Last month, an email appeared in my inbox. Although I receive hundreds of emails every day, at least half of them impersonal newsletters from random PR companies completely unrelated to baking or food, this email’s title, “NBC 10 Lifestyle Show,” intrigued me enough to click it open.
As I skimmed the short note, my eyes widened. It was written by a TV news anchor that knew her viewers were searching for healthier recipes to try, and she wanted to know whether I would be available for an interview.
Wow!
I quickly responded, shared how flattered and honored I was that she’d even reach out to ask, and inquired about what she had in mind. With her on the East Coast and me in Southern California, I wondered how an interview like that would even work!
Through a series of emails, we scheduled a date and time for a Zoom call, which her TV station would record to air at a later date. Knowing how time-crunched and stretched thin many adults in her TV station’s audience felt from juggling working from home, their children’s distance learning, and all of the other commitments of everyday life, we picked one of my favorite easy breakfast recipes to feature: my one-bowl blueberry muffins!
Just a few days after filming, another email from the incredibly sweet news anchor popped up in my inbox. Her TV station had already scheduled our segment for the following week, and with how well it went, she mentioned they’d want to do another one in the near future!
On the day of the broadcast, my family and I watched the segment on the TV station’s website, and I smiled even wider than I had while reading the news anchor’s original email or while filming. The editors and producers pieced everything together from our Zoom call SO well, and I was incredibly flattered by how much air time they gave to my recipes!
(If you’re interested, you can watch my interview here!)
With how much I enjoyed chatting with the news anchor about my one-bowl blueberry muffins, our Zoom interview inspired me to make another yummy one-bowl muffin recipe, this time with a fun summer flavor twist… These Healthy One-Bowl Peach Muffins!
These muffins are just as easy as the blueberry ones to make, and they have the same texture as cupcakes — even with no refined flour or sugar! They also taste my grandma’s famous peach pie, thanks to her two secret ingredients, yet they’re 102 calories!
I’d call that a muffin miracle… Wouldn’t you? 😉
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY PEACH MUFFINS
Let’s go over how to make the best ever healthy peach muffins! As you’ve probably guessed, you’ll need one large mixing bowl. I’ve been sharing a lot more one-bowl recipes lately, and it seems like you’re really enjoying this new recipe series. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that there are usually fewer dishes to wash?… 😉
But before we get started, I want to mention one very important thing… Do NOT use a hand-held or stand mixer to make these muffins! It’s really easy to overmix the batter with either of those. Overmixing creates a tough, dense, or gummy texture… Rather than the perfectly moist and tender texture that you get when mixing by hand.
So for the best results, use a whisk where explicitly instructed and a fork for everything else. That yields the best healthy peach muffins with the perfect taste and texture!
Now, moving on…
As the first ingredient, you’ll need a teensy bit of melted butter, coconut oil, or any other oil. Just ½ tablespoon! Traditional muffin recipes typically call for anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup of oil (if not more!) to keep them moist, but I have a different trick for you to use instead. By using just ½ tablespoon of butter or oil, that really helps keep these healthy peach muffins low calorie and low fat!
Next, you’ll whisk in egg whites, vanilla extract, and almond extract. The egg whites provide protein, which helps with these muffins’ structure. That protein helps prevent your muffins from collapsing while cooling, so they stay nice and tall and moist.
The almond extract was one of my grandma’s secret ingredients in her peach pie, so I add it to nearly every peach recipe that I create. It gives your peach baked treats such a lovely sweet and sophisticated flavor — so they taste like they came from a fancy gourmet bakery!
Whereas traditional recipes call for refined granulated sugar, you’ll skip that and sweeten your healthy peach muffins with one of my favorite ingredients instead: liquid 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. You just need 2 ½ teaspoons to sweeten your entire batch of muffins, which is the equivalent of at least 1 cup of sugar!
Since many stevia brands and products have different sweetness levels, I recommend using the same one that I do for the best results. I love this particular one because I don’t notice any strange aftertaste like with some other stevia products, and I actually buy it online here because that’s the best price I’ve found!
Tip: Liquid stevia isn’t a one-time-use ingredient! I hate buying ingredients that I’ll only use for one recipe, and I’m guessing you’re the same way too. You’ll use this same liquid stevia in all of these recipes of mine as well! (There are 240+ of them!)
