Golden Milk Turmeric Muffins
Developed and tested by Robyn Conley Downs
on Sep 4, 2018 (last updated May 11, 2026) Warm, spiced, and lightly sweetened, these golden milk turmeric muffins are made in one-bowl with almond flour, ginger, cinnamon, and a touch of maple syrup. Tender, moist, and ready in about 30 minutes for an easy breakfast or snack.
My Favorite Way to Make Healthy Golden Milk Muffins
I’m so happy to share these golden milk turmeric muffins, one of my favorite ways to enjoy the warming, anti-inflammatory benefits of turmeric in a portable, kid-friendly form! Almond flour creates a tender, grain-free crumb, applesauce and maple syrup add light sweetness, and a blend of turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, and a pinch of black pepper delivers alllllll the cozy golden milk flavor.
The trick to keeping turmeric from tasting bitter or dusty in baked goods is balancing it with enough sweetness and warm spice, plus a pinch of black pepper to round out the flavor. The three spices work together in this one so the turmeric reads as warm and cozy, not earthy or harsh. The black pepper also activates the curcumin in turmeric, and is what adds that golden milk flavor.
These muffins are perfect for meal-prep breakfasts, lunchbox snacks, or a midday treat. They freeze beautifully for up to 3 months and reheat in 20 seconds in the microwave. And if you love this one-bowl approach to muffins, my one-bowl cranberry orange muffins and one-bowl flourless sweet potato pie muffins are just as easy, but with different seasonal flavors.
Testing Tips for One-Bowl Turmeric Muffins
- Wear an apron and wipe spills immediately! Turmeric stains everything it touches, including countertops, hands, clothing, and plastic containers, so consider yourself warned. 🙂
- Use blanched almond flour, not almond meal. Almond meal includes the brown almond skins and produces a coarser, denser texture with brown specks, while blanched almond flour (made from skinless almonds, ground fine) gives the muffins a more tender, golden-colored crumb that lets the warming spice color come through. Bob’s Red Mill or Wellbee’s are reliable brands.
- Don’t skip the applesauce! It provides moisture that almond flour alone can’t, and helps the muffins hold together without crumbling.
- Let muffins cool completely before storing. Almond flour muffins are more delicate than wheat-flour muffins and can fall apart if moved too soon.
Golden Milk Turmeric Muffins
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup melted refined coconut oil, or other neutral flavored oil such as avocado or canola
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ⅓ cups almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground pepper**
- ⅓ cup dairy-free chocolate chips
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, eggs, applesauce, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper. Stir until well incorporated.
- Add the chocolate chips, stirring to combine.
- Fill each section of a greased, 12-section muffin tin with roughly ¼ cup batter. Sprinkle the tops with chocolate chips, then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges begin to pull away from the sides and a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then cool the rest on a cooling rack.
Notes
- Pepper is traditional in golden milk, but feel free to leave it out if you prefer.
These are amazing! I subbed the eggs (allergy) for some Ener-G Egg replacer and some extra applesauce and the texture is perfect. Also, the photography on this post could not be prettier!
Jennie, yay, so glad you enjoyed and thanks for the note on the eggs. I know others will appreciate the tip. So glad you enjoyed!
These look amazing! Can’t wait to try. Can you please please post print-friendly versions of your recipes? I have a hard time getting them to print easily.
Hi Sarah, we do the best we can with adding the printable, which we actually have to create by hand. My site doesn’t have a native print option, so this is what we’ve come up with. You should be able to download the PDF and print it. . .
These are so good! Great flavor. I was skeptical about the amount of turmeric (and pepper?!) but these turned out great!
Danielle, yay, so glad you enjoyed. Such a fun way to add more turmeric to your diet!
hello, have you ever tried this using fresh turmeric? i have a ton on hand and still want to use it in combination with the powder but am curious what i would need to do to offset the fresh turmeric? or if i need to do anything at all? looking forward to making these!
