The Best Blueberry Muffins
These easy blueberry muffins mix together quickly for a perfect morning treat. Soft and tender from sour cream and bursting with blueberries (use fresh or frozen!), these muffins have been a long-time family favorite. Read below for different flavor combinations and topping ideas!
Growing up, I can’t remember my mom making muffins too often, but I fell hard for them during my freshman year in college. A friend got regular deliveries of the gigantic Sam’s Club muffins and was always gracious enough to share. They were an assortment of blueberry, banana nut, and chocolate, and those have forever remained my very favorite flavors of muffins.
Years and years later, I was thrilled to land this recipe for a classic, delicious blueberry muffin. The batter is quite thick and there’s no skimping – the muffin cups are packed full which makes for generous-sized muffins once they come rolling out of the oven. They are, without a doubt, the most amazing, the most perfect blueberry muffins I have ever eaten.
Truly, the best of the best when it comes to blueberry muffins.
Fresh versus frozen blueberries
When fresh blueberries are in season, there is nothing better!
However, what if you are craving blueberry muffins in the dead of winter and the price of fresh blueberries is through the roof?
You can absolutely use frozen blueberries in this recipe. My favorite are frozen wild blueberries, but any variety will do. You do not need to thaw them or make any other adjustments to the recipe.
Blueberry muffins, step-by-step
Muffins are such a fantastic morning treat, typically made in quick bread fashion with just a bowl or two and a whisk, they come together quickly and are meant to be enjoyed warm and fresh from the oven. Here’s how we make them:
- Preheat oven and line a muffin tin with liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Whisk the sugar and the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Toss the blueberries in the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the sour cream mixture. Be sure to mix gently to ensure the muffins are not tough.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups.
- Bake until light golden brown.
Muffin pans and liners
Any standard 12-cup muffin pan will work for these muffins. I’ve had the Wilton Everglide Avanti muffin pan for ages, but it not readily available in most places anymore. If you can’t get your hands on one, my next recommendation is the USA Muffin Pan.
You can spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray or use liners. I’ve used tons of different types of liners over the years, and I absolutely prefer the basic white paper liners. You can find them at just about any grocery store or craft store, but they are incredibly inexpensive if you buy them in bulk online (and they last forever!).
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Flavor add-ins and topping ideas
If you’d like to punch up these muffins with some different flavors, here are a few ideas for you:
- Lemon-blueberry muffins: (For a taste reminiscent of the lemon blueberry bundt cake!) Whisk the zest of one lemon into the egg and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
- Orange-blueberry muffins: Whisk the zest of one orange into the egg and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
- Ginger-blueberry muffins: Whisk 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger into the egg and then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
Along the same lines of flavor add-ins, you can also add some delicious toppings for some contrasting flavors and textures. Some of my favorite ideas:
- Cinnamon-sugar streusel: Before baking, mix together ½ cup brown sugar + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the muffins then bake as directed.
- Cinnamon-sugar dipped: Once the muffins come out of the oven, melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl. Mix together ½ cup sugar and ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon in another small bowl. Once the muffins have cooled for 5 minutes, dip the top of each muffin in melted butter and then the cinnamon sugar. Return to the cooling rack.
- Drizzle with glaze: Whisk together 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 tablespoon milk + 1 teaspoon vanilla and drizzle over cooled muffins. You can replace the milk with lemon juice, orange juice, or lime juice if you’d like.
Storing and freezing blueberry muffins
There are a few different options for storing these muffins:
- Room Temperature – Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
- Refrigerator – Kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator, these muffins will stay fresh for up to 1 week.
- Freezer – Once completely cooled, wrap each muffin in plastic wrap and place in an airtight container or ziplock freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Muffin love!
More of my favorite muffins for a delicious morning treat:
- Apple-Cinnamon Muffins
- Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Muffins with Pecan Streusel
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins
If you make this blueberry muffin recipe and love it, I would so appreciate it if you would take a moment to leave a rating below. Thank you so much! ❤️️
The Best Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup (198 g) granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly, (2 ounces )
- 1¼ cups (283 ml) sour cream
- 1½ cups (255 g) frozen or fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or line with paper liners) and set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl untill combined.
- Whisk the egg in a separate medium bowl until well-combined and light-colored, about 20 seconds. Add the sugar and whisk vigorously until thick, about 30 seconds. Add the melted butter in 2 additions, whisking gently to combine after each addition. Add the sour cream in 2 additions, whisking just to combine.
