Tender, flavorful, and packed with protein, these fluffy Peanut Butter Muffins can have any add-in your family likes, and they store well for days (or longer in the freezer). They’re great to prep ahead and enjoy all week.
Peanut Butter Muffins
I started making muffins with a dose of peanut butter when my middle kiddo was a baby. She struggled with bread-y textures—they were just difficult for her to eat for months and months—and the muffins turned out to be the perfect amount of moisture for her.
Since then, I’ve tweaked and tested the recipe for one that is as versatile as it is delish.
These muffins are great on their own for breakfast or snack, or you can top them with butter and/or honey. You can choose one add-in for the whole batch or do a mixed batch to please everyone. And they work as full-size or mini muffins.
So many options so you can make them with your family in mind.
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Ingredients You Need
Here’s a look at what you’ll need to make this muffin recipe so you know what to have on hand or pick up from the store.
- Whole wheat flour: I use a base of whole wheat flour, but there’s an option of using all-purpose. See the Notes at the end of the recipe for specifics.
- Baking powder and baking soda: These help the muffins rise nicely.
- Smooth peanut butter: I use natural-style creamy unsweetened peanut butter, usually a store-brand or Smucker’s Natural.
- Milk: I typically cook and bake with whole milk, but any nondairy milk would work here, too.
- Applesauce: This adds flavor, some sweetness, and moisture. I use store bought unsweetened applesauce or homemade applesauce. If you are out of applesauce or don’t have access to it, you can use mashed banana or Banana Puree.
- Sugar: I add a little sugar, which when paired with the optional add-ins, provides nice flavor. (Or, as an alternative, you can use maple syrup.)
- Eggs: Large eggs help the batter to hold together nicely and bake up with a tender crumb.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla enhances the flavor of the peanut butter, making the flavors even more delicious.
- Optional Add-Ins (choose one or do a mixed batch): Chocolate chips, finely diced strawberries, finely diced apple, white chocolate chips, blueberries, or diced banana.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at how to make these muffins so you know what to expect from the process. Scroll down to the end of the post for the full information and amounts.
- Stir the wet ingredients together in a medium bowl.vAdd the dry ingredients. Gently stir together.
- Stir in your desired add-in. (Or you can plan to add it on top of each if doing a mixed batch.) Divide the batter among a greased muffin pan.
- Press the add-ins into the batter if adding a mix to the batch.
- Bake until firm to the touch and lightly golden brown around the edges.
TIP: To make these as mini muffins, reduce the baking time by about 4 minutes.
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Wilton Nonstick Muffin Pan
This muffin pan bakes evenly and makes clean up a breeze.
How to Store
Once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Warm slightly to serve from the fridge (they firm up a bit when they’re cold so warming slightly returns them to their softer texture).
You can also freeze the muffins in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in 15-second increments in the microwave.
Best Tips for Success
- Use one add-in per batch of muffin, or use 1 tablespoon of each to make a mixed batch.
- Gluten-free: Substitute cup-for-cup gluten-free flour in place of the wheat flour.
- Egg-free: Omit the egg. Add ½ cup milk. Proceed with the recipe.
- Dice up as needed for younger eaters.
- Top with butter, nut butter, or jam as desired.
- Sub almond butter or sunflower seed butter if desired.
Related Recipes
I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe, so please comment below to share and rate!
Favorite Peanut Butter Muffins
Ingredients
- 1¼ cup whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup sugar (or maple syrup)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup smooth peanut butter (I use natural-style peanut butter)
- 1¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup applesauce
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Optional Add-ins (choose one)
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 2 cups finely diced strawberries
- 2 cups blueberries (add 1 teaspoon cinnamon if desired)
- 2 cups diced banana (add 1 teaspoon cinnamon if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 12-cup standard muffin pan with nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
- In another bowl, stir together the peanut butter, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.
- Gently stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture to make a uniform batter.
- Add your desired add-in. (You can also add 1 tablespoon of any add-in to each muffin cup, to make a batch with a few different flavors. Or you can bake them plain). Stir gently to combine.
- Divide batter among the prepared muffin tin, using a little over ¼ cup batter in each cup.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool fully.
Equipment
Notes
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Warm slightly to serve from the fridge (they firm up a bit when they’re cold so warming slightly returns them to their softer texture).
- You can also freeze the muffins in a freezer bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in 15 second increments in the microwave.