Time to add the spices and salt! You’ll use both cinnamon and nutmeg. Nutmeg was another one of my grandma’s secret ingredients in her peach pie. It gives these muffins a much deeper and richer flavor! As for the cinnamon, I definitely recommend Saigon cinnamon. It has a stronger, richer, and sweeter flavor than regular cinnamon, which makes your healthy peach muffins taste absolutely incredible. (I buy mine online here because it’s so inexpensive and affordable, and it’s the only kind of cinnamon I use in my baking now!)
Hint: You’re adding the spices now, rather than later with the flour, so they’re evenly dispersed throughout the batter. If you waited, there’s a stronger likelihood of clumps… And nobody wants a big ol’ clump of cinnamon, nutmeg, or salt in the middle of their muffin, right??
Remember how I said you just needed ½ tablespoon of butter or oil? That’s because you’re adding lots of Greek yogurt to your muffin batter too! Greek yogurt is another one of my favorite ingredients in healthy baking. Here, it adds the same moisture as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories. It also gives your healthy peach muffins a protein boost!
Although my grandma didn’t use this next ingredient in her peach pie recipe, it’s the third secret ingredient in these healthy peach muffins. Promise me you won’t roll your eyes when I tell you what it is, okay??
Ready?
It’s distilled white vinegar! I know it sounds weird, but here’s why it works. Vinegar (an acid) reacts with baking soda (a base — you’ll add that soon!). When these two react, they create air bubbles (carbon dioxide, to be exact!). Those air bubbles help your muffins rise, and they also give your healthy peach muffins a more tender texture.
By the time your muffins finish baking, all of the vinegar will have reacted with all of the baking soda, so you won’t taste any vinegar whatsoever in your finished healthy peach muffins! Just… Don’t taste the raw batter, okay? 😉
After stirring in the milk, it’s time to add the last of the dry ingredients! Those are white whole wheat flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Yes, I know… White whole wheat flour sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? But I promise such a thing exists — and it’s not just a combination of white (aka all-purpose) flour and regular whole wheat flour!
Instead, white whole wheat flour is made by finely grinding a special type of soft white wheat (hence the name!), whereas regular whole wheat flour comes from a heartier variety of red wheat. They both have the same health benefits, like extra fiber, but white whole wheat flour has a lighter taste and texture… Which lets the super moist texture of your healthy peach muffins really shine!
When you add the baking powder and baking soda, do NOT dump them in the center of the bowl! Instead, sprinkle them over the top of the flour, and stir all three in together. Sprinkling prevents clumps, which means your healthy peach muffins will rise evenly and end up with the best possible texture!
Hint: You need to wait to add the baking powder and the baking soda until now, rather than adding them with the cinnamon and nutmeg, because they start to react as soon as they come into contact with the wet ingredients. If they start reacting too soon, those lovely air bubbles all disappear before you can put your muffin pan in the oven… So your muffins wouldn’t rise, and they’d end up really flat and dense. By waiting, you get the best rise and texture in your healthy peach muffins!
And speaking of… It’s finally time to fold in the peaches! Both fresh peaches and canned peaches in 100% juice will work. (That means you can make these healthy peach muffins all year round, not just during the summer. Hooray!) If using the latter, just make sure you thoroughly drain the juice first! Too much juice can cause your muffins to collapse. I dice my peaches to be about the same size as chocolate chips to ensure every bite contains at least one juicy piece of fruit!
One last tip for you! If you’re using muffin or cupcake liners like I did in these photos, you must thoroughly coat them with cooking spray first. (If you skip them and just use a muffin pan, you still need to coat that with cooking spray too!) Low-fat batters, like with these healthy peach muffins, stick to liners and muffin pans like superglue. Coating the liners or pan with cooking spray helps them slip out of those much more easily!
Healthy muffins that taste like a combination of cupcakes and peach pie… That definitely sounds like the perfect breakfast to me! 😉 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 healthy peach muffins!