- Add the blueberries to the dry ingredients and gently toss just to combine. Add the sour cream mixture and fold with a rubber spatula until the batter comes together and the blueberries are evenly distributed, 25 to 30 seconds. Small spots of flour may remain and the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter among the muffin cups (a large cookie scoop works great for this!). Bake until the muffins are light golden brown and a toothpick or thin knife inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Immediately remove muffins to a wire rack and cool for at least 5 minutes. Serve immediately or at room temperature. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Sour cream: You can substitute buttermilk or plain yogurt for the sour cream.
- Blueberries: Frozen blueberries can be used; no need to thaw them or alter the recipe.
- Flavors & toppings: See suggested combinations and instructions in post above.
- Equipment recommendations: My muffin pan / Another muffin pan / Paper liners / Large cookie scoop
- Mini muffins: This recipe will yield 24 mini muffins; bake for 10 to 14 minutes.
- Quick bread: You can use this batter to bake a blueberry quick bread. Spread it in a 9×5-inch loaf pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes.
- Storage: Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Freezing: Once completely cool, the muffins can be wrapped in plastic wrap and transferred to an airtight container or zip-top bag and frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
(Recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated)
[Photography by Dee of One Sarcastic Baker]
The muffins paired with orange juice very well. Something was off, but I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it needed vanilla extract or some lemon zest. The batch did not rise as I expected. I baked 12 regular muffins and had batter left over. Overall, the muffins were good.
Wow!!!!absolutely delious!!!!
I was really looking forwards to the blueberries muffins but I was sad when they were almost impossible to make. (Especially Seince I followed all the directions and it still didn’t turn out well.)The batter was practically all dry ingredients so they were impossible to cook. The muffins were only Ok . ( besides, who puts sour cream in blueberrie muffins) I would recommend Fannie farmer blueberrie muffins! The pic may look bad, but the muffins are great! So remember, stick with Fannie farmer when it comes to blueberrie muffins
I stumbled upon this recipe years ago and it’s the only muffin I ever make now! Thank you for sharing (my friend and family no doubt thank you as well!).
Definitely not a low-cal muffin, but a wonderful Easter breakfast item :) Thanks!
I found your recipe several years ago and have been using it ever since! We substitute frozen raspberries for the blueberries as my family prefers raspberries. I love that these muffins don’t use tons of oil and are still moist. They are my kids’ favorite breakfast! Thank you!!
Wow these were really good, Thank you :)
Can these blue berry muffins be made as mini muffins? How long would I bake
Hi Karla, Yes, I don’t see why not! I would start checking around 8 minutes.
I have been making these muffins for a couple of years now. I’ve never loved blueberry muffins and I think part of the reason is because I want a muffin to not just be a piece of cake called a muffin. These are the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever had and I make them for my family on a regular basis. Every time I make them I’m amazed at how good they are. Thank you so much for the recipe!
These were great!
We had a whole lot of blueberries around and I finally had an excuse to make them. My dad is into those blueberry muffin box mixes, but I think this has finally won him over to the “homemade is best” side ;) At least, where blueberry muffins are concerned.
They baked beautifully, tall and rounded, slightly browned tops that had a slight crunch. Sooooo full of blueberries :) My mom described it as cakey and soft.
I did make a few the recipe for my family to suit our tastes (yogurt instead of sour cream, decreased to 3/4 cup sugar, added a touch of vanilla extract), but the original would be the best I think. I only changed it to slightly decrease the calories and because my dad is a non-sweet tooth.
Hi, I have made these muffins and they are AMAZING. Also, I am flabbergasted at the comments saying they were no good. That’s gotta be on them and not your recipe! Have you ever made this recipe in a loaf form? I was wondering how to convert it, just to try. Thank you!!
Hi Kati, So glad you enjoy the muffins! I haven’t made a loaf bread with them, but I would probably use an 8-inch loaf pan and figure on increasing the bake time (will just need to check periodically for doneness – not sure how long it would take).
Hi Michelle, Don’t you love blueberry season? Thank you for this great post/recipe! I made these a few weeks ago and froze most of them. My husband and I are enjoying every bite… they’re great seimi-frozen, too. Thanks againa and prayers for your upcoming birth of baby#2!
these are the absolute BEST blueberry muffins I have ever had, Wow! Is all I can say.
Delicious. We did Half white sugar half light brown sugar and a splash of vanilla. They’re so good fresh out the oven with a little pat of butter.
