One-Bowl Honey-Glazed Bran Muffins

Super moist and delicious, these super easy One-Bowl Honey-Glazed Bran Muffins roll out of the oven with rounded, bakery-style, tops!

I found a little treasure, polished it up just a bit and couldn't wait to share it with you! These are the best bran muffins we've ever had and I love that they're decently healthy too.

A healthy breakfast option

If you check out the ingredient list for most muffins, you'll quickly discover that they're really (what I call) "cake in disguise". With 100% all-purpose flour, lots of sugar, and often a mountain of buttery crumble, there's minimal worthwhile nutrition.

On the contrary, these Buttermilk Bran Muffins have whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, lots of wheat bran, eggs, buttermilk, oil, raisins and a relatively small amount of sugar in the cast of characters, making them much more suitable for a healthy breakfast. The cool thing about these little guys is that, with all the fiber in these bran muffins, along with 3 eggs, I've found that they keep me satiated for hours.

A needle in a haystack

I've actually been looking for a good bran muffin recipe for a long time, but every time I've looked online, I've been disappointed with the results. Either the muffins look dry and/or flat or the ingredient list includes a stick of butter and/or very little bran.

This time I was determined to find a recipe that not only looked good but was also decently healthy. It took a while, but when I spotted these muffins and checked out the ingredient list, I thought I might have a winner. And when the post described that they were "easy, incredibly moist and that they never fail to produce "nice high “bakery shop” style muffins", I knew I had to try them.

A bran muffin dream come true

I whipped up a batch and could hardly wait to see the results. The aroma was wonderful as the muffins baked and, when I peeked into the oven to see if they were done, I did a little happy dance. Just as promised, the muffins had risen up with beautiful domed tops.

And the flavor? Even better than I had hoped; super moist and delicious with a bit of caramel flavor from the molasses and brown sugar.

An easy gourmet touch

For a pretty, shiny presentation and a touch of extra sweetness, I added a honey-butter glaze. It's super easy; just a dollop of honey combined with melted butter and brushed on the muffins as they emerge from the oven. The glaze is optional as the muffins will be delicious without it; but it does add a beautiful shiny (quite fancy) finish.

One last note... this recipe makes 16 average size muffins. If you prefer large muffins, just divide the batter between 12 muffin cups. Another option is to make a small loaf of bread with the extra batter. Just grease a mini bread pan, pour in the remaining batter and bake it alongside the muffins. This makes a wonderful gift to share with a friend, neighbor, co-worker, etc.

So, if you're looking for a treasure to add to your recipe collection, here it is! Whip up a batch of these One Bowl Buttermilk Bran Muffins and share in the comments below how you liked them. We always appreciate having reviews from readers!

Café Tips for making these One Bowl Buttermilk Bran Muffins

• Wheat bran is inexpensive and available at most grocery stores, but it can be a little tricky to find. Most stores that carry Bob's Red Mill products will carry it and will stock it near the oatmeal or in the flour section. Health food stores will often carry it in bulk. If you can't find wheat bran, check with your store manager or order it online and have it delivered to your door.
• No buttermilk? No worries! To make your own buttermilk, place 3 tablespoons of vinegar or fresh lemon juice into a 2 cup measuring cup. Add milk (I like to use whole milk, but use whatever you have) to measure 1 ½ cups. Stir the mixture and allow it to sit for 5 minutes, then add to the batter in lieu of buttermilk.
• These bran muffins freeze well. Allow the muffins to cool completely, then freeze on a sheet pan, uncovered, for 1 hour. Once frozen, place muffins in a ziplock bag or airtight freezer container. Pull out as many as you want and allow to thaw before serving.
• Golden raisins, dried currants or dried cranberries are all delicious substitutes for the raisins.
• Add a teaspoon of cinnamon, ½ teaspoon ground ginger, and ¼ teaspoon ground cloves to the batter for a spiced bran muffin.
• This is a somewhat unusual muffin recipe in that you fill the muffin tins almost full rather than ⅔ or ¾ full like most muffin recipes recommend (if you're making just 12 muffins, fill the cups right to the top.)
• When you spray the muffin pan as you prep for this recipe, spray generously and also around the top edge of each muffin cup as well so they'll be super easy to remove from the pan.
• You can make this batter the night before, store it in the fridge then bake up the muffins in the morning.
• The honey-butter glaze is optional, but it's super delicious and only adds 10 calories per muffin. It will make enough to glaze the top of each muffin. If you want to glaze the whole muffin (it's delicious!) double the glaze amounts.
• If my raisins are dry, I like to plump them up before adding them to the batter. To plump, just combine the raisins with 2 teaspoons of water in a small microwave-safe bowl. Cover with a plate or with plastic wrap and microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes, then proceed with recipe.
• In the market for a muffin pan? I LOVE this OXO Good Grip Muffin/Cupcake Pan. It's so well made and I've had mine for several year and they still look like brand new.

If you love bran muffins, you might want to also check out these Healthy Banana Bran Muffins. They're sans refined sugar and also have lots of delicious flavor!

And a fun and wonderful adaptation of these same muffins are our Honey-Glazed Blueberry Muffins, also SO good!

This Honey-Glazed Bran Muffin recipe was originally published in April of 2018. With well over 1200 recipes in the Café arsenal, this one was too good to be lost in the archives. So we spiffed it up and updated things a bit for your baking pleasure!

Thought for the day:

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,
for he who promised is faithful
Hebrews 10:23

What we're listening to for inspiration:

He Has Always Been Faithful

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.

5 from 42 votes

Print

One Bowl Buttermilk Bran Muffins

Super moist and delicious, these easy muffins roll out of the oven with high rounded bakery-style, tops! 

Author: Chris Scheuer

Course: Breakfast, Muffins

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Bran Muffins, Buttermilk Bran Muffins, Easy Bran Muffins

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 35 mins

Servings: 16

Calories: 171 kcal

Ingredients

For the muffins

• ½ cup mild-flavored oil sunflower, grapeseed, canola, corn, vegetable, or avocado oils will all work
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cup wheat bran
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup raisins

For the glaze:

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon butter

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 16 muffin cups with non-stick spray for average size muffins OR grease 12 muffin cups (standard size) for large muffins. (Or see tip  above for making a small loaf of bread in addition to 12 muffins.)

2. Whisk together oil, sugar and eggs in a large bowl until well blended. Add molasses, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir to combine.

3. Sprinkle bran, flours, baking powder and baking soda over the top. Stir just until all of the flour mixture is incorporated (do not overmix). Add raisins and stir to combine.

4. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling almost to the top. Bake for 12-15 minutes until firm to touch and a tester comes out clean.

5. Allow to sit in muffin tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a cool rack.

For the honey-butter glaze:

1. Combine melted butter and honey in a small bowl. Stir well to combine. Brush mixture over the top surface of warm muffins.

Recipe Notes

For more detailed instructions and lots of tips check out the Café Tips above in the post.

Adapted from: Red Cottage Chronicles 

Calories 171kcal

Fat 9g

Saturated fat 6g

Cholesterol 35mg

Sodium 187mg

Potassium 294mg

Carbohydrates 22g

Fiber 3g

Sugar 13g

Protein 3g

Vitamin A 105%

Vitamin C 0.3%

Calcium 61%

Iron 1.4%

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