Thrilled to share this 30-minute recipe for healthy bran muffins with you! Made without refined sugar and positively packed with dietary fiber, these wholesome bran muffins are a tasty AND nutritious treat. Dairy free, no mixer required, and the add-ins are up to you!
One reader, LT, commented: “Great recipe! I added 1 cup of fresh blueberries and 1/4 cup of hemp hearts, and they turned out fluffy, moist, and delicious. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Cynthia, commented: “I love a good bran muffin and this recipe is it! I added chopped apple this time, and it added a heightened level of moistness to this great recipe. From now on, this will be my add-in. Thanks for a great healthy muffin recipe! ★★★★★“
What do you think of when you think of “bran muffins”? Healthy but tasteless? Nutritious but dry? Well, I set out to change the humble bran muffin’s reputation, so get ready to rethink your preconceived notions. Because these healthy bran muffins are flavorful, moist, and anything but bland!
A few test batches later and we have ourselves a perfectly delicious, healthful, not-overly-sweet bran muffin that adults AND kids enjoy. I had a 2-year-old, 5-year-old, 6-year-old, 9-year-old, teenager, plus adult taste testers here… approval all around. 😉
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Healthy Bran Muffins
- Wholesome and nutritious
- Slightly sweet, cinnamon-spiced, nutty flavor
- Packed with insoluble dietary fiber
- Hearty but NOT dry, just like these applesauce muffins
- Sweetened with honey—no refined sugar
- Dairy-free baking recipe if using a dairy-free milk
- No mixer required
- Healthy grab-and-go breakfast or anytime snack
- Freeze well
- Add-ins are up to you: raisins, nuts, blueberries… choose your favorite
Recipe Testing for Bran Muffin Success
I adapted this recipe from my morning glory muffins and blueberry oatmeal muffins, two of the most popular healthier muffin recipes on my site. The recipe went through 3 rounds of testing:
- The first test batch I made was too wet—not enough whole wheat flour, so they tasted a little greasy.
- For the second batch, I left out the applesauce and let the batter sit for about 15 minutes before baking, so the bran could soak up some of the liquid. This made the batter really thick, but then the muffins tasted too dry. Better to bake the batter right away.
- My third try was the “just right” Goldilocks-approved batch of bran muffins, which is the recipe I’m sharing with you today.
What Is Wheat Bran?
The bran is the protective outer layer, or shell, of the wheat kernel, which is stripped away during the milling process. But it’s actually super rich in insoluble fiber and other nutrients, and has a lightly sweet, nutty flavor. What’s not to like about this superfood?!
What Type of Wheat Bran Should I Use?
A lot of bran muffin recipes call for bran cereal, but we are just using straight-up wheat bran here, so there are no added ingredients from the cereal.
I usually find wheat bran in the cereal aisle near the oats, or you can buy it online. I like Bob’s Red Mill brand (not working with them, just genuinely like their products). No need to soak it or sift it or anything before using, just add it as a dry ingredient.
A couple questions & answers:
- Can I Use Bran Cereal Instead? I recommend using wheat bran for these muffins, but I know some recipes call for grinding bran cereal (either flakes or strands, such as All-Bran or Fiber One) into crumbs to use in place of wheat bran. I haven’t tested it myself with this recipe. Keep in mind that most bran cereals include sugar.
- What if I Can’t Find Wheat Bran? If you’re unable to find wheat bran at your local store or purchase it online, you can try these blueberry oatmeal muffins or chocolate chip baked oatmeal cups instead. The recipe is similar, and you can choose any add-ins you prefer instead of blueberries (such as raisins).
- Can I Make These Gluten Free? You can’t without completely changing the recipe. I recommend my blueberry almond muffins instead.
All the Ingredients You Need:
- Whole Wheat Flour: I love using whole wheat flour in baking when I can. It can dry out baked goods, so it’s important to pay attention to the ratio of wet ingredients to balance it out. I use it in these peanut butter banana muffins, too!
- Baking Soda + Baking Powder: These leaveners help the muffins rise up tall. I usually use 1 teaspoon each in most muffin recipes, but that proved to be too much baking soda (it left a little bit of an aftertaste). So, use 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon soda here.
- Salt: Flavor enhancer.
- Cinnamon: A favorite ingredient in many muffin recipes!
- Egg: The egg helps to bind the ingredients together. If you’d like to make these muffins vegan, swap the egg for your favorite baking egg substitute.
