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I get a lot of emails from people telling me they want to start their day off with a healthy breakfast, but they don’t have time for the usual healthy go-to breakfast-y things like eggs or hot cereal. Or even smoothies.
(As a side note, I am a firm believer that making a smoothie shouldn’t take longer than five minutes! That is less time than it takes to sit down and eat a bowl of cold cereal; not that cold cereal can’t be healthy, unless it’s the sugar-laden junk, but eating a bowl of cereal still takes longer than a smoothie, since a smoothie can be enjoyed on-the-go. And making a smoothie takes much less time than it takes to grab a coffee and donut from the drive-thru at the local coffee joint, especially if your local coffee joint is Tim Hortons and the 25-minute drive-thru line is out of the parking lot and onto the street. No joke.)
As far as a fast, healthy, portable breakfast goes, my mind went to muffins. And I made it my business to come up with the healthiest version of a muffin that I could: nutrient-dense, full of healthy fats, protein, and antioxidants. And not to mention, with staying power to keep you fueled well until lunchtime.
These muffins just happen to be gluten-free, since I was visiting a friend who has just recently gone GF, I was and in need of a snack to munch on over a cup of coffee with her.
Be sure you don’t skip the cinnamon in these muffins. Not only does cinnamon have several wonderful health-related effects on the body (including helping to regulate blood sugar), but it is magic paired with blueberries.
- Butter, to grease the muffin tray
- 1¼ cups (150 g) buckwheat flour
- ¾ cup (120 g) all-purpose gluten-free flour mix (I used King Arthur Flour)
- 4 tablespoons (50 g) chia seeds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (sifted)
- 1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon fine salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (150 g) coconut palm sugar
- 1 cup (240 ml) low-fat buttermilk or kefir (or 1 cup low-fat milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice sprinkled on top, left to curdle for 3 minutes without stirring)
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) canola oil
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (170 g) frozen blueberries (not thawed)
- Preheat oven to 375F; grease a 12-muffin tray with butter, making sure to grease the top rims of each well.
- Whisk together the flours, chia seeds, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside for now.
- Whisk together the eggs and coconut palm sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes if whisking by hand. Whisk in the buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet all at once and stir just until combined, being careful not to over-mix. Stir in the blueberries.
- Divide the batter between the 12 muffin wells and bake until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- Cool completely before removing the muffins from the tray.
I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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I am trying this now. I don’t have sugar, so we are going to use maple syrup and fresh blueberries. Let’s see what happens.
Muffins taste great. Why use canola oil and not coconut oil? Any reason? I am looking for the healthiest version?
Any suggestions? What is the purpose of baking soda? I thought baking powder I enough….
Iwona, I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! I would substitute avocado oil for the canola oil in this recipe. Baking soda is used as a leaving agent along with the baking powder in this recipe because of the acidity from the buttermilk.
These muffins look amazing! I love the combination of buckwheat flour and blueberries! Will need to try these next weekend ;) best, elisabeth
Thank you for this recipe! I was so thrilled with how well these turned out. What a delicious way to get lots of nutrients. One question, do you recommend storing these in the fridge? By the second day in a tupperware I found they were a little ‘moist’? and had a different odor…
Would love to hear back.
Thanks again,
Rebecca
Rebecca, Thank you so much for your comment, I’m so glad you enjoyed these muffins! Hmm, that is interesting. In general, I do like to keep my muffins wrapped in the fridge and then toast them in a toaster oven to reheat. They can also be cut in half, spread with butter, and toasted on a griddle. I hope this helps!
I have a package of buckwheat pancake mix. Can I use this in place of the other flours ?
Carol, I haven’t tried it, but I think using buckwheat pancake mix instead should work. If you decide to try it, you can probably omit the buckwheat flour and all-purpose gluten-free flour mix, as well as the baking powder, baking soda, and salt (if your mix already has leaveners and salt added). Also, take a look at your mix and see if it’s sweetened; if so, you may want to scale back on the coconut palm sugar by about 1/4 cup. I wouldn’t make any other changes because the recipe might need more testing at that point. I hope this helps. Please let me know how it goes if you make any changes!
These look good going to try them but I will be using a different sugar. coconut palm sugar has some bad impacts on the trees and its ability to produce coconuts. Here is a website for more info https://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm
Made these substituting the canola oil with coconut oil and they were great!
This is a great breakfast!! Can I substitute whole wheat flour for the buckwheat?
Asiya, I haven’t tried it with whole wheat flour instead of buckwheat, but I think it may work. Let me know how it is if you give it a try!
These muffins look great Faith…and they are absolutely perfect for breakfast or a mid day snack.
Thanks for the recipe and hope you are having a lovely week :)
These look awesome, Faith! :)
I adore buckwheat flour – we grew up eating buckwheat pancakes and I grew to crave the texture. These look so good!
I love buckwheat flour. I use it in pancakes (recipe was my grandfather’s) and often make scones with it. Can’t wait to try your muffin recipe using buckwheat. Must confess I’ve never made blueberry muffins with frozen berries but yes to the cinnamon!
I’ve not had a muffin turn my head like this one did in a long time!! LOVE the ingredients, though I’ve not used buckwheat before. I’ve just been reading more about it and am eager to give it a go. We adore cinnamon too!
These look more hearty and wholesome than any breakfast cereal I can think of. Usually I am not a fan of a lot of carbs at breakfast, but this looks like a really healthy start to the day that will sustain me all morning. These are definitely on my life of recipes to try.
These are gorgeous, Faith! Love em’!
Wow what beautiful muffins! I agree with using frozen blueberries in baked goods works better. Can’t wait to try these :)
I love the color of these muffins – they remind me of a blueberry-bran muffin I used to adore from Metropolitan Bakery in downtown Philly. Beautiful and very cool that they are GF!
Yummers!! I could have this for tea, everyday!
Love these, Faith! And I completely agree with you that blueberries + cinnamon = magic :).
Agree!! I make muffins and bars for the family to grab and go. Josh eats them usually every morning. I am lucky in that I work from home and usually have a little more time for breakfast than he does! THese look fantastic
Healthy and delicious! A great breakfast treat. I wish chia seeds were a lot less expensive here in Switzerland…
Cheers,
Rosa