Blueberry Muffins
These from-scratch blueberry muffins are absolutely amazing. The crumb is moist and tender and they are topped with lemon zest and sugar!
I have another recipe for blueberry muffins on this blog. They are good. But these? These muffins are phenomenal.
The crumb is so moist and tender. Honestly – I’ve never had a from-scratch muffin turn out as delicious.
This could be helped along by the fact that these muffins are topped with a divine concoction of lemon zest and sugar. But really, the muffin itself takes the cake and I am excited to try the base muffin recipe with other add-ins (think: chocolate chips).
The great thing about these delectable morsels is they can be made with fresh or frozen berries.
Living in a winter tundra with a poor selection of fresh produce and unwilling to pay $36 for a pint of sub-par fresh blueberries, I chose to use frozen…and the result was stellar.
Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Lemon-Sugar Topping:
- ⅓ cup (71 g) sugar
- Zest from one lemon
Muffins:
- 2 cups frozen blueberries, or 2 cups fresh
- 1 ⅛ cups plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 ½ cups (355 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons (57 g) butter, melted and cooled slightly
- ¼ cup oil, vegetable or canola
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the topping, stir together sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside.
- For the muffins, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- Rinse one cup frozen berries under cold water and spread on a double layer of paper towels to dry well. Bring remaining one cup berries and 1 teaspoon sugar to simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, mashing berries with a spoon several times and stirring frequently, until the berries have broken down and the mixture is thickened and reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 6-8 minutes.
- Transfer to a small bowl and cool to room temperature, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Toss the berries that have dried on the paper towels in with the flour mixture. Whisk remaining 1 1/8 cups sugar and eggs together in a medium bowl until thick, about 45 seconds. Slowly whisk in the butter and oil until combined. Whisk in the buttermilk and vanilla until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold egg mixture into flour mixture until just moistened. The batter will be lumpy with a few dry spots of flour – don’t overmix. This is the key to moist and tender muffins.
- Using ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill the muffin cups until they are about 3/4 full. Spoon a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture into the center of each mound of batter. Using a skewer (or a chopstick), gently swirl the berry filling into the batter using a figure eight motion. Sprinkle lemon sugar evenly over the muffins.
- Bake until the top of the muffins are golden and just firm, 17-18 minutes. Cool muffins in the muffin tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Hi! These look fantastic! Can I sub butter for the oil?
you can definitely experiment and try – it will likely change the texture of the muffins a bit.
Made these muffins for my Sunday school class. Everyone loved them and several requested the recipe. I didnt make the syrup but added fresh blueberries. Made another batch for my family who also enjoyed them. Thanks for a great blueberry muffin recipe.
Do these freeze well?
Yes, they do.
Truly delicious! I didn’t have time for the blueberry syrup and used about 1.5 cups of frozen blueberries. This one is going in the binder!!!
The family loves these!
These were absolutely delicious! I made a double recipe and even though I have a family of 7, I’m pretty sure I ate 3/4ths of them! They were some of the best muffins I have ever made. I didn’t have buttermilk and subbed it with half milk and half blueberry yogurt. It was still amazing!
Made this tonight! Very good we loved them!
We loved these! I slightly overcooked them because they didn’t look done at first glance, but that was my fault. Next time I’ll tap the tops to see if they’re set rather than trusting my eyes. They were still delicious! Thanks for the great recipe, Mel!
These were amazing, even using an all-purpose gluten free flour. Soooo sweet though. While the sugar is definitely part of the appeal for the family, has anyone made them with a little less sugar? Would I need to substitute anything else to make sure the dry-wet ingredients have the same ratio?
These are soooooo good!!! My son is dairy free so I used dairy free “butter” and cashew milk yogurt in place of the buttermilk. They baked up beautifully. The jam swirl is worth the extra step!
