High Protein Muffins: 8.8 g Each, Three Ways

A high protein muffin holds about 9 g of protein, and a regular blueberry muffin holds about 4 g. In my batch of 12, one muffin has 8.8 g of protein for 103 kcal. Greek yogurt, eggs and whey powder supply most of that protein. I added every muffin up from USDA records such as the one for whey protein powder, and the grams are below.

What counts as high protein muffins?

Muffins with 20% of their energy from protein, if you borrow the British claims rule. It lets a food be called high in protein at 20% of energy, and a source of protein at 12%. The rule is written for packaged food, but it works as a yardstick for a tin of muffins at home.

Regular muffins fall short. Protein gives 4 kcal per gram, and these records land at 5–9%.

Muffin (record)	Weight	Protein	Energy	Protein per 100 kcal	Share of energy from protein
Blueberry, commercially prepared, medium	113 g	5.1 g	424 kcal	1.2 g	4.8%
Blueberry, from recipe, 2% milk	57 g	3.7 g	162 kcal	2.3 g	9.1%
Plain, from recipe, 2% milk	57 g	3.9 g	169 kcal	2.3 g	9.3%

Portion size muddies the comparison. A medium bakery muffin is twice the weight of a recipe muffin, so it has more protein and far more energy. Per 100 kcal is the fairer column, because it takes size out of the comparison.

How do I make high protein blueberry muffins?

Replace most of the flour with things that carry protein, starting with oat flour. Here’s the batch I make in a 12-cup tin. The dough weighs 734 g, so each muffin is about 61 g raw.

Ingredient (state)	Grams	Protein	Energy
Oat flour, whole grain	120 g	15.8 g	464 kcal
Whey protein powder	64 g	50.0 g	225 kcal
Greek yogurt, plain, nonfat	250 g	25.8 g	152 kcal
Eggs, whole, large	100.6 g (2 eggs)	12.5 g	148 kcal
Sugar, granulated	40 g	0.0 g	154 kcal
Baking powder, double-acting	9.2 g (2 tsp)	0.0 g	5 kcal
Blueberries, raw	150 g (about 1 cup)	1.1 g	86 kcal
Total, 12 muffins	734 g	105.2 g	1,234 kcal
Per muffin	61 g	8.8 g	103 kcal

Protein supplies 34% of the energy. Yogurt does a lot of the work: 250 g of it gives 25.8 g of protein for 152 kcal, about a quarter of the batch.

Fold the blueberries in last. Bake until a skewer comes out clean. I use about 20 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F), but ovens differ, so watch your tin.

Do high protein banana muffins need less sugar?

A little less, because the fruit sweetens them. For banana muffins, two bananas replace the blueberries and the sugar is halved. The banana record lists one peeled banana at 115 g, so two are 230 g. That is 88 kcal and 0.74 g of protein per 100 g.

Version of the batch (12 muffins)	Protein	Energy	Per muffin
Blueberry: 150 g berries, 40 g sugar	105.2 g	1,234 kcal	8.8 g, 103 kcal
Banana: 230 g banana, 20 g sugar	105.8 g	1,273 kcal	8.8 g, 106 kcal

The two give 202 kcal and 1.7 g. The berries and 20 g of sugar they replace took 163 kcal and 1.1 g. The net change is 0.6 g and about 40 kcal for the batch. Pick by taste.

What makes high protein breakfast muffins?

Eggs, cottage cheese and cheese, with no flour at all. This version is savory and bakes in a tin like a muffin. Six large eggs, 150 g of lowfat cottage cheese, 60 g of cheddar and 60 g of raw spinach make six muffins.

Ingredient (state)	Grams	Protein	Energy
Eggs, whole, large	301.8 g (6 eggs)	37.4 g	444 kcal
Cottage cheese, lowfat 2%	150 g	16.5 g	126 kcal
Cheddar	60 g	14.0 g	245 kcal
Spinach, raw	60 g	1.7 g	14 kcal
Total, 6 muffins	572 g	69.6 g	829 kcal
Per muffin	95 g	11.6 g	138 kcal

That’s 11.6 g of protein per muffin, with 34% of the energy from protein. Two make a breakfast of 23.2 g. If two muffins feel small, high protein breakfast burrito and high protein french toast are bigger plates counted from grams too. Cheddar is the heavy part. 60 g of it gives 245 of the batch’s 829 kcal for 14.0 g of protein, so a smaller piece saves energy.

Can I skip the protein powder?

Yes, and the batch still lands near the 20% line. I took the blueberry recipe and dropped the whey. Oat flour went up to 184 g, or all-purpose flour at the same weight, to keep the dry weight. Nothing else changed.

Blueberry batch without whey	Protein	Energy	Per muffin	Share of energy from protein
Oat flour, 184 g	63.6 g	1,256 kcal	5.3 g, 105 kcal	20.2%
All-purpose flour, 184 g	59.4 g	1,235 kcal	4.9 g, 103 kcal	19.2%

The yogurt and eggs carry a lot. With oat flour the share is just over 20%, and with all-purpose flour just under. The powder takes a muffin from 5.3 g to 8.8 g, so skipping it costs you about 3.5 g a muffin. The batter will also be looser. I’d cut the yogurt a little, but I haven’t tested how much.

Powder labels differ from the USDA record. The whey-based record has 78.1 g of protein per 100 g, and your tub may say something else. Use your label. The same powder and yogurt pairing runs through high protein cookies.

How do I log a batch and fit it into my day?

Divide the batch total by the muffin count, because a baked muffin looked up under “muffin” is somebody else’s recipe. Cut the dough into 10 and you divide by 10.

The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines give 1.2–1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, which is 84–112 g at 70 kg, and how much protein you should eat a day explains where the range comes from. Two blueberry muffins are 17.6 g, or 16–21% of that range. For exercising adults, the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests 20–40 g in a meal. Two breakfast muffins at 23.2 g sit inside it.

Your own daily number comes from the protein calculator, which applies the same range.

Two muffins every morning assume a healthy adult’s protein needs. If you have kidney disease, are pregnant or nursing, or are under 18, ask a doctor first.

I save the batch in Calsa as a recipe from the weighed ingredients, so one muffin is a twelfth of it.