Skip to content

The Best Healthy Baking Mixes on the Market Right Now

|
February 15, 2023
Image credit: Lindsey Engelken for Clean Plates

Some days, you just really want to start your day off with a plate of pancakes, and others, you are absolutely craving a fudgy, warm-from-the-oven brownie. When this happens, you really have three options: go full DIY and make your treat from scratch; buy a treat from a local bakery or restaurant; or go for a boxed mix.

Baking mixes are the perfect middle ground: They’re much less expensive than buying treats out, and if you choose them well, they can be significantly healthier. And although box mixes are typically less healthy than baking from scratch, they’re considerably less time-consuming.

Fortunately, baking mixes have come a long way from the days when “white cake” or “chocolate cake” were the only options. Healthy baking mixes have risen in popularity enough for the field to expand significantly, encompassing everything from French toast to artisanal bread.

Related: Sign up to receive delicious recipes, expert advice, and shopping tips in your inbox!

What exactly makes a baking mix healthy?

The baking mixes we chose only contain the ingredients you would use if you were baking them from scratch. This means that they’re free of preservatives and additives. Additionally, we chose mixes that either reduced or totally omitted the sugar. We focused on mixes that were made mostly from whole foods or whole grains, and contained organic ingredients.

No matter what your dietary requirements are, there’s a baking mix that fits your needs, and we’ve found it for you. Here are the healthiest pancakes, cookies, doughnuts, and more. Happy baking — the easy and healthy way.

1. Simple Mills Almond Flour Pancake Mix and Waffle Mix

This almond and coconut flour mix uses arrowroot for binding and includes some organic ingredients. Because you’ll add your own eggs and oil, it’s easy to make these pancakes vegan by using a cup-for-cup vegan egg replacer, and you can choose a beneficial oil like avocado instead of vegetable oil. Because they’re free of preservatives, once open you’ll want to store them in your refrigerator or freezer.

Buy now: Simple Mills Almond Flour Pancake Mix and Waffle Mix

2. Pyure Organic Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix

What’s better than a chocolate fudge brownie? A chocolate fudge brownie that has protein-rich chickpea flour as one of its top ingredients. This mix is sugar-free, making it suitable for those following low-carb or keto diets, and yes — these brownies are still chewy and full of chocolate flavor.

Buy now: Pyure Organic Chocolate Fudge Brownie Mix

3. Foodstirs Junk-Free Bakery Organic Simply Sweet Vanilla Cake Baking Mix

Life doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing game when it comes to eating more healthily, and this brand knows that — they use a mix of organic sugar and non-caloric natural sweeteners, and offset the organic wheat flour with organic inulin (aka fiber). The result is a cake mix you can feel good about feeding your family while knowing they won’t turn their noses up at it for being too healthy-tasting.

Buy now: Foodstirs Junk-Free Bakery Organic Simply Sweet Vanilla Cake Baking Mix

4. Simple Mills Almond Flour Artisan Bread Mix

This bread mix is nearly everything-free and contains no gluten, dairy, yeast, or soy. It’s paleo-friendly, and gives you the delightful opportunity to have a warm, crusty loaf of bread fresh out of your own oven… but with a lot less work than usual. Because the dough contains no yeast, you don’t have to spend hours waiting for it to rise, either. Fresh-baked bread in under an hour? Count us in.

Buy now: Simple Mills Almond Flour Artisan Bread Mix

5. Lakanto Sugar-Free Banana Nut Muffin and Bread Mix

Normally, baking fresh banana bread requires that you happen to have bananas in the precisely correct moment of just-over-ripeness. But this baking mix saves you from all the waiting and watching that banana muffins and bread otherwise entail, and it does so in an incredibly healthful way: By using prebiotic-rich banana flour for that ripe banana flavor you know and love. Full of bean protein and oat fiber, this mix is packed with whole-food goodness.

Buy now: Lakanto Sugar-Free Banana Nut Muffin and Bread Mix

6. The Muscle Donut High Protein Donut Mix

If you’ve never seen the words “muscle” and “donut” in a sentence together before, you’re not alone. But that’s exactly what’s going on in this protein-packed, sugar-free mix that makes six full-size or twelve mini donuts. Free of preservatives and additives, the whey protein in these donuts turns an indulgent treat into one that’s practically suitable for a post-workout breakfast.

Buy now: The Muscle Donut High Protein Donut Mix

7. Live Green Co Lentils and Green Peas Pancake Mix

Just when you thought you were adept at using healthy baking ingredients, along come lentils and green peas wanting to hop into your pancakes. You can also make tortillas, muffins, and cakes with this mix, and with so much fiber and protein per serving, you’ll probably want to. There are minimal ingredients in this mix, and the ones beyond peas and lentils, such as flax, are also functional foods.

Buy now: Live Green Co Lentils and Green Peas Pancake Mix

8. Renewal Mill Upcycled Matcha Chip Cookie Mix

Matcha is one of the healthiest ingredients out there, but not everyone enjoys its bold, grassy flavor. Get your green tea fix the sweet way with this upcycled cookie mix, which uses leftover solids from non-dairy milk production. The brown rice and chickpea flours add to that wholesome goodness, making these cookies you can feel fine about on all levels — sustainability included.

Buy now: Renewal Mill Upcycled matcha Chip Cookie Mix

9. Bob’s Red Mill Organic Seven Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix

There are so many different kinds of whole grains in this pancake and waffle mix, from ancient kamut to whole-grain rye. If you’re a fan of whole wheat pancakes, this mix will help you take things one step further in your grain adventures. And this mix makes a lot of pancakes — with seventeen servings per bag, you’ll have numerous opportunities to try different versions of the pancakes and waffles you like. Blueberry walnut, anyone?

Buy now: Bob’s Red Mill Organic Seven Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix

10. Nellie’s Free Range Eggs French Toast Mix

French toast isn’t something that you typically need to make more convenient, but for the occasions when you don’t have eggs on hand, this is pretty much perfect. This French toast mix contains a dozen eggs per bag, which translates to 11g of protein per serving. You can use it as a supplemental pancake mix, too.

Buy now: Nellie’s Free Range Eggs French Toast Mix

11. Swerve Sweets Chocolate Cake Mix

Swerve Sweeteners changed the world of sugar-free baking with their sugar-free sweetener, which blends prebiotic fiber with erythritol. This combination makes it hold up better for applications like baking, as erythritol alone crystallizes easily and can be tough to bake with. The chocolate cake mix is free of gluten, grains, and sugar, and is keto-friendly. With a base of almond and coconut flour, this mix enables you to satisfy nearly anyone’s sweet tooth with a healthful chocolate cake.

Buy now: Swerve Sweets Chocolate Cake Mix

Read next: My Favorite Healthy Baking Hack for Better-for-You Sweets

Good food
brings
people together.
So do
good emails.

What our editors love right now

Good food brings people together.
So do good emails.

  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden
  • Hidden