrients.

What makes a muffin bad? ›

OR did you mean “what makes for a bad muffin?” - in which case I would say if it is dry, crumbly, tasteless, or over sweet, (all the same things that also apply to bad cakes), then that would be a bad muffin.

What makes a good muffin? ›

10 tips for perfect muffins
  1. Mix wet and dry separately. To prevent the mix from being overworked, first mix the wet ingredients together in one bowl and mix the dry ingredients in another. ...
  2. Don't over stir. ...
  3. Add your flavours last. ...
  4. Line the pan. ...
  5. Use an ice cream scoop. ...
  6. Don't overfill. ...
  7. Add a flavourful sprinkle. ...
  8. Fill up the pan.

Are muffins healthier? ›

A lot of commercial brand muffins are just as bad as cake, donuts, or cookies. They can have upwards of 500 calories each, 40 grams of sugar, hardly any fiber, and 35% DRV of fat. Even if they say they contain fruit, the added fats and sugars will nullify any benefits the fruit contains.

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