Muffins made with mincemeat and oats

Apr 19, 2025 | 7 comments

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Adding oats to muffins

These muffins are tender and delicious, especially still warm, straight from the oven. They are not overly sweet as I have reduced the sugar right down, mincemeat is very sweet, so we don’t need to add much more.

This recipe was originally written in 2014 and was refreshed and updated in April 2025.

There are several recipes using oats, which Mike really likes, so I have tweaked this one to include them, and changed a couple of other things too. You could add oats to any other muffin recipe too, just take out several big spoonfuls of flour and replace them with oats. You can’t actually taste the oats in the baked muffin, but I like the idea that they are there. I wanted to use mincemeat as I bought 4 big jars of it to make things at Christmas and didn’t even open 1 of them!

 

one muffin in a white silicone case.

What do I need to make easy mincemeat muffins

  • Flour, either plain flour and baking powder, or self raising flour. Sometimes, I use wholemeal flour for extra fibre and that nutty taste
  • a hand full of of ordinary, cheap, porridge oats. You can’t taste the oats in the finished muffin, but they provide a nice texture and lot of extra fibre
  • a pinch of salt, this is just seasoning and helps to bring out the flavour of everything
  • sugar, just ordinary granulated. Or use any of the types of brown sugar for extra flavour
  • milk, this could be any kind of milk, depending on what you have in – cows milk, semi-skim or full fat, or any of the plant milks
  • about half a small jar of mincemeat
  • a bit of oil, not very much, use a neutral vegetable oil, we don’t want the lovely flavour of olive oil here. Or use melted butter or margarine
  • Note that there is no egg in this recipe

How to make mincemeat muffins

a batch of muffins on a glass cake stand.

  • Pre heat the oven to 375F/200C/fan 190C/gas 6. If you have a fan oven, there is no need to pre-heat
  • Put muffin cases in a 12 hole tin, or use silicone muffin cases that don’t need to be put in a tin
  • Put all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another bowl or jug.
  • Mix everything well in both bowls, then mix the two together, just enough to combine, mixing too much will make them tough.
  • Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and the top springs back when pressed. These were really easy, as I suppose all muffins are really, and I will definitely be making them again to use up that mincemeat.

Storage of Christmas muffins

Muffins don’t stay fresh for ages, so if you haven’t eaten them after 2 or 3 days, pop them in the freezer in a well wrapped bag, or air tight box. Take one out whenever you want one, it will defrost in the microwave in a few seconds.Or pop it in a lunch box still frozen, it will be defrosted by the time you want to eat it.

Variations for easy muffins

  • Use ReadyBrek type very fine oats instead of ordinary cheap porridge
  • Or go the other way and use jumbo oats for more texture
  • Haven’t got any oats at all? Just replace the oats with more flour
  • If you want your muffins to be vegan, use plant milk and baking spread, and check that the mincemeat is vegan, it usually is

Other muffin recipes you might like

Chocolate Muffins. Quick, easy, great for packups and very cheap

Chocolate, Coconut, Raisin and Chopped Nut Muffins

Vegetable Muffins

one muffin in a white silicone case.

Mincemeat and oat muffins

5 from 4 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Course:
Dessert
,
Snack
Cuisine:
American
Gluten Free
,
Vegan
,
Vegetarian
dairy free by Olguioo from the Noun Project
Dairy Free
,
freeze by Hare Krishna from the Noun Project
Freezes Well
Servings: 12 muffins
Cost per portion 17p per muffin
Calories: 255kcal
Click on the check box to cross off Equipment, Ingredients or Recipe Steps completed.
If you click and buy anything, I may get a small commission on the purchase. It won't cost you anything extra. Some are just things that I like and/or use myself rather than necessarily best value 🙂
If you enjoyed this recipe, would you please consider leaving a review? It would really help

Ingredients

  • 200 g plain flour
  • 2 tsps baking powder (or use self raising flour instead)
  • 80 g oats
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 85 g sugar
  • 280 ml milk
  • 240 g mincemeat
  • 90 ml oil

Instructions

  • Pre heat the oven to 375F/200C/fan 190C/gas 6. If you have a fan oven, there is no need to pre-heat
  • Put muffin cases in a 12 hole tin, or use silicone muffin cases that don't need to be put in a tin
  • Put all the dry ingredients in one bowl, and the wet ingredients in another bowl or jug.
    200 g plain flour, 2 tsps baking powder, 80 g oats, ½ tsp salt, 85 g sugar, 280 ml milk, 240 g mincemeat, 90 ml oil
  • Mix everything well in both bowls, then mix the two together, just enough to combine, mixing too much will make them tough.
  • Divide the mixture between the 12 muffin cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until browned and the top springs back when pressed.
    muffins, uncooked
  • Muffins don't stay fresh for long, so if you haven't eaten them by the end of day 2, pop them in the freezer

Notes

Storage of Christmas muffins

Muffins don't stay fresh for ages, so if you haven't eaten them after 2 or 3 days, pop them in the freezer in a well wrapped bag, or air tight box. Take one out whenever you want one, it will defrost in the microwave in a few seconds.Or pop it in a lunch box still frozen it will be defrosted by the tine you want to eat it.  

Variations for easy muffins

  • Use ReadyBrek type very fine oats instead of ordinary cheap porridge
  • Or go the other way and use jumbo oats for more texture
  • Haven't got any oats at all? Just replace the oats with more flour
  • If you want your muffins to be vegan, use plant milk and baking spread, and check that the mincemeat is vegan, it usually is

 

QR Code

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts
Mincemeat and oat muffins
Amount per Serving
Calories
255
% Daily Value*
Fat
 
9
g
14
%
Saturated Fat
 
1
g
6
%
Cholesterol
 
2
mg
1
%
Sodium
 
220
mg
10
%
Potassium
 
140
mg
4
%
Carbohydrates
 
41
g
14
%
Fiber
 
2
g
8
%
Sugar
 
22
g
24
%
Protein
 
4
g
8
%
Vitamin A
 
38
IU
1
%
Calcium
 
61
mg
6
%
Iron
 
1
mg
6
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe?Mention @ThriftyLesley or tag #ThriftyLesley !

7 Comments

7 Comments

  1. Thrifty Lesley

    I’m so glad you like them! Coincidentally, there is the remains of a batch in my cake tin right now as I fancied making some a few days ago

  2. Veronica

    This recipe has made the most from my leftover fruit mince from Christmas. Bravo! So nice I’ll add them to my Christmas baking in their own right.

  3. Thrifty Lesley

    Delighted you like them

  4. emma taylor

    5 stars
    made these muffins tons since I spotted this recipe. Simple but delicious. I made vegan ones too last time by substituting a dairy free alternative (1 of the fattier ones as I assume you might miss the milk fat in the recipe).

  5. Anne E

    Made them with soya milk as 24 cupcakes. Cooked as above for 15 minutes. They taste really nice and fingers crossed they will freeze ok.

  6. Sue

    I’m sure they are more filling and more healthy with the addition of oats … and tastier too 🙂

  7. Anne E

    Thanks Lesley your’e a star. They sound delicious. I wIll try them once we have finished your jammy oat bars – yum!

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  1. Frugal cake – mincemeat muffins | frugal wyvern - […] Then I came across Thrifty Lesley’s wonderful blog and decided to try adapting her delicious looking recipe for mincemeat…
5 from 4 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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