Kodiak Cakes Muffins (Blueberry Protein Muffins)

Learn to make high protein blueberry muffins without protein powder! These Kodiak Cakes muffins are packed with tons of blueberries and have a bright lemon flavor. You’ll love how easily you can sneak extra protein into work lunches, kid’s lunches, and post-workout snacks with these. Aside from having lower sugar and higher protein than a typical muffin, these blueberry protein muffins are only about 100 calories each!

Kodiak Cakes blueberry lemon muffins? Sounds like a DELICIOUS addition to breakfast to me!

Tastiness isn’t the only good thing about this protein muffin recipe, however. It’s also low sugar, with no added sugar aside from what’s in the Kodiak mix. That means no white sugar, but also no honey, maple syrup, coconut sugar, agave, etc.

Unlike most muffins without sugar added, these Kodiak cakes muffins have no banana. I mean, I like banana, but it gets boring to always use it as the sweetener in no sugar snacks. I do like a little more flavor variety in my baking, you know?

These blueberry muffins with protein pancake mix will probably fit your macros a little better than regular muffins if you’re into fitness and bodybuilding. Some might call these blueberry “muscle muffins.” Hahaha

In truth though, muffins and other baked goods wouldn’t be my top pick for muscle building. I really think it’s a better strategy to get most of our nutrition from whole foods (meats, veggies, fruits, etc.) instead. For those including grains, I’d typically recommend more minimally processed whole grains than flours.

Don’t get me wrong though- these Kodiak protein muffins DO offer some advantages over your everyday muffin. (And of course, we’ll cover them below!)

Jump to:

• 📋 Calories, Net Carbs, Protein
• ⭐ Benefits
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 How to Make Kodiak Blueberry Muffins
• ️⏲ Cooking Time and Temperature
• 🥣 Tips on how to make muffins fluffy
• ️🌡️ Leftovers
• 🥶 Can you freeze Kodiak Cakes muffins?
• 🍯 Toppings
• 🍫 Kodiak Cakes Muffins Flavors
• 🥞 Recipes using Kodiak Cakes Mix
• 💭 Expert Tips from a Dietitian
• FAQs
• 👩🏻‍🍳 Other Healthy Muffin Recipes
• The Disclaimer…
• 📖 Recipe
• Kodiak Cakes Muffins (Blueberry Protein Muffins)
• 💬 Comments

📋 Calories, Net Carbs, Protein

One Kodiak Cakes muffin has 103 calories, 9.7 grams net carbs, and 4.9 grams protein. Nutrition information is for a muffin made with half butter and half apple sauce. Using all butter gives you a muffin with 126 calories, 9.3 grams net carbs, and 4.9 grams protein.

⭐ Benefits

Why make this Kodiak Cakes muffins recipe? Here are some nutrition benefits (and other reasons):

• Protein dense: Your 500-calorie bakery muffin might have more grams of protein than these. Where these blueberry protein muffins probably win though is protein density. You’re getting a decent amount of protein per calorie (about 5g per 100-ish calories) with these muffins.
• Packed with fruit: These muffins are packed with phytochemical-rich blueberries! If you’re looking to increase the fruit intake of fruit-resistant family members, try these!
• Whole grains: Unlike most muffins, these are whole grain muffins. The Kodiak Cakes waffle mix we’re using here is made with a combination of whole wheat flour and whole oat flour.
• Short prep time: I can make a batch of protein muffins in very little time. They’re great for busy people! (And isn’t that most of us?)
• No chalky taste: Most recipes made with protein powder have a chalky taste that I can’t stand. Kodiak Cakes buttermilk pancake mix uses a blend of wheat protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, and milk protein concentrate. However, I found the hidden protein undetectable; there was no weird aftertaste at all.
• Delicious: It’s subjective, but I think these aren’t just “good for a healthier muffin.” They’re truly delicious on their own merits. When I make a batch of Kodiak protein muffins, they never last long!

🥘 Ingredients

What do you need to make Kodiak Cakes muffins? Here's the roundup:

• Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Buttermilk Flapjack & Waffle Mix
• Fresh Blueberries
• Softened Butter
• Applesauce (optional for lower fat muffins)
• Granular Swerve (or your favorite 1:1 sugar substitute)
• Milk
• Egg
• Vanilla
• Fresh Lemon Juice
• Lemon Zest (from Meyer lemons, if possible)
• Cooking Spray

I tested 2% milk and unsweetened calcium-fortified soy milk in this recipe. Both work very well.

Kodiak Cakes makes a wide variety of baking mixes. I chose the buttermilk pancake mix because it is one of the options that is lowest in added sugar.

The buttermilk pancakes mix has only 2 grams of added sugar per half cup (53g mix). The Kodiak Cakes muffin mixes are much higher in sugar. For example, the Kodiak Cakes blueberry muffin mix contains 20 grams of added sugars per 66g mix. (Big difference!)

