These apple cinnamon muffins start with an easy muffin batter that’s flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, and plenty of juicy apples. We use the same base recipe when making blueberry muffins because the simple batter produces moist, soft, and cakey muffins with tall muffin tops. They’re always a favorite! Enjoy the muffins plain or top them with crumb topping before baking and smooth vanilla icing before serving. If you love apple cinnamon bread, you’ll enjoy these apple muffins!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips.
These crumb-topped apple muffins have been a personal and reader favorite for many years. When you crave a big slice of apple pie for breakfast, these apple-studded muffins fill the gap 🙂
Tell Me About These Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Flavor: These are buttery muffins where apple and cinnamon flavors take over. It’s always disappointing when you bite into a muffin and there’s hardly any “stuff” like blueberries, chocolate chips, etc. Today we’re using extra apples so you get the delicious fruit in nearly each bite. If you’re looking for a fall baking recipe where apples shine, this recipe fits the bill!
- Texture: The apple cinnamon muffins are moist because we add yogurt or sour cream to the batter. just like we do when making sour cream coffee cake. And because we start with creamed butter and sugars, the muffins are soft, light, and cakey like a cupcake. We don’t overload the batter with milk (use only 1/4 cup (60ml)), so you still have a slightly dense texture. I like to describe these muffins as having the perfect harmonious balance between soft and dense!
- Ease: I categorize this recipe as a beginner baking recipe because you use simple ingredients and easy mixing methods. An electric mixer is key for creaming the butter and sugars together and if you decide to add the icing, you just need a whisk. Some crumb toppings require cold butter and a pastry cutter to mix, but we’re using melted butter here so you just need a fork. Easy! All of the ingredients used are baking staples, so there’s nothing new or difficult. I love easygoing recipes that produce consistently delicious results and know you appreciate that too!
One reader, Katrina, commented: “This is the best apple cinnamon muffin recipe I’ve tried, and at 67-years-young, I have tried many. ★★★★★”
One reader, Caroline, commented: “The perfect apple muffins! These are a hit every time. Don’t skip the crumb! ★★★★★”
One reader, Kaley, commented: “This is my new favorite muffin recipe. It’s PERFECT! First apple treat I’ve found where I can taste the actual apples, not just cinnamon or sugar. It was SO easy, and now I’ve applied the baking trick to other muffins. I love them! ★★★★★”
Why This Apple Cinnamon Muffin Recipe Works
Today’s muffin recipe uses my all-star muffin batter. This batter can be used to create endless muffin varieties and you’ll see it again in my blueberry muffins, peach muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, cranberry orange muffins, and more. In fact, this “Master Muffin Batter” has become such a hit with readers that I created a separate page dedicated to all its possibilities: Best Muffin Recipe. It starts with basic dry ingredients like flour, baking powder + soda, and salt. More often than not, I add ground cinnamon and you’ll see its addition in today’s apple cinnamon version. The wet ingredients are just as straightforward—creamed butter with sugars, plus 2 eggs, vanilla extract, sour cream/plain yogurt, and milk. I use either plain Greek yogurt or sour cream based on what I have and the same goes for the milk. Use whole milk, 1%, almond milk, buttermilk, oat milk, etc. I’ve made these muffins what seems like 1,000x with various milks and trust me, they all work!
- By the way, if you’re a muffin aficionado, you might also love my bakery-style muffins, which are denser, jumbo in size, and have a distinctively tight crumb.
Overview: How to Make Apple Cinnamon Muffins
I like to make the crumb topping first so it’s ready as soon as the batter comes together. The crumb topping, while certainly optional, comes together with ingredients you use in the muffin batter—very convenient. (It’s the same crumb topping we use on peach muffins.) After that, you can peel and chop the apples into roughly 1/2-inch pieces. Pictured below is 1 cup plus several chunks on the side. You need 1 and 1/2 cups (about 180g), which is about 2 medium apples. Fold the apples into the batter.
How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
Press crumb topping into the tops of each muffin before baking. For tall muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top with batter.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, and then lower the temperature.
This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of these muffin recipes.
By the way, if you want to skip the mixer, try these applesauce muffins, pumpkin muffins, & healthy apple muffins.
Best Apples to Use in Apple Muffins
Firmer apples are ideal for baking so avoid soft, mealy, and mushy apples. If you’re baking a recipe that calls for many apples such as apple crisp, apple cobbler, or apple crumble pie, use a mix of tart apples and sweet apples. These apple cinnamon muffins only need 1 or 2 apples (just like apple cupcakes), so it’s fine to use tart apples like Granny Smith or sweet apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji, and Pink Lady.
For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties, and when to use each, you can visit my post The Best Apples for Baking.
