Naturally sweetened, no butter or oil, and they make 36 which lasts about 2 days in our house.
If your kids go through snacks as fast as mine do, I realized that buying the packages of mini muffins just didn’t make a lot of sense. Also, if I can make them homemade with less added sugar I feel better letting my kids eat them for breakfast. I’m not going to tell you they taste identical. They don’t. They taste like a really good muffin with sprinkles in it, which turns out to be what everyone actually wanted!
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A few notes on the ingredients
Full measurements are in the recipe card at the bottom — here’s what’s worth knowing about them.
Use plain Greek yogurt, full-fat or 2%. Nonfat works but the muffins come out noticeably drier. Regular (non-Greek) yogurt is thinner and will give you a looser batter — still fine, just expect a flatter top. Also, just use what you have it will typically work out. I used the Oikos Triple Zero vanilla in this recent batch.
Unsweetened applesauce. The little single-serve cups are exactly the ½ cup you need, which is convenient enough that I buy them for this specifically.
Honey or maple, your call. Maple is a little cleaner in flavor; honey is more floral and browns faster.
Room-temperature eggs blend in faster and keep you from over-mixing to compensate.
How to make Greek yogurt mini muffins
It’s a two-bowl recipe — dry in one, wet in the other, combined at the last minute. The full steps are in the card below. These are the four things that actually determine whether they come out well.
Grease the muffin pan, even if it’s silicone. Because there’s no butter or oil in this batter it will cling. Even if the pan claims to be nonstick, a light greasing is still worth the extra ten seconds. A thin coat also keeps residue from baking onto the silicone, which means far less scrubbing when you’re done.
Stop mixing before you think you should. Pour the wet into the dry and stir just until the dry flour disappears. Lumps are correct. A lumpy batter makes a tender muffin.
Fill each cup about ¾ full. A small cookie scoop makes this fast and even, and also makes SO much less mess. I don’t know how I lived without one of these for so long. I grabbed a 3-pack with different sizes from amazon.
Start checking at 11 minutes. They’re done at 12–15, but mini muffins go from perfect to dry in about ninety seconds and every oven lies a little. Cool them in the tin for 5 minutes before moving them — they firm up as they go, so if the first one seems fragile, give it a minute before you panic.
Storing and freezing
Counter: 2 days in an airtight container. Slip a paper towel in with them to catch condensation — because of the yogurt, these hold more moisture than a standard muffin and can go sticky on top.
Fridge: up to 5 days.
Freezer: up to 3 months, and this is genuinely the best way to handle a batch of 36 (or even a double batch). Cool completely, freeze in a single layer on a sheet pan for an hour, then transfer to a freezer bag. They won’t clump, so you can pull out three at a time.
To thaw: 30 seconds in the microwave, or just drop them frozen into a lunchbox at 7am. They’ll be perfect by lunch.
Substitutions and variations
- Dairy-free: a thick coconut or almond-milk yogurt works. Keep it plain and unsweetened, and pick the thickest one you can find.
- Whole wheat: swap up to half the flour for white whole wheat. All of it gets dense.
- Gluten-free: a 1:1 cup-for-cup blend works well here. Let the batter rest 10 minutes before scooping.
- No sprinkles: mini chocolate chips, blueberries, or diced strawberries. Toss fruit in a teaspoon of flour first so it doesn’t sink.
- Standard-size muffins: same batter, fill a regular 12-cup tin ¾ full, bake 18–22 minutes at 375°F. Makes about 12.
- Higher protein: add a scoop of vanilla protein powder and 2 extra tablespoons of applesauce to keep it from drying out.
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Greek Yogurt Sprinkle Mini Muffins (Our Copycat Little Bites)
Course: SnacksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy36
mini muffins15
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Naturally sweetened mini muffins made with Greek yogurt and applesauce — no butter, no oil, no refined sugar. A homemade take on Little Bites muffins that freezes beautifully.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a mini muffin tin.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
- In a second bowl, whisk yogurt, applesauce, eggs, honey, and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour wet into dry and stir just until combined. Lumps are fine — do not overmix.
- Fold in sprinkles.
- Scoop into the prepared tin, filling each cup about ¾ full. Top with additional sprinkles.
- Bake 12–15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Notes
- For babies under 12 months, use maple syrup instead of honey.
Freezes up to 3 months. Freeze in a single layer before bagging.
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