Healthy One-Bowl Peach Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp (7g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp almond extract (see Notes!)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 ½ tsp liquid stevia
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) distilled white vinegar
- ¾ cup (180mL) nonfat milk
- 2 ¼ cups (270g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 ¼ cups (250g) diced peaches, drained of excess juice (see Notes!)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray. (If using liners, then line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and coat the liners with cooking spray.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the butter and egg whites. Whisk in the almond extract, vanilla extract, and liquid stevia. Whisk in the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir in the Greek yogurt. Stir in the vinegar. Stir in the milk. Add the flour. Sprinkle the baking powder and baking soda on top of the flour (to avoid clumps and make sure the muffins bake evenly!). Stir until just incorporated. Gently fold in the peaches.
- Divide the batter between the prepared paper liners. Bake at 350°F for 22-26 minutes or until the centers feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Peach Oatmeal Muffins
♡ Healthy Peach Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
♡ Healthy One-Bowl Blueberry Muffins
♡ Healthy Peach Scones
♡ Healthy Peach Mini Muffins
♡ Healthy Peach Pie Pancakes
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy muffin recipes!
I love using liquid Stevia and Greek yogurt to make a much healthier version than the usual baked goods. I would like to try this recipe as a cake-type cobbler instead of making into muffins. Do you thin that would work? Any changes I need to make? I love cobblers that have a cake-type base in the pan, and then add fruit on top. Wonderful how the “cake” envelops the fruit. Thank you!
I’m honored that you’d like to try this recipe, Maggie! I actually don’t have much experience with traditional cobblers (my family prefers pies and crisps / crumbles!), so I’m honestly not sure and don’t want to lead you astray. However, I’ve found that when I’ve tried baking batters, like this one, that are entirely sweetened with liquid stevia as cakes (for example, in 9″-round or square pans!), they often collapse while cooling and turn out really dense. This is because sugar actually plays a structural role in cake (not just sweetness!) and helps prevent cakes from collapsing while cooling, and since stevia-sweetened cakes don’t have that sugar component, they end up collapsing and have a really dense texture. Does that make sense?
Amy, Thank you so very much. Your understanding of the science, the chemistry, of baking.is why I appreciate your blog. Your response is so helpful. After reading your response, I decided to do two things. 1. I will try your recipe because it sounds so good. And 2. I will then try making the recipe with other fruits, and maybe it will give me an individual “cobbler.” Ot at least enough to get my “cobbler fix.” I like to experiment, so we’ll see what happens. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. You are the best!
It’s my pleasure, Maggie! I’m always happy to help! It truly means a lot that you’d still like to try making my recipe, and I love your idea of making individual “cobblers” in the muffin cups. It sounds so fun, so I’d love to hear how that turns out, if you wouldn’t mind sharing! 🙂
I just made this recipe and find the liquid stevia leaves an aftertaste. 10 minutes after eating one, I still have an aftertaste. Next time I will use honey instead, otherwise they baked up very nice and would be a lovely muffin.
I’m so glad you at least enjoyed their texture, Karen! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 My mom is also really sensitive to the taste of stevia. Even when basically nobody else can detect it in baked goods, she still notices a very distinct flavor. It sounds like you might have similar taste buds, so I really hope you enjoy the honey-sweetened version better!
I made a new batch today with honey with fantastic results, they are DELICIOUS! Thanks for posting this wonderful recipe with all the tips and alternatives to various ingredients.
Oh my goodness, Karen! I’m so honored that you’ve already made another batch, and I’m even more excited that the results were so much better too!! Thank you for taking the time to let me know — that truly means a lot! 🙂
Hi there, if I wanted to use honey instead of stevia, how much would you suggest I use?
Thanks!
I’ve actually answered this exact question in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions!). I know it can be easy to miss! 😉 I’d love to hear what you think of these muffins if you try making them, Tarrah!
I made them! Sorry I missed the note about honey, but I found it and actually went for maple syrup instead. They were delicious! I didn’t have soft wheat so I used hard but they were still really moist and fluffy! This will be my go-to peach muffin recipe. Next time I would personally just use half the almond extract- I felt like I couldn’t taste the peaches over the almond flavour.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins, Tarrah! That means the world to me that you’d call this your new go-to peach muffin recipe. That’s the best compliment there is — thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂 I completely understand about reducing the almond extract. It’s my all-time favorite baking extract, so I love using lots of it — but I know not everyone is the same way! 😉 I hope you enjoy your next batch made with less almond extract even more!!
