Grapefruit Ricotta Muffins
These Whole Grain Grapefruit Ricotta Muffins are one of our favorites for stocking our freezer. They are the perfect make ahead breakfast or snack!
Every night before bed, we always read each of the kids a bedtime story of their choosing. Now that we have three kids, that means three stories. As you might imagine, this takes some time, but it’s time well spent. We’re building valuable literacy skills through an activity that the kids love.
Most of the time, we read picture books, but lately we’ve been working our way through a few chapter books with Julia. Our current read is Charlotte’s Web, which I’ve read quite a few times in my teaching career. But reading it to my own kids, it’s like I’m experiencing it for the first time again with them. Julia is predicting what might happen next, and William laughs at Templeton’s antics.
We’re nearing the end of the story and whichever book we choose next will have a pretty high standard to live up to.
Now I’m going to make what is possibly one of the cheesiest connections ever. If you know Charlotte’s Web, you know that one of the words Charlotte writes in her web to describe Wilbur is “humble.”
The other day, when I was brainstorming for this post and thinking about how to describe these muffins to you, I thought… they’re the type of muffin that I would describe as humble. As in, they’re not too sweet, and they have a wholesome flavor with a hint of butter and grapefruit. Nothing overpowering. Just subtle goodness.
But, like Wilbur, these muffins are something special. So special that I’ve made three batches in the span of two weeks and still can’t get enough. I’m stocking my freezer with these muffins because defrosting one on an otherwise ordinary morning makes me happy.
What is it about these muffins that will make you love them so?
There is the glaze. A sweet grapefruit-spiked glaze. Just a little drizzle is enough, and keeps these muffins on the healthier side. I like these muffins even without the glaze, so feel free to skip it if you’re watching your sugar intake.
While the glaze is delicious, I’m partial to the muffin itself in these Whole Grain Grapefruit Ricotta Muffins. I used a combination of white whole wheat flour and oat flour in the muffin batter. I love the texture that the oat flour brings to these. It gives the muffins a more hearty, substantial crumb. (I make my own oat flour by grinding rolled oats in my food processor or blender.) You can substitute all or some of the whole grain flours with all-purpose if you prefer.
I love using ricotta cheese in baked goods. My Lemon Ricotta Cake with Almond Glaze and Grapefruit Ricotta Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting are two bright citrus favorites! The ricotta cheese adds a little moisture to these muffins, and can be substituted with plain Greek yogurt if you don’t have ricotta on hand.
These Whole Grain Grapefruit Ricotta Muffins are a delicious way to use up that last bit of ricotta that you may have left over from making this Slow Cooker Spinach Ricotta Lasagna or these Spinach and Cheese Lasagna Stuffed Zucchini.
If you love sweet-tart grapefruit, I hope you will try these muffins. I think you’ll love every bite, from the humble barely-sweet muffin to the sweet grapefruit glaze!
More Healthy Muffin Recipes:
Whole Grain Grapefruit Ricotta Muffins
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- zest of one grapefruit, about 1 tablespoon
- 1 ¾ cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup oat flour*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ½ cup ricotta cheese, or plain Greek yogurt
- 2/3 cup milk
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup, or honey
- ¼ cup grapefruit juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the Glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon grapefruit juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a non-stick muffin tin with cooking spray, or line with paper or parchment liners.
- Place brown sugar and grapefruit zest in a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to work the zest into the sugar until fragrant. Whisk in the white whole wheat flour, oat flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, ricotta (or yogurt), milk, maple syrup (or honey), 1/4 cup grapefruit juice and vanilla. Whisk in the melted butter.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir with a spatula until barely combined. Scoop batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each well about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15-16 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
- Cool muffins in the pan for 5 minutes and the transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon grapefruit juice in a small bowl. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the muffins. Enjoy!
Notes
- I make my own oat flour by grinding rolled oats in my food processor or blender.
- Muffins freeze well. Let the glaze dry completely and then store in a zip-top plastic bag for up to 2 months. Defrost at room temperature.
Sounds like your kids love their bedtime stories! Charlotte’s Web was always a favorite of mine. Such a classic book! I’m so glad you shared these muffins, Kristine! Ever since I saw them on instagram, I wanted to see the recipe. I’ve never had a grapefruit muffin with ricotta before, so these are calling my name. What a perfect spring breakfast or dessert!
I really miss reading my kids bedtime stories — I have the fondest memories of that and one of our favorite books was Charlotte’s Web. These muffins look and sound extraordinary in my opinion — they look so moist and I love that glaze! Baking with ricotta and citrus is something I love to do and I need to try these!
We are twinning on the grapefruit appreciation this week! Loving how healthy and delicious these muffins look- the ricotta in here sounds delish 🙂
I can hardly stand how gorgeous these muffins are, Kristine! I’ve never tried ricotta in muffins before but I’ll bet it makes these babies so so moist! That glaze just takes it over the top!
I made these this weekend and they were delicious! I will be making them again. The only change I made was that I replaced the white whole wheat flour with a 50/50 mix of all purpose and whole wheat flour because it’s what I had on hand.
I’d never heard of putting grapefruit in a muffin so I was very intrigued when I found your recipe! I used greek yogurt instead of ricotta, since that’s what I had in my fridge, and I didn’t put on the glaze. Loved the addition of the oat flour. The muffin had a slight, citrus taste and was the fluffiest muffin I’ve ever had! My daughter, who doesn’t really like muffins, thought it was great. I will definitely make this recipe again.
Friends gave me grapefruit, which I’m not in love with. Made these muffins and they were delicious. If not using the icing, consider adding a small amount of sugar or maple syriup.
Another delicious muffin! They are moist and have just the right amount of grapefuit taste. We loved the banana chocolate muffins, we love these muffins, next recipe we will try is the healthy blueberry muffins.
Thank you for sharing these.
I made these muffins last night and they are delicious!!! I used AP flour for the wheat flour and made my own oat flour. I used Greek yogurt and honey. I put a tiny bit of grapefruit zest in the glaze.
Absolutely fabulous! Moist, tasty and delicious! Some gave me many grapefruit which I didn’t know what to do with them all, so I tried this and it was wonderful! EVERYONE LOVED them!