There is nothing more quintessentially breakfast than blueberry muffins. This recipe is easy to make and creates perfect, moist muffins packed with blueberries.
For me a blueberry muffin has to be chock full of contrasts. It should have enough sweetness to feel decadent, but balanced by the tartness of the blueberries and lemon zest. A perfect muffin also has a top that has a thin crust of spiced streusel and under it is the tender muffin, stuffed with fruit.
I tried to put as many blueberries in this muffin as it could possibly hold without losing its structure. Blueberries alone have a subtle flavor, so they are there to add some flavor, but even more moisture to the muffin.
Muffins are super easy to make, but to have a tender crumb, that doesn’t become tough, you need to mix it just enough to incorporate everything evenly, but stop before you develop too much gluten. I baked the BIG blueberry muffins in 7 tulip muffin papers and used individual, straight sided, molds, but they are just as good in regular muffin cups* baked in traditional muffin pans.
Blueberry Muffins Video Tutorial
Blueberry Muffins Ingredients
- Blueberries: Can’t have the muffins without the berries! Fresh blueberries are unbeatable, but frozen or store-bought berries work too.
- Streusel Topping: Flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter give these muffins the beautiful, crunchy topping.
- Lemon Zest and Buttermilk: These add a little zest to the muffins themselves.
Find there rest of the ingredients and full recipe below!
Frequently Asked Questions: Blueberry Muffins
Question: Can I use gluten-free flour in these blueberry muffins?
Answer: Yes. You can use any “cup for cup” gluten-free flour mix, such as King Arthur Flour gluten-free flour, Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour or cup4cup gluten-free flour.
Question: What can I use instead of buttermilk or sour cream?
Answer: You can use any kind of yogurt or crème fraîche for this recipe.
Question: Can I use sourdough discard in this recipe?
Answer: I have not tried it myself, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use it for your leavening. It will require that there is some time for the sourdough to do its work to make things rise, which means it won’t be a quick bread. If you try this, please let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Question: Do I need to use lemon zest in my blueberry muffins?
Answer: If you aren’t crazy about lemon flavor, just use a small amount of lemon zest—maybe 1/2-1 teaspoon. If you omit it completely the flavor will be a little flat. You can also use orange zest.
Question: Can I use frozen blueberries instead of fresh?
Answer: Yes. Just keep them frozen until the absolute last moment before you stir them in to the batter. If you use frozen berries, the bake time will need to be adjusted. Tip: Toss your frozen berries in a little flour before stirring into the batter and it will help them suspend in the muffin mix.
Question: I don’t have a muffin pan, what else can I bake these in?
Answer: You can make them in mini soufflé pans (like the copper molds in my photos above). You can also make them in ceramic ramekins. Use parchment paper inside both. The bake time does change based on the size of the container you’re baking in.
Question: Can I use any other fruit?
Answer: Yes. You can use any berries. I’ve also made them with peaches and rhubarb. You can use any fruit you want!
Question: Can I freeze these muffins?
Answer: Absolutely. Thaw them out and then pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes to warm them up.
You can see me make these muffins on the Breakfast Basics episode on Season 2 of Zoë Bakes on Magnolia Network!
Fun Fact: the blueberry muffin is the Minnesota State Muffin, read more about the history of how that came to be: here!
The Ultimate Blueberry Muffins Recipes
Video
Ingredients
Topping
- 1/2 cup (60g) all-purpose flour bleached or unbleached will work
- 2/3 cup (125g) brown sugar well packed
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 4 tbsp (57g) unsalted butter room temperature
Muffins
- 2 cups spoon and sweep (240g) all-purpose flour (bleached or unbleached)*
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 + 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- 6 tbsp (86g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
- 2 tbsp (30g) brown sugar
- 1 lemon zested
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 whole egg room temperature
- 1 yolk room temperature
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp (135g) sour cream or buttermilk crème fraîche or yogurt work too!
- 1 1/2 cups (175g) fresh or frozen blueberries**
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Prepare the topping by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl until it turns into uniform clumps. Refrigerate until ready to sprinkle on muffins.
