These strawberry muffins are super fluffy and light, while also being healthy! They're sweet and moist, as a muffin should be, but you'll feel good eating them!
This is one of those recipes that I've made many times and love but just never got around to sharing. So I'm very happy to be finally posting the recipe today!
They're super light and fluffy, while also moist and sweet. I love how they're not super heavy and you feel good eating them!
As much as I love desserts rich in chocolate, nuts, and all that good stuff, I like to freshen it up with some berries! Strawberries are definitely the ones I use most (this Gluten Free Strawberry Crisp being one of my favorite recipes on this site) and they are perfect for this recipe.
Although there is some all purpose flour in there (it's key for fluffy texture!), there's also whole wheat flour and flaxseed meal to make up for it--resulting in wayyy more fiber than you'll ever get from a traditional muffin.
Another bonus: it's made in one bowl! You will need an electric mixer to incorporate fluffy air pockets, but besides that it's fairly simple and easy to make 🙂
So without any further ado, let's get into the ingredients and process behind these Healthy Strawberry Yogurt Muffins!
Ingredients in Healthy Strawberry Yogurt Muffins
This recipe (and many others) has two main components: the dry ingredients and the wet. The dry ingredients are important for the structure and fluffiness, and the wet ingredients are what give it moisture and flavor.
Wet Ingredients
As you can tell from the name, one of the main wet ingredients is yogurt. Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, to be exact. Greek yogurt is great at adding moisture to muffins with no fat! And while I am not saying that fat is bad for you (if you read some of my other dessert posts, you know I'm all about including healthy fats), I really wanted these muffins to be light!
Greek yogurt is also very high in protein, which is another plus, especially considering there is an entire ¾ cup of it here!
The next wet ingredient used here for moisture is avocado oil. See, I told you I'm all about healthy fats! Avocado oil is my favorite oil to use in baked goods because it's full of unsaturated fats, omega-3 fatty acids, and it's not chemically processed like canola or vegetable oil.
The best part is that you can't taste it at all. This is why I tend to use it a lot more than olive oil (which has very similar health benefits) for baked goods, although you can get along fine with light-tasting olive oil.
Whether you choose olive oil or avocado oil, it's really key to the moist and fluffy texture and does not make it dense or heavy like other fats.
And finally, light cream cheese. It's a fairly small amount, but it really adds a lot to the overall taste and texture. I use 50% fat, but feel free to use whatever fat percentage is available to you.
Then for the sweetness, we have honey and of course, strawberries. Honey is great for this recipe because it's an unrefined, natural sweetener that also contains antioxidants!
The strawberries provide a sweet and ever so slight tart flavor that I love. Many will argue that fresh is best, and while I do agree to some extent, you can't ignore the fact that fresh strawberries are expensive!
If you're willing to use fresh strawberries for this recipe, go for it! But if you're looking to save some money (or prevent your strawberries from going bad if you don't finish them!) then I recommend using frozen.
I also added some lactose free milk for both sweetness and to thin out the batter. Why lactose free? It's sweeter than regular milk, but with the same amount of sugar! This is due to the lactase enzyme they add, but it still has the exact same health benefits!
If you don't feel like getting lactose free milk, I totally understand. Regular milk will work just fine! It may be a little less sweet but you'll still end up with some delicious muffins.
And last but most certainly not least, the eggs! These are so so important for optimal fluffiness and structure--the muffins won't bake properly without them!
Dry Ingredients
As I mentioned before, we use all purpose flour, white whole wheat flour, and flaxseed meal as the base for the dry ingredients. All play an important role!
All purpose, although not the healthiest, is very helpful to achieve a fluffy texture. It doesn't have as much fiber as whole wheat, but we'll make up for that with the flaxseed meal!
Flaxseed meal is just flax seeds that are ground up very finely. They act as another binder like flour, but they don't dry out the batter like flour does because of it's healthy fats! Flax seeds also have plenty of fiber and protein, making up for the loss with all purpose flour.
The other half of the flour is white whole wheat, which is unrefined and higher in fiber than white flour. White whole wheat flour has the same nutritional value as regular whole wheat, but with a lighter taste and texture so you won't notice it!
Finally, we have the baking powder and baking soda. They're easy to forget but are SO important to the final result--without them the muffins will be very dense.
I really hope you like this recipe! If you decide to make it, be sure to post a picture/story (or dm me!) and tag me @nutritiousdelights on Instagram--I'd love to see it!💗
More recipes you might love:
Healthy Matcha Spinach Muffins
Healthy Vegan Strawberry Crisp
Healthy Flourless Lemon Almond Muffins
Healthy Strawberry Yogurt Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 oz softened light cream cheese 50% fat
- ¾ cup plain nonfat greek yogurt
- ½ cup avocado oil or light tasting olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup frozen diced strawberries
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour*
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup flaxseed meal
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup lactose free reduced fat milk* or regular milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a muffin tin or silicone liners. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer, to whip air into it. Add the yogurt and eggs and continue to whip until light and airy. Whisk in the rest of the wet ingredients (oil, honey, vanilla, milk, flaxseed meal) manually. Fold in the rest of the ingredients until fully combined.
- Pour into the prepared liners or muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes (time varies with each oven).
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