Have to agree the Almond was overpowering. Can hardly teste the Peach, Cinnamon or nutmeg. Also 3tsb =1TBS
I’m honored that you tried my recipe, Scott! That is true, 3 teaspoons is equal to 1 tablespoon. However, my recipe calls for 2 teaspoons (tsp) of almond extract, not 2 tablespoons (tbsp). Perhaps that was the issue that you experienced, if you happened to add 2 tablespoons, and the almond extract flavor completely overpowered everything else?
I used less of the stevia( and bought the brand you recommended) but they were still so sweet I could hardly eat them. Plus the aftertaste was very strong.
Oh no! That sounds really frustrating and not like how these muffins should turn out. I’m happy to help solve those flavor issues, Deborah! To do so, I have just a couple of questions for you.
Was this your first time baking with the liquid stevia that I recommend?
Have you used other stevia products before? If so, did you notice an aftertaste with those?
You used 2 ½ teaspoons of the liquid stevia, correct? Not tablespoons? (I’m guessing you did, but after hearing about a couple of readers making that mistake, I just like to double check! 😉 )
How was the texture of your muffins? Was that okay?
I have an idea of what we can do differently for your next batch, but I’ll be able to confirm if that’s the best solution once I know your answers to all of these questions! 🙂
Hi!
First time baking with this stevia. Have used stevia before, and sometimes there is an aftertaste. I usually use a smaller amount when I bake, as I did this time. I definitely used tteaspoons, not tablespoons. 😆
Texture was unusual for muffins (spongey),, but I could live with it for the low calories! I did swap regular flour for the white whole wheat.
Thanks for sharing this info, Deborah! Regular flour should be fine. I’m happy to help with that spongey texture you noticed too! Did you happen to use a hand-held or stand mixer to make the batter, by any chance? Or did you use a whisk where explicitly instructed (aka up until you added the Greek yogurt!) and then switch to a fork for everything else?
I’m relieved to hear you used teaspoons, not tablespoons! 😉 If you decide to try making these muffins again, I’d recommend starting with 1 teaspoon of the liquid stevia instead. Based on what you’ve shared, it sounds like you may be a bit more sensitive than others. (My mom is like that too! She can detect stevia in anything, even when nobody else can.) That should really help reduce the sweetness level and aftertaste that you noticed. If that second batch with just 1 teaspoon of liquid stevia isn’t quite sweet enough for you, then you should be able to increase it by up to ½ teaspoon (so 1 ½ teaspoons, instead of 2 ½ teaspoons!) without any issues. 🙂
Thanks for sharing the recipe. Any way I can make them with almond flower instead?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Sonia! I typically don’t recommend that substitution in my muffin recipes, including this one. This is because gluten is the protein in wheat-based flours that helps baked goods rise and maintain their shape while cooling. Almond flour lacks that, so when you substitute it for wheat-based flours in my recipes that rise (like cupcakes, cakes, muffins, quick breads, etc!), your baked goods will often turn out denser and collapse while cooling.
However, if you don’t mind that texture difference with almond flour (where your muffins will collapse and turn out much denser), the flavors will still remain the same! You’ll also need to add a bit more because it isn’t as absorbent as wheat-based flour. The batter should be on the thick side!
I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try making these peach muffins! 🙂
There is no link to the stevia you use! It just gives me a blank page, Tnx.
Thanks so much for letting me know!! I’ve fixed the links, so they should be working properly now. 🙂 I’m so sorry I’m just now responding too. I had some family things I needed to take care of, but if you do end up making them, I’d love to hear what you think of these muffins Cheryl!
I made these today with these changes- white all purpose flour and 1/2 cup swerve and 1/2 cup brown sugar, plus I topped them with a small amount of powdered sugar icing I had left over from some other muffins I was making. They were great! I’ve never had luck with lower calorie muffins, but I would make these again in a heartbeat!
I’m so glad you loved these Jill! Especially after hearing you’ve never had good luck with lower calorie muffins before. That’s an even bigger compliment — and I’m so honored that you’d make them again in a heartbeat. Thank you SO much for taking the time to let me know!!