This easy recipe yields a dozen of the softest, fluffiest, most deliciously buttery blueberry muffins. Topped with a crunchy cinnamon brown sugar streusel, these rival any bakery muffin, but come together quickly in your own kitchen. They’re prepared with simple ingredients, so you can be biting into a fresh, warm blueberry muffin in under an hour.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos and helpful success tips.
Muffins are a perennial favorite because they’re quick and easy to make and the flavors are endless (just like scones). Everyone appreciates a fresh batch of muffins and, best of all, muffins double as breakfast and snack. (Or in the case of double chocolate muffins… dessert!)
But when it comes to muffin varieties, blueberry muffins hold the crown. Nothing compares to the classic blueberry muffin, and today I’m showing you exactly how to prepare my very best version.
This is my family’s favorite blueberry muffins recipe, and going by the hundreds of 5-star reviews it’s received, it’s a family favorite for many other home bakers, too!
One reader, Jes, commented: “Best blueberry muffins I have ever had—no bakery or store or restaurant that I’ve ever visited has ever produced a blueberry muffin that could compare to this. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Sara, commented: “Best blueberry muffins I have ever had in my 80 years! ★★★★★”
And another reader, Kathy, commented: “This truly is my favorite blueberry muffin recipe. You just can’t go wrong with it. Everyone loves the streusel topping. ★★★★★“
Why Are These Our Favorite Blueberry Muffins?
They’re a texture lover’s dream with a buttery soft crumb, juicy blueberries, and a sweet crunch on top. They’re not as large and dense as my jumbo blueberry muffins and have a little more flavor from the brown sugar and butter.
These muffins stand out from the rest because they’re:
- Buttery and moist
- Soft and cakey, not dense
- Easy to prepare
- Made with EXTRA blueberries (and you can use fresh or frozen)
- Topped with an easy 3-ingredient sweet streusel
Since I first developed this blueberry muffin recipe, I’ve baked dozens of variations—swapping blueberries for apples, peaches, and other fruits. In fact, this blueberry muffin recipe quickly turned into my go-to base muffin recipe, a batter you can turn into infinite muffin flavors. I also have the recipe in my newest cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
How to Make the Best Blueberry Muffins
There are no secret ingredients or complicated steps in this blueberry muffin recipe. You only need a few bowls and a mixer… and a muffin pan, of course!
- Whisk the dry ingredients: Flour, leaveners, and salt.
- Mix the wet ingredients: Butter, sugars, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.
- Combine wet & dry, then add milk: You can use any type of milk, dairy or nondairy, or even buttermilk (see Notes).
- Spoon into muffin pan: Fill those liners all the way to the top!
- Add streusel topping: Just brown sugar, cinnamon, and chopped walnuts. See below for suggested alternatives.
- Bake!
That’s it! The sour cream is the magical ingredient because it adds so much moisture and produces the softest blueberry muffins ever. If you don’t have sour cream, you can use yogurt like we do in lemon blueberry muffins. Or you can use buttermilk to replace both the milk and the sour cream.
How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
For tall bakery-style domed muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a high temperature, and then lower the temperature while keeping the oven door closed. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is reduced, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of my muffin recipes. (These crumb cake muffins are an exception to the rule!)
Have I mentioned what a treat these are with a swipe of homemade honey butter, too? Cinnamon butter is also an amazing pairing with these muffins!
It depends on the recipe. My team and I wouldn’t consider these healthy blueberry muffins because they’re made with butter, flour, and sugar. However, they’re homemade and you know exactly what’s in them, vs. something store-bought. If you are looking for a healthier alternative, you’ll appreciate these blueberry banana muffins, bran muffins, or applesauce muffins.
Absolutely. You can simply omit the nuts, or swap the streusel here for the crumb topping from this recipe for peach streusel muffins. Or skip the streusel topping entirely, and just top the muffins with some coarse sparkling sugar for a sweet crunch that’s also pretty!
Yes! If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before adding to the batter.
You can toss the blueberries with a Tablespoon of flour before you add them to the batter, but it’s not really necessary here because the muffin batter is so thick.
How to Freeze Blueberry Muffins
You can freeze the muffins for up to 3 months. Cool completely and then place the muffins in a freezer-friendly container or bag. When ready to eat, thaw in the refrigerator (overnight) or at room temperature on the counter. To warm up, microwave the thawed muffins for about 20 seconds or bake at 300°F (149°C) for 6–10 minutes.
Blueberry Muffin Variations
- Blueberry Muffin Cookies
- Blueberry Muffin Bread
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Sparkling Jumbo Blueberry Muffins
- Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins
- Blueberry Almond Power Muffins
- Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
Favorite Breakfast Recipes
- Breakfast Casserole (so easy!)
