Whole Wheat Fruit Muffins

Name: Whole Wheat Fruit Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda; 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg; 1/2 teaspoon of salt; 2 large eggs; 1/2 cup of brown sugar; 1/4 cup of a neutral oil; 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract; 1 cup of mashed bananas; 3/4 cup of blended orange pulp; 1/2 cup of orange juice; 1 cup of apple, grated; 1/3 cup of raisins, dried cranberries or other dried fruit (optional)

November 13, 2025
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I have always been the kind of person that keeps cooked things on hand. We do meal prep, but I also love having a cooked protein on hand for quick lunches and dinners and something nutritious for an easy breakfast or light snack to get us through a mid afternoon talkative stomach.

These healthy whole wheat fruit muffins are perfect to keep on hand for such occasions. They are easy to make, super flexible on the ingredients list and stay moist all week long. They are a great way to use up unemployed fruit you may have laying around or to sneak nutrient dense ingredients into your diet. Today, I am using apples, oranges and bananas, but you can use so many different kinds of fruit to make the muffins exactly what you will love.

Let’s get started…

Begin by combining the basic batter ingredients and then we will get into the fruit we can add in.

In a large bowl, combine 2 large eggs with 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of a neutral oil, a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract and 1 cup of mashed bananas.

Add 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of cloves and mix until just combined.

Now that our basic batter is ready to go, let’s talk about what kind of fruit you can add in…

We need 1/2 cup of juice and 2 3/4 cups of fruit total in this recipe. This is what I am using today, but all of the fruit and juice can be customized to make so many different variations of these muffins. Let’s break down the options…

- - 1 cup of mashed bananas – you really don’t taste the banana in these muffins, but I love the moisture that mashed bananas add to them. If you don’t want to use banana, you could swap it out with apple sauce, pumpkin puree or even greek yogurt
  - 1 cup of grated apples – I love grated apples, but you can add grated pears, carrots, zucchini, sweet potatoes, peaches…
  - 3/4 cup of blended orange pulp – let me explain what I mean here… being Sicilian, I have always made a whole orange loaf made by blending whole oranges or clementines down to pulp (yes, the peel and everything!) and adding that pulp into quick bread. This is what I am adding into these muffins too. A large orange or 3 clementines blended into a fine pulp should give you 3/4 cup of pulp and the 1/2 cup of orange juice required for these muffins. You could also use grapefruit, blood or cara oranges or a combination of lemons, limes and oranges. You could also use pineapples here too!
  - 1/2 cup of orange juice – if you blend the whole oranges, you will get this juice out of that, but if you end up going with another fruit, you can add orange juice, apple juice, pineapple juice or even apple cider!

Fold in your fruits and mix until everything is evenly distributed.

Divide the batter between lined muffin tins. This recipe will give you 12-14 full sized muffins (depending on how deep your tins are) or 48 miniature muffins.

We are going to start the muffins in a 425 degree oven to give them a quick boost in higher heat. After 6-8 minutes (I do 6 minutes for the mini muffins and 8 minutes for the full sized muffins), reduce the ovens temperature to 350 degrees without opening the oven door. This will allow the ovens temperature to slowly reduce as the muffins continue baking.

When you reduce the heat to 350 degrees, set a new timer for another 6 minutes for the mini muffins (for a total of 12 minutes of baking time) or 10 minutes for the full sized muffins (for a total of 18 minutes baking time).

The muffins are ready to come out when they feel set to a light touch and a toothpick will come out clean from the center of a muffin.

These muffins are so good and every time I make them, they disappear impressively fast. They are super moist, jam packed with flavor and if they would last this long, they stay moist for days!

If you are looking for whole wheat, low sugar muffins with lots of customizability then you should definitely give these muffins a try!

Once you start baking them up, you won’t be sad to see fruits or veggies left behind in your refrigerator or counter top any more, because you can just add them into these muffins and bake them up to moist, flavorful perfection.

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