Hi! I have a question. What percent of fat sour cream do you use? Here in Spain we have Greek yoghurt, which could be similar, it has 12,5 percent of fat. Will that do? I made the muffins with raisins and with normal yoghurt, so I didn’t get the same result. Although there aren’t any left up until now!!!! They weretasty anyway, but I would liketo work them out a bit better next time.
Hi Katia, I’ve never seen a fat percentage on sour cream here in the U.S. Yes, you could substitute Green yogurt for the sour cream in this recipe. Enjoy!!
Been a fan of the site for awhile, so I tried this recipe in search of a better (than my go to) recipe. I made 2 batches, one with the addition of nutmeg in it, both came out ok, but not great. They need some citrus or something else to brighten them up, and the texture wasn’t what I was hoping for. My coworkers liked them, my wife and nephew told me to keep trying or go back to my old recipe.
These muffins are delicious! I made some for my roommates and I, and they said it was the best muffins that they’ve ever had. So thank you! :)
I spent a long time looking through recipes for blueberry muffins largely because I was missing ingredients. However I decided to make these despite having no sour cream. I replaced the sour cream with plain greek yogurt and the result was delicious – I suspect they would be even better with normal yogurt or with your sour cream — great recipe
I’ll start with the end – definitely use muffin/cupcake liners if you want to be able to remove these from the pan without half of them staying in the tin. I followed the directions to “immediately remove muffins to wire rack”, and found that – even though they were cooked through, I wasn’t able to get all the muffin out. So, after a few, I left the muffins in the tin to cool a bit more, the I was able to remove them to a rack.
As for the rest of my experience, these muffins were a total fail. I bake a lot, and I can honestly say that I have not had a baking fail in years, maybe decades. I followed this recipe exactly, I found the batter very thick and gooey, and hard to fold in the flour mixture. Even after baking, the muffins have uncooked flour in them and on top. I checked them after 25 minutes and found them done, but the tops were very pale – not appetizing at all. I used fresh-picked blueberries, and found that the muffins are not sweet enough for my taste. The texture is ok, but the taste is very bland. I think I’ll stick with blueberry coffee cake, at least I know that works and tastes delicious.
BTW, when DD, who picked the blueberries and asked for me to make the muffins, saw them, she said, “these didn’t come out very good, did they?”
Nope, they did not.
Excellent recipe. I had to bake them about twice as long as the recipe states, maybe because I used frozen blueberries, but once done they came out perfect. I was looking for a moist, bakery like muffin recipe for a long time but all turned out dry and crumbly..until I made these. Thank you!
I tried this recipe and it was beautiful. Tried using chocolate chips instead of blueberries, didn’t turn out too well. Any suggestions?
Hi Janina, I actually just posted a recipe for chocolate chip muffins! https://www.browneyedbaker.com/chocolate-chip-muffins-recipe/
I tried these they turned out really bad
Does this really call for a Tablespoon of baking powder and not a Teaspoon? These look awesome!
Hi Sue, Yes, tablespoon. Enjoy!
I think the reason some peoples haven’t turned out is because they haven’t put a tablespoon of the baking powder they have just misread and used a teaspoon as I did. I remade with the correct amount of baking soda and they were beyond scrumptious!
These are good but you need to add a little bit of milk.
I say this because in mine muffins I need it.
I have made these twice now. Once I substituted low fat vanilla yogurt. Made a sweeter muffin, but very tasty. This time used low fat sour cream and smart balance. Great flavor still, just a bit lower fat. Great recipe
Made them this morning…yum yum !
These muffins were SUPER thick! That made me really happy bc I knew they would turn out. The sour cream was a bit strong (problably just the trader joes brand) and I added sugar and coconut to the top. In the oven right now :)
I love, love, *love* these muffins. My only problem is that they’re never as good the second day as they are fresh – the tops get increasingly spongy and porous looking. They still taste great, but the presentation is not as nice. Any tips?
Hi Arwen, Really no tips; some things are just naturally better the day they are made, then after they sit overnight. You could freeze them once they are cool – that will ensure they are freshest when you reheat them.
Very good! I made these the other day and feel in love with the texture and appearance. The taste, like all blueberry muffins lacks the blueberry taste. Do they make a blueberry extract?I tried almond but just tasted like almond. I loved this recipe. I used frozen organic blueberries so that might have been my problem. I will try these again.
Hi Kristi, I don’t think I’ve ever seen blueberry extract, but I know King Arthur Flour sells a lot of different flavorings, I would check there! I definitely haven’t ever seen it in a grocery store.