- Prepare regular muffin tins with 7 LARGE liners. (You can bake regular sized muffins by dividing it into 12) I used mini copper soufflé moulds, but they are just as good made in regular muffin tins.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl, set aside.
- Cream the butter, sugars and zest together on medium speed, in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla. Add the egg and yolk, one at a time, mixing on low just until combined. It may seem a bit curdled, because it is a lot of liquid to add to that amount of butter. It will all come together in the end.
- Add half the flour and half the sour cream. Mix on low until combined. Add the remaining flour and sour cream.
- Toss the blueberries with flour and if using frozen berries immediately fold them into the batter with two or three gentle stirs. If you over mix, the batter will turn purple and then gray. Scoop into the muffin liners.
- Sprinkle the topping over the muffins. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and a tester comes out with moist, but not wet, crumbs. If you are baking smaller muffins, bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly and serve warm or at room temperature.
Rate and Review!
- If you've made this recipe, please leave a rating and review! I love to hear how you've adapted my recipes to your own tastes, so please share how it went for you. It helps other people find my recipes. Thank you!
Notes
**If you use frozen blueberries, keep them frozen until the last minute. These muffins can be frozen. Thaw them out and reheat in a warm oven for about 10 minutes to serve. What is spoon and sweep? If you use measuring cups instead of weighing your ingredients with a scale, you need to be sure to use the spoon and sweep method of measuring so you don’t use too much flour. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then sweep the top clean with a knife. Spooning the flour into the cup aerates it, so it isn’t so densely packed.
These muffins turned out perfectly. I used whole milk plain yogurt in place of sour cream. My coworkers loved them!
Wow! I was hesitant to make these because I’ve always used the Jordan Marsh recipe with excellent results, but…
Not anymore! This recipe is legit the best ever! My family raved and raved about them. Love the streusel topping!! Thanks Zoe! Another winner!!
Yum! Loved the texture and flavor. Baked with a silicone muffin pan on a cookie sheet to prevent the bottoms from over browning. Perfect!!
This muffin recipe is brilliant! I baked this recipe with a good friend because…fun with friends. It was a great bake and the muffins were so delicious. They had that “something” in their flavor that when you taste someone’s baked goods you always wonder why don’t mine turn out like this! Now I can make those muffins and people can wonder how I do it! Of course I’ll say it’s because I followed a Zoe Bakes recipe! Thank you for sharing your skill and passion for baking!
Suzanne, we’re so happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! Thank you for taking the time to leave a rating and review. Cheers!
This is my new go-to recipe for blueberry muffins! They are the perfect texture and full of yum! I used frozen blueberries and made six giant muffins. I didn’t have liners, so just sprayed my pan well and they came right out. I also used two pans stacked – as Zoe suggested – so the bottoms didn’t get too brown. I will try this recipe with raspberries, too!
I love anything blueberry/lemon and these did not disappoint. I shared with friends and they loved them too. My husband is a very picky eater and he liked them! They are definitely in my recipe box as a fav, Thank you Zoe!
A delicious muffin. I usually use weights when baking, I weighed the blueberries but 175gms was less than a cup and a half…so I went by volume since you can never have too many blueberries! I threw a couple more in for good measure. I used a regular muffin tin, tulip-shaped liners and made 12 muffins. I baked the muffins about 30 minutes for the muffin to brown. Initially, I thought I had overbaked them, seemed a touch dry but after sitting, they were better, perhaps moisture from the berries? The crumble topping and lemon zest make this muffin a standout, delish!
Yes, I found that 1 1/2 cups of blueberries equals 222 grams not 175
Perfect in every way- every recipe from Zoe is fantastic. I made 12 regular muffins and baked about 25min. The lemon zest adds an extra touch
We’re thrilled to hear it, Sarah! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. Cheers!
Fantastic muffin recipe! Made as 7 large muffins and found the larger muffin wrappers to be helpful! Used the tips/swaps and made with strawberry rhubarb! Will definitely make again!