- Honey: Likewise, you can swap the honey for maple syrup to make these muffins vegan.
- Coconut Oil: This is one of my favorite ingredients in baking. To avoid a coconut-y flavor, look for one that’s labeled “refined.” If you don’t have coconut oil, use vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter instead.
- Applesauce: Unsweetened, smooth applesauce takes the place of more oil. If you don’t have applesauce, mashed banana is a great replacement.
- Vanilla Extract: Baked goods’ favorite flavor enhancer (shh, don’t tell the salt).
- Nondairy Milk: I tested this recipe with plain (unsweetened) almond milk, but you can use oat milk or your preferred type of nondairy milk. You could also use regular dairy milk or buttermilk.
- Optional Add-ins: I used raisins in the pictured muffins, but you can certainly leave the bran muffins plain or fill with fresh, frozen, or dried blueberries; dried cranberries; chopped nuts; apples; etc.
How to Make Your Bran Muffins
Making these bran muffins is as simple as combining the dry ingredients in 1 bowl, combining the wet ingredients in another bowl, then whisking them together and folding in your raisins or other add-ins. Honestly couldn’t be easier—even simpler than whipping up a batch of zucchini muffins.
*Success Tip: The batter will quickly start to thicken up as the wheat bran absorbs the liquid—think instant oatmeal, or bran flake cereal absorbing milk the longer it’s left in your bowl. Scoop the batter into your lined muffin pan as soon as all your ingredients are combined, and bake.
Always appreciate quick, uncomplicated prep work for breakfast recipes.
Enjoy the baked muffins warm and feel free to swipe a pat of butter on each, or apple butter, or my favorite honey butter. So satisfying!
For even more inspiration, see my complete list of 30+ healthy breakfast recipes.
Print
Healthy Bran Muffins Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Flavorful, wholesome, and tender, these bran muffins are an easy and quick healthy baking staple. Make sure you’re using pure wheat bran, not bran cereal. Use your favorite add-ins, or leave the muffins plain. See Notes for freezing instructions and mini muffin instructions.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (195g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 cup (52g) wheat bran
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (170g) honey or pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup (75g) coconut oil, melted
- 1/3 cup (80g) unsweetened applesauce, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (240ml) nondairy milk* (or dairy milk), at room temperature
- 2/3 cup (about 100g) raisins*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use muffin liners.
- Whisk the flour, wheat bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a large bowl until combined. Set aside.
- Whisk the egg, honey, melted coconut oil, applesauce, vanilla, and milk together in a medium bowl until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and whisk to combine. Switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon and fold in the raisins (or other add-ins).
- Spoon the batter evenly into liners, filling them all the way to the top. 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 14–15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 20 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days, then transfer to the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then heat up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-Count Muffin Pan | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Muffin Liners | Cooling Rack
- Whole Wheat Flour: Feel free to replace with all-purpose flour, or use a mix of both all-purpose and whole wheat.
- Wheat Bran: I usually find wheat bran in the cereal aisle near the oats, or you can buy it online. I like Bob’s Red Mill brand (not working with them, just genuinely like their products). No need to soak it or sift it or anything before using, just add it as a dry ingredient. If you’re unable to find wheat bran at your local store or purchase it online, you can try these blueberry oatmeal muffins instead. The recipe is similar, and you can choose any add-ins you prefer instead of blueberries (such as raisins).
- Can I Use Bran Cereal Instead? I recommend using wheat bran for these muffins, but I know some recipes call for grinding bran cereal (either flakes or strands, such as All-Bran or Fiber One) into crumbs to use in place of wheat bran. I haven’t tested it myself with this recipe. Keep in mind most bran cereals include sugar.
- Coconut Oil: If you don’t have coconut oil, use the same amount of vegetable oil, avocado oil, or melted butter instead.
- Applesauce: If you don’t have applesauce, mashed banana is a great replacement.
- Milk: I use plain (unsweetened) almond milk, but you can use any type of milk—dairy or nondairy—that you prefer, or buttermilk. Nutrition information calculated using plain unsweetened almond milk.
