These moist strawberry protein muffins are simple to make and scrumptious as a lightweight breakfast, lunchbox deal with, or meal prep snack. They’re made with almond and oat flour, sweetened with applesauce, and bulked up with cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and protein powder. Swap the berries along with your favourite mix-ins!



Key Elements
With a couple of easy ingredient swaps, this recipe makes a batch of protein-packed muffins which you can fill with recent berries or any mix-ins you’d like. Scroll all the way down to the recipe card for the precise quantities for every ingredient.


- Applesauce – You’ll wish to use unsweetened applesauce, both store-bought or selfmade.
- Eggs – Room temperature eggs are simpler to combine.
- Cottage Cheese – I really like utilizing cottage cheese in cottage cheese pancakes and cottage cheese flatbread. It’s an underrated ingredient that provides loads of moisture and protein with out impacting the flavour of those muffins.
- Greek Yogurt – Bitter cream is an effective substitute.
- Sugar – Once I examined this recipe with simply the applesauce as a sweetener, I discovered the flavour a bit flat. Somewhat little bit of granulated or brown sugar does the trick, or you might use honey.
- Vanilla – Please use actual vanilla extract or vanilla paste, and never imitation.
- Oat Flour – Oat flour is certainly one of my favorites for gluten-free baking. It’s good for mild, tender muffins. It’s also possible to make oat flour your self! Simply add oats to a high-powered blender and pulse till you could have a high quality powder.
- Almond Flour – One other gluten-free flour different that additionally provides protein.
- Vanilla Protein Powder – You should use your favourite, both whey or plant-based. Swap vanilla with chocolate protein powder in case you’d like.
- Baking Powder – Not the identical factor as baking soda. Make certain it’s recent!
- Strawberries – Chop the strawberries into small items, and depart them to dry on a paper towel for a couple of minutes. This releases a number of the moisture so it doesn’t discover its means into the muffin batter. As a substitute of strawberries, you might additionally make blueberry cottage cheese muffins, chocolate chip protein muffins, or add extra mix-ins like dried fruit and nuts.
Baking With Protein Powder
Since protein powder is a bit like flour, it absorbs moisture, so it shouldn’t be added to baked items until it’s known as for in a recipe. When used accurately, it’s a beautiful means so as to add protein and taste. Along with these protein muffins, I really like including protein powder to protein waffles and baked oatmeal.


Suggestions for the Greatest Protein Muffins
- Keep away from bits of cottage cheese. Mix the cottage cheese with the opposite moist components till easy, in order that no clumps or specks stay.
- Use full-fat components. I examined this recipe with full-fat Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I haven’t tried low-fat choices.
- Almond flour vs. almond meal. Each will work on this recipe. Almond meal is a coarser, less-fine model of almond flour. The muffins might look a bit totally different relying on which one you employ, however they’ll style nice both means.
- Relaxation the batter earlier than you bake. It rehydrates the flour and makes these gluten-free protein muffins further mild and tender.
- Don’t underbake. These protein muffins bake up darker than conventional muffins because of the oat flour and protein powder within the recipe. So if they give the impression of being a bit darkened, chances are high, they’re not overbaked. Check them utilizing a toothpick. When it comes out clear, they’re completed.
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Warmth the oven. First, preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
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Mix the moist components. Add applesauce, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar, and vanilla extract to a meals blender. Mix on excessive pace till the cottage cheese is easy and the whole lot is properly blended.
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Mix the dry components. In a big mixing bowl, whisk collectively the oat flour, almond flour, vanilla protein powder, baking powder, and salt.
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Fold within the moist components. Stir the moist components into the dry components simply till mixed; don’t overmix. Set it apart and let the batter relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than folding within the chopped strawberries. You possibly can depart some further strawberries so as to add to the tops of the muffins.
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Bake the muffins. Switch the muffin pan to the oven and bake the protein muffins for 25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted within the heart of a muffin comes out clear. As a result of oat flour and vanilla protein powder, they could look a bit darker than common muffins.
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Cool, then serve. Cool the muffins earlier than eradicating them from the pan and serving.
- Chop your strawberries and depart them to dry for a couple of minutes. This may stop the muffins from being too moist or soggy.
- Mix your cottage cheese till the chunks or curds are easy.
- I used full-fat yogurt for the recipe. I didn’t take a look at with lower-fat choices, so I have no idea how they could work.
- You should use almond flour or almond meal. The looks could also be a bit totally different, however it won’t influence the flavour.
- Be sure you relaxation your batter so the oat flour rehydrates correctly.
Serving: 1muffin | Energy: 159kcal | Carbohydrates: 20g | Protein: 9g | Fats: 5g | Saturated Fats: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 1g | Monounsaturated Fats: 1g | Trans Fats: 0.003g | Ldl cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 105mg | Potassium: 195mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 55IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 91mg | Iron: 1mg
Dietary data is an estimate and supplied as courtesy. Values might differ in response to the components and instruments used. Please use your most well-liked dietary calculator for extra detailed data.
Tips on how to Make Strawberry Protein Muffins




- Mix the moist components. Add the applesauce, eggs, cottage cheese, and yogurt to a blender with the sugar and vanilla. Mix till there aren’t any curds of cottage cheese remaining.
- Mix the dry components. In the meantime, whisk the oat flour, almond flour, protein powder, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.




- Combine and relaxation the batter. Fold the blended moist components into the dry components. Let the batter relaxation for 10 minutes earlier than folding within the strawberries. I often put aside a couple of strawberry chunks to garnish the tops of the muffins earlier than baking.




- Bake. Divide the batter between the lined wells of a 12-well muffin tin. Earlier than baking, I’ll often press a couple of reserved strawberry items into the tops of the muffins. Bake the muffins at 350ºF for 25 minutes, or till a toothpick comes out clear. These protein muffins ought to cool utterly within the pan earlier than you serve or retailer them.
Mini Muffins
To bake the batter in a mini muffin pan as an alternative, you’ll must shorten the baking time to 10-14 minutes. The oven temperature can keep the identical (350ºF). I like to recommend filling the muffin wells ¾ full, which is about 1-2 tablespoons of batter per liner.


Storage and Freezing
- Retailer at room temperature. Wait till these protein muffins have utterly cooled earlier than storing, or they could get soggy. Seal them in a container or a resealable bag to maintain in a cool, dry location.
- Freeze for as much as 2 months. Retailer the cooled muffins in a big freezer bag or freezer-safe container. These protein muffins thaw comparatively shortly at room temperature. Good for a grab-and-go breakfast or snack!



