Savory Oat Muffins (Upma on the go!)

Breakfast is always a hectic time in our homes, not to mention the varied tastes amongst family members! For those who want a quick, hearty breakfast that is not sugary sweet, this Savory Oat Muffins recipe is for you! With flavors similar to upma, but made with heart healthy oats, these muffins are perfect to make ahead and enjoy throughout the week.

Prep Time: 15 mins
Bake Time: 20 mins
Makes: 10 to 12 muffins

Ingredients:

Quick Oats Flour – 3/4 cup (grind Quick Oats in a spice grinder or blender)
Quick Oats – 1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour (or Chapati flour) – 1/4 cup
Salt – 1 tsp or to taste
Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
Egg – 1 large (or substitute 1 Tbsp Flax Seed Powder mixed with 3 Tbsp Water)
Oil – 3 Tbsp
Yogurt – 1 cup
Lemon Juice – 1 tsp or to taste
Cilantro – 10 sprigs, chopped

Seasoning:
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig, chopped
Green Chilies – to taste, finely chopped
Asafoetida – 1/8 tsp
Turmeric Powder – 1/4 tsp
Onions – 1/2 cup, chopped
Ginger – 1 Tbsp, minced
Frozen Peas – 1/2 cup
Carrots – 1/2 cup, diced

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/180C

1. Heat Oil in pan on medium heat.
2. Add Mustard Seeds and allow them to pop.
3. Add Curry Leaves, Green Chilies, Asafoetida and Turmeric Powder.
4. Add Onion and Ginger. Mix and cook for about a minute.
5. Add Green Peas and Carrots. Mix through, cook for 1 minute and turn off stove.
6. In a bowl, mix together Quick Oats Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, Quick Oats, Baking Soda and Salt.
7. To the seasoning pan (with the veggies), add Egg, Yogurt, Oil, Lemon Juice and Cilantro. Mix well.
8. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and fold in gently to mix.
9. Divide batter into a greased muffin tray and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
10. Allow them to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before serving or remove the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.
11. Warm in the microwave before serving.

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0 thoughts on “Savory Oat Muffins (Upma on the go!)

  1. Hetal and Anuja,
    I have been following your recipes for a long time, since the begining I should say….
    Been busy and coming back to the site after a while…
    OMG!!! You guys rock!!!!
    Keep it going!!!!

    1. The egg of flaxseed powder gives the muffins some lift. If you leave it out, the texture will be a little more dense.

  2. I’ve tried out some of your recipes.. as I like Indian food.. very practical..

    Shall try the oat muffins too

    Sri Lanka

  3. ^^^^ Hey I heard Houston was cold last weekend – told my brother who’s working out there atm to be grateful not to be in London, we had 6″ of snow 🙁

    I cannot wait to try this recipe, and seeing my parents next week and will take them over. My dad in particular was impressed by individual ondhwas – idea credited to SMTC! – so I think he’ll like these too. I was thinking of adding cooked spinach (excess water removed) to the vegetables, any reason not to?

  4. They are in the oven right now. Can’t wait to try them out with a cup of hot ginger tea on this cold cold Houston afternoon 🙂

  5. Hi Dear,

    I have tried your this above mentioned recipe and it came out great :). My family always used to have a problem having oats in breakfast and I was in search of a new and innovative recipe of oats other than the commonly used one. With this recipe my things have been sorted out completely. Thanks a lot dear.waiting for more and more such good recipes of yours.

    Regards,

    Puspita

  6. Hello ladies..I really love u both for giving such a good recipes and very easy way to make it. I always have one question on my mind about storing muffins. In past I made muffins and store it with liners in container but next day it became soggy.What is the proper way to store muffins ? Can i store it with liners ? I would appreciate your reply .
    Thanks

    1. Hi Pinky,

      One reason could be that you are storing the muffins away before they have had enough time to cool all the way through. You can always not use the paper liners. Just grease your muffin pan and pour the batter right in.

  7. hi hetal and anuja
    i tried this recipe yesterday, following it to the ‘t’. however, before baking it, i realised that it was a bit dry. sure enough, my muffins were really dry and hard on baking. where did i go wrong? should i have added another egg to moisten the mix or reduced the baking time? pls advise for future evasive action:))

    1. Hi Raksha,

      This muffin is a little dryer than a regular muffin. The amount of time you wait from the point of mixing in the wet ingredients and actually baking could also affect the outcome. Oats tend to absorb moisture over time.

    1. Hi Ritika,

      That sounds like a great idea! Will have to try it sometime. Couple of questions…what type of oats do you use (instant, rolled, etc) and what is the texture like at the end?

  8. hi yar, tried many recipes of urs… tried this as well, took more time for me to bake almost 45 min in total.. i used flaxseeds powder the prop mentioned.i feel my curd wasnt tat thick … wud tat been a reason?

  9. These muffins sound absolutely divine! I can’t wait to make these!

    I have a quick question, how long can they be stored in the fridge?

    I have a lot of rolled oats on hand. I know you mentioned in a reply to a previous poster that rolled oats take longer to cook. Can I still use rolled oats in this recipe and if I do, how much longer should I bake the muffins for? Do you recommend the quick oats over the rolled oats?

    Also, if I want to send some to friends in a care package (expedited shipping, of course), will they transport well in a package for two days? Or will they spoil?

    Thanks!

    1. Hi Shi,

      Honestly, we have not tried this particular recipe with rolled oats but since they are baked, it may work without additional baking time. You might want to try it out on a small batch just to be sure.

    2. Hi Shi,

      Forgot to mention… the muffins will be fine in the fridge for about 1 week. We would not recommend mailing these. Once they leave your sight, there is no way to tell what conditions they may face…sitting in a hot warehouse, truck, etc.