More Apple Breakfast Recipes
- Apple Cinnamon Scones with Salted Caramel
- Baked Apple Cider French Toast
- Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal Cups
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Apple Crumb Cake
Apple Cinnamon Crumb Muffins
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 14 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These apple cinnamon muffins start with an easy muffin batter that’s flavored with cinnamon, brown sugar, and plenty of juicy apples. Enjoy the muffins plain or top them with crumb topping before baking and smooth vanilla icing before serving.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15g) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup (84g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Muffins
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (any kind), at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) peeled & chopped apples (1/2-inch chunks; you need about 2 medium apples)
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream (or milk for a thinner consistency)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. You may need a 2nd pan as this recipe makes up to 14 muffins, though you can always bake in batches using 1 pan. Set aside. *See note about jumbo size & mini muffins.*
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon together in a medium bowl. Stir in the melted butter, and then gently mix in the flour using a fork. Keep the mixture as large crumbles and do not over-mix. If over-mixed, this will turn into a thick paste. Set topping aside.
- Make the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and mostly creamy. (It’s ok if it appears somewhat curdled.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Fold in the apples.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner, filling each all the way to the top. Spoon crumb topping on each, gently pressing it down so it sticks.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20–23 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm or cooled muffins.
- Iced or plain muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled muffins for up to 3 months. It’s best to freeze the muffins without the icing and add the icing after thawing and before serving. (Freezing them with the icing on is completely fine, but the muffins taste better with fresh icing.) Thaw muffins in the refrigerator or at room temperature before icing/serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Silicone Spatula | Cooling Rack | Peeler
- Yogurt or Sour Cream: You can use either regular or Greek plain yogurt in this recipe (any fat content) or sour cream. The same amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used if needed.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- For a jumbo muffin pan: Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes, for a total of 27–30 minutes. Makes about 6. For mini muffins: Bake at 350°F for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
- Quick Bread: Here is apple cinnamon bread, which is close to the same recipe and baked in a loaf pan.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I’ve baked these twice now and both batches were PERFECTION. We don’t like ‘super sweet’ deserts so I omitted the frosting. The crumb topping is easy & delicious so I doubled it to add to the center part of the muffin on the 2nd batch and they too, were delicious. I did add a little extra cinnamon. Cinnamon apple muffins have long been a favorite around here until our favorite store stopped baking them so I HAD to find a recipe. This is FAR better than the grocery store bakery version: light, fluffy, moist and loaded with apples and cinnamon!
Best apple cinnamon muffins! Great texture and crumb, buttery and just sweet enough! I used Greek yogurt and mostly caster sugar, because I didn’t have any brown sugar. My 9 year old daughter helped me make them an experiment with the sizes….Sally, you inspired me to start baking – we regularly make your blueberry and banana muffins. Our kids and their friends eat them in a matter of minutes. I learned to knead bread by hand with the help of your tutorials! Thank you!
So happy to read this, Vanya!
I had apples that I had to use before they went bad so I made a double batch of these muffins and served them at a family gathering. The fam absolutely loved them and took some home for breakfast the next morning. They were delicious and came out looking exactly like the photo in the recipe. Thanks!
Baked these for my husband and his coworkers. Tested one and O.M.G. they are delicious! Followed the recipe exactly and used plain yogurt and honey crisp apples. They are moist and the topping provides a crisp texture. I totally recommend this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Wow. Truly. The crunch of the cinnamon crumble when I bit into this muffin was sublime. The flavour of the apple and cinnamon is beautiful. This recipe is perfect for a cozy treat and is so comforting. Cannot recommend this enough!
I love it when I find a new recipe that I can put into rotation. We opted to not use icing. Super yummy!
Hi! I was wondering if you had any recommendations as to how to make this recipe gluten free? Or do you think that won’t work? I will probably try it today with rice flour because I need to get some of that anyway for a different recipe but maybe you’ll get to me before I bake haha
Hi Ris, we wouldn’t recommend rice flour, as it has very different baking properties than all-purpose flour and isn’t necessarily a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you could try a 1:1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend instead. Again, we’re unsure of the exact results with this recipe, but many readers report success using that type of flour in our recipes. Let us know what you try!
Another great recipe. These were so good!!
I was able to make 12 perfectly fluffy muffins. Delicious!
tasty, buttery, but just a little… bland? I used cosmic crisp apples, and normal everything else and I liked them but want a little something extra. Didn’t do the drizzle.
So, I tried the lemon poppy seed muffins and loved them. When I found a half-dead apple in the fridge, I knew I had to make this recipe. I have a small oven and a small (6 muffins) tray, so I cut the recipe in half. The muffins turned out soft and absolutely delicious. Just follow the recipe and you should be fine. Oh, and I baked by weight, not by volume. Helps a whole lot with precise measurements.
I made these on the weekend and they turned out perfectly. A brilliant recipe. 10/10
Sally,
By chance do you know if this recipe would work in high altitude
locations? TY.
Hi Rita! I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Wow wow wow! These turned out delicious! Thank you
I make the jumbo ones with vanilla Greek yogurt, and coconut oil melted instead of the butter and I add 1/2 cup of unflavored bone broth protein powder. I also don’t cream the sugar (only because I don’t have a mixer) and these muffins do not last more than 2 days in my house and its only me and my husband! He also likes it when I put some of the crumbs at the bottom of the muffin cup before I add the batter. I’ve made the apple cinnamon and blueberry versions. They are both delicious.
hi! I’m just about to try this! I’ve got HEAPS of overripe bananas I wonder if I could add them in somehow?
