Perfect Blueberry Muffins
An incredibly easy blueberry muffin recipe that creates light, delicate, and perfect blueberry muffins. Mornings never tasted so good!
OVERVIEW
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Techniques Used: Muffin Mixing Method
A morning full of blueberry muffins is perfect! They are so delicious, soft, and with a sweet burst of juicy berries. These blueberry muffins are stemmed from my base recipe for plain muffins with added blueberries, cinnamon, and lemon. The lemon juice and zest really makes the blueberry flavor pop!
I love to whip up a batch of homemade muffins on the weekends. They’re so quick to make and will give you a comforting homey feeling.
Why this recipe is so perfect
- Everyone loves a blueberry muffin! They are an easy crowd pleaser.
- Muffin batter can be whipped up in no time and with a quick bake time you’ll have homemade muffins on your table in less than 45 minutes.
- These muffins are soft and delicate with a burst of juicy blueberries and lemon.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Flour is the main structure for the muffin. Gluten-free flour can be substituted.
Sugar sweetens the muffin slightly. Muffins are much less sweet than cupcakes so the amount used is less than in a cake recipe. White granulated sugar is recommended but can be substituted for brown sugar if desired. The texture and flavor might be slightly altered.
Baking Powder is the leavening agent for the muffins and makes them rise.
Salt rounds out the flavors of the muffin.
Egg binds the muffin together.
Milk moistens the flour to create the muffin batter. It also adds some tenderness.
Oil adds tenderness and prevents the flour from developing too much gluten. Oil works better in muffin recipes than melted butter because the oil can be more easily distributed and absorbed into the flour. Any neutral flavored oil like canola, grapeseed, or vegetable oil is recommended.
Blueberries, Cinnamon, Lemon juice, and Lemon Zest are all the wonderful flavors in this recipe. These flavorings can be substituted with similar ones to make a custom muffin recipe.
Variation Ideas
Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins: After pouring the batter in the muffin cups, top with streusel topping and bake.
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins: Omit the blueberries and cinnamon from the recipe. Add 2 tablespoons poppyseeds to the batter. Top with lemon glaze after cooling.
Chocolate Raspberry Muffins: Omit the blueberries, cinnamon, lemon juice, and lemon zest from the recipe. Add 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries and 1 cup chocolate chips or chocolate chunks to the batter.
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins: Swap the all-purpose flour with gluten-free flour blend.
How to make Perfect Blueberry Muffins
These muffins follow the Muffin Mixing Method. The muffin mixing method is a basic baking technique that helps ensure quick breads remain tender and fluffy. Let’s review!
Step 1: Mix the Dry Ingredients
All dry ingredients are whisked together in a large bowl. This includes the ground cinnamon. Although not required, you can sift the ingredients through a fine mesh strainer to make sure the muffin stays light and fluffy.
Step 2: Mix wet ingredients
Whisk together all wet ingredients including the vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a medium bowl.
Step 3: Combine
Add the liquid ingredients into the bowl with the flour mixture and use a spoon or a rubber spatula to stir until just combined. The batter will be lumpy at this point. You do not want to stir too much or your end product will become tough.
Gently stir in the frozen or fresh blueberries.
Step 4: Scoop and bake
Once the batter is combined, portion the batter into a greased muffin tin or muffin tin lined with paper liners. Bake until the tops are slightly golden brown and spring back when lightly touched. Cool for a few minutes either in the pan or on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Prep & Storage
How to prep ahead: Muffin batter can be made and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When ready to bake, portion into a muffin tin directly from the refrigerator and bake. The batter does not need to come to room temperature.
How to store at room temperature: For best results and flavor, baked muffins can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
How to store in the freezer: Let muffins completely cool and then freeze in a single layer for 1 hour until frozen solid. Then move the frozen muffins into a zipper bag squeezing out all of the air. Baked muffins can be frozen up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator and then microwave for a few seconds to refresh.