- Homemade Bagels & Homemade English Muffins
- Perfect Homemade Quiche
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Scones Recipe
My Best Blueberry Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These blueberry muffins are buttery, soft, and moist. For that bakery-style goodness, add an easy cinnamon brown sugar topping. This thick muffin batter combined with my initial high oven temperature trick guarantees tall muffin tops. Prepared with basic ingredients and a couple mixing bowls, you’ll appreciate this easy breakfast recipe.
Ingredients
Topping
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (67g) chopped walnuts (or pecans)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Muffins
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream or plain/vanilla yogurt, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (210g) fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or use muffin liners. Set aside.
- For the topping: Mix all of the topping ingredients together. Set aside.
- For the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract on medium speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until combined. Batter is thick and creamy. Fold in the blueberries.
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them all the way to the top. Spoon brown sugar topping on each, gently pressing it down into the surface so it sticks. Bake for 5 minutes at 425 then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 18–20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 23–25 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked & cooled muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature before enjoying.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream: Sour cream adds so much moisture. Plain yogurt is a great substitute—I recommend plain Greek yogurt, any fat content. Unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy. I recommend avoiding nonfat milk, however.
- Can I Use Buttermilk? Yes, you can use buttermilk in this recipe. Use it to replace BOTH the sour cream and milk. Use 3/4 cup (180ml).
- Blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw.
- Can I Make the Streusel Without Nuts? Yes! You can simply omit the nuts, or swap the streusel here for the crumb topping from this recipe for peach streusel muffins. Or skip the streusel topping entirely, and just top the muffins with some coarse sparkling sugar for a sweet crunch that’s also pretty!
- Why the initial high oven temperature? As instructed, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, then lower it. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up and sets the tall muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I do this in all my muffin recipes including zucchini muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, and banana muffins, too.
- Jumbo & Mini Muffins: For a jumbo muffin pan: 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes for a total of 27–30 minutes. Makes about 6. For mini muffins: 350°F (whole time) for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
- Quick Bread: Here is my blueberry muffin bread, which is essentially the same recipe in a loaf pan.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated ingredients should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly.
Reader Comments and Reviews
My partner has never been a fan of blueberry muffins. I made these yesterday and he has already had three. They are delicious! They are perfectly moist and the brown sugar topping adds so much. Looking forward to trying other muffin varieties.
Have made loads of your recipes before but first time making these muffins.. Turned out lovely thanks for another yummy recipe and all the useful tips.
I made these for the first today. My husband said they were legitimately the best muffins he’s ever had. Needless to say I will be making these again!
These turned out soo good, and I had to use gluten free flour and added two scoops of collagen for more protein! The grandsons were eating store bought muffins for breakfast, and I couldn’t find my old recipe I used when my sons were small. Found this one and am so glad I did. I’m wondering if the trick of 5 minutes in a very hot over helped develop a bit of crunchy crust over the moist insides!
Thank you!
I usually try to make something special for our breakfast on sundays! This morning I made these Blueberry Muffins! I wanted to see if it was different from my Blueberry Muffin recipe. Oh My Goodness! Yes, its different and oh so delicious! A few more steps than my recipe, but oh so worth the effort. Its makes 14 or 15 and we had plenty to take to a family member who is not feeling well. The muffins are tall and full of blueberries. I used the liners, left off the nuts, but sprinkled a little brown sugar on top.. I used frozen blueberries and they did great. I didn’t have milk so I used half and half. My husband thought he had returned to a fancy bed and breakfast. Made his day and mine by making these delicious Blueberry Muffins!
Thank You Sally!
Will definitely make these again!
Can u make it for diabetics using monk fruit?
Is there a receipe?
Hi Sally, what’s the minimum would you recommend if I’d like to reduce the amount of sugar in the batter?
Hi Pamela, Sugar is used for moisture and texture in baked goods as well as taste. You can certainly try reducing the sugar, but the resulting texture will be different than intended. You may enjoy our Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins that use honey instead!
I made these because my boyfriend wanted blueberry muffins and I trust this site’s recipes! He said it was the best thing I’ve ever made over my French silk pie recipe! Making these again tonight 🙂
Don’t know what I did but mine made 24 muffins. I used frozen blueberries and probably was closer to 2 cups of them. I didn’t put the streusel due to sugar concerns. The muffins are delicious. I love your recipes! Coming from a baker of 65 years, that’s a big compliment!
Even my blueberry muffin adverse parents loved these! They have such a lovely light texture. I used greek yoghurt and 1.25 cups of frozen blueberries. My muffin tin may have been deeper than the one used in the listed recipe as I got 10 muffins (cooking times: 5 mins on 220C and then 20 mins on 180C) Still light and moist after 6 days! Thank you from the UK Sally!
These muffins are great! I added the zest of 1 lemon to the batter before adding flour & milk and I used vanilla yogurt (reduced white sugar by 2tbs). I made trail mix a couple weeks ago and had mixed nut crumbs leftover from chopping; this muffin topping was the PERFECT use for those! Thanks for your fantastic recipes Sally!
What would happen if I wanted to add more sour cream? Would I cut back on another ingredient like the butter? I like the taste of sour cream in muffins.
Hi Giovanni, Adding more sour cream would require some additional recipe testing for us to give you a confident answer on how to adjust the recipe. For the best results, stick with the amounts listed.
My family really liked them but I think they taste “eggy.” Not sure why so may not make again.
LOVE the recipe but i’m curious, where do you add the milk?
Hi Daisy, You’ll add the milk in step 4 when you add the dry ingredients to the wet.
I tried this recipe for the first time and followed it precisely using a scale to measure. They taste fantastic. There are a couple issues though. I used frozen berries. I ran them under cold water until it ran clear. That helped keep the blue/gray down. The berries were very small. Because of that I should have used a little bit less. The structural integrity of the muffin suffered slightly. Still tolerable though. The real issue was the topping. There was way too much. I suspected so as I was applying but wanted to use it all to make the recipe precise. Next time I will use 1/4 of the amount. My muffins have a complete crust on top. Aside from being a little messy, it hindered the rise. I made 14 muffins and next time I will extend that to 16.
Love, love , love these muffins!! Instead of the regular sized muffins, I made 6 giant sized muffins! I followed the recipe as written but just upped the baking time about 5 or 6 minutes! They turned out beautifully!!Thanks Sally for giving me my go to blueberry muffin recipe! They were delicious!!
Love, love, love these muffins!! Instead of making the regular sized muffins, I made 6 giant sized muffins! They turned out beautifully! Just had to bake them for about 5 to 6 minutes longer! Thanks Sally for giving me my go to blueberry muffin recipe! DELICIOUS!!!!!
Will certainly be making these again. I made a batch of muffins using this recipe but added various fruits (blueberry, banana, raspberry) to the muffins and it worked out just fine, so feel free to get creative with your flavors. My family loved them, as did I. The lovely little streusel topping is such a nice touch, too.
I don’t understand
They are so good like I don’t even understand
Love these muffins, made them many times! I add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the batter as well as the topping just to add a bit of extra spice.
Tender, moist, delicious. Sally’s Banking Addiction is my go to for baked goods. @Sally – you know how to “get ‘r done”. 🙂
These muffins were amazing and super easy to make. They were so good
OMG, these muffins are SOOOO delicious. LOVE the crunch and sweetness that the crumble adds, and sooo SOFT in the inside. Hubby normally isn’t a muffin kind of guy and he even said these were SO GOOD… Kids gobbled them up so quickly and asked for seconds. This recipe will definitely be on repeat. Thank you so much for sharing this!!!
Great recipe! Light and fluffy, walnuts on top added the perfect crunch!
Hey Sally!
I’m allergic to walnuts so is there any other thing I can do to the topping?
Thank you!
Hi Audrey! You can leave the nuts out with no other changes. Enjoy!
Hi all,
If I just want to make half dozen of muffins, do I simply cut down half the ingredients? Thanks!!
Hi Iman! That *should* work, but we haven’t tested it. For best results, you may consider making the full batch and freezing half the muffins for another time. Happy baking!
I’m making them for the second or third time tonight, saving this recipe forever.
These were amazing muffins….I will definitely make them again and again!!
LOVE, LOVE , LOVE this recipe! It’s my go-to muffin recipe! I’ve had people tell me that they are the best muffins they’ve had! I often change up the fruit with pineapple and strawberry or peach pieces. I just add a little more flour if it’s a juicier fruit. I’ve also tried different combinations of nuts on the topping. Every time, they turn out amazing! I bake mine as muffin tops. I found a special muffin top pan online. The muffins are crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Thanks Sally!
Hi! I have made blueberry muffins before but the blueberries always end up turning the muffin purple. I am not using frozen blueberries so they are not melting. Is there anything that I can do to make this not happen?
Hi Olivia, With this recipe, if you gently fold the fresh blueberries in as the very last step the batter should not be purple. Using a spatula to fold them in instead of your mixer so that they stay whole will help!
I make this recipe frequently. It is our family favorite. Today I made it again but switched out the blueberries with fresh cranberries. It was really good this way too.
Definitely a delicious muffins recipe plus the added crunch of turbinado sugar on top added the flavor I like. Your chocolate chip muffins was the one I first started out with. Love your baking recipes and tips. thanks.
My go to blueberry muff recipe! Never fails