Written by Kyle Ustach | BScEcon
Fact checked by Andrew Lenau, ISSA CPT & Sports Nutritionist
FACT CHECKED
Protein-infused food items have grown in popularity over the years. And, for lifters who need plenty of protein but want some variety to accompany their daily shakes, baked goods packed with protein are an excellent option.
Muffins are no exception. In fact, we'd go as far as to say protein muffins, when prepared correctly, may just be the perfect balance of carbs, protein, and healthy fats.
A bodybuilder's dream come true.
So, take a break from your shakes and drop that store-bought protein bar. A better, protein-packed option awaits, regardless of whether you're cutting, bulking, or simply maintaining. Keep reading to discover the best protein muffins recipes and how to prepare them!
Table of Contents:
- What Are Protein Muffins?
- Why Make Protein Muffins?
- The Best Protein Muffin Recipe
- Which Protein Powder Works Best For Protein Muffins?
- Protein Muffins Ingredients List
- 3 Additional Protein Muffin Recipes
- 5 Protein Muffin-Making Tips & Tricks
- FAQs
What are Protein Muffins?
Protein muffins are muffins with a high protein content. Regular muffins might be delicious, but they offer little nutritional value.
Protein muffins contain higher amounts of protein and are a great way to help reach your macro goals. Protein muffins can be a great way to start your day with breakfast, a midday snack, or even a post-workout treat.
In fact, protein muffins can be an ideal post-workout snack, as they provide your muscles with the carbs needed to repair and build muscle.
Why Make Protein Muffins?
If you are looking to eat healthier and add protein to your diet, protein muffins are a great way to help achieve your macro counting goals.
Grocery stores and gas stations are packed with protein-infused snacks, but these contain extra sugars and unnecessary ingredients. Store-bought protein muffins and other protein items can also be very expensive, another reason to make them yourself.
By making protein muffins yourself you can save money and guarantee healthy ingredients are used.
The Best Protein Muffin Recipe
This recipe is the most basic protein muffin base, which we encourage you to personalize to meet your goals and taste preferences. While we will explore more flavorful recipe options later, this is our favorite recipe because you can truly make it what you want.
This recipe only takes five minutes of prep and ten minutes of baking, for a total of 15 minutes. No flour, sugar, or eggs are needed.
Ingredients:
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup almond flour
- ½ cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit; line a muffin tin with 8 liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Add the peanut butter and unsweetened applesauce to the bowl; mix thoroughly.
- Divide the batter equally between the 8 muffin liners.
- Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
- Remove the muffins and allow them to cool for at least five minutes. Enjoy!
This recipe yields 8 muffins with each containing approximately 180 calories, 7g of carbohydrates, 21g of protein, and 10g of fat. There is also 4g of fiber, leaving only 3g of net carbs.
This recipe would be great for a low-calorie diet or for those looking to lose weight. We recommend adding calorie-dense toppings or additional protein for those who are bulking.
Some of the common toppings we like to add include chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, nuts, fresh fruit, and chia seeds.
Which Protein Powder Works Best For Protein Muffins?
One of the most important parts of any of these recipes is the protein powder. The most commonly used protein powder is whey protein, which is the best choice when baking.
If you add more protein powder than the recipe calls for or if the batter is too thick, try adding a liquid or fat to thin it out. Whey, casein, and brown rice protein powder are the best options when it comes to protein muffins.
A whey blend containing casein would work as well, as casein adds thickness. Avoid whey isolate and natural whey protein powders, as these will severely dry out the muffins.
Looking for a great protein powder for your muffins? Check out the 14 Best Protein Powder Supplements!
Protein Muffins Ingredients List
If protein muffins are going to become a go-to of yours, make sure your pantry is stocked with the ingredients you need to make them. Here's a list of items that are either essential or great for adding in.