MORE RECIPES FROM BAKER BETTIE!
If you loved this delicious recipe, you might like to try these other muffin recipes!
Perfect Blueberry Muffins
An incredibly easy blueberry muffin recipe that creates light, delicate, and perfect blueberry muffins. Mornings never tasted so good!
Ingredients
- 240 grams (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 10 grams (1 tablespoon) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 151 grams (⅔ cup, 160 milliliters) milk (skim, 1%, 2%, whole, or dairy-free), room temperature
- 113 grams (½ cup, 120 milliliters) neutral-flavored oil (canola, vegetable, safflower, grapeseed)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 250 grams (2 cups) blueberries, fresh or frozen
Instructions
Prep:
- At least 30 minutes before baking, measure out the milk (151 grams, ⅔ cup) and set it out with the egg (1 large) to come to room temperature. Measure out the rest of the ingredients.
- Position an oven rack to the center position. Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C.
- Prep your muffin tins with muffin liners.
Make the Batter:
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour (240 grams, 2 cups), sugar (200 grams, 1 cup), baking powder (10 grams, 1 tablespoon), salt (¼ teaspoon), and cinnamon (1 teaspoon).
- In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together the egg, milk, oil (113 grams, ½ cup), vanilla extract (1 ½ teaspoons), lemon zest (2 tablespoons), and lemon juice (2 tablespoons) until well combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl.
- Stir with a spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. This should only take about 30 seconds of mixing. The batter will be lumpy.
- Gently fold in the blueberries (250 grams, 2 cups).
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups, leaving about ½-inch from the top. Optional: sprinkle coarse sugar over the tops of the cups.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly golden brown and the tops spring back when gently pushed or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check on your bake at about the halfway mark, and if it looks as though it is not baking evenly, rotate the pan.
- Set the muffin trays on a cooling rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
- Store uneaten muffins covered in foil or plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
To Make Mini Muffins: portion the batter into a mini muffin pan that is either greased or lined with mini paper liners. Bake for about 10-11 minutes.
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65 Comments on “Perfect Blueberry Muffins”
These look phenomenal! I’m on the never-ending hunt for the best blueberry muffins. I’ll have to give these a shot this Saturday morning!
I’ll take one of those muffins slathered with butter. Man, these look delicious!
Oh, if only home ec class had explained it so simply…My first attempt in years at muffins, and using the Muffin Method described worked wonderfully! I did not have milk so used 1 c of moist pumpkin puree (yep,it’s that time of year) instead of the milk. They were a hit!
Last night after seeing the blueberry muffin post, I used the basic muffin recipe, substituting 1 c coffee for the milk (again no milk in the house), adding 1 1/2 c frozen blueberries (they are wild ones from around the farm, so are reallly small) and cinnamon (not sure how much sprinkled out of the jar) to the dry ingredients, another success. The texture was sooo light, but yes, the family wanted a bit more sweetness. Next time. Many Thanks!
These muffins really do look perfect! I bake lots of muffins but I don’t have a good go-to blueberry muffin recipe. I think this one will be it!
Can I substitute blueberry with bananas?
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I'm sorry it didn't work out for you Jill! Do you live somewhere very humid? Flour is very temperamental and just a slight variation in humidity or elevation can throw things off. If you do decide to try it again you might add a few extra TBSP of flour to see if that helps!
This recipe sucks, to sticky.
BakerBettie I live in Canada and I used my good wild Saskatoon for my muffins 🙁
These muffins are delicious! I live in Perth, Western Australia and it is 30 degrees Celsius outside . I had no problem with the heat or humidity and found them very moist and tasty! Thanks for the recipe I will use it again!
my secret blueberry muffin recipe, enjoy
Mine were a little sticky….I didn’t have time to wait on my eggs to get to room temp due to all my little kiddos giving me the puppy dog eyes of hunger waiting on muffins! It wasn’t so bad it didn’t work ok and they still tasted yummy.
