Last week, my mom flew down to San Diego for multiple business meetings, and she added an extra day at the end of her trip so the two of us could spend time together. With such gorgeous sunny weather, we decided to go to…
The zoo! The San Diego Zoo is one of the best in the country, and because Mom hadn’t been since I was a little girl and I purchased a yearly membership last summer, we were both really excited to go back.
We grabbed maps at the entrance and quickly made a list of the animals we wanted to see. We ended up walking around most of the park! Koalas, penguins (my favorite!), flamingos, baboons, tigers, a one-year-old giraffe and his family, and even a four-month-old baby hippo and its mama… Just to name a few!
As we trekked up and down the steep hills (the zoo was built in a canyon!), we noticed lots of people carrying around sweet treats to cool off from the hot weather. I spotted ice cream cones, ice cream cookie sandwiches, ice cream drumsticks, and a few frozen raspberry lemonades.
That last one reminded me of my childhood trips to the zoo—Mom usually bought those for me because they were much less messy than drippy ice cream cones!—and since they were still on my mind a week later… I turned those flavors into these Healthy Raspberry Lemon Mini Muffins!
They’re sweet and tender, completely packed with bright fruity flavors! And unlike those zoo treats, these contain no refined flour or sugar… And just 32 calories!
Trust me—they’re almost too good! I can never stop at just one! ?
To make these healthy lemon muffins, you’ll start with white whole wheat flour (like this!). White whole wheat flour is not a combination of whole wheat flour and white (aka all-purpose) flour! It actually comes from a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, which lets the bright lemon flavor really shine!
And to pack in lots of that sunshiny flavor, you’ll use both lemon juice and lemon zest. The latter actually provides most of the citrus taste! The peel has a much more concentrated flavor, so don’t skip it. If you can find Meyer lemons, I highly recommend those! They’re sweeter and have an even better flavor.
With just 1 tablespoon of butter, these healthy mini muffins get the rest of their supremely tender texture from… Greek yogurt! If you’ve been around my blog before, you probably know how much I ♡ Greek yogurt. It adds the same moisture to your muffin batter as extra butter or oil—for a fraction of the calories!
To sweeten these guilt-free mini muffins, you’ll skip refined granulated sugar and use another one of my favorite ingredients: vanilla stevia. Stevia is a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that contains nothing refined or artificial (aka it’s clean-eating friendly!). It’s also really concentrated, so you just need 1 ½ teaspoons to sweeten all 36 mini muffins! This is the kind I use because I love its warm flavor and don’t notice any strange aftertastes like with some other stevia products. You can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, but I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
Of course, we can’t forget the other fruit… The fresh raspberries! I prefer fresh in this recipe because frozen ones tend to discolor the batter. And I ♡ pretty muffins! ? Remember to dice them fairly small, no larger than the size of chocolate chips, to ensure your mini muffins bake evenly.
One last tip! If you’re using muffin liners, spray your muffin liners with nonstick cooking spray! Low-fat muffins like these tend to stick to liners like superglue… But spraying them first ensures that those liners peel away from your muffins like normal!
How yummy do these healthy mini muffins look? ?? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your mini muffins!
| Healthy Raspberry Lemon Mini Muffins | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 ½ tbsp (14g) lemon zest
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla stevia, or adjusted to taste
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup (60mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (see Notes!)
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (150mL) nonfat milk
- 1 cup (140g) fresh raspberries, finely diced (see Notes!)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 36 mini muffin cups with paper liners, and lightly coat them with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk in the lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla extract, and vanilla stevia. Add in the Greek yogurt, stirring until no large lumps remain. Stir in the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of milk. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and remaining milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 3 equal parts.) Fold in the diced raspberries.
- Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 350°F for 13-16 minutes or until the tops feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the gluten-free flour, use as follows: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ½ cup (60g) tapioca flour, ½ cup (60g) brown rice flour, and 1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum. Many store-bought gluten-free flour blends (like this one!) will also work, if measured like this.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
I highly recommend using the vanilla stevia! It’s one of my favorite ingredients, and you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too. I buy mine online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found. If you prefer not to use the vanilla stevia, then substitute ½ cup (120mL) of pure maple syrup, honey or agave. If using this substitution, reduce the milk to 2 tablespoons (30mL).
I highly recommend Meyer lemons! They perform the best out of any lemons I’ve tried. They have a slightly sweeter and brighter flavor.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
When dicing the raspberries, cut them to be no larger than the size of chocolate chips. Larger pieces prevent the muffins from baking evenly, and the muffins will collapse and turn dense while cooling.
Frozen and thawed raspberries may be substituted for the fresh, but they tend to discolor the batter.
This recipe will also make 12 standard-sized muffins, if you prefer. Bake at 350°F for 18-22 minutes or until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, lower sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ The Ultimate Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
♡ Healthy Raspberry Almond Mini Muffins
♡ Healthy Greek Yogurt Lemon Poppy Seed Pound Cake
♡ Healthy Chocolate Drizzled Raspberry Banana Bread
♡ Healthy Raspberry Almond Scones
♡ Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Mini Muffins
YAY! I LOVE the zoo! Fun fact- I had a membership to the SF zoo the year after college when I was caregiver for a girl with special needs. She LOVED walking around the zoo (with an empty stroller that she liked to push and use for balance… lol, yes, we got weird stares and comments) and it was great exercise for both of us! We went about once a week and both loved it. So glad you got to go to the zoo with your mom! I’ve been the the SD zoo once, and I remember it being HUGE but also being disappointed because the panda was asleep. Haha. <3
Oh my gosh, I had NO idea you had a membership to the SF Zoo! That’s so awesome! No worries about weird stares… I get them all the time when I think I’m acting normal. 😉 😉 We should totally go to the zoo if you come down again! The line to see the panda was literally an hour long when Mom and I went… So we skipped him. It would’ve been like waiting in line at Disneyland — but without a ride “reward” at the end!
It’s a date- I LOVE the zoo!! I would have skipped the Panda, too, with a line that long! I don’t blame you!
YAY!!! I can’t wait for you to come visit again! Watch out zoo, here we come! ????
Hi Amy,
This looks incredibly gooddddd! Well definitely bake them. But 2 questions though, if I were to use small eggs, do I increase them to 3? Also can I replace raspberries with blueberries? Thanks!
Thank you so much Brenda! If using small eggs, you’re correct — you’ll need 3 small egg whites to replace the 2 large egg whites. If you’re baking them as standard-sized muffins, rather than mini muffins, then blueberries are just fine! However, most blueberries are rather large for mini muffins and don’t necessarily bake as well in mini muffins. If you’re using blueberries in the mini muffins, I recommend waiting to add them until after you’ve divided the batter between the mini muffin cups, and simply press 3 into the top of each. (Like I did here!) 🙂 I can’t wait to hear how your muffins turn out!