- Protein Powder (vanilla, chocolate, unflavored protein powder, and peanut butter protein powder are a few of our favorites)
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Flour: Almond Flour, Regular Flour, Oat Flour, or another flour substitute
- Almond Milk
- Eggs (or Flax Egg)
- Peanut Butter (or other nut butter, like almond butter)
- Unsweetened Applesauce
- Maple Syrup
- Erythritol (or another sugar substitute)
- Over-ripe Bananas
- Greek Yogurt
- Nuts
- Vanilla Extract
- Salt
- Cocoa Powder
- Blueberries
- Oatmeal
- Chocolate Chips
- Vegetable Oil
As we mentioned earlier, feel free to swap ingredients that match your specific diet needs. If you are vegan you can swap eggs for chia or flax eggs, or even a mashed banana.
If you are gluten-free or use gluten-free flour, make sure it contains xanthan gum, which thickens the flour and helps bind the batter.
3 More Delicious Protein Muffin Recipes
Whether you're looking for a recipe featuring blueberries to a muffin that's the perfect combination of peanut butter and banana, we've got you covered!
Here are three more great protein muffins recipes to start baking,
1. Vanilla Blueberry Protein Muffins:
These muffins are made with basic ingredients and take less than an hour to make. They pack 15 grams of protein per muffin and at under 150 calories are perfect for any cutting workout and diet plan.
Ingredients:
- ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk (or a different type of milk)
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups oats
- 4 tbsp granulated erythritol
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup blueberries
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 6 liners, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- Mix the almond milk, egg, yogurt, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until smooth.
- Add the oats, erythritol, protein powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
- Mix all ingredients until a slightly lumpy batter forms. Add the blueberries to the batter mix, stirring gently.
- Divide the mixture evenly into the muffin tins.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
This recipe will give you six blueberry protein muffins. Each muffin will have roughly 145 calories, 16g of carbs, 15g of protein, and 2g of fat. There are 3g of fiber for a total of 13 net carbs.
2. Peanut Butter Protein Muffins:
Who doesn't love healthy banana protein muffins? And with this recipe, you can combine banana with peanut butter to create a recipe that's perfect for any healthy diet.
Not only does peanut butter add macros like protein and healthy fats, but it also helps bind the batter. This recipe takes only 10 minutes to prepare, 25 min to bake, and is great for bulking.
Ingredients:
- 1½ cups whole-wheat flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup protein powder (chocolate protein powder tastes great)
- ½ cup raw honey
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ½ cup natural creamy peanut butter
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a muffin tin or line a tin for 12 muffins.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and protein powder in a large bowl until evenly combined
- Add the honey, mashed bananas, and unsweetened applesauce to the muffin batter and stir evenly
- Add the peanut butter and mix again thoroughly.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
This recipe for healthy protein muffins will give you 12 protein muffins.
Each muffin will have roughly 210 calories, 31g of carbs, 3g of fiber, 6g of fat, and 13g of protein. This is the only recipe with over 200 calories per serving, making them a great option for bulking.
If you can’t eat peanut butter due to allergies or simply prefer something else, try using sunflower seed butter or a different type of nut butter, such as almond butter.
3. Double Chocolate Keto-Friendly Protein Muffins:
Following a keto bodybuilding meal plan? No problem! While diets can be a difficult test of willpower at times, especially if you have a sweet tooth and enjoy chocolate, you've still got some good options that will hit the spot.
Like this double chocolate protein muffin recipe that is keto-friendly and only takes 15 minutes of prep and 25 minutes of cooking.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup pecan butter (or any nut butter, peanut butter is great)
- ½ cup Swerve Brown (or other brown sugar substitute/erythritol)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup chocolate collagen protein
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips (sugar-free)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and spray a muffin tin or line a tin for 12 muffins.
- Put the nut butter in a large bowl and stir to mix the oil. If needed, microwave, it a few seconds to make it more liquid.
- Add the sweetener and vanilla extract, then whisk until combined.
- Add the eggs and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
- Add the collagen, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, and chocolate chips. Stir until combined evenly.
- Divide the batter into 12 muffins and bake for 18-25 minutes, or until the muffins rise and are firm on top.
- Let cool for at least five minutes before serving.
This easy recipe will satisfy all of your chocolate cravings and help reach your macro goals.