- Use one add-in per batch, or use 1 tablespoon per muffin to make a mixed batch.
- To make mini muffins, reduce the baking time to about 10-12 minutes.
- Gluten-free: Substitute cup-for-cup gluten-free flour in place of the wheat flour.
- Egg-free: Omit the egg. Add ½ cup milk. Proceed with the recipe.
- Nut-free: Use sunflower seed butter.
- You can make these with all-purpose flour. You may need to bake for an additional 2-4 minutes.
- Use mashed ripe banana in place of the applesauce if desired.
- Top with butter, nut butter, or jam as desired.
Nutrition
This post was first published August 2022.
These are amazing! I didn’t have applesauce so I used mashed banana (1/4 cup) and was short on chocolate chips, so I used a 1/2 cup of mini chips instead of 1 whole cup. There were perfect! We took them outside and shared with all the neighbors. I’m sad they are all gone, but glad we could share haha! Will make them again!
I love this recipe. It is like a peanut butter cookie in muffin form. So yummy and moist! They do not last long at my house.
So delish! My toddler also struggles with bready textures and she loves these. Your recipes are wonderful, I’m so thankful for you and the work you do!
I’m so glad to hear that and you’re so welcome!
Love your website! Could mashed banana be used instead of maple syrup or sugar and if so how much?
I haven’t tried that but I would use 1/4 cup and know it may take a minute or two longer than the time I say to bake through.
My 2.5 yo and I made these last night. It was perfect! Recipe is easy to follow (we made as is in the mini muffin pan) and plenty for the little guy to do. We had a great time making these together. He chose chocolate chips to mix-in and they were obviously delicious! We served a few with dinner and will use the rest for breakfast/lunches during the week.
I’m glad to hear that!
My 20-month-old son has really been enjoying these this past week for breakfast. He has always been underweight (had IUGR), so finding recipes that pack in extra calories, fat, and protein are on my priority list. When I started making the recipe (late at night), I realized too late that I only had 1.5 cups’ worth of berries (raspberries and blueberries) so I added about a 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. I also accidentally added 1/4 tsp extra of baking soda, but thankfully, you can’t taste it. With these substitutions, I ended up with 16 muffins and they needed more than 10 minutes extra for baking.
I also wanted to send a heads up that the metric measurements are not accurate, at least not for the flour and granulated sugar, so that needs to be corrected. I used King Arthur whole wheat flour, and according to their packaging, 1/4 cup is 30g, so ~94g (per your website’s conversion option) would not be enough for this recipe. On other websites, just 1 cup of whole wheat flour can range from 115-130g, so that number needs to be revised. The granulated sugar quantity is also too high when converted to metric (1/3 cup should be around 66g or so). Perhaps that metric amount was for 1/3 cup maple syrup, but it should be noted separately (if possible) because that’s a big difference between the two. Realizing this, I had to dump the initial measurements I made for the flour and sugar (I weighed them out together in a bowl) and then just went back to measuring them with my standard cups. It wasn’t much lost ingredient-wise, but if there are other bakers on here following just the metric conversion, they might run into issues.
Made the egg free variation and they are AMAZING!
So glad to hear it!
Yer a wizard, Amy.
These came out moist and delicious. Perfectly fit 12 standard muffin tins and rose perfectly. Thank you!
Perfect consistency and so delicious!
Delicious! Followed the recipe exactly with no subs, added in the chocolate chips, and they are perfect! Another great one from the Muffin Queen 🙂
Turned out great! Love these and love that they have whole wheat flour, aren’t high in sugar, and have protein. Perfect recipe. I think I liked them even more than my daughter!
Hi Amy,
I tried this recipe for the first time. As my kid is allergic to both dairy and egg, I used oatmilk and an egg replacer (works with sparkling water), also agave syrup instead of the sugar. Also spelt flour, so I put the muffins back for 3 minutes as they didn’t seem yet done in 15. They are tender and taste really good, but they are sunken and sad looking. Does this ever happen to you? Any idea why? I just got myself an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature I set is actually reached (I did use the fan setting though and adjusted the temperature in the recipe to a bit less). Wouldn’t the baking soda need an acid to react to? Sorry for the long message, I want to make these for my kid’s birthday and they’re so delicious, I really hope they turn out well next time.
