Apple Walnut Muffins with Crunchy Nut Topping

This easy recipe for apple walnut muffins is a delicious way to start your day or pick up your afternoon. You'll get a burst of flavor from the apples, cinnamon, orange zest and walnuts—and the health benefits that come with them. Apples deliver quercetin and just the right amount of sweetness, and the healthy fats from the olive oil and walnuts in this recipe make these homemade muffins an extra-satisfying treat.

This recipe is made with plant-based alternatives, such as using a chia egg in place of a regular egg, and plant milk instead of dairy. This makes it a great choice for vegans and dairy-free eaters.

What are apple walnut muffins?

Apple walnut muffins are single-serve, quick bread cakes that have apples and walnuts mixed into the batter for an extra moist texture. We bake them in muffin tins, which creates a domed, bell-like appearance, and add a crunchy top layer made from a mixture of chopped walnuts, orange zest and sugar. Most people eat muffins for breakfast or as an afternoon snack with coffee or tea.

Why do apples and walnuts pair well in muffins?

There are many combinations that taste great in muffins, but apples and walnuts are a match made in heaven in both nutrition and texture. Apples are filled with fiber, vitamins and antioxidants, especially polyphenols. Apples get soft during cooking and give the muffin cake an extra moist and fluffy texture.

Walnuts are prized for their omega-3 fatty acid content and have been studied for both heart and brain health. These nuts also have a satisfying crunch that gives these apple muffins an interesting textural variation.

Which apples are best for baking muffins?

There are many opinions out there about apples and which ones are the best to use for baking. I prefer a tart and crisp apple with lots of juice, like a Pink Lady, a Honeycrisp, Braeburn or Granny Smith apple. Their flavor and crunch are more satisfying than a softer or grainier apple, such as a Red Delicious, McIntosh or Cortland. Softer types of apples tend to have a mealy texture and lack the juice necessary to keep your baking super moist.

Apple Walnut Muffin Recipe

This recipe makes 12 muffins.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for the topping
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• ¾ cups unsweetened plant milk (such as almond milk, soy milk or oat milk)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 apples, cored, peeled and diced in cubes
• Zest of 1 orange (about 1 tbsp)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, plus ¼ cup for the topping

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
2. Make the chia egg by combining chia seeds and water in a small bowl and mixing. Let sit for 2 minutes and mix again. Let it sit for another 8 minutes to gel.
3. To a large bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and cinnamon. Mix well.
4. In another large bowl, add the olive oil, plant milk, vanilla and chia egg mix from step two. Whisk until combined.
5. Slowly add the liquid bowl of ingredients to the dry, mixing with a large spoon or silicone spatula. Once mixed, fold in the apples and the ½ cup of chopped walnuts.
6. Make the topping by combining orange zest, 2 tbsp sugar and ¼ cup chopped walnuts.
7. To a greased 12-count muffin tin, add the batter, dividing equally. Using a teaspoon, top the apple walnut muffins with the crispy topping, being careful to divide it equally between the 12 muffins.
8. Put muffins in the oven and immediately change the temperature to 350 degrees. Putting the muffin into a hotter oven will create the quick rise and bell shape that we love. But turn it down for the duration to keep them from getting too dry.
9. Bake for 18-22 minutes and check them for doneness at 18 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the center. They will be golden and crisp on the top and moist and fluffy in the center.

Nutritional Values per serving

Calories: 268
Carbohydrates: 31 g
Protein: 4 g
Fat: 15 g
Saturated Fat: 2 g
Sodium: 231 mg
Potassium: 113 mg
Fiber: 3 g
Sugar: 14 g
Vitamin A: 51 IU
Vitamin C: 2 mg
Calcium: 65 mg
Iron: 1 mg

All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes.

Tips for Success

Make the most of your recipe with these baking tips.

• Always preheat your oven. Baking or cooking in a cold oven will result in drier food, as the heating oven will "sweat" out the moisture rather than sealing it in like it does by inserting the food directly into the hot temperature.
• Preheating to a higher temperature, then lowering it once you put the muffin batter into the oven, will create a beautiful domed peak on your muffin.
• To keep your muffins fluffy, fold your batter instead of overmixing it.
• Although this recipe has less sugar than many, it is still fairly high in sugar. If this is a concern, reduce the sugar in the muffin batter to ¼ cup. It will make the muffins slightly more savory, yet just as tasty.
• The crispy topping makes these muffins really delicious, but you can certainly omit the sugar from that, as well. I like how it caramelizes and creates a sweet and crisp layer. But if sugar is a concern, use orange zest and walnuts alone on the topping.

Should apples be shredded or chopped for muffins?

When making this apple walnut muffin recipe, you have a choice to make. Do you want to shred or chop your apples? How you prepare the apples doesn't change their nutritional value.

If you enjoy texture and variety, chopped apples are the obvious choice. Because chopping the apples into cubes produces small bits of apple that are easily distinguishable in the muffin's cake texture, it is my preference.

But if you have picky eaters or people with aversions to the textures of fruit or vegetables, shredding may be a better option. When you shred the apples instead of cubing, the apples will melt more into the batter while still lending that tasty apple flavor.

How do you keep muffins moist and fluffy?

Making moist and fluffy muffins is simple, and there are a couple of things you can do to ensure muffin moisture. One obvious step is making sure your muffin batter is quite wet and includes some sort of fruit that will add moisture during the baking process.

Another key is adding healthy fat to the batter. These muffins have olive oil instead of butter, which makes them extra moist and more heart-healthy. Olive oil is high in omega-9 fatty acids and polyphenol antioxidants. It can help maintain already-healthy cholesterol levels and help protect the body from oxidative stress.

The secret to baking fluffy muffins is not overmixing the batter. Always mix flour-based batters the least amount possible, folding in the ingredients rather than beating vigorously. Once the batter is well-combined, stop manipulating the flour; over-mixing will create a more dense and glutinous, almost gummy, muffin.

Do apple walnut muffins get you enough quercetin?

Quercetin is a flavonoid found in apples and other plants, such as dark berries, broccoli and kale. Quercetin encourages heart health and immune health and supports a healthy inflammatory response. It also helps protect the body from oxidative stress. But like many phytonutrients, quercetin isn't easy to absorb. A specially formulated nutritional supplement helps to deliver quercetin in a more absorbable form to support cardiovascular and blood vessel health, promote antioxidant protection and more.

References

• Bishop NJ, Zuniga KE. "Investigating walnut consumption and cognitive trajectories in a representative sample of older US adults." Public Health Nutr. May 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32618237/
• Chauhan A, Chauhan V. "Beneficial Effects of Walnuts on Cognition and Brain Health." Nutrients. February 2020. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32093220/
• Chen LC, et al. "A deep dive into the orchard of health: Exploring the anti-cancer and anti-aging potential of apple polyphenols." J Food Drug Anal. March 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40202408/
• Watkins BA, et al. "Dietary flavonoid actions on senescence, aging, and applications for health." J Nutr Biochem. May 2025. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39929283/
• Zhang L, et al. "Isolation, Identification, Activity Evaluation, and Mechanism of Action of Neuroprotective Peptides from Walnuts: A Review." Nutrients. September 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37764868/