  10. I tried this recipe today………it is soooooo good !!!! Thank you ladies, for such a healthy, quick, easy and yummy make ahead breakfast idea ! It would also be a great to take on a road trip / picnic, or eat it as an appetizer (baked in a mini muffin tray) 🙂

  11. Hi lady’s, thanks for this very very tasty recepi. I never had oats as savory before so i was very surprised. After making it, i freezed a few. And after taking them out of the freezer they were very dry… how can ik store the muffins best,lady’s?

    (P.s today i’m making the choc chip cookies from you’re kids)

  12. Hey you both,
    Looks like a great recipe! I was just wondering if this can also be made with suji like the traditional upma? My concern is the binding agent in case of suji muffins? Any suggestions?

    Thanks.

  13. hi…I just tried this,it came out very tasty….Waiting for my DH to try…Thanx for posting such a creative recipe.keep posting…

    1. Hi Sonal,

      We buy our flax seeds from Sprouts…from a bin. You should be able to find them in the baking aisle of most grocery stores or just ask a store employee for help locating them.

  14. Hi Hetal/Anuja

    I have tried the recipe and they came out really well.
    yummmmmmm!!!!

    i want to know how come u stored lime juice in that white dispenser. Can u tell me the tip of storing lime juice for more days as iam getting bulk of limes and they are getting spoiled in few days

    Hope i will get reply

    Thanks in Advance

    1. Hi Ramya,

      We usually buy a BIG bottle of lemon juice from Costco :). For everyday ease of use, the white squeeze bottles work really well. We have not come across a really good way of storing fresh lemon/lime juice. Maybe one of our viewers can help.

    2. One more thing: If you already have a lot of limes, you could squeeze out all of the juice and fill ice cube trays. Let it freeze and transfer to a ziploc bag and keep it in the freezer.

  15. I use very ripe bananas instead of eggs in every dish that requies eggs & it comes out fantastic.Just try & see for yourself. You will be smiling all the way to the kitchen !!!

  16. The idea is genius – upma on the go! The muffuns are in the oven right now, hoping that the kids will find them yummy. But in the meantime, having vegans in my family, what would be a good subsitute for the yogurt? Thx.

  17. hai anuja&hetal,i am a big fan of ur cooking…daily i open ur website & i have tried a lot of ur recipes…ur idea of demonstrating the recipe thru video is very much helpful…i tried out ur whole wheat muffin & my hubby liked it so much..ur recipes make me an expert tooo….

  18. I like Anuja am not a big fan of a sweet breakfast. But as much as I dislike sweet pancakes first thing in the morning, I hate the taste of heeng and curry leaves first thing in the morning. I will have to try this before I give my two cents but as of now I am not too keen 🙂 but you ladies have not disappointed me before so there is no reason to start now 🙂 The jury is still out..

  19. I dont have owen .. is there an alternative on stove top like using cooker … where we used to bake cake some times
    please tell me an alternative for this recipe plzzz.

    1. Hi Cylu,

      We have not tried baking on the stove but know some people use sand in a pressure cooker to imitate an oven. Again, we are not sure of the exact method. Maybe some of our other viewers can chime in and help.

  20. Will this work with steel cut oatmeal? I heard they are the best variety, whole oats. Please let us know. Thank you.
    Also, thanks for mentioning the egg substitute.

    1. Hi R,

      We have not tried steel cut oats but would imagine that the cooking time would be very different. You might have to precook the oats a bit more before continuing with the process (again, its a guess).

    1. Hi Rakhee,

      Quick oats require some cooking (though quicker than old fashioned rolled oats) but instant oats just need to be added to hot water.

    1. Hi NA,

      Old fashioned oats require more cooking so if you use them, you may have to precook them a bit. We have not tried it so it is a guess.

  21. Thanks everyone for the compliments on our beautiful green pan. We bought it from our local TJMaxx but unfortunately, there is no brand name written on it.

  22. Hey,it looks yum yum….yes the pan looks good…u gals have all amazing stuff….I think this is Anuja house’s where she has all wonderful kitchen items from plates to spatula to pans. Etc….if Im not wrong…keep posting oats recipe in indian version…can u pls post any Brussels sprouts recipe…pls…thank you..

  23. The recipe looks easy and quick, a definite try!!
    By the way, the pan looks really good. May I ask where did u guys get the pan from?

    Thanks 🙂

    1. Hi Monali,

      You can get them at any US grocery store. I get mine from Sprouts from the bulk bins. There are 2 different varieties of oats available (Quick and Old Fashioned Rolled).

  24. Thank you for posting this recipe. I have been waiting since long time for oats recipes.
    How could we do this like upma?
    I am expecting more of oats recipes.

    1. Hi Lakshmi, I assume u r a healthy recipe fan. I had made oat veggie patties and oat upma. They taste yummy.
      For oat patties, i used quaker old fashioned oat, i guess that is the healthiest. 1 cup oat in a pan, add very little water and turn on the gas on medium high..it cooks(becomes soft) in 2-3 minutes. i finely grated all the veggies i like..carrot, capsium, corn, cabbage in my mini chopper. Mixed cooked oat with grated veggies and added flaxseed and wheat germ (bcoz they are healthy), then seasoning like red chilly powder, salt, chaat masala.. add whatever you like. You can add potatoes but its too much starch so i dont add it.. though its a good binder.Make patties and coat them with egg white and bake it. I have a electric griddle (presto brand).. i bake them @ 400.You can also add brown rice, wheat atta, corn starch. I made 20 patties and froze them. I and my hubby love it. Its healthy and yummy. take care..jyoti

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