My sophomore year of high school, our marching band flew to Hawaii to spend Spring Break in Honolulu. Our director organized a parade performance one morning in Waikiki, as well as a symphony concert at a school located just a few blocks from our hotel, but he scheduled plenty of free time and fun activities for the rest of our week-long vacation.
We attended a comedy show just a few hours after our planes landed at the airport; toured some of the most historic spots in the city by bus, including Iolani Palace, the home of the final monarchs before Hawaii became the 50th state; walked around Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial for almost an entire day; and dined at two different luaus, complete with flaming-baton-twirling hula dancers.
Since our hotel lacked a large dining facility that would fit all 250+ band members along with the nearly 50 parent chaperones, our director arranged for us to eat breakfast at a separate buffet-style restaurant a quick two-block walk away. The owner opened the doors for us from 7-9 am each day of our stay, and we could wander over whenever we woke up and felt hungry.
Most of the food fell under the traditional “Continental Breakfast” category, with plenty of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, and hash browns served in hot chafing dishes; bagels and bread for toasting; and lots of fresh fruit. I always looked forward to the big, juicy spears of fresh pineapple!
The restaurant also offered a wide selection of pastries, in addition to the bread and bagels, that they set out in large linen-lined wicker baskets. We found croissants (both plain and chocolate-filled!), glazed donuts, sticky buns, and multiple flavors of mini muffins, including double chocolate, lemon poppy seed, and blueberry.
On our first morning there, I grabbed a blueberry muffin to go along with my pile of pineapple. Upon biting into it, my first thought was, “This is heavenly—it’s the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever eaten!” It was supremely moist, probably due to ample amounts of sour cream, and incredibly buttery. I felt like I was nibbling on a cupcake—and I quickly dashed back to the buffet line to grab two more!
I ate a lot of blueberry muffins on that trip…
Although I’m much more health-conscious now, I still enjoy blueberry muffins just as much as I did back then, so I’ve been working on perfecting a healthier version of those treats I fell in love with on Hawaii. And I finally did it… These are the most incredible Healthy Blueberry Muffins! They’re supremely tender, full of juicy berries, and come with none of the guilt of traditional recipes!
Yum. ♥
This easy muffin recipe begins with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, closer to that of all-purpose flour, but with the same health benefits as regular whole wheat. Whole wheat pastry flour would be a great option, as well.
Note: I included my favorite gluten-free flour blend in the Notes section beneath the recipe!
Unlike traditional recipes that call for large amounts of butter or oil, this healthier one only uses 1 tablespoon. Yes, that’s it! The rest of their tender cupcake-like texture comes from my favorite ingredient in healthier baking. If you’ve been around my blog for a while, you probably know what it is already…
Greek yogurt! It adds the same moisture to the muffin batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories. Greek yogurt also gives them a protein boost too… One cup of Greek yogurt contains 20g+ of protein! (Regular yogurt contains closer to 8-10g of protein instead.) I like to buy a big tub of plain Greek yogurt and simply scoop out whatever I need because it’s much cheaper than purchasing the single-serving cups.
These muffins are sweetened with a combination of honey and vanilla crème stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly. It’s really concentrated, so a little goes a long way! I like this brand, which comes in a small bottle with an eyedropper, and you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores and online. (You’ll also use vanilla crème stevia in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Some of my recipe testers found that the muffins sweetened with only vanilla crème stevia had an very tiny, ever-so-slightly bitter aftertaste, which is why you’ll also use a couple tablespoons of honey. Agave would be a good substitute, but I’d caution against pure maple syrup since that has a fairly iconic flavor of its own.
And finally, the best part… The blueberries! I highly recommend fresh blueberries for these muffins. You just can’t beat their sweet, juicy flavor! Additionally, fresh blueberries will not bleed when folding them in or turn the batter a murky gray color. Frozen will work in a pinch, as long as you don’t mind the batter’s discoloration, and I’d recommend tossing them in a little bit of flour first to minimize that.
Now who’s ready for breakfast??
| Healthy Blueberry Muffins | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured liked this)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tbsp (15mL) vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp (30mL) honey
- ¾ tsp vanilla crème stevia
- ¾ cup (180mL) nonfat milk
- 1 ¼ cups (175g) fresh blueberries, divided (about 1 pint)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Mix in the honey and stevia. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.) Gently fold in 1 cup of blueberries.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups, and gently press the remaining blueberries into the tops. Bake at 350°F for 19-22 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Cool in the muffin cups for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
Agave or pure maple syrup may be substituted for the honey.
