During my sophomore year of high school, our band director arranged a trip to Hawaii during our Spring Break for all of the members of the marching band and color guard. The 250 of us, plus all of our instruments and a few dozen chaperones, boarded three separate planes and landed in Honolulu on Easter.
We stayed in hotel in Waikiki, just two blocks from the beach, and spent the entire week moving a mile a minute. We toured Pearl Harbor, dined at a comedy club, marched in a parade, went to a luau, performed a few concerts, explored a bazaar, and spent as much time on the beach as we could. (Although I stayed out of the water and built sand castles instead…)
Every morning, we walked a block up the street to a restaurant where our band director arranged for us to enjoy a buffet breakfast to fuel our adventures. It was mostly traditional fare: eggs, bacon, hash browns, oatmeal, bagels, lots of fresh fruit, and mini muffins. Eventually I sampled the blueberry one, halfway expecting it to taste like cardboard, but…
Holy moly, that was the most tender, buttery muffin I’ve ever tasted! Probably due to the ultimate trifecta of sour cream, buttermilk, and butter. But since I considered Hawaii a vacation, not a field trip, I didn’t care and loaded my plate with muffins the last few days of our stay.
With the weather turning warmer here (we’re up to 80°!) and Easter right around the corner, I started thinking about that band trip and those blueberry muffins again. Since I can’t quite run enough miles to work off that trio of indulgent ingredients, I baked my own clean eating breakfast goodies with a healthy bran twist: these Blueberry Buttermilk Bran Muffins!
While they contain only a fraction of the calories of the originals, these muffins are just as tender and juicy. Look at those big berries with purple juice bursting out the sides! That’s my kind of treat, when there’s more fruit than muffin, especially when it comes to blueberries. Anyway…
They’re incredibly tender due to the low-fat buttermilk and Greek yogurt. Both add a lot of the same moisture as extra butter or oil but without the excess calories. Plus you get a little protein boost from the Greek yogurt, which is always a good thing in my book!
To ensure these bran muffins don’t turn out dry or cardboard-y, I’ll let you in on my little secret… Soak the oat bran before mixing it into the batter. Stir it together with the buttermilk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla, and let that sit while you measure and mix the rest of the ingredients. Similar to letting overnight oats soak in milk, this softens the bran. I never bake bran muffins any other way!
Soft, warm, and fresh from the oven… It’s a true exercise in patience to let these muffins sit on the cooling racks long enough so you don’t burn your tongue on the fruit! My mom would tell you to split one in half and put a thin pat of butter on top of each side, letting its richness melt into all of the cracks.
Despite being a healthier baking blogger, I definitely recommend splurging to try that at least once!
| Blueberry Buttermilk Bran Muffins | | Print |
- 1 ½ c (180g) oat bran (measured correctly and gluten-free if necessary)
- ⅓ c (80g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ⅓ c (80mL) low-fat buttermilk
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 c (120g) whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- ¼ c (60mL) honey
- ¼ c (60mL) molasses
- 1 ½ c (210g) frozen blueberries
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oat bran, yogurt, buttermilk, and vanilla.
- Reserve 1 tablespoon of flour. Whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl. In a third bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter and egg. Stir in the honey and molasses. Mix in the bran mixture. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Toss the frozen blueberries with the remaining 1 tablespoon of flour; then gently fold into the batter.
- Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 24-26 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully turning out onto a wire rack.
I highly recommend this powdered buttermilk! It’s shelf-stable and keeps for ages. All you need to do is add water! Alternatively, to make your own buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice to a ⅓-cup measuring cup, and fill the remaining space with any milk of your choice.
Fresh blueberries may be substituted. The bake time may decrease by a tiny bit.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More bran muffin recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Clean Eating Oat Bran Muffins by iFOODreal
♥ Cinnamon-Raisin Peanut Butter Oat Bran Muffins by Ambitious Kitchen
♥ Double Apple Bran Muffins by Garnish with Lemon
♥ Date Bran Muffins by Vegan in the Freezer
Greetings. I made these today since I had a houseful of kids (ages 6-16) and muffins are usually a hit. Unfortunately, these were not. Dry, not sweet, and bland. The kids did not like them. I did not like them. A miss for sure.
I’m honored that you tried my recipe, Christopher! That sounds frustrating and not like how these muffins are supposed to turn out at all, so I’d love to help figure out why that was. 🙂 In order to do so, I have some questions for you!
Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons for all of the ingredients, especially the oat bran and flour? If the latter, can you describe how you used them to measure?
Which flour option did you use — whole wheat flour or the gluten-free blend I provided in the Notes section?
Did you use fresh buttermilk?
What type of molasses did you use? Was it blackstrap, by any chance?
Did your muffins rise much while baking?
How long did you bake them?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of the culprit once I know your answers to all of them!
Have made them 3 times. My wife and I love them.
I sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top before baking to just to satisfy my sweet tooth
That’s the best compliment, Paul! I’m so happy to hear you and your wife both love these muffins. I love the idea of cinnamon sugar, I’ll have to give that a try next time I make some. We appreciate you taking the time to share! 🙂
I would not recommend this recipe. My muffins turned out dry and hard as rocks. Batter was much too dry.
I’m honored that you tried my recipe, Ali! That sounds disappointing and not like how these muffins are supposed to turn out at all, so I’d love to help figure out what happened. 🙂 In order to do so, I have some questions for you!
Did you make any substitutions or modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section?
Did you use a kitchen scale or measuring cups/spoons for all of the ingredients, especially the oat bran and flour? If the latter, can you describe how you used them to measure?
Which flour option did you use — whole wheat flour or the gluten-free blend I provided in the Notes section?
Did you use fresh buttermilk? If not, what did you use instead?
Did you use fresh or frozen blueberries?
Was your batter as thick and dry as cookie dough, where you could almost roll it between your palms to form a ball?
If not, could you describe the batter texture in a bit more detail? (That would be really helpful!)
Did your muffins rise at all while baking?
How long did you bake them?
How was their flavor? Was that okay, and it was mainly the texture that wasn’t as expected?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll have a much better idea of what happened once I know your answers to all of them!