Is there a trick to keep more of the blueberries away from the bottom of the tin cups? A lot of mine were bottom heavy in the berry dept leaving the tops kinda empty of fruit. Sad little empty tops! I did add a sprinkle of Sugar In The Raw on top before baking and it spread making a lovely sweet crust. By nap time, I had no muffins left, only little crumblies in the bottom of the container so thats a thumbs up in our home! Thanks for sharing!
I put a tablespoon of the four mixture into the bowl of blueberries and mixed them so the flour would coat them all well. They were gently folded into the mixture after the batter was mixed, right before they went into the muffin tin. This is a trick I picked up from ATK and keeps the berries from sinking to the bottom before the batter sets up.
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Just tried this recipe with blueberries and black berries and they were wonderful. My only problem with them was that they didn’t rise very well. Is there something I can do to get them to rise more and be a little more fluffy?
I made these today with my daughter, they came out great! The other kids and the husband loved them too. Thanks Baker Bettie
Next I need a good cinnomin roll/sticky bun recipie
I made these today and they are really good! I substituted buttermilk for the plain milk, and sprinkled turbinado sugar on top of them. Definitely a winner, though they are *not* muffins that raise very high, even if you fill the muffin cups a little more. But that does not make them taste bad at all! 🙂 This recipe gets a permanent spot in my files.
I just discovered your site today, and this is the first recipe that I decided to try. My family loved them! My husband even asked me to put the rest of them in the freezer so that he wouldn’t eat them all. Thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe. I look forward to baking even more great goodies from your site in the future!
Another Canadian trying this recipe and I LOVE it. I have been on the hunt for a blueberry muffin recipe and this one is perfect. My new go to recipe. Yum!
Made these twice, very yummy! Added chocolate chips to a batch, and another a bit more lemon. 3yr old and husband ate them up 🙂
I’m so glad that you and the family loved them Lucy! Makes my heart happy. My husband would definitely prefer chocolate chips over the blueberries. I probably need to do that for him soon!
does it have to be self raising flour?
No Stephanie! You don't want self rising flour here. You want plain flour (also know as all-purpose flour)! Self rising flour already has salt and baking powder mixed in it. You don't want that for this recipe. I rarely, if ever, write recipes using it because I like to control how much salt and leavening are in the batter!
BakerBettie what if you dont have baking powder? 🙁 could you use baking soda?
Stephanie Ji, baking soda and baking powder are not interchangeable. If you DO have self rising flour you can substitute that for the flour and leave out the baking powder and the salt.
BakerBettie the other day i was making another muffin recipe the other day but when i mixed my dry and wet ingredients, i ended up making a dough. i freaked out but i put it in the oven anyways but when i took it out the insides were still raw and the dough did not rise at all. i used just plain all purpose flour but i didn't put any baking powder in it. do you think that's the problem? or is it because i mixed it wrong. i had no idea muffin batter needs to be folded so i just kinda tried to stir it and stuff
Stephanie Ji Yes, the baking powder would have definitely helped with the rise, but muffins shouldn't be a dough consistency either. It should be more of a batter. Sounds like the recipe was either bad, or your measured too much flour. Make sure you fluff up the flour and very lightly spoon it into your measuring cups and level it off. Don't pack it down at all! The steam from the liquid in your batter and the eggs will help with some of the rising, but baking powder definitely does a lot of the heavy lifting.
can we use dried blueberries?
Made. These this morning turn out great definitlyill make again could I use strawberries instead of blueberries
Awesome Lloyd! The strawberries sound great too!
You can. It's not quite the same, but you could reconstitute the blueberries by soaking them in warm water for a while before using them. Just make sure you drain them well.
Thank you for the advise! We were going to make blueberry muffins for my school's fundraising day. But turns out we didn't have fresh blue berries!
I may have overlooked it, but how many muffins is the recipe supposed to make? I had a ton of batter! Not complaining, more muffins for me! Delish 🙂
This was by far the best muffin I have ever tasted! Thank you so much for such a wonderful mix!
