An oatmeal applesauce muffin is a tasty and healthy snack to pack in a lunch, bring for a potluck or set on the refreshment table at a morning meeting. You will likely find as many muffin recipes as there are cooks to bake them, and the nutrition facts will be different for all of them. Compare ingredients to help you decide whether to bake from scratch or a mix, use sweetened or unsweetened applesauce, or add or leave out any extras.
Oatmeal
When you bake from scratch, you know every single ingredient that goes into your muffins. For example, you can check the canister of oatmeal for nutrition information. Most recipes for oatmeal applesauce muffins take 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal. A 1/2-cup serving of dry oats contains 150 calories, 3 grams of fat, 4 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein and 27 grams of carbohydrate -- of which only one of those grams is sugar. That same serving also gives you 10 percent of your daily value of iron, based on a 2,000-calorie diet. Using a commercial muffin mix may be more convenient, but it may contain unhealthy trans fats, emulsifiers, leavening agents, artificial flavors and additives meant to extend shelf life.
Applesauce
Your muffin recipe will call for either white or brown sugar. Adding sweetened applesauce will make the muffins sweeter and add more calories. A 1/2-cup serving contains 100 calories and 27 grams of carbohydrates, of which 25 grams are sugars. Depending on the brand, the sweetener may be sugar, apple juice concentrate or high-fructose corn syrup. Natural applesauce, on the other hand, contains only apples and water. A 1/2-cup serving gives you half the calories and half the carbs of sweetened applesauce. The 12 grams of sugars are all natural. Both sweetened and unsweetened applesauce contain between 75 and 85 milligrams of potassium, good for a healthy heart and kidneys. They both are supplemented with as much as 20 percent of your daily value of vitamin C.
Other Ingredients
Of course, oats and applesauce are not the only ingredients in oatmeal-applesauce muffins. You need flour, cooking oil, cinnamon and an egg. Your recipe may call for regular milk, buttermilk or dry milk, and you will need sugar. Sugar contains about 15 calories per teaspoon and not much else. But, if you use vegetable oil, such as canola, your muffins will have healthy fats. The spice cinnamon is an antioxidant that may decrease inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity. Eggs contain all the essential amino acids and nearly every essential vitamin and mineral, and milk contains calcium and vitamin A. Your recipe may include other ingredients, such as raisins, which will add more sweetness and calories to your muffins.
Toppings
Some oatmeal applesauce muffins have a buttery cinnamon-and-brown-sugar topping on them. When considering the nutrition in your muffins, take into account the added calories and the butter’s saturated fat. To make a dessert muffin, you may choose to top it with a scoop of ice cream drizzled with caramel sauce, which, while tasty, does not add much nutritional value. Keep in mind the calorie count, too. Oatmeal applesauce muffins without any toppings vary greatly in the number of calories they contain, depending on the recipe. Some may have as few as 95 calories and some nearly 300 calories.
References
- Quaker Oats Company: Quaker Oats: Old Fashioned
- U.S. Department of Agriculture; Household Commodity Fact Sheet; Bakery Mix, Biscuit Type, Low-fat; April 2009
- Motts: Original Applesauce Nutrition Facts
- LabelWatch: Canned Fruits and Vegetables -- Applesauce
- South Dakota Department of Health: Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins
- Miami University: Nutrition Fact Sheets: Cinnamon
- U.S. Department of Agriculture; The Egg: It’s a Healthy Food; Eric Uthus; September 2009
- University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences; Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins; Gail Hanula, M.S., R.D., L.D.; November 2002
- The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension; Healthy Recipes for Meetings; June 2008
- University of Tennessee Extension; Commodity Connections Cookbook; Oatmeal Apple Muffins
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