Healthy No Sugar Added Blueberry Muffins
Healthy no sugar added blueberry muffins are the perfect treat. These muffins are sweetened naturally with dates and can be quickly thrown together using just your blender!
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Refined Sugar Free Baking
When my first son was old enough to have solids, he started like any other kid.
He had an interest in food but didn't care much if he was eating the same thing as me or something totally different.
Then around the time he was 8 or 9 months old, he started to notice whenever I was eating something that he wasn't.
This presented a problem for me when it came to baked goods.
We had decided not to give him any refined sugar until he was much older, but baked goods are always chocked full of added sugar.
So I started experimenting with refined sugar free baking and it turns out that you really can have baked goods without all of the added sugar.
These Healthy No Sugar Added Blueberry Muffins were the first recipe I made without added sugar and as someone who's grown up on store-bought, sugar-filled muffins, I was skeptical.
But these sugar free blueberry muffins are so good and you don't even notice there isn't added sugar in them!
How do you make muffins without sugar?
There are a few ways to bake without sugar.
You can use applesauce, honey, maple syrup, or dates to sweeten baked goods without sugar, using naturally found sweeteners.
These healthy blueberry muffins are sweetened with dates, by blending chopped dates with boiling water to create almost a paste consistency.
I love that these no sugar added blueberry muffins are perfect for toddlers. I've made these handfuls of times for play dates or just an after nap snack.
These muffins are a treat that the whole family can shamelessly indulge in!
My husband actually took them to work and only told people that they were refined sugar free after they commented about how good they were.
What makes these blueberry muffins healthy?
There are a few aspects of these blueberry muffins that make them healthier than your average store-bought muffin:
- No refined sugar, simply sweetened with dates.
- Oats are one of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat!
- Fresh blueberries add sweetness and also tons of health benefits.
Another one of my favorite healthy blueberry muffin recipes is this Blueberry Oatmeal Muffin recipe made with coconut sugar!
How do you make muffins in a blender?
Making muffins in a blender is almost as easy and pouring all of the ingredients into the blender and turning it on!
You'll want to put the solid ingredients like flour, baking powder and spices on the bottom and pour the liquid on top.
Add in fresh fruit after blending the batter completely by folding fruit into the batter.
What can you use instead of a blender for these muffins?
If you don't have a blender, you can use a food processor instead! You really do need one of these two things to be able to puree up the dates.
If you don't have either, you can try this Healthy Lemon Blueberry Muffin recipe instead, which is still refined sugar-free, but sweetened with coconut sugar instead of dates.
What kind of flour do you need for Healthy Blueberry Muffins?
You can pretty safely alternate between any kind of flour for this recipe:
- all purpose
- whole wheat flour
- bread flour
- pastry flour
- 1-1 gluten free flour.
You can also do all oats instead of oats and flour, if you prefer.
Each one may have a slightly different texture but won't affect the overall quality of the muffins.
What kind of milk should you use for Healthy Blueberry Muffins?
You can use any kind of milk, whole milk or 2% milk or nut milk like unsweetened almond milk.
I like to use unsweetened almond milk because I often make these for toddler playdates and have some friends who are dairy-free.
Can you use frozen blueberries in blueberry muffins?
Yes, you can use frozen blueberries in place of fresh blueberries in a blueberry recipe. Do not thaw the frozen blueberries.
How do you make Healthy No Sugar Added Blueberry Muffins? Step by step process:
- Preheat oven to 350º degrees.
- Chop dates and add them to your blender. I like to use kitchen sheers to cut pitted dates in half and throw them right into the blender.
- Add ½ cup of boiling water to the dates and blend until smooth. There will be small pieces of the dates in the mixture, that's okay.
- Add the rest of the remaining ingredients, starting with the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Then add the liquids, vanilla extract, eggs, and almond milk.
- Blend until mixture is well combined.
- Pour in fresh blueberries and fold into the batter with a flexible silicone spatula.
- Bake in a muffin tin for 18-22 minutes, until muffins are nicely browned and bounce back when gently touched.
Depending on how soon you plan to eat your muffins, you will want to store them at room temperature or freeze them. Check out my tips for storing and freezing muffins.
What to pair with these No Sugar Added Healthy Blueberry Muffins for brunch:
Choose an "entree" for a brunch, like an egg casserole or Bacon Roasted Broccolini Gruyere Quiche.
Choose a few side dishes, like Orange Juice Fresh Fruit Salad or Bacon Roasted Potatoes.
Choose some brunch mocktails and cocktails to bring it all together, like Strawberry Ginger Punch or Irish Whipped Cream Coffee.