This is my new favorite blueberry muffin recipe, and I can’t imagine another one taking its place! They are amazingly delicious! Thank you Zoe, for always sharing your awesome talent and knowledge!
I’ve been making these muffins regularly since I discovered the Zoë Bakes series and watched the episode with these muffins! Great series and great recipe! They really are the perfect muffin and I find the recipe to be forgiving if I’m in a big hurry and don’t exactly measure all my ingredients accurately! Works wonderfully with frozen blueberries as well as fresh! Thanks for the all your recipes, I’ve loved everything I’ve made! Also… Sure would love to see another season of Zoë Bakes!
I made these muffins today, but did a LOWER CALORIE version. I was pleased and would make them again. MY ADJUSTMENTS: To stay closer to my diet plan, I omitted the streusel topping, and didnt miss it. I used about 2 TBS less sugar than called for, and didnt miss the extra sugar. I used plain, non fat regular yogurt in lieu of sour cream. I replaced 1/3 (or was it 1/2?) cup of flour, with wheat bran, for extra fiber. Used vanilla, but didnt have any lemon on hand. And, added plenty of fresh blueberries.
Overall, I was very pleased, and will make this again. I realize my adjustments may not suit everyone, but I truly felt these were quite tasty and am happy with the results,
Great recipe, love the strudel topping. Sweet, great with a cup of black coffee.
Used sour cream, so batter was like a thick cake batter, easy to scoop.
This is the only blueberry muffin recipe I use. I’ve made many different recipes and this is by far the best.
Recipe was flawless! Didn’t have a good looking lemon so I used a lime with tasty results. Used sour cream for the perfect zing. Will be a repeat recipe!
These were delicious! The recipe is very thorough and easy to follow. My family of 6 all agree to replace our standard blueberry muffin recipe with Zoe’s! Thanks for the recipe!
Excellently blueberry muffin. The lemon zest adds such flavor. The use of the frozen blueberries is the key. Other recipes I’ve tried..berries sink to bottom. Definitely a keeper recipe. Perfect for brunch menu! Must try your scones now!
After you have made these blueberry muffins, you will never make another!! They are moist and so delicious with that lovely lift from the lemon zest. I am so fortunate to have access to full fat buttermilk from a local farmer. The buttermilk made the muffins taste as though there was cream cheese in them. But there wasn’t! My husband went bonkers for these. I gave some to my neighbors as a special thank you for returning a book that I borrowed.
Thank you for the review, Anna! We’re so glad you, your husband, and neighbors enjoyed the recipe. Cheers!
Made these blueberry muffins so perfect for my bunch
Absolutely the best muffin I’ve ever had! I used a mix of frozen berries and only had flavored yogurt, and they came out so moist and flavorful. You did it again Zoe! You have gotten me back to baking and I am loving it.
The best blueberry muffin recipe ever! Directions were spot on. I made 7 large muffins, but used my regular sized muffin pan, so super convenient.
Thanks Zoe!
Thank You☀️
I’m from Finland, and baked these with sourdough discard+Cream. Super delicious
Best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had. Thanks!
I made these for the first time. They are absolutely delicious!! I did freeze them and took them out of freezer and microwaved for thirty seconds and they were as good as the day I made them. Will make them again and again.
Thank you so much for sharing that! I was thinking of freezing half but they are so good I didn’t want to risk it. I will now!
Fabulous super delicious muffins!!!!!!!!!
Will definitely double the recipe next time because we loved them THAT much 🙂
Wondering if I could bake them in a loaf pan instead of a muffin tin.
Would that work well?
I’ve been wondering the same about the pan. I’d like to use a springform pan 9in. Hoping we get an answer back soon. Love this recipe so much. It’s just delicious!!!
Hi Michelle (and Dori!), the short answer is yes, however, Zoe hasn’t tried it herself so she’s not sure how long it should bake. If either of you try it, please let us know how it goes and how long you baked it!
Outstanding recipe with yields the best blueberry muffins! A favorite for my kids and adults alike