I’v made several versions of these pre-workout muffins in the past. But they all have the same key ingredients. I like to use easily digestible foods to avoid all stomach problems at all cost (if you know what I mean). Each ingredient has a purpose and a reason. These muffins are my all time favorite thing to eat before a hard workout. And I love how they are portable, easy to bring and travel with you on race day! I’ll break it down as to why I chose each ingredient.
- Oats: quick digesting carb it wont sit in your stomach for hours.
- Chia Seeds: If you ever read the book Born to Run you know how important chia seeds are! They ran for hours, fueled by chia seeds. This super seed is loaded with healthy fats to keep your stomach from grumbling, plus they expand in your stomach keeping you hydrated!
- Maca: A superfood known for its amazing ability to help with endurance and stamina. I purchased my maca from Thrive Market for over half off
- Bananas: A great source of potassium to keep your legs from cramping and it is also perfect fuel if you have tummy issues
- Almond Milk: Because I’m not a fan of dairy products and love the nutty flavor of almond milk, oh and hey it has tons of calcium, because healthy bones are everything to me!! (if you have nut allergies i’v made these muffins with orange juice and coconut milk both worked great)
- Apple Sauce: Instead of oil, keeping this muffin really low in fat. Because fat takes energy to digest, so lets not waste energy digesting food! Plus it gives the muffin a slightly sweet taste.
- Blueberries: Yum no explanation needed. Okay I had to– Antioxidants
They traveled with my to Disney World! I enjoyed two before the Disney Princess Half Marathon
One of my favorite ways to eat them PB&J=
Preheat over to 350 degrees
- 2 ½ Cups plus 1 Cup Old Fashion Oats
- ½ Cup of Chia Seeds
- ¼ Cup of Maca Powder
- 2 teaspoons of Baking Powder
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 3 Bananas (very ripe if possible, frozen can be used just let thaw)
- 2 Cups of Unsweetened Almond Milk (or a combination of almond milk and orange juice)
- ½ Cup of Unsweetened Apple Sauce
- 2 Cups of Fresh Blueberries
Directions:
- Combine 2 ½ cups of old fashion oats,chia seeds, maca powder,baking powder, in a food processor. Pulse for approximately 1 minute until it resembles flour
- Add banana pulse one minute, add almond milk and apple sauce pulse again till combined fully.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl and fold in the berries and additional 1 cup oats.
- Spray muffin pans with non-stick spray. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop muffins into tray.
- Sprinkle with oatmeal.
- Bake for around 35 minutes until the center is fully cooked. Keeps fresh in the freezer. Warm before serving!
Wow- these look amazing! Just curious if you I want to use coconut oil instead of applesauce? (I’m vegan and my body thrives off the fat/ MCT’s in there)
Hey! So you have a couple of options if you want to add more fat. 1: you can leave muffin as is and when eating it spread almond butter or coconut oil on it 2: replace Apple sauce with coconut oil-that should totally work 3: add nut butter in place of the apple sauce. I like to use nut butter as a pose to coconut oil because it isn’t a saturated fat but both should work fine!
Cannot wait to make these…And I of course would definitely top with nut butter too! Thanks for sharing!
Everything is better with a little Nut butter!
These sound amazing! Def going to try them out.
LOVE a good pre-workout muffin. Can’t wait to try these!
Hi!
I have these muffins baking right now–how many did your batch make–I have almost 24 in the oven–big muffins. just curious!
Thanks.
I forgot exactly how many I got sorry I did not include that info pretty sure around 24! Hope they came out good!
Made these this weekend! They are excellent! I love that they have maca in them! Out of curiosity, do you have an estimate of the calories per muffin? I suppose it depends on how many you make with the recipe. Thanks!
My son is allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. Can you suggest a healthy alternative to the almond milk?
Yes! Flaxseed milk,coconut milk, hemp milk, oat milk will all work here or even orange juice
These came out perfect. Can’t wait to eat some more in the morning before my long run! Thanks so much for sharing!
It looks very nice, I like it.
Thanks! Great recipe idea !
Hi! I just made these and I love them. I some gave them to friends last time so I didn’t end up freezing any. How do you normally heat them up/thaw them from frozen before eating? Could you store them in the fridge for a few days?
The oven or leave them out to thaw
These sound amazing! Def going to try them out.
Two potentially silly questions? Can we sub in another kind of fruit or berry? I’m not vegetarian or vegan, is it possible to use regular dairy milk do you think? Just curious. Thank you!
Do you happen to have a calorie count on these muffins?
How many calories, carbs and protein are in one muffin?