It’s pretty easy to find the Kodiak Cake baking mixes at stores in the U.S. I’ve seen them at Costco, Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Regular grocery stores usually carry them as well.

There are other products that appear to be similar, but have very different nutritional profiles. For example, Krusteaz protein pancake mix (blueberry) has 14g protein per half cup, just like the buttermilk Kodiak mix.

Unfortunately, the Krusteaz mix has over three times the added sugar (7g versus 2g). Their buttermilk protein pancake mix has just as much added sugar as their blueberry flavor (7 grams).

Krusteaz protein muffin mix (wild blueberry flavor) is even worse, with 22g added sugar per half cup mix. In short, I’d consider the Kodiak Cakes buttermilk pancake mix to be the best choice if you want a lower sugar mix.

🍽 Equipment

You only need a few basic pieces of kitchen equipment to make these muffins with added protein. Here they are:

• Metal muffin tin (light-colored metal)
• Hand mixer (electric beaters make fast work of mixing the batter!)
• Paper liners for the muffin tin
• Toothpicks (our doneness testing tool)

If you tend to have difficulty getting baking recipes to work, I also highly recommend a food scale. Weighing the dry ingredients will help to ensure you have consistent results every time.

We’ll be making 8 muffins. If your muffin tin only has 6 muffin cups, you’ll need two of them.

🔪 How to Make Kodiak Blueberry Muffins

Let’s learn how to make blueberry protein muffins! Start by preheating the oven to 425F (218C).

Put muffin papers into 8 spaces in your muffin pan. Spray the papers well with cooking oil spray. I hate it when my muffins stick to the paper!

Put one teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice into the milk. Give it a stir and let it sit for five minutes. (This is essentially a substitute for buttermilk that adds a little extra lemon flavor.)

Set aside ¼ cup of blueberries. Toss the rest of the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of the Kodiak mix. (This will help keep them from all sinking to the bottoms of the muffins.)

Using the electric mixer, beat the softened butter and Swerve together until fluffy. (You can also add the applesauce, if using.) Mix in the egg, vanilla, and lemon zest.

Next, slowly mix in the Kodiak Cakes mix. After incorporating it all, add the milk mixture. Your batter should be fairly liquid-y at this point.

It’s best to use the mixer to add in the Kodiak mix and milk. That said, I’ve used a spoon before when I was in a rush, and it was fine. Just don’t overmix the batter.

Now’s the time to gently fold in the floured blueberries with a spoon. Fill your prepared muffin papers with the batter. You should completely fill all 8 papers.

Remember the blueberries we didn’t coat in Kodiak mix at the beginning? Gently press those into the tops of the muffins. Don’t they look nice?

️⏲ Cooking Time and Temperature

Kodiak Cakes Muffins bake for 20 minutes in oven preheated to 425 degrees Fahrenheit (218C). Put them on a rack about one-third of the way down in the oven.

Check the muffins for doneness by sticking a toothpick in one of them. The toothpick should come out clean if you have a fully cooked muffin. (It’s ok if some blueberry juice or some muffin crumbs end up on the toothpick.)

These muffins are best enjoyed chilled. Let them cool on a baking rack before putting them in the fridge.

🥣 Tips on how to make muffins fluffy

There are a few things you can do to help ensure the fluffiest muffins possible. For one, make sure your batter is at room temperature. The softened butter is going to be easier to incorporate into the sugar, which brings me to point two... don’t overmix the batter!

Finally, use baking powder rather than baking soda in your muffin recipes. I know that it appears like there’s no baking powder or baking soda in this recipe. However, the Kodiak Cakes mix we’re using contains all of the components of baking powder. They are:

• Baking soda
• A weak acid (monocalcium phosphate in this case)
• Starch (prevents the mixture from reacting prematurely)

️🌡️ Leftovers

How long are Kodiak Cakes muffins good for? These blueberry protein muffins should last about 3 days in the refrigerator. Wrap them in plastic wrap or store them in an airtight container to keep them from getting stale.

🥶 Can you freeze Kodiak Cakes muffins?

Fresh muffins are best, but these blueberry Kodiak Cakes muffins do freeze fairly well. Wrap them in plastic wrap and store them in a freezer bag with the air pressed out in the freezer. Thaw them in the fridge for 1-2 days when you’re ready to eat. If you used big blueberries, your muffins may be a little soggier than with small wild blueberries.

🍯 Toppings

What do you put on a Kodiak cake muffin? They’re great plain, and that’s probably my favorite way to enjoy them! If you want toppings for protein muffins, here are some yummy suggestions:

• Fruit spreads
• Peanut butter and seed or nut butters (such as almond butter)
• Honey, maple syrup, or sugar-free syrup
• Whipped cream
• Butter

Some of these are a little more indulgent than others! My favorite toppings for muffins tend to be peanut or almond butter (but maybe not on blueberry muffins).