Hi- I haven’t made them with the adjustments that you used, so I can’t say for sure. I would start by checking that your baking soda is fresh though, as that’s key to how they rise. It’s possible your batter was wetter than mine and may need 1/4 tsp more baking soda. I hope that helps.
Thank you for your answer! I tested the baking soda and it works, so I’ll try to add a bit more as you suggested. I did have the feeling the batter is wetter, yes, there’s syrup, but also because of the sparkling water in the “egg” mixture. Perhaps I should just leave that out entirely, I guess the only risk is that they would be a bit less fluffy?
Or add 2 more tbsp of your flour? I think you’d want the egg sub in there.
I made these with the maple syrup and chocolate chips. My kids and I loved them! Will be making them again! Also my muffin tins must be a little smaller because I got quite a few more muffins than I expected- will be freezing them for another day.
This were so fluffy and delicious! Thanks for a great recipe!
Made these today – only substitution was mashed banana as I didn’t have applesauce. Added chopped strawberries to the top of each before baking. They’re so yum and my almost 3yo devoured his immediately! Great recipe, thank you
These are crazy delicious and so easy to make. Love all of the suggestions for substitutions. I’ve already eaten 2 to myself! ❤️
I LOVE THIS PB recipe!! Made it with no egg, almond milk (my 1yo has egg and cow’s milk allergy) and followed the instructions for substitutions – it’s SOOOOOOO GOOOOOD!!! Milk chocolate add ins for my 4yo and blueberries for my 1 yo) Going to put some in my 4yo’s lunchbox this week! Thank you!😍🥜🍫🫐
I made these GF with a cup for cup blend and they came out awesome!
I sprinkled cocoa nibs on some and did banana and cinnamon sugar on the others! Both my boys and I LOVE! Sent one with my hubs for a work snack today too-family hit! Thanks so much as always Amy!
So excited to try these- would it be possible to use honey instead of sugar? If so, how much honey should we use?
Yes and I’d use the same amount.
So good! I did half almond half peanut butter to get in two allergen exposures at once for exposure for my baby.
Would these work with almond butter as well?
Yes, if it’s the same consistency as peanut butter and not super runny, it should work well.
Haven’t made yet however they look yummy! Any way to add some fiber to this recipe? Thank hoi
There is 3 grams of fiber per muffin already. You could use the berry option and stir them into the batter for more.
Can you use regular smooth (sweetened) peanut butter? Would I omit the extra sugar if so?
Sorry didn’t mean to give it a rating! I haven’t tried them yet lol.
Has anyone tried this with powdered PB? That’s all I have at the moment.
It usually has directions on the package to turn it back into regular peanut butter by mixing with water, so I would do that to make 1 cup of peanut butter and then use it in the recipe. (Or add the amounts of the powder and water to the batter.) My best guess is that it will work fine. It may be a little less moist since powdered peanut butter sometimes has some of the fat taken out. Let mek now if you try it!
What would you do if the muffins need to be GF, DF, and Egg free? Would you just sub 1/2 c more milk alternative?
I would use a cup for cup style of gluten free flour blend, use non dairy milk and yes, that egg replacer option listed in the Notes or your favorite store-bought egg replacer like the one from Bobs Red Mill.
These are so good! Both my kids love them. Make them today; you won’t be disappointed.
Can these be made with sun butter?
They can!
Will the recipe work if I use Sunflower butter??
It will!
Delicious! Followed the exact recipe – I used banana as an add-in and they are so good. Thanks Amy!!!
My daughter loved these muffins! I added dark chocolate chips as my add-in. Thanks for this recipe!
Can all-purpose flour be substituted for whole wheat flour if I don’t have it? Same measurement?
Yes, they just may need 2-4 minutes more of baking time
Hi! Milk is in the ingredient list but not the recipe steps? Could you please clarify?
Hi- You add it in Step 3: In another bowl, stir together the peanut butter, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. (I updated it last night and it’s showing on desktop but not mobile for everyone, so maybe try to clear your cache. Sorry about that!)
Thank you so much! That’s what I ended up doing and they were SO yummy! I thought I was going crazy because the directions weren’t there (when I commented), then they were, and then later they were gone again. 😅 Thank you for your response and for this great recipe!
I added some extra sugar and subbed banana for apple sauce, and it came out great!! Thanks for the new recipe- likely will be in our rotation 😀
So fluffy and good! I made them as minis with cranberries 🙂
Every thing I’ve tried has been amazing! So excited to try more!