Hi Mel,
Just browsing your muffin recipes (Friday night!) and clicked over from the blueberry yogurt oat recipe. I’ve been making this recipe for 10+ years! This is my very favorite recipe for blueberry muffins (via CI) after trying a bunch of different recipes when we moved to Maine- gotta have a killer blueberry muffin recipe if you live in Maine, right? Instead of making the syrup/compote, I always sub homemade blueberry jam- about a teaspoon per muffin, swirled in. I realize not everyone has jam in their pantry, but it makes this recipe so much faster and equally delicious. It streamlines the prep down to something I can face early in the morning. I also always use Demerara/raw/sanding sugar on top (scrunched with the lemon)- makes such a sparkly, crunchy lid. So, so good!
Hi Mel- love your recipes! Made this for the first time tonight. My muffins look nothing like your picture. All of my topping seemed to have melted into the top of the muffin, so they look like they have no topping. Haven’t tasted yet but looking forward to them! Any suggestions?
Did the topping sink down into the muffin?
Made these today and doubled recipe! These are perfect!!! I’d use 1/2 cup more blueberries in the batter next time! I ‘covered’ 1/2 the tops with Sparkling Sugar and Lemon zest and rest with just sparkling sugar!! That blueberry syrup is to die for!! Wish I could post a pic!
These were delicious – made them with my 13 year old daughter and we both loved them!
I make these (the night before) & scrambled eggs before we go skiing & they are divine!!! Thanks for the recipe!!
The muffins are amazing. The crumb is tender and light. The only concern was the number of dirty dishes but the muffins are so delicious that I will make them again. I agree with your comment and this will become my muffin base too. Next up will be the addition of chocolate chips in lieu of blueberries or maybe butterscotch and white chocolate chips. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Mel, I was wondering if this could be made as a loaf bread? and if so what adjustments would you make if any?
I haven’t tried that but you could definitely experiment!
I usually substitute our own homemade yogurt for buttermilk, but it has just occurred to me that because we make the yogurt with nonfat dry milk, they would have different fat content. Nonetheless these turned out great!
I didn’t use the syrup method as this morning I need something fast and portable. Thanks for the hint in the note.
Every recipe I try from you turns out great. Thank you.
I gave his recipe only 2 points, so note that I’m not American and I’m no expert on muffins which don’t exist in my culinary culture. My son, who is half American and occasionally eats muffins outside of the house, asked me to make them. I chose this recipe based on description and reviews as my first blueberry muffin recipe ever.
Despite my lack of expertise I think your readers deserve to know why these muffins are not for everyone.
First- the positive. They rose nicely and the blueberry filling was very tasty.
However, for my taste:
-these muffins tasted more like cake than like muffins one can get in a bakery
-they were much too sweet, even without the topping
-they tasted too much like baking powder ( I bet they would rise with a smaller amount of powder, so perhaps that should be tried)
-I found them time consuming too make, too many dishes dirties in preparation etc.
I feel like there must be a better recipe for our needs somewhere out there, more like a breakfast muffin, less like desert.
Dear Mel,
Our family enjoys so many of your recipes for things from meals to treats to holidays (all but one of my holiday recipes are yours…and if you had a cornbread stuffing on your site I am confident I would use that too). In fact, we have a saying around our house ,”Mel never fails!”
I just wanted to encourage you though, your recipes are more than just a way to feed others. They can bring joy in dark places. I have a sweet friend who is losing her battle to cancer. She had a good enough day to pick blueberries last weekend (because she wasn’t going to let cancer steal that joy!). She called me yesterday and asked me if I would pick up her bluberries and make “those blueberry muffins you make for Bible study” (your recipe). I shared the recipe with her long ago, but she just is not able to make them. The muffins are in the oven right now and as they bake I am so thankful that you have gifted me with this recipe so that I can serve her in a way that brings joy to her in such a difficult time. Thank you for all of your hard work
Kara
*i tried to fill in all of the stars on the review, but from my phone it only filled in 4 1/2. This is definitely a 5+Star recipe!!!
