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
Those look delicious! Love all the links to other recipes too. Thanks!
Thanks Ginny, and it’s my pleasure! 🙂
Love these, Amy! Great tip on soaking the oat bran, too. Can’t wait to try them! (P.S. Thanks for the link love.)
You’re welcome Anna! Your gorgeous muffins looked too delicious to pass by! 🙂
I love these muffins and how you made them so healthy! I love that you soften the bran by mixing it with the wet ingredients first!
Thanks Katie! It’s a fun little trick!
I’m so excited to try these!! Could I use whole wheat pastry flour in place of the whole wheat flour and also is there a substitute for the Greek yogurt or can I omit it? Thanks!
It means so much that you want to try this recipe, Karen! Whole wheat pastry flour will definitely work in place of the regular whole wheat flour. Regular (non-Greek!) yogurt would be the best substitute for the Greek yogurt, followed by non-dairy yogurt (ie almond-, soy-, coconut-, or even oat-based!). If you’re unable to find or use any of those, then you can substitute unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana, but your muffins will be a bit denser (and you’ll definitely be able to taste the banana, although you won’t be able to taste the apple!).
I’d love to hear what you think of these bran muffins if you end up making them!
Amy, your picture have me totally drooling, and wishing I had a giant muffin to go with ny coffee
Aww thank you Heather! That means a lot coming from you — your photography is always so gorgeous!
These muffins look so moist Amy! I usually stay away from bran muffins because they are either loaded with oil or chokingly dry. Can’t wait to try these ones out!
Thanks Danae! I’ve definitely had my fair share of dry bran muffins. Not fun! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these!
What a fun experience!! And these muffins. I love bran, but have never had blueberry bran!
Thanks Dorothy! I definitely recommend fruit in bran muffins — it makes them so much more moist!
I just made these, but haven’t eaten any yet. I have to wonder about the amounts for the wet ingredients because the batter was extremely dry and quite crumbly. The oat bran didn’t really have anything to “soak” in with the amount of buttermilk and yogurt listed. I am curious about the taste once they are cooler.
If the batter was dry and crumbly, then there was too much oat bran or flour. How did you measure these Angie? I’ve found that if I directly scoop either from the container, I end up with 1.5 times as much as when I lightly spoon and level (I describe more here). Too many of either of these would really dry out the batter. Hopefully that helps!
I have been looking for a recipe like this for ages and was so excited to try it but had the same problem as everyone else. I measured the bran carefully and lightly (with scales) and after adding the yoghurt and buttermilk the mixture was still very very dry. I ended up additing double the buttermilk but it was still a very think, dry batter. I’m going to try again and add a bit more yoghurt and buttermilk and maybe even more butter and see how it goes
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Felicity! What brand of oat bran did you use?