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
Best muffins I have ever made! I followed the recipe almost exactly, using frozen blueberries. For the extract, I used one teaspoon of vanilla and 1 teaspoon of orange. And since I decided to make these last-minute, I used your genius butter-softening technique. Thank you, Sally!
Your recipes are fantastic! I make the banana muffins often with maple syrup. Can you sub the sugar in this recipe for maple syrup?
Hi Carole, this recipe was developed to use a combination of white and brown sugars, and changing to a liquid sweetener like maple syrup would require some recipe testing and tweaking of the other ingredients. For a blueberry muffin that uses a liquid sweetener, we recommend trying these blueberry oatmeal muffins instead; they call for honey, but you could use maple syrup in its place. Let us know what you try!
First time visitor to Sally’s and these turned out so well. I was skeptical to fill the muffins to the top but wow – they look better than bakery bought. I skipped the topping (requires too much extra toddler tooth brushing!), used only a cup of fresh blueberries and utilized the buttermilk my fridge. Mine were also done in a total of 20 minutes. I will save this recipe for when guests come to town. Thanks!
Another winner! I subbed GF 1:1 flour and they came out perfect. Also, just sprinkled with sugar on top before baking and skipped the brown sugar topping step and they were still plenty sweet. Totally delicious. Will definitely make again.
My family loved this recipe! Super easy and I don’t have a classic stand mixer so I used my ninja blender and that worked. I also got mixed up at the store so I used cream cheese instead of sour cream. Not sure how it changes the intended taste but still delicious.
I have made this recipe 3 times in as many weeks ! It’s absolutely spot on . I use Greek yoghurt as a sub for sour cream as I always have this in my refrigerator. Thank you so much
I tried this recipe today (subbing oil for butter because my butter was frozen and I was impatient), I also subbed in a half cup of whole wheat flour and it still turned out so delicious and tender!! We’ll definitely make this again!
I love this recipe – we’ve made it many times, and it’s always turned out well. Can you make a double batch (assuming all the muffins fit in the oven at the same time)?
Hi Erin, For best results (and to prevent under or over mixing) we recommend making two separate batches.
Hi, can I replace the sour cream with full fat Greek yogurt in this recipe? Thanks!
Absolutely. Same amount.
I’ve tried a lot of blueberry muffin recipes, but THIS, is, BY FAR, the best recipe I’ve ever found for muffins. The inside is so moist and the topping mixture adds the perfect contrast.
Hi! This recipe looks amazing and I plan on trying it today. I’m just wondering if I can use cake flour instead of all purpose.
Thank you
Hi Andy, You can certainly try cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. The muffins will be very light and may not hold their shape outside of the muffin wrappers though. For best results, we recommend sticking with the recipe and using all-purpose. Let us know what you try!
Great recipe. These muffins are amazing. Thank you!
I made these without the