Anyways thanks so much for the amazing recipes! thery are a go to in my kitchen 🙂
Hi Mila, it would take some testing to properly incorporate wet bananas into these muffins. But here are all of our banana recipes if you’d like to browse.
YUM!!! My first time making a proper muffin recipe and it was perfect! My husband loves apple desserts and he is raving about these.
I used half the batter to add choc chips instead (kids request) and they are amazing too with the cinnamon flavour – kids also raving!
I couldn’t be bothered getting the mixer out so just hand mixed with a silicone spatula and it was fine! (Less cleaning, woo!).
Thank you! Definitely saving this recipe, I think I’ll try berries next! Xx
Best muffins ever. I filled them with cream cheese icing. So good
Worked beautifully! I just did the muffin and substituted 50g of apple for mixed berries and used dates instead of sugar (always better in muffins)…. Amazing! Thank you!
I made these muffins for a pre-school teacher appreciation breakfast. Everybody loved them. But I had doubled the recipe and had some batter leftover and didn’t have a chance to make more muffins so I poured the rest into a small pan and baked it. I probably baked it at least 35 minutes and the middle was still jiggling but I had to leave the house so I took it out. That little cake in that little pan was so GOOD! Slightly gooey in the middle. I think I might make it again and bake it in a 13X9 or something like that. It tasted better to me that way than in muffin form. Thanks for all of the delicious recipes Sally!
I just made these muffins! Wow, they are scrumptious. I am going to give half of them to my friend for her birthday and keep the rest! This one is a keeper! Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Sally,
Do you think this would work with tinned/canned apple instead of fresh apple?
Thank you love your recipes!
Hi Dominika, we haven’t tested it, but can’t see why not. We would drain, chop, and blot excess moisture.
I wonder if I can substitute the butter with oil to make them more moist and affordable, have you guys done that?
Thanks for the recipes!
Hi Carolina, we highly recommend sticking with butter. The butter creates an incredible flavor and texture, and the muffins could taste quite rubbery without it. You could try solid coconut oil in its place (although we haven’t tested this ourselves), as you’ll need a solid fat to cream with the sugars. Let us know if you give these a go!
These look amazing! Can I use applesauce or grated apple in place of apple chunks? Thanks!
Hi Lauren! The apple chunks act as an add-in in these muffins, but applesauce or grated apples would act more like a wet ingredient and throw off the consistency of the batter. We recommend sticking with apple chunks here!
Something to keep in mind is that depending on what type of oven you’re using you may actually need to reduce the recipes oven temperature by 50° Fahrenheit. And then check your muffins at about half the time recommended. I have baked with industrial equipment, confectionary ovens, electric as well as propane. Another factor that could also be affecting the consistency of the recipe could also be your elevation or weather humidity compared to the writer. Every time that I use a different oven I find that I almost always have to adjust my recipe.
Not sure what happened. It was my first time using a stand up mixer. They were dry. Any suggestions? I will try them again using a hand mixer maybe.
Hi Sharon, the mixer shouldn’t be the culprit. Is it possible that the muffins were baked for a bit too long? Over baked goods can typically come out a bit dry. Also make sure you’re spooning and leveling your flour so there’s not too much of the dry ingredients in the batter. Hope this helps for next time!
We enjoyed these muffins. I followed the recipe and all was well. Thank you very much. Highly recommend.
Could I add almond to these muffins?
Hi Whitney, you could replace some (not all) of the vanilla with some almond extract. You could also try some diced/slivered almonds in the crumb. Let us know what you try!
Sally, there isn’t anything I’ve made of yours I haven’t loved and these muffins are no exception. They are amazing whether making with all purpose or gluten free flour and I’ve done both. I took them into work yesterday and everyone raved about them. Like to add chopped pecans to the crumble topping. Seriously so good!
Can you use can apple in these
Hi Joanne, these apple cinnamon muffins have apples in them.
Can I refrigerate this recipe overnight and bake it in the morning? My event is early and I like to take things in immediately after I have baked them. I really enjoy this website!
Hi Caroline, we don’t recommend preparing muffin batter ahead of time. It will not rise properly when baked. See recipe Notes for our recommended make-ahead instructions. Enjoy!
I didn’t make the icing but have made these muffins twice now. They are so damn delicious! Easy to follow recipe and come out moist inside, crunchy on top and oh so perfect. Try them out!
Hi Sally:
I wanted to thank you for the awesome site you have. My wife loves your recipes and quite often takes your suggestions over other sites of the same nature. Usually, when she has a question or is puzzled as to a step that should be taken, she always asks, “What would Sally do?”
My wife is a big fan of your work and spends lots of time going through the recipes you have.
Thanks for putting so many delicious ideas out there and sharing your recipes.
Can you use dried apple bits instead of/or with fresh apples?
Hi Jody, that should be fine! You could soak them beforehand, if desired. We often like to soak raisins and other dried fruits before baking them in batter.
These muffins are terrific!
Not overly sweet but delicious. Sally’s ‘s Baking Addiction is my go to for so many recipes and advice.