Wow Jenn! What a compliment. Thank you! These are my favorite too!
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Can I use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose and if so, is it the same measurements?
You can. And if you want to substitute it completely you should subtract 1/4 cup of flour. So 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour. The rule of thumb is to subtract 2 TBSP per cup when substituting for whole wheat flour. I would suggest however, to only substitute half of the amount. It will give you a much butter texture. Whole wheat flour has both of the bran and germ in it and this can lead to a much heavier and rough texture to your baked good. I suggest using 1 cup ap flour, and 3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP whole wheat flour.
Here is more information about flours and substituting them if you are interested https://bakerbettie.com/varieties-flour/
These are in the oven right now, but I licked the bowl clean! I used half whole wheat and a smidgen less sugar to feel better for choosing this recipe over the healthier recipe 😉
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Oh my, they look absolutely delicious. I will give them a try this Saturday, I happen to have a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer. I can hardly wait! 🙂
Is it okay if I use canned Blueberries? 🙂
Yes, just make sure that you drain them very well.
I really want to try this however just noticed that you left out the butter in the recipe?? So I”m confused – I saw on your other post “Basics for beginners” to start with the butter but the print out version of this recipe does not list butter? Was it intentionally left out?
Hi Michelle! This recipe does not use butter. It uses oil as the fat. Typically quick breads and muffins use a liquid fat instead of a solid fat. I’m not sure where you are talking about where I say “Start with the butter.”
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This looks fantastic! I’m going to try this recipe really soon!
Lt me know how it goes Natalia!
Hi! Made these tonight for a Mother’s Day brunch tomorrow. They are fluffy and delicious! One question, my tops were flat and not pretty and rounded like yours. Any ideas? My baking powder is not old. Just thought you might have an idea.
Side note – I made your cinnamon bread (with the Vietnamese cinnamon as you suggested) a couple of months ago. Aside from it being the most beautiful thing I’ve ever baked it was the best bread I’ve ever had! My husband and I destroyed both loaves in 2 days. Thank you!!!
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I had a big container of blueberries that had somehow been forgotten and were starting to shrivel, so I decided to try this recipe in order to use them up and give them new life! Man, they came out perfect – moist, light and springy. I like the added touch of cinnamon, it gives them some warmth. My husband, toddler and I gobbled them right up and I looked like a champ for pulling this out of my hat in less than half an hour!
I used coconut oil since it is what I had on hand, and I would not hesitate to use it again. I made sure to warm it enough that it was liquified first, then whisked it in with the other liquid ingredients quickly so that it didn’t solidify in chunks. Worked great.
I never knew that making excellent muffins from scratch could be so easy. I think all this time I had been over-mixing them. Now that I know the proper technique I don’t think I will bother using muffin mix anymore.
I forgot to add – for me, this recipe yielded 16 muffins.
That makes me so happy to hear that your family enjoyed them! Thank you so much for the feedback!
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Would this recipe work with blueberry preserves? Like the Comstock ones used for topping cheesecakes. I’m in a tropical country where fresh blueberries are non-existent and frozen blueberries are hella expensive. *sheepish*
Hi Macy! That is not something I have ever tried, but I bet it would! I would suggest swirling a little through the batter right before you scoop them into the muffin tins.
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I’ve been making this recipe regularly for several years now, and it’s always delicious and never fails, thank you!! It makes a great Sunday breakfast, with leftovers for Monday morning before work. If I don’t have a fresh lemon on hand I substitute 3 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice. I also like to add 1/2 teaspoon allspice.
Love all your recipies – can’t wait to make these! Thank you again!
You’re welcome! Enjoy!
Hello Bettie – I made your blueberry muffins and all I can say is OMG! As you in past I only made the box kind with the canned blueberries. Well never again! These were quick, easy to make and delicious. I happen to had 2 friends over otherwise i would have eaten the 12 myself! Thank you again!