Hi Cassie, I haven’t tried this one with fresh, but typically the rule of thumb for dried to fresh is 1 teaspoon dried equals 3 teaspoons fresh. You should just be able to add it to the batter like you would dried. Let us know how it goes!
Ah-mazing! Super, tasty. I’m all about chocolate chips but I loved the flavor of the muffin so much I think I’ll leave them out next time! Thanks Robyn!
Alissa, yay, so happy you enjoyed these! And I’m with you, I love a good chocolate chip, but don’t think they are required in this one!
WOW these might be the best muffins I’ve ever made, and I even left out the chocolate! I had some pumpkin puree to use up so I used that instead of applesauce. For the maple syrup I subbed half of it with molasses since it has a lower sugar content. Finally I added a bit of almond milk to make the batter more moist. WOW they are really so fluffy and perfect!!
Jessica, yay, so happy to hear these are a hit! And love the idea of using pumpkin in place of apple sauce. I’ll give that a try next time I make these. Cheers, Robyn
We LOVE these muffins! A favorite with the whole family!
Elizabeth, so great to know these are a hit with the whole family!
Robyn – I just made these and when they came out I was looking at them and thought that they look nothing like yours. Well good to know you can leave out the applesauce (which was a mistake) and it still works. However, they won’t look pretty and are crumbly. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe. Now I’m excited to try with the applesauce.
Michelle, I’m so glad they still came out even with the missing apple sauce! It does add a good amount of moisture and helps the muffin hold together. Cheers!
Absolutely delicious muffins! So tender and moist. I would love to add flax meal — what ratio would you use for that?
Hi Regina, are you wanting to substitute the flax meal for some of the almond flour?
Really loved these. I added half a cup shredded carrots and some walnuts. Super moist and yummy. I will be making these year round.
Melissa, ohhhh, love the idea of adding carrots. What a great idea, as well as the walnuts. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!
These came out delicious! It’s toddler approved and part of our regular breakfast rotation now! I wanted to ask – sometimes they come out very crumbly. Would you know why? And should they be stored in the fridge afterwards? Thanks so much!
Linda, hmmm, I haven’t had an issue with them being crumbly. Which type of flour are you using? These are good for 1-2 days covered on the counter, after that, I think they taste freshest when refrigerated.
Made these over the weekend and they were great! Very moist and flavorful! I added some rolled oats because they were in the panty. Thank you!
Yay, so glad you enjoyed these, Sara! Love the idea of adding some oats, too. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
Hi, this might be a silly question but.. is it black pepper or white pepper? Thanks!
Not a silly question at all, Grace! You can use either, as the pepper “activates” the turmeric and makes it easier for your body to absorb the benefits. If you have white pepper go ahead and use that, but black works too. Hope you enjoy!
Thanks Robyn! I ended up making them last night and just used white pepper because it was a lot finer and more subtle in taste (& I couldn’t taste it at all phew!) so it’s good to know either is fine. I only had almond meal to use as the base and I wasn’t sure on what the consistency of the batter was meant to be so I just added a bit of almond milk too and tested it out and they are soooo delicious. I will be sharing the recipe with all my friends for sure. Thank you!
Wonderful, so glad you enjoyed, Grace, and thanks for the tips, I’m sure those will help others with the same questions. Thanks for leaving a review!
I LOVE this recipe!! Sometimes I will swap out the apple sauce with 1-2 bananas if I have a couple that are brown. Thank you for this delicious recipe!
Lisa, yay, so happy to hear you’re enjoying this one. Great suggestion to use banana in place of apple sauce, too. I’ll have to try that next time I make these. Thanks so much for leaving a review!
This recipe is a staple in my home. During the holidays I had assume extra pumpkin so added that in with some extra pumpkin pie spice. My family loved it.
Joe, great idea to add extra pumpkin pie spice! Thanks for the tip and for leaving a reivew!