Make a batch of greek yogurt smoothies for a complete breakfast.
Madison's Pro Sharing Tip:
Here are a few ways to make these Healthy Blueberry Muffins shareable:
- Double the batch and bring half to your neighbor.
- Make a batch for a new mama - she'll thank you for the quick snack! I'd recommend sticking to non-dairy milk in this case, as a lot of breastfeeding moms avoid dairy for the first few months.
- Take these toddler friendly no sugar added blueberry muffins to a play date.
- Plan a park or zoo play date with a friend and bring these muffins to share.
Recommended Tools:
Muffin Tin
Wire Cooling Rack
Flexible Silicone Spatula
Aluminum Free Baking Powder
Glass Liquid Measuring Cup
Vanilla Extract
All Purpose Flour
Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
Pin this recipe to make it later!
As always, if you make this recipe, I'd love to know how they turn out! Leave a comment with a rating on this recipe to share your thoughts.
Healthy No Sugar Added Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted dates chopped (10-12 dates)
- ½ cup water boiling
- 1 cup of all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 ½ cups of blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Start a small pot of ½ cup water and wait for it to boil.
- Place chopped dates into a blender. Then pour boiling water on top of the dates. Blend until dates are pureed.
- Add remaining ingredients (except blueberries) to blender, starting with the dry ingredients.
- Once all ingredients are in the blender, blend until mixture comes together.
- Gently fold in blueberries with a rubber spatula.
- Pour directly into a greased or lined muffin pan, about ¾ full.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the center of the muffins bounce back when gently poked.
- Allow to cool for two minutes in muffin tin before moving to a wire cooling rack.
Video
Notes
If you'd like these to be sweeter, you can also add a tablespoon of honey to the mix. Recipe adapted from Bren Did Blog.
Crazy question. Can you taste the dates?
When I first made these for my son, I actually didn't like dates by themselves! So I'd say no, not really!
These are okay. They taste like health food. If I make them again, I would reduce the amount of oatmeal by 1/2 cup. Also, I question the use of a blender to mix them (I used a hand mixer). If your blender isn't great and you have to move the ingredients around with a spatula several times, you'll overmix the batter and they'll end up chewy and flat.
Great thoughts, Tina! They definitely are a healthy treat - if you aren't use to reduced/no sugar baking they make not taste sweet enough. The use of the blender is needed to puree the dates. You certainly could do that in the blender and then mix the rest of the ingredients with a mixer. Reducing the oatmeal could work - I'd just be careful of them falling apart, but mixing them versus blending them is definitely a different approach that could change the consistency and baking.
Made these this morning! We loved the consistency of them, perfect amount of sweetness and they came right out of the cupcake tin with having used spray oil prior to baking. Will definitely be making these again!
So glad you guys enjoyed them! They are one of our favorites too 🙂
These are crazy delicious. I had a little trouble with my blender—a larger and/or more powerful blender would likely work better. I expect these to become my go-to blueberry muffins, and now that I know the technique, I will experiment with other flavorings.
I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
These are fantastic but very high in sugar due to the sugar content of the dates. Regardless of the source, sugar turns into glucose whether the source is fruit or processed table sugar.
There is 58g of sugar in 10 dates. To get close to 58g of granulated sugar, it would be a little more than 1/4 cup. That is very low.
I made a half batch of these muffins and they were SO good. I am about to make a full batch and we will definitely be making these in the future. We didn't have dates, so I substituted a fresh peach, and used kamut flour with a little extra baking powder (another 1/4 tsp). And we didn't have any yogurt, so I subbed buttermilk. But they came out lovely! Thanks so much, we will be checking out your other recipes.
Just made these for my toddler. I was sceptical because sugar free baking has been such a flop in this house but this recipe is delicious! And I feel good letting my little have one. I wanted lemon blue berry so instead of water I added lemon juice to make the prune paste and lemon zest. Otherwise followed as written. Thank you!
Great idea to try adding lemon! You might like these too 🙂 https://joyfullymad.com/healthy-lemon-blueberry-muffins/
I’m wanting to make this now, but I’ve got
Oat milk. Is that an ok substitute? After I
make the recipe, I’ll rate them. Thanks in
advance for your reply, Anna Marie 🙏🏻
Do you have a recommendation on the amount if using banana or applesauce to sweeten instead of the dates? I haven’t had luck pureeing dates in my blender in the past. Thanks!
What if I completely omit dates from recipe?
