Simple, delicious, and full of apple flavor, these Applesauce Muffins with Spice Cake Mix are perfect for breakfasts or afternoon snacks. They are a cinch to prep because you use a packaged cake mix instead of measuring out flour, sugar, spices, and baking soda or baking powder. This means you can have them in the oven in minutes, any time the craving strikes! They aren't just for fall, the classic apples and spice flavor is a treat all year long.
The lightly sweet muffins have a fluffy and tender texture and a great balance of spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves. Try them with a few different spice cake mixes and see which one is your favorite!
Just like these applesauce muffins, Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins come together in minutes and combine pumpkin puree and chocolate cake mix. Try them next!
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Ingredients
I include ingredient notes here when I think they'll be helpful, including ways to source, any preparation tips, or why I've chosen a particular ingredient. Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and their quantities!
- Spice Cake Mix - You'll find at least one brand of spice cake mix available on supermarket shelves all year round. Spice cakes are often flavored with a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, but each brand is a bit different. Cake mix will contain all of the dry ingredients needed: the flour, sugar, salt, spices, and leavening agents all in one with no measuring!
- Applesauce - Use any store bought applesauce for this recipe, including no sugar added varieties. If you love extra cinnamon flavor, use a cinnamon applesauce!
- Eggs - Two large eggs will provide structure to the muffins and help them maintain a tender texture.
- Vegetable Oil - Use any neutrally flavored oil here: canola, sunflower, vegetable, corn, or avocado oil.
- Optional Nuts - These applesauce muffins bake up with delicious apple flavor and a light sweetness all on their own. If you wish to add some extra texture and toasted nut flavor, use walnuts or pecans.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line each well of the muffin tin with large capacity tulip-style liners.
Combine the applesauce, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Whisk well so that the wet ingredients are uniform.
Sprinkle the spice cake mix over the wet ingredients.
Whisk or mix the batter with a silicone spatula just until the wet and dry ingredients are combined.
If you want to add nuts to your applesauce muffins, toast and finely chop them. Fold about ¾ of the chopped nuts into the batter.
Distribute the batter between the 12 lined wells of the muffin tin. Using a large cookie scoop makes this easier and less messy. If you are using nuts, sprinkle the reserved chopped nuts over the wet batter.
Bake the muffins for 22-24 minutes. They will puff up quite a bit and be lightly golden around the edges. If you insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin, it should come out clean.
Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Spice Cake Mix Tips
Spice cake mixes vary from brand to brand in both their spice profile and their size. We tested mixes from 13.25 to 15.25 ounces and saw good results with both sizes. Some mixes are flavored with mostly cinnamon, while others have nice notes of nutmeg and cloves. We tested mixes from Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Duncan Hines, and Walmart and each had a slightly different flavor and blend of spices.
Substitutions and Variations
The substitutions listed below have been tested in this recipe and work well. If you successfully make any other ingredient substitutions, let us know in the comments!
- Add Nuts - We love these spice muffins with toasted pecans. Chop them and add about ¾ of them to the muffin mix. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the tops of the muffins before baking.
- Sprinkle with Streusel - Combine ¼ cup oats, ½ cup all-purpose flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, ¼ cup melted salted butter, and ½ teaspoon cinnamon well to form a crumbly mixture. Top the batter in the liners with the streusel before baking.
- Add Diced Apple - Peel and dice one apple (Granny Smith or Evercrisp are good options) and dust the cubes with 1 tablespoon of flour. Fold the apple pieces into the batter before distributing to the liners and baking.
- Swap Apple for Pumpkin - You can use 12 ounces of pumpkin puree in place of the applesauce for pumpkin spice muffins.
Equipment
Here are the items we used to make these tasty and simple applesauce muffins:
- Tulip-style Muffin Liners - These liners have a 4-5 ounce capacity, allowing you to bake up 12 large muffins without the batter spreading from well to well. The muffins bake up tall and fluffy and they are easy to take on the go.
- Heavy-Duty Muffin Tin - A heavy-duty aluminum baking muffin tin will last for years and heats evenly, baking your muffins and cupcakes perfectly.
- Cookie Scoop - Cookie scoops are great for making meatballs, scooping ice cream, portioning out sticky things like peanut butter or frosting, and transferring wet batters (like muffins and cupcakes) to baking tins. Scoops are labeled with their size based on how many scoops you'd get in a quart of dough. My favorite for cupcakes and muffins is a #20, which holds about 3 tablespoons of batter.
- Mixing Bowl - It's helpful to have mixing bowls in a variety of sizes, but you'll always reach for a sturdy glass or stainless steel mixing bowl for mixing batters, cookie doughs, snack mixes, and salads. Bigger is better, usually! It's the worst to try to mix carefully in a too-small bowl.
Serving Suggestions
These muffins are delicious as an afternoon snack with milky coffee, after-school treats for the kids, or at breakfast with a fruit salad and scrambled eggs.
Storage
Store any leftover muffins at room temperature in a container with a clean kitchen towel draped over the top for the first day (that's usually as long as these last!). After that, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The muffins can also be frozen after baking and cooling completely. Thaw them at room temperature overnight before serving.
FAQ
Use the muffin method to help create the most tender texture in your applesauce muffin. Combine all of the wet ingredients well with a whisk and ensure they are perfectly smooth before moving on to dry ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl (already done for you with a cake mix!) and add them all at once to the wet ingredients. Use a whisk or silicone spatula to then combine wet and dry ingredients until just mixed. Avoid over-mixing the batter, a few lumps left in the mix will be fine.
This recipe is designed for ease, so no homemade ingredients are needed to yield delicious results. If you have a batch of homemade applesauce on hand, however, use it! Homemade applesauce may be a bit more chunky or thinner than store bought applesauce, but this will only add extra apple-y texture to the muffins.
There are many popular recipes that combine just applesauce and cake mix for two-ingredient muffins, but we find the texture to be too dense and heavy. The added oil and eggs ensures tender muffins that will maintain their texture for a few days without turning into hockey pucks!
Grab-and-Go Breakfast Ideas
Just like these spiced applesauce muffins, the recipes below will provide your family with plenty of treats for breakfasts on the go:
Shortcut Ingredients for Quick Meals
Using spice cake mix for the base of these muffins saves you from measuring and sifting flour, leavening, and spices. Want similar shortcut ingredients for dinners? The recipes below use freezer ingredients to help streamline dinner preparations for busy weeknight meals:
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Recipe
Applesauce Muffins with Spice Cake Mix
Equipment
- 1 muffin tin with 12 wells
- tulip-style muffin liners
Ingredients
- 13.25 ounces spice cake mix
- 1½ cups applesauce
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1 cup pecans (about 4.5 ounces, optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the wells of a sturdy muffin tin with baking liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, and applesauce. Whisk until smooth.
- Sprinkle the cake mix over the wet ingredients. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until the batter is smooth.
- If desired, chop the pecans into small pieces. Add ¾ of the chopped pecans, reserving the remaining pecans for topping the muffins.
- Divide the batter between the 12 wells of the muffin tin. Optionally sprinkle nuts over the top of the batter in each well.
- Bake the muffins for 22-24 minutes. When the muffins are baked, a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.
Notes
Nutrition facts are sometimes provided below and are calculated using an online calculator. With specific brands of ingredients and additions, omissions, or substitutions the nutrition facts may change. We encourage you to use your own nutrition facts calculator to obtain the most accurate nutrition facts for your meal.
Cassie Waltman says
Super simple prep means these tasty applesauce muffins can be ready in a snap!