If you prefer to substitute additional honey for the vanilla crème stevia, you'll need to add 6 more tablespoons of honey and reduce the milk by approximately the same amount, or slightly less.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
Fresh blueberries work best because they have better flavor and don’t bleed when incorporating them into the batter. However, if you only have frozen, then reserve 1 tablespoon of flour, and toss the frozen blueberries with that just before folding into the batter. They will still bleed some and turn the batter grayish in color.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
These look so tasty and so adorable! Can’t wait to try them! 🙂
Thanks Marina! I really hope you like the muffins! 🙂
unique recipes,
I have tried at home and my children very loved it & can’t stop eating.
Thanks for your recipes
My pleasure Stefani! I’m so glad you and your children are enjoying the recipes!
Blueberry muffins were the first thing I ever baked, and boy were they good, but they had a whole stick of butter!! So excited to bake up a healthier version!! Thanks Amy!!!!!
How funny — muffins were the first thing I ever baked too! Although mine were strawberry… 🙂 I hope you enjoy this recipe Madeline!
Hi Amy
Yes…. I’ve noticed the need for vanilla creme stevia so I finally ordered some. Right after it arrived…so did this recipe!
I’ll admit I was nervous…have had stevia often and it’s always left a bitter aftertaste. But I made these and they are WONDERFUL : ) No bitter aftertaste at all…and they have PROTEIN.. A win-win for sure.
Working up my nerve to try the vanilla creme stevia in something cold like Greek yogurt….
Thanks for all of the wonderful yummies in my life ! : )
Kimberly
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Kimberly! I have the same bitter aftertaste issue with many brands of stevia too, but I haven’t noticed it at all with the vanilla creme kind. I used it in this overnight oat recipe of mine and didn’t detect any funky tastes, so maybe that would be a good place for you to start! 🙂
Muffins that taste like cupcakes? Yes please!
That’s the only way we roll in my house Nicola! 😉
HI Amy! These look great! I was wondering if I can use two whole eggs in this recipe instead of just the egg whites and if so, do I need to add or take away any other ingredient? My son has a disease and can’t gain any weight so we’re looking for as many calories as possible in anything he eats. Thanks so much!
Yes, you can use two whole eggs! You shouldn’t need to omit any other ingredients. Your son’s condition sounds difficult — he’s so lucky to have you as his mother Melanie! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you both think of the muffins!
WOW, these were AWESOME! Very chewy and yummy. The vanilla cream stevia really made these 🙂 thanks for sharing!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins Lauren! 🙂
These sound great! I am on a diet and looking for easy breakfast options I can just grab. Do you happen to know how many calories end up in each muffin? No worries if not 🙂
Calories and/or nutrition facts
The full Nutrition Information for all of my recipes is included underneath each recipe. 🙂 I’m excited to hear what you think of the muffins Amanda!
Oh wow, so sorry about that! I though I looked all over the page. Thanks for the info! I’m excited about it too!
No worries Amanda — it can be easy to miss! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how the muffins turn out!
I whipped up a batch of these beauties this morning and they’re delicious. With all whole wheat flour, they’re considerably more dense than standard muffins, but I found them to still be moist and yummy. To give an honest assessment , I made modifications based on what I had on hand. I used frozen French blueberries and 1 jumbo egg vs. 2 whites. The biggest change was having no liquid stevia, so I used about 2TB coconut sugar and a little extra vanilla. The bulk of the sweetness is from the berries, which imagine was also the case in your original version. They also baked beautifully in silicon cupcake liners and popped right out, even without spray. Thank you for this yummy recipe.
I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins Valerie! The amount of vanilla creme stevia is actually equivalent to 6 tablespoons of coconut sugar, not 2, so that would be why the muffins weren’t sweet enough. 🙂
So I only have coconut sugar so do I use 6 tablespoons
If you only have coconut sugar, then you’ll need 6 tablespoons to replace the vanilla crème stevia. If you don’t have honey, maple syrup, or agave, then you’ll need an additional 2 tablespoons of coconut sugar to replace that as well (8 tablespoons total between the vanilla crème stevia and honey) plus an additional 1 tablespoon of milk to compensate for the missing liquid. I can’t wait to hear what you think of the muffins Kelly!
Made these with whole wheat flour and they were delicious! Just curious, how much of a difference does it make when using pastry flour? What does it do exactly?
I actually talk about that in the text of the blog post Evan! 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins!