Editors' Pick: The Sweetest Blueberry Muffins
Photo by Jonathan Melendez
Quick Overview
Total Ready Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 18 regular-sized muffins (or 12 large muffins)
Serves: 12–18 people
Ingredients
Muffin Batter
½ cup butter (or margarine), room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 ½ cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Lemon zest (original recipe does not specify quantity; 1–2 teaspoons is the standard starting point)
Classic Original Topping
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, mixed with ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Step-by-Step Baking Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
Grease 18 cups of a standard muffin tin (or 12 cups for large-format muffins).
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and cream the mixture until it turns pale and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly to fully incorporate each egg before adding the next.
Mix in vanilla, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt until evenly combined.
Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in half the flour, followed by half the milk. Repeat with the remaining flour and milk, mixing only until no dry streaks remain (avoid overmixing to keep muffins tender).
Gently fold blueberries into the finished batter.
Divide batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups, then sprinkle the prepared sugar-nutmeg topping over each muffin.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until muffins are golden brown on top and spring back lightly when touched.
Common Reader Questions
When is lemon zest added to the batter, and how much should I use?
The recipe photo appears to have rolled oats on top of the muffins, but oats are not listed in the ingredients—Is this a photo of a different muffin recipe?
Confirming: is the topping really only sugar and nutmeg as listed, even though the photo looks like it includes oats?
Can I double this recipe and still get the same consistent results?
Can I swap all-purpose flour for almond flour or coconut flour?
View 12 additional reader questions
Top Reader Reviews
I accidentally used twice the required amount of milk, and it turned into the most fantastic blueberry cake! I poured the loose batter into a square baking pan, baked it for 20 minutes, and got the most delicious blueberry cake I’ve ever tasted.
— Community Reader
Oh my goodness, these are absolute heaven! These gently sweet, perfectly moist muffins are even better than the ones sold at my local coffee shop. My whole family was raving over them at breakfast this morning. I baked mine for 25 minutes, and the only change I made was topping them with a generous sprinkle of raw sugar. This is the best recipe I’ve tried from Recipezaar so far!
— Community Reader
These are really good and quite unique—they’re not your average dense muffin. Thanks to the creaming method and alternating addition of flour and milk, they’re basically fluffy yellow cupcakes packed with blueberries.
— Community Reader
I cut the recipe in half because I didn’t have enough blueberries, and I used another reader’s recommendation for a streusel topping: ¼ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons slightly softened unsalted butter. The muffins turned out great!
— Community Reader
I’ve made this recipe so many times I can’t even count. I always halve it and the muffins turn out perfectly every time! I agree with other readers that they taste more like blueberry cupcakes than traditional muffins, but hey, I’m not complaining. :) I’ve also swapped chocolate chips for blueberries, and those are amazing too—actually, my sons prefer the chocolate chip version.
— Community Reader
See 571 more reader reviews
Community Tested Recipe Tweaks
Crumble topping swap: Telling me to put nutmeg on these beautiful little blueberry muffins is like asking Audrey Hepburn to wear a potato sack. I say no! I use this crumb topping instead, and it turns them into perfect little blueberry coffee cakes. To make the crumb topping: Mix ½ cup sugar, ⅓ cup flour, ¼ cup butter, and 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon with a fork, then sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Fix for sinking blueberries: flour coating trick: When I made these, all my blueberries sank to the bottom even though I followed the recipe exactly. I later learned that coating the berries in a tiny bit of flour (just 1 teaspoon is enough) prevents this from happening.
Fix for sinking blueberries: no flour needed: Don’t waste time dusting your berries in flour—that’s an old wives’ tale and it’s not foolproof. I’ve tested this trick, and my method works way better: Put a small spoonful of plain batter (no blueberries) in the bottom of each muffin cup first, then add your blueberry-mixed batter on top to fill the cup. Problem solved!
Easy pan and milk swap: I used evaporated milk when I ran out of regular milk, tried another reader’s streusel topping, and baked the whole batch in a 9x13 pan for 30–35 minutes. It was wonderful, and everyone loved it!
Lemon blueberry upgrade: I tried a fantastic new tweak today: swap 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract for 1 teaspoon of lemon extract! The bright lemon and sweet blueberry combination is absolutely fabulous, so scrumptious!
See 63 more community tweaks