These protein muffins are especially great for a keto diet as they pack roughly 180 calories, 13g of fat, and 12g of protein each muffin with almost no carbs. There are roughly 5.2g of carbs and 3.6g of fiber each, resulting in only 1.6g of net carbs.
5 Protein Muffin-Making Tips & Tricks
Looking to make the best healthy muffin recipes possible? These tips & tricks will help!
1) Use erythritol.
We recommend having erythritol on hand because it is one of the best sugar substitutes and is a staple in several protein recipes.
Swerve is a popular brand of granulated erythritol, but any erythritol or monk fruit-based sweetener will work. Monk fruit is a very popular choice in the baking community since it's a great low-calorie sugar substitute.
2) Don't overbake.
Be sure not to overbake your protein muffins since they will continue to cook while they cool. Muffins can go from fluffy to dense very quickly, so monitor the tops of the muffins and remove them as soon as a toothpick comes out clean.
3) Don't add too much protein powder.
Adding too much protein can ruin the mixture, so be sure to follow the recipes and scale the other ingredients appropriately if you increase the amount of protein.
The batter should be less than half protein powder or you risk your muffins being dry and rubbery.
4) Mix thoroughly.
Make sure there is no dry powder in your batter mixture. The protein powder absorbs more liquids than regular flour so be sure you have enough wet ingredients.
5) Store correctly.
We recommend storing your protein muffins in an airtight container and placing them in the refrigerator. Most recipes will last five to eight days in the refrigerator and much longer in the freezer.
As long as they are in an airtight container or zip lock bags they will last three to six months or longer in the freezer.
FAQs
If you have any remaining questions about making a protein powder muffin recipe, let's answer them here.
Can you add protein to box muffin mix?
Yes, you can add protein to a box muffin mix. Whey protein powder will mix well into most basic batters, such as protein pancake recipes and cake mix. You will likely need to add a liquid or fat of some type, such as natural peanut butter or vegetable oil, to thin the batter. It is important to add the protein powder slowly to avoid the batter being sticky and dry.
Are muffins good for weight loss?
Since muffins are a carbohydrate-dense food with little nutritional value, they are not ideal for weight loss. Protein muffins on the other hand can be used for weight loss, specifically the low-carb options. Depending on your diet type, there are substitutions you can make to the ingredients to follow your diet plan.
Are Protein Muffins Healthy?
Yes, protein muffins are healthy in moderation. Homemade healthy muffins with protein are much more nutritious than store-bought ones, as those are loaded with sugars and other chemicals. By using natural, sugar-free ingredients and adding protein, we are creating nutritional value that store-bought muffins don’t have.
Protein Powder Muffins: A Staple For Any Lifter's Diet
Whether you are cutting, bulking, or maintaining your weight, high protein muffins are a great addition to any lifter's meal plan. From protein banana muffins packed with peanut butter to a keto-friendly option that won't disappoint, there is a protein muffin for all tastes, diets, and preferences.
The biggest question is: Which one will you try first?
Looking for more great protein recipes? Check out our articles on the Best Protein Cookies, Best Protein Donuts, and the Best Protein Balls Recipes.
References:
- Arman. “The BEST Protein Muffins (5 Ingredients Only!).” The Big Man’s World ®, 19 Sept. 2021, thebigmansworld.com/5-ingredient-chocolate-chip-protein-muffins-low-carb-vegan-paleo
- “Bulked up Pistachio Nut Muffins Recipe.” SparkRecipes, recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1587563
- Carolyn. “Chocolate Protein Muffins.” All Day I Dream about Food, 1 Jan. 2023, alldayidreamaboutfood.com/protein-muffins/
- Chef, The Diet. “Protein Muffins | 15 Grams of Protein per Blueberry Muffin.” The Diet Chef, 13 June 2022, www.thedietchefs.com/protein-muffins-recipe/. Kelly, Lauren.
- “Peanut Butter Protein Muffins.” Lauren Kelly Nutrition, 19 Sept. 2014, laurenkellynutrition.com/peanut-butter-protein-muffins/
Kyle Ustach
Author