Oat Bran Muffins (gluten free and sugar-free with vegan option)

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These Healthy Oat Bran Muffins are a healthy way to get more fiber into your diet, plus they taste amazing!

You’ll love the richness and the flexibility of this recipe. They taste great with a little sweetener included, but they’re amazing without it as well. Either way, this recipe is a sure fire winner.

For years these have been a favorite in our home–and now they’re sure to be one in yours as well.

Oat Bran Muffins in tin

While I like to have my kids eat veggies for snacks as much as possible, I try to have other healthy snacks on hand as well.

While we really love these “Almond Joy” Bars, Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Raw Chocolate Fudge Brownies, Bean Fudge, and Chocolate Truffles, we love these oat bran muffins for many reasons.

And I hope you will too.

Oat Bran Muffins in muffin tin

In our household, we go back and forth between making these oat bran muffins sweetened and unsweetened.  Either version is delicious.

You really can’t mess up this recipe.  In fact, the last time I made them I added too much liquid and added no sweetener or vanilla or cinnamon.

I had to cook them a bit longer since they were more moist, but my kids said that they tasted better than usual!  And with no sweetener – imagine that!

Oat Bran Muffins with muffin tin

This recipe is a revised version of one found on Whole Approach, a sadly now defunct website.  That site was such a support to me when I first started dealing with what we thought was systemic candida in our household.

You can, of course, make them like real muffins, but I’m often too busy to clean out those muffin tins so I either make them with a cookie scoop as in the photo above or just spooned onto a cookie sheet or baking stone and baked free form.

Basically, they end up like homemade muffin tops done that way :-).

They’re simple but have a very pleasant heartiness that is truly very appealing and satisfying.

In fact, once I made both these and my Baked Oatmeal Cake (which I consider to be a really yummy treat) and my youngest asked for these instead of the cake pretty much every time he wanted a snack.

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How to Serve

These vegan oat bran muffins are great plain, with Homemade Nut Butter or seed butter and sometimes a little sweetener like a bit of yacon syrup.

They’re also great with just butter or any kind of spread.

In order to counteract the phytates in the oat bran, I typically plan to make these a day or half a day in advance and soak the bran (see my post on soaking grains).

Oat Bran Muffins - one muffin cut in half

Recipe Notes and Substitutions

  • Multiple Batches: Baking multiple batches at once is a great way to save time. In the case of these muffins, double or triple the recipe and mix the oat bran and liquids in a bowl (and sweeteners, if using), then add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar or about 1 teaspoon of vitamin C powder to the mix and let it all soak for at least 7 – 12 hours. Then proceed with the recipe.
  • Baking Powder: If you would like to make your own baking powder, see my Aluminum and Corn-Free Baking Powder.
  • Egg Substitute: My Powdered Egg Replacer is a great option for a homemade egg substitute.
  • Sweetener Options: This recipe was developed to work for the candida diet and initially called for vegetable glycerin as the sweetener. You can use another liquid sweetener if you like. Other low-carb options are keto honey, liquid allulose, . You can also use a granulated sweetener, but you’ll want to subtract about 1/8 cup water from each batch. See my post on How to Substitute Sweeteners for more information. This low-carb maple syrup works great. Get a discount at Lakanto with code wholenewmom.
    This Sugar-free Simple Syrup is another great liquid sweetener option.
  • Coconut Oil: Butter, organic ghee, or organic palm shortening can be substituted for the coconut oil.
  • THM: For those on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, this recipe is a crossover.

Delicious Recipe Variations

A reader commented that she made the following additions to the recipe and that they turned out amazing. She made them into mini muffins using 1 T of mix per muffin.

Add the following to 1 batch

  • Pumpkin Puree (15 oz–adds 1 carb to each muffin)
  • Applesauce (1.5 cups–adds 1.5 carbs to each muffin)
  • Banana (1 cup–adds 2 carbs per muffin)

Other possible add ins:

More Healthy Treats to Try

Looking for other “sure to satisfy” recipes (all with special diet options)?  How about:

Baked Oatmeal Cake (mentioned above)
Pumpkin Snickerdoodles (my boys love these!)
Soft Pumpkin Cookies (these taste interestingly like Enjoy Life Brand)
Super Quick Whole Grain Drop Biscuits
Buckwheat Pancakes (great for “on the fly” sandwiches!)

Oat Bran Muffins - gluten free with vegan options

Oat Bran Muffins (gluten free with sugar-free option)

These Oat Bran Muffins are great with or without added sweeteners. The recipe is very forgiving and super filling so you aren’t tempted to overeat!
5 from 8 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Breads, Breakfast, Snack
Cuisine: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan
Keyword: gluten-free oat bran muffins, Oat Bran Muffins, sugar-free oat bran muffins
Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 27 minutes
Servings: 11
Calories: 175.5kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 °F.
  • Mix dry ingredients together and set aside.
  • Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
  • Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
  • Let the batter soak overnight or for 24 hours if desired, for better digestibility.
  • Add nuts if using.
  • Put into greased muffin tins (mini or regular size) or for a simpler option (my favorite….cleaning muffin tins is one of my least favorite jobs in the kitchen :-)) simply place on a prepared cookie sheet or baking stone.
  • Bake for 10-20 minutes until the middles are pretty well set.