🍫 Kodiak Cakes Muffins Flavors

Kodiak Cakes Power Cakes Buttermilk Flapjack and Waffle Baking Mix has a very neutral flavor. That means you can use this protein baking mix to make tasty muffins with endless flavor combinations! I’m partial to these lemon blueberry muffins, but here are some other ideas:

• Lemon and poppy seeds
• Peaches and cinnamon
• Apple cinnamon
• Carrot cake (use shredded carrots and raisins)
• Cranberry orange
• Pumpkin
• Strawberry
• Cherries and mini chocolate chips (can use sugar-free chocolate chips)
• Banana chocolate chip
• Savory muffins (perhaps with zucchini, sausage, and sun-dried tomatoes)

Kodiak makes a Chocolate Chip Power Cakes baking mix (as well as other flavors). You can reduce the added sugar by using the buttermilk baking mix (one of their lowest sugar options) and flavoring it yourself.

🥞 Recipes using Kodiak Cakes Mix

Need other Kodiak Cakes recipes? Here are a few more ideas for ways to use Kodiak Cakes:

• Kodiak Cakes Waffles with Mixed Berry Syrup
• Kodiak Cakes Banana Bread

I have plans for more recipes with Kodiak Cakes mix in the future, so definitely stay tuned! I’d also like to experiment with some of the higher protein flours more, such as quinoa flour.

💭 Expert Tips from a Dietitian

This is a level 3 recipe (weight maintenance and active lifestyles). Though these muffins are only around 100 calories each, flour means they get the bump to level 3. Keep in mind though that this doesn’t mean these protein blueberry muffins are “bad.” The answer to whether Kodiak Cakes muffins are good for you ultimately depends on what your needs and goals are.

Are Kodiak Cakes muffins healthy?

I’d consider these low calorie blueberry protein muffins to be healthy blueberry muffins, depending on what they replace. Do you typically eat big blueberry muffins from the bakery that are loaded with white flour and table sugar? In that case, these Kodiak blueberry muffins are a more nutritious choice.

On the other hand, what if your usual healthy breakfast consists of whole foods like yogurt, fruit, vegetable omelets, or egg frittatas? In that case, I (in general) wouldn’t consider switching to these muffins to be better.

Even though these have a smidge more protein and lots more berries than most muffins, they’re still easy to overeat. If you’re trying to gain weight or having trouble maintaining a healthy weight, that might be a good thing. For the average sedentary adult in the United States, this attribute is probably not a positive.

That brings me to another set of questions...

Are Kodiak Cakes muffins good for weight loss? What makes muffins so high in calories and fat?

In general, I don’t consider muffins (even these blueberry protein muffins) the best choice for weight watchers. The flour, added fats or oils, and (in some muffins) sugar can pack a lot of calories into a small volume. Most muffins are very energy-dense foods.

What that means is that the portions for muffins tend to be very small. It can be difficult to maintain the calorie deficit needed for weight loss if your diet includes a lot of muffins. This may be particularly true if you are a “volume eater,” needing to eat large portions of food to feel full.

If you want to lose weight, use half butter and half applesauce in this recipe rather than all butter. That’s a really simple way to knock off 20-25 calories per muffin without much change in taste or texture. It does that by making the muffins lower in fat (obviously lol).

To create a breakfast that will fill you up a little better, make 1-2 blueberry muffins a breakfast side dish. Serve them up with some scrambled eggs and a glass of milk for more protein. Add more fruit (strawberries would be nice) for low calorie volume.

If you want to bump up the protein in your blueberry protein muffins a bit more, you could substitute egg whites for the egg. You could also try using non-fat plain Greek yogurt in place of the milk and lemon juice. (Keep in mind I haven’t tested either of these swaps, so try them at your own risk!)

FAQs

👩🏻‍🍳 Other Healthy Muffin Recipes

Looking for more healthy recipes for muffins? I’ve got you! Check these out next:

• Banana Protein Muffins (put those ripe bananas to good use!)
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Muffins (grain free muffins with sweet potato)
• Small Batch Banana Muffins

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The Disclaimer…

All recipes on this website may or may not be appropriate for you, depending on your medical needs and personal preferences. Consult with a registered dietitian or your physician if you need help determining the dietary pattern that may be best for you.

The nutrition information is an estimate provided as a courtesy. It will differ depending on the specific brands and ingredients that you use. Calorie information on food labels may be wildly inaccurate, so please don't sweat the numbers too much.

For more information on how the three recipe levels may help with a weight management goal, refer to my overnight oats no sugar post. Let's get cooking!

📖 Recipe