Zesty Golden Blueberry Protein Muffins

These easy blueberry muffins are dairy free, gluten free, and full of a delicious three-ingredient protein powder that isn’t whey protein, but Golden Pea Protein from Nuzest. Bonus: Without the blueberries, this tastes just like cake! All without refined sugar.

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I don’t really consider myself a baker (most people usually bake or cook) because I’m so health-conscious. It’s hard to be health conscious and make baked goods at the same time. So…for me, I’ve been researching the chemistry behind baking. I am forever trying to find healthy alternatives for my favorite recipes.

I want to find options for lowering the simple carb intake while still enjoying favorites, like protein blueberry muffins. And I’ve been wanting an alternative blueberry muffin recipe without sacrificing the flavors I love on busy mornings. And wow are these packed with flavor!

I wanted to create a protein-rich baked good that eliminated a lot of the trial and error you’d have to do at home to create something healthful and family- and/or party-ready. I did a lot of research on ingredients that pair well with protein when I was making this recipe. It amazed me that baked goods, without gluten, could still be light and fluffy.

Turns out that most protein muffin recipes I find, typically use a protein similar to egg whites; or when it’s whey, like dried milk. But I’ve found that with a little baking powder, you can still get delicious and fluffy muffins.

I made these two different ways, okay correction, three different ways. But let’s start with the first because I want to solve the scientific mysteries for you before you get into the kitchen to make these delicious muffins. Baking with high protein is a little bit different than the normal muffin recipe!

First off, I made one recipe version with dairy, and one without.

The one with yogurt ended up tasting like angel food cake–which I really enjoyed! That sour sweet flavor with an almond backnote is where I like to live.

But if you’re looking for a completely dairy-free recipe, I found using a nut milk worked just fine; it just had a slightly different texture. I would not recommend using flax eggs for this blueberry muffin protein powder recipe, however, I could see Aquafaba whipping well for a nice and airy egg-free version.

You can see in the below photo that the yogurt lended a slightly higher rise. I asked my husband to compare the two muffins with the ingredient variation. He preferred the nut milk variety–more of a muffin texture. I preferred the yogurt since angel food cake is one of my favorites.

The other way I tried making these was in the microwave–I originally wanted to make a mug cake. I saw all these vegan and plant-based, deceptively delicious looking mug cakes made with protein powder (and tried a couple) and found them all to be a little off, and not so delicious recipes. So when I went to improve the texture myself, I had to call my mom for some texture rescue tips.

Her reply of course was, “why on earth are you microwaving protein?” To which she sent me this YouTube video here. Turns out that protein will ALWAYS change texture when microwaved.

When I think back on it, I don’t think I’ve ever microwaved bacon because of that. Sure, it’s a quick fix, but that doesn’t make microwaving protein good for us by any stretch. And it makes sense because the mug cake that I typically make (I still need to add it to this site–lava cake), tastes great in the microwave but doesn’t contain protein or eggs…eggs are still protein).

So I immediately changed my recipe to be oven-only. Sure enough, my texture problem went away! I baked these perfect little cakes and they were just begging for some blueberries. And then this quick and easy healthy muffin was born!

I’m pretty obsessed with this particular Nuzest Golden Pea Protein powder right now because it is only three ingredients. It screams “use me” in other ways besides smoothies and is a super clean gluten-free, dairy-free powder.

I felt like I had to use it like a garbanzo flour. It’s quite a unique vegetable protein because golden peas have “an amino acid profile on par with whey, and over four times the protein content of meat, fish or eggs.” Since all nine amino acids are present in this pea protein, it is considered a complete protein.

Use code THEVANILLAPLUM for 15% off your purchase on Nuzest’s website or use this link.

Substitutions:

Oil

You can use coconut oil if you like, but I used avocado oil. I think avocado oil had a slightly better texture.

Protein

For the egg, this is also a texture decision. You can make this recipe with an egg replacer instead of chicken eggs, but you will sacrifice texture–I don’t recommend it because there isn’t any gluten. 

I thought about making this recipe with gluten. But since we are already using protein, I decided to balance the protein with sugar and starch–mimicking what gluten does in a recipe.

Please note that changing the protein powder in this recipe will change the outcome since I treated this pure protein powder like a flour–not all protein powders are created equal.

Flavor

You can also add vanilla extract, but because I used Nuzest’s Vanilla flavored protein powder, I didn’t see any reason to add it. 

For the blueberries, I tried frozen and fresh. If you don’t have fresh berries on hand, make these muffins without berries. The batter is delicious without any additions! You may miss the berries, but you won’t have muffins at all if you use frozen blueberries.

I tried this recipe multiple times with frozen blueberries because I wanted to make this a muffin you could eat year round, but it doesn’t work. Frozen blueberries are just too heavy and have too much water when they thaw. It completely changes the composition.

Moral of the story…

If you love a little variety for the seasons, this recipe would be great with chocolate chips, fresh berries, or plain.

This recipe is very flexible as long as you don’t change the moisture content. And don’t feel like you have to bake these in a muffin pan! I started this recipe by baking it in mini ramekins for cake and they were delicious mini cakes! Seriously so SO good!

I also found these muffins turned out best when you fill the muffin tin about 1/4 cup full of batter (rather than dumping the blueberries in the batter and mixing in), added a couple blueberries and spread them out evenly, then repeat this process until about 3/4 of the way full. This evenly distributes the moisture so it doesn’t all clump in one place.

 

I am so excited for you to try this delicious recipe!

Use code THEVANILLAPLUM for 15% off your purchase on Nuzest’s website or use this link for the discount to be added to your shopping cart.

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