- Raisins/Add-ins: You can use 2/3 cup of any add-ins you prefer instead of raisins, such as dried cranberries, chopped walnuts or pecans, fresh or dried blueberries, or peeled and finely chopped apples, or leave the muffins plain. If using apples, I usually use closer to 1 cup. Nutrition information calculated using raisins.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower-temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
- Mini Muffins: If making these in a mini muffin pan, bake 12–13 minutes total at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
- Nutrition Information Per 1 Muffin: Calories (191), Total Fat (7.3g), Sodium (174mg), Carbohydrates (31g), Dietary Fiber (4.2g), Sugar (14g), Protein (3.7g)
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 191
- Sugar: 14.1 g
- Sodium: 174.7 mg
- Fat: 7.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 31.4 g
- Fiber: 4.2 g
- Protein: 3.7 g
- Cholesterol: 15.5 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
Fantastic recipe! As we all often do, we use what we have on hand. I used avocado oil and pumpkin purée, part honey and part maple syrup. Had plain kefir so used that. Added pumpkin seeds.
Batter fit perfectly in an 8.5 inch loaf pan (had no muffin tins).
Baked per directions but instead of 20 minutes at 350 I did 30 minutes.
Came out perfect!!! Thank you, Sally. I plan on flash freezing slices.
Love this recipe! It has been my go to for my meal prep clients. It is such a solid recipe that allows for a lot of flexibility. I’ve subbed everything from coconut oil for walnut oil, used coconut sugar for the sweetener, added blueberries. I even use popover pans with parchment squares to bake them giving more of a bakery vibe.
I also forgot to mention I cook them for a shorter time. For me, the time listed was a little too long for me and they were a little dry.
I really liked this recipe and I make it every few weeks to take to work for my breakfast – I heat it up with frozen berries. I made a few tweaks – one time I didn’t have milk so I used hazelnut creamer. Turned out really great and a little sweeter, which I liked. I’m not a fan of raisins so I tried pecans then cranberries. The cranberries were the winner as their tartness offset the sweetness of the creamer. I occasionally use a flavored honey as well. One final tweak I made was adding a bit of orange oil I had hanging around. That was a great addition to a great recipe.
I don’t bake. Ever. But I decided to make these as I’m trying to eat cleaner. I think they turned out great, but I found them a little dry. Any recommendation for making sure they’re moist?
I did check at the 14min mark and they still weren’t done so I added another 2 mins then took them out. Thanks.
Hi Love, Be very careful not to over-bake the muffins (but it sounds like you were!) and make sure not to pack in dry ingredients when measuring, use the spoon and level method (or use a kitchen scale). These are the most common causes of dry muffins!
These bran muffins are so delicious. I saw from another review that someone added apple so I did the same, just chopped one up to small dices and they were right, a perfect addition. It is a little on the sweet side. I’d definitely reduce the amount of honey if not omit it altogether but it got the toddler stamp of approval so not only is it 2-, 5-, 6-, 9-yo-, teenager-, and adult-approved, it is also 1- and 3-yo-approved.
I just made this recipe without raisins. Batter oly filled ten muffin cups. Is this becaseu I omitted the rasins?
Hi Margaret, the raisins do account for some of the batter bulk, yes. Hope you still enjoyed the muffins!
I love this, but there’s too much oil in it for me. Can I reduce the oil or substitute it with something else? Thanks
Hi Sonja, you can, but the texture will change.
I love these muffins! They are easy to make and taste delicious! Thanks for sharing, Sally!
Could I use oat bran in place of wheat bran?
Hi Angie, we haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using oat bran in this recipe.
Angie, I use Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran all the time because it’s on my grocer’s shelf and it works perfectly!
Hi Sally…I used Ginger infused Honey. It added a wonderful warm note to this delicious and ultra moist muffin!
Thank you, my new favorite muffin recipe
Hi Sally,
I just want to confirm, it notes 1 cup (52g) wheat bran – is this correct? I’m under the impression that 1 cup is measured to be 250g? Same question for the 1 and 1/2 cups (195g) whole wheat flour (spooned & leveled). Would 1 and ½ cups not be 375g? I just want to make sure I use the correct measurements.
Hi Taryn, the measurements as written are correct. Different ingredients have different densities and therefore different weights. Hope this helps and that you enjoy the muffins!
How can I do this recipe on a loaf instead of muffins?
Hi Sheila, you can bake this batter in a loaf pan at 350°F (177°C) but unsure about the bake time. Use a toothpick to test for doneness, when it comes out clean, the loaf is done.
I love this recipe. Not too sweet, lots of great texture. I tried chopped dried cherries in the mix. Oh, wow. Also, to keep the fruit suspended, I followed the test kitchen’s approach: leave out the fruit. Scoop about 1/2 muffin cup full of fruitless batter into each cup. Then stir all of the fruit into the remaining batter. Top off the muffin cups with the fruited batter. This really does keep the fruit from sinking all to the bottom. I also left out the oil and didn’t notice much difference.