I wouldn't recommend this. There would be zero sweetness and your liquid ratio would be completely off leaving the muffins totally dry. If you do not want to use dates, I'd recommend this recipe instead: https://joyfullymad.com/healthy-lemon-blueberry-muffins
I have a mason jar of fresh date paste already made. Can you recommend about how much of that I would use if possible? Thank you
Can I use date syrup instead? Would I still use about 1c?
I've never used date syrup, but I think you'd want to use less! If you look at the video once the dates are pureed they're still a thick paste almost. A syrup might affect the consistency of the muffins. Let me know if you give it a shot though!
These taste delicious, however, they stuck to the paper muffin cups & I lost part of each muffin this way. Do you have a remedy for this?
You might try spraying the cups first? I've never had this issue without using muffin cups, so I can't say!
Can i use prunes instead of pitted dates?
I personally haven't tried it, but it may work! Prunes probably won't be as sweet as dates are though.
I would like to make this recipe but the measurements for baking soda, salt, and milk are not showing up. “?” is in the place of numbers. Maybe it’s because I’m accessing the recipe on my phone. Could you please let me know the measurements for those three ingredients. Looking forward to making these soon!
Ahh! Thank you so much. I updated it for you 🙂 I hope you love it!!
These sound great and I can?t wait to try it out..
Would it be ok to blend the blueberries as well? So it?s easier for baby to handle.. thanks in advance!
Yes! The muffins will probably have a lovely purple color to them that way 🙂 I have another recipe on the site with blended strawberries in the muffins and it works perfectly fine!
Was wondering about adding some butter only because I love the flavour in a muffin. Would I cut down on the milk a bit?
Also, if I add some sunflower seed and coconut flakes would I increase the milk?
Can I put 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup yogurt instead of 3/4 c milk?
these sound great! These look great! I may puree half dates and half apricots.
I haven't ever tried any of those suggestions so I can't speak to how it would affect the muffins. Adding butter and/or yogurt to the muffins would increase the fat in the muffins and may cause them to bake differently. Let me know if you try it!
These look wonderful. I like having a muffin with coffee but really need to get away from all the sugar. Can these muffins be made in a food processor instead of a blender?
Yes, they can! You can also just mix by hand after you puree the dates and water, if you'd like 🙂 Thanks for the question!
We love blueberry muffins and are always up for trying new recipes.
I hope you love these! We are huge fans of blueberry muffins too 🙂
It's nice to get away from white sugars in baking.
Agreed! It's a nice change 🙂
These look so good and I love that they're made in the blender! I actually have a giant Costco-sized container of dates in the pantry that I need to use. These will be perfect!
These are the best healthy muffins I've ever tasted! I love that they don't use sugar. I feel so much better about feeding them to my kids! Thanks for the recipe!
This is awesome! I'm always looking for ways to work healthy treats into my menu!
I hope you love these!
I love using dates in baking, they're both tasty and a great alternative to refined sugar. These look great!
Yes! I need to experiment with them in things other than muffins sometime too!
I love that there is no extra sugar in this recipe - going to add it to my muffin rotation for the kiddos!
A muffin rotation sounds like a great idea 😉
These sound just about perfect to me, and I love that they're healthier!
Thanks Colleen! I hope you enjoy them.
These look absolutely fabulous. I love the ease of muffins but not the sugar, so I am going to have to give them a try!
Yes! I love having muffins on hand for quick breakfasts, too. But this way, I don't have to worry about loading up on junk 🙂
Love the idea of using dates for sweetness, great tip!
Thanks Jolene! It's been a game changer for my muffin recipes!
I love this and make it all the time but can you substitute the flour for a more low carb option? I love using the dates for a sweetener.
Hi Jessica! I'm SO glad to hear that you love the muffins. I'm not too familiar with low carb options for flour. Let me know if you find anything that works well!
These look delicious! I can't wait to make them with my little one. Is there any substitution for the oats? My son is allergic 🙁
You could totally just use regular flour if he isn't allergic!
Oh yum! Girl, these muffins sound easy and downright delicious!
I love muffins like this - I have a version I'm sharing in the next week or two sweetened with just a banana. I bake them as mini muffins and stock the freezer and my toddler loves them!
Those sound delicious! I'll have to track down the recipe from you!
Oh girl! How stunning are these. I've really been meaning to get better about making healthy breakfasts for myself and these are simply stunning. I need a batch in my life pronto!
Half the reason I wanted to share the recipe is because they looked SO pretty! Thanks girl!
These muffins look so delicious and I love that they're healthy and have no added sugar! I'm always looking for healthier recipes especially when it comes to my carbs 🙂
Same here! It's not easy to do. Your little will love these 🙂