Oh, Kara – your comment made me smile and also get teary-eyed. Thanks for sharing about your dear friend. Funny how hearing things like this can instantly put life into perspective. Thank you! I hope your friend loved the muffins and that they lifted her spirits…thanks for the reminder to serve where we can to whoever needs it.
My son Alexander and I made these . We added white chocolate chips which made them even more delectable!
These really are THE BEST blueberry muffins!!
The blueberry syrup didn’t turn out great. It was only enough for 6 muffins and was too thick to swirl into the batter. Thoughts?
Great!
I think I really messed up the blueberry syrup…it only made enough for six muffins and was just a thick mass of sticky blueberry peels so swirling it into the batter wasn’t really an option. Thoughts?
Sometimes dolloping little bits of blueberry syrup will do the trick, without swirling. Someone else commented I think that they put half the batter in the muffin tin, spoon in some blueberry syrup and then adding the other half of the batter and baking that way?
No doubt this recipe required more preparation time as compared to the blueberry cream cheeze muffins, its still worth taking the extra time to make this. The blueberry fillings in the muffins together with the lemon sugar toppings makes these muffins stands out.
I just made these without the blueberry syrup step OR the lemon sugar. Just plain jane blueberry muffins that were quick and anything but ‘plain jane’. Seriously. Delicious! My forever go-to from here on out, I think. And maybe someday I’ll get fancy and try the extra embellishments. But for anyone who was scared off by the extra steps – they’re not necessary and you will still get a yummy muffin!
THESE ARE THE BEST! I HAVE A GLUTEN INTOLERENCE, SO I SUBBED IN MY GLUTEN-FREE FLOUR, AND ADDED A TEASPOON OF SOUR CREAM TO KEEP EM MOIST. MY KIDS LOVE THESE, AND THEY FREEZE WONDERFULLY. THANKS AGAIN MEL!
I absolutely love this recipe! Blueberry season is in and I’m gonna be baking these babies every week! Just wanted to know if I can sub more butter for the oil?
I think that would work!
I’ve loved these muffins immensely the past 4 times I’ve made them…but today I ran out of white flour and used whole wheat instead. They turned out suprisingly awesome! Obviously not quite as tender as usual but still definitely delicious and none of the less discerning palates (read: the kids) could tell the difference. I ground the flour with my Wonder Mill using the pastry setting so I’m sure that had something to do with it. I think I might just make them this way forever!
So good to know!
I wanted to make 6 jumbo muffins. Would this recipe be okay for that? What temperature should I bake them at as I want them to come out like the ones from cafes.
I haven’t made jumbo muffins with this recipe, but I’m sure you could try – I would bake them per the recipe and add time as needed.
Thank you so much! Do you have any recipe for jumbo muffins as well?
I’ll give these a try in my jumbo pan tomorrow and let you know!
Can you make mini muffins with this recipe and do I need to adjust anything?
I haven’t tried it, but it should work pretty well (swirling the blueberry filling into the batter might get a little tricky).
How much is the measurement of 1 cup equivalent to in metric terms please? Also is powdered sugar, caster sugar? Than You
You can google a conversion calculator if you need the measurements a different way – I don’t use metric measurements so I don’t calculate them. Sorry!
Are these muffins good the next day?
Yes, I think so.
Amazing
Made these for “breakfast for dinner”. My five yr old declared them “Muffin candy!” 🙂 they were delish!
Is this a recipe that can be used in a high altitude
Sure – most of the recipes on my site I’ve made at high altitude but I can’t guarantee 100% results, of course, as everyone’s climate/altitude is different.
Have you ever baked this in a loaf pan? So like a blueberry muffin bread? Just wondering if you have and how it turned out 🙂
No, but I think someone in the comment thread above may have tried it.
I have done this! It turned out really well actually, I made it that way after I ran out of cupcake liners but still had tons of batter left. It disappeared in seconds! 🙂
Yes, I did bake it in a loaf pan. AMAZING. I think I doubled the recipe and came up with 2 standard sized loaves and one mini loaf. I don’t remember exactly though, but I do remember it was awesome. Making it again for teacher appreciation week!!