I used to get the most wonderful vegan bran muffins – they had a more crumbly texture, not very spongy. No variations I tried seem to work. Any suggestions?
Can I use coconut cream instead of coconut oil if not it’s all good I have coconut cream that’s why I asking please and thankyou
Hi Tina-lynn, we haven’t tried that here, but would recommend sticking with oil. Enjoy!
I love this recipe! I make it almost every week to have for easy out the door breakfasts. As a student, I swap 1/2 cup of sugar + 3 tbsps water for the honey and maple syrup which are quite expensive where I live, as well as using vegetable oil instead of coconut oil. I also usually do dark chocolate and nuts- so yummy!
Great recipe! I’ve made it twice first with raisins and then with just pecans. The first time I used paper cups and the bottoms got a bit stuck so the second time I went without and they came out of the pan much better. Also, in my oven the time at 350 was about 10 minutes.
Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Excellent recipe!! It is delicious, easy to make, not too sweet & made with good plain ingredients!!! Everything I needed was in my pantry. I love when that happens.
Hi Sally. This is such a good bran muffin recipe. Thank you for sharing it with us. Your tip about high heat for 5 min followed by regular temperature for remainder of cooking time made such a difference to the appearance of the finished product. That is a keeper!!!
Is it possible to make these muffins with almond flour? I am diabetic. I look for ways to reduce carbs so that I can still enjoy some desserts without having to increase insulin. I look forward to your reply
Hi Beverly! We don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different baking properties and is not always a 1:1 swap. We haven’t tested it, but you might have success experimenting with a gluten-free all-purpose flour like Bob’s Red Mill or Cup4Cup. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it goes for you!
I wish I could rate higher than 5 stars, because I almost can’t believe how good these are, considering the recipe differs from a “typical” muffin recipe. (Though, I should have known how tasty it would be since every single one of Sally’s muffin recipes I’ve tried has been delicious.) These bran muffins are soft and cake-like, and I enjoyed the nutty flavor from the bran and whole wheat flour. Used fresh blueberries instead of the raisins, since I had some in the fridge. I can see myself making these repeatedly — so easy without the use of a mixer!
Absolutely delicious. I used 2% milk because that’s what I had as well as frozen raspberries instead of raisins. I also used regular vegetable oil and white whole wheat flour. I love all your recipes especially the healthier baked goods!
Excellent muffins. Followed the recipe as written.
Never had any of your recipes fail. Thank you!!!
The muffins were a success. I happened to have on hand buckwheat flour, and when I used that, the muffins were tremendously delicious. For me, I used frozen blueberries and cocoa nibs, which adds a richness. They were very moist and lovely. I had never baked with cocoanut oil, but that seemed to work well.
Jonathan, did you use buckwheat flour in place of the whole wheat flour?
they turned out so moist and flawless! i’m new to baking – this was the first one i didnt totally bomb, too. thanks for the concise instructions for such a rockin recipe.
Very yummy and healthy! Of course we substituted chocolate chips for raisins and added walnuts! We also used vegetable oil instead of coconut
Thanks great recipe!
Can I use molasses as a substitute for honey?
Hi Lori, other bakers have reported substituting all the honey (1/2 cup) with molasses. Let us know if you try!
I love this recipe so much! I’ve made it several ways with different add ins. My favorite is banana instead of the applesauce and blueberries instead of raisins. I also increase the cinnamon and add some nutmeg. Yum!
These have become a weekly staple in my house. I love subbing part of the honey with molasses and almost always add in frozen blueberries. Not one to follow recipes religiously, I often add 1/4 c of quick oats to the milk first before moving on and will often add 1/3 c almond flour for extra oompf, skip the applesauce and add a little extra oil. Given all these changes, I’d still say this recipe makes for a great base.
I have not made these yet but am going to try them out. Do you think I would be able to add Vanilla Whey Protein Powder to these somehow and maybe cut down on something else?
Hi Jessica, We haven’t tested these muffins with protein powder but let us know if you give it a try.
I tested it just now and oh my – amazing! I added 2 scoops of vanilla protein powder and changed nothing else in the recipe and they are amazing. Thank you so much for all of your amazing recipes!
These muffins are great! Easy to make, moist and delicious.