In today’s post: These easy-to-make muffins are not only soft and delicious, they also get extra flavor and texture from packets of instant oatmeal.
I have five kids, and since I’m used to having five kids it doesn’t usually feel like that many. Until I go grocery shopping. Again. For the umpteenth time this week because these little people just don’t stop eating! Actually, some of them aren’t so little anymore, which might explain why they eat quite so much. The rate at which we go through cold cereal in UN-BELIEVABLE. Seriously. They walk into the kitchen and another giant sized bag of cereal disappears. So to help with the breakfast budget a bit we’ve tried out a few new muffin recipes, and we recently found one we love: instant oatmeal muffins!
These simple homemade muffins come together quickly and easily (my kids often make them without my help). Because they use basic pantry ingredients they’re very inexpensive to make, and you could easily double the batch and freeze half of them for a quick breakfast later.
They’re soft and fluffy and get a little extra flavor and texture from the secret ingredient: instant oatmeal packets.
How to make instant oatmeal muffins
You can use any flavor of instant oatmeal that you have on hand in these muffins – we usually use cinnamon flavor because that’s what we normally buy, but they are also pretty tasty with maple + brown sugar oatmeal in them, especially if you use maple extract instead of vanilla.
They’re topped with a simple streusel which takes the yumminess up another notch. Pretty much anything tastes better with streusel.
As with all muffins, be sure to start by mixing the dry ingredients, then make a well in the center and add wet ingredients. Stir just until batter is mixed and never beat the batter. Overmixing will make the muffins tough. These should come out soft and light.
Easy instant oatmeal muffin recipe
Instant Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 & 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup White Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 2 packets Instant Oatmeal
- 1 Egg beaten
- 1 cup Milk
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla or Maple Extract
Streusel Topping
- 3 tablespoons Flour
- 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons Butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Begin by mixing the streusel ingredients: in a small bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
- Cut butter into small chunks and mix it in to dry ingredients using pastry cutter or hands until mixture resembles sand. Set aside.
- In another bowl, combine all dry ingredients for muffins.
- Make a well in the center and pour in beaten egg, milk, oil, and extract.
- Stir gently until just combined. Do not over mix.
- Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners; spray liners with nonstick spray.
- Divide muffin batter among cups, the evenly distribute streusel topping on top of batter.
- Bake for about 16 minutes until tops of muffins spring back when touched.
Recipe slightly modified from this Allrecipe post
Jane says
Recently I had purchased a box of instant oatmeal when I was sick, figured it was a quick breakfast that didn’t take a lot of effort. Normally I make the cooked oatmeal and I love it but the instant oatmeal? The texture turned me right off, it felt almost slimey while trying to eat it. I wasn’t sure what to do with the leftover packets, mom taught me never to waste or throw out perfectly good food. I’m so glad I found this recipe! The flavor I had was the sea salt chocolate, it wasn’t very chocolately so instead of regular milk I made up some chocolate milk to boost it a bit. They turned out soo good, now I don’t feel guilty for thinking of just tossing the other packets out lol.
Julie says
I used 2/3 c of quick oatmeal in place of the packs, (soaked it in the milk till I finished getting the rest of the ingredients together) and added some maple syrup. Turned out great!!
Tonia Wilson says
I used the peaches and creme and add some diced peaches they were awesome next time I’m going to use the banana and creme.
diane says
These muffins look absolutely mouthwatering! I was wondering what flavor of instant oatmeal you used in the recipe? And if any other flavors would work as well
? TIA
Christine says
My kids loved these muffins. I will definitely be making them again. I also made a batch of the mix but I put it in an 8×8 pan like a coffee cake. Came out perfect. Going to bake some next time in loaf pan and slice it up. So happy I found this recipe.
Iman says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will try it soon. Can I replace the instant oatmeal with old fashioned one? If yes, is 1 cup good enough??
Shamila says
This seems quite interesting. But what if I’m using oatmeal from a box and not in packets? How much would I use?
MPaula says
I laughed when you said that 5 kids don’t seem like a lot until you go shopping. I had 5 siblings. That never seemed that many either, until Christmas, which was compounded by 3 of them having birthdays within 10 days of Christmas!
CarOle says
Can you use oatmeal from a box rather than the packets,. If so what is the measurement? Thanks. Ck