Notes

    • Multiple Batches: Baking multiple batches at once is a great way to save time. In the case of these muffins, double or triple the recipe and mix the oat bran and liquids in a bowl (and sweeteners, if using), then add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or organic apple cider vinegar or about 1 teaspoon of vitamin C powder to the mix and let it all soak for at least 7 – 12 hours. Then proceed with the recipe.
    • Sweetener Options: This recipe was developed to work for the candida diet and initially called for vegetable glycerin as the sweetener. You can use another liquid sweetener if you like. Other low-carb liquid sweetener options are keto honey or liquid allulose. You can also use a granulated sweetener (either low-carb or not), but you’ll want to subtract about 1/8 cup water from each batch. See my post on How to Substitute Sweeteners for more information. This low-carb maple syrup works great. Get a discount at Lakanto with code wholenewmom.
      This Sugar-free Simple Syrup is another great liquid sweetener option.

Nutrition

Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 175.5kcal | Carbohydrates: 28.8g | Protein: 4.9g | Fat: 7.4g | Saturated Fat: 4.7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1.19g | Cholesterol: 33.9mg | Sodium: 422.6mg | Potassium: 135.81mg | Fiber: 3.5g | Sugar: 0.5g | Vitamin A: 50IU | Calcium: 70mg | Iron: 1.4mg | Net Carbs: 25g

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.

What is your favorite kind of muffin?

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Recipe Rating




 

127 Comments

    1. Hi there! I’m glad you asked this. I was thinking about updating sweetener information for this post. Would you prefer a granulated or liquid?

        1. Hi again, Jill! So sorry for the delay – I have some notes in the text of the post and also in the Notes section of the recipe card. Let me know if that helps and I hope you like them!

          The information was basically there before. I tried to edit it a bit to make it more clear, but please do let me know if you think it should be made more clear. Thanks in advance!

  1. Question: I am going to make these but am wondering if I can use Hodson Mill old fashioned oat bran hot cereal instead of Oat Bran? Also, if I do, do I still have to soak it overnight? Thanks. Cindy

    1. Hi there. A cereal is going to behave very differently from plain oat bran. I’m not sure how it would turn out so if you want to experiment I would just do 1/2 batch perhaps or be willing to eat a mistake :). Thanks for reading!

  2. 5 stars
    WOW!! These are super tasty!! You’ve made me a very happy girl the last couple days! I’m not sure if they were supposed to rise while baking but I had used 2 gelatin eggs (I have gluten cross reactivity to eggs), I don’t really bake anything but cookies sometimes (other wise I can’t have any lol) but this recipe is going to be made ALL the time! I only had 1 tsp of vanilla extract left so also used 1 tsp of almond extract and skipped the liquid sweetener subbing 8 teeny tiny scoops of concentrated 100% stevia extract. For fun, walnuts and spirulina were added and yes the muffins became green lol.

    Thank you SOO much for sharing this, I already see several other recipes I can make from your site just from looking at a couple and that never happens! (I have a lot of dietary restrictions lol.) I haven’t had a muffin since 2016 so this is truly awesome.

    1. Gosh – it’s been way too long since I’ve made them but I recall that they do rise some but not that much. Using this egg replacer will cause them to rise more because of the leavening agents in there.

      I’m sooo glad you liked them! Your changes sound great. I love how easy they are to amend. What are your restrictions? As you can see we had a lot BUT my son is now able to eat dairy after a lifetime of being deathly allergic to it. Such a miracle. You can read a short bit about our story here: wholenewmom.com/about-me/

  3. 5 stars
    Hi,
    I’m trying to avoid sweeteners, I made the recipe substituting the vegetable glycerine with molasses because it’s not very sweet, the cake came out a very nice texture but the molasses flavor was a bit too strong, now I’m making it with 1/3 cup less molasses but the batter seems to dry :/ is there anything I could use in place of a liquid sweetener to keep it moist and cakey, but not too sweet?

    1. Hi there! Sure there are options…I would consider perhaps pumpkin puree or possibly even cooked squash. I’m thinking..maybe unsweetened applesauce too. Hope that helps and so glad you liked them!

    1. Hi there. I believe that I wrote “lower carb” since bran is a lower carb ingredient than whole grain and I use a lower carb sweetener. Please do let me know if you read differently and thanks for reading!

  4. 5 stars
    I’ve been making this recipe now for years (have a crinkled old print-out that I got from your site long ago) – I crave these muffins! I add dark chocolate chips as the only sweetener. I’ve also been dabbling with throwing in some flax or chia meal. So satisfying for a gluten and dairy free person. Thank you!

    1. What a GREAT idea! Love it- thank you for mentioning the chips!! And thanks for the kind words. I need to make these again soon!

  5. Hey, just saw this and was thinking it sounds so good I want to try it. I’ve never bought oat bran though, and was looking up certified gluten-free (celiac safe) organic oat bran. Found a new gluten-free oats company that sounds fascinating and wanted to share it in case it’s helpful to someone else. It’s called Montana Gluten Free (you can find some of their products on Amazon). I read through some of their info about their oat-growing practices and nutrition information. Great stuff! I’m hoping to buy their organic oat bran soon to make the muffins. You should especially check out the oat bran, since that’s what this post is about, and the sprouting oats. (Website says to use them in place of brown rice in side dishes!)

    1. So interesting – thanks! Going to check them out (off of Amazon likely b/c trying to avoid them–isn’t it crazy how big they are now?!). Anyhow – thank you!

  6. 5 stars
    Best I have found. Taste great either warm with butter or cool and plain.
    I have made these adding pumpkin puree(1 15 Oz can) or unsweetened applesauce(1 1/2 cups) or bananas(1 cup) and they are awesome.
    I use these for my low carb diet for breakfast and they give me energy without feeling bloated or weighed down. I make them as mini muffins using 1 tablespoon of mix per muffin.
    Pumpkin is 1 carb ea
    Applesauce is 1.5 carbs ea
    Banana is 2 carbs ea.
    They freeze really well also. Cool then put on cookie sheet and freeze then put in baggies.

  7. I am a little confused but am DYING to try this recipe. You talk about soaking the bran but I don’t see that in the recipe. Also it says no sweetener but it calls for glycerine. I don’t understand. I am no-added sugar since Jan and trying things out but I thought glycerine is just sugar? Many thanks for any enlightenment!!!

    1. I just updated the post. Let me know if that helps enough and so hope you like them!

      Where are you seeing the “no sweetener”?

  8. Excited to give this a try! Ever tried adding shredded carrot and pineapple?? Or zucchini and apple?? Would be a great way to sneak in some extra nutrition for kiddos! 😉

    1. Hi there. Oh wow what a FUN idea! I haven’t done that but I think it would be amazing!!! Do let me know!

    1. Hi there! I just edited the post w/ a better option. I actually haven’t tried that brand yet but it’s very affordable and looks good. I used to buy mine bulk from Country Life Natural Foods. They ship nationwide but we are on their truck delivery schedule :).

    1. Hi there and thanks for reading. We have been going through the recipes to get the nutrition info in there. Sorry it takes quite awhile. It’s in there now–hope that helps! Remember it’s only an estimation.

  9. I have read in your blog that you have Candida. However, oats have a form of gluten called gliadin or sometimes referred to as avenin. Could be why you still have symptoms even though yo eat mostly gluten free.

    Marc Gould

    1. Hi and thanks for reading. Yes, we have candida. My understanding is that oats have avenin but not gliadin. We actually eat almost no oats–and are close to grain-free much of the time. I did remove that link that you shared since it didn’t talk about avenin at all. In fact, it stated that oats have gliadin, which isn’t the case. Could you explain why you recommended that link, please? Thanks!

      1. To answer your question, some researchers mention gliadin, and it appears most are now saying avenin. My understanding is that, regardless of which, oats do contain a type of gluten. My understanding is after ten years of my own research, is that those who are gluten intolerant, can have their progress slowed down if they are still eating oats, hence why so called gluten free oats are being grown and offered today.
        Just thought I could help with your condition.

        1. Hi again. So I haven’t researched this extensively but my understanding is that gluten in oats is not from avenin but from contamination by wheat. Gluten-free oats would still have avenin in them–if not, how would they remove it? Let me know if I’m not understanding correctly. Thanks!

          1. Hi Adrienne,
            It appears there are several schools of thought in regard to is there gliadin in oats..
            If it were me, I would just avoid oats altogether just to lessen the chances of even cross contamination with wheat from the manufacturing process. Sometimes the packaging will actually tell you if it has been processed with wheat.
            For the candida, I would also recommend trying colloidal silver for it’s legendary ability to kill harmful fungus, bacteria, and viruses..
            Good luck with it all,
            Marc

            1. Hi there. I agree on avoiding most oats due to cross contamination issues. I am just really confused about the avenin vs gliadin issue. I am starting a course on candida that addresses all kinds of things–things that I suspected were issues all along. Thank you so much!

    1. Hello there. We are working on getting that function up on the blog – hope to have it up and running soon. In the meantime, please use an online calculator that you trust and thanks for your patience!

    1. Hi “Owl” – you can take that up with the gal who did the photos. So sorry about that! Hope you try them anyhow. They are good! Maybe she was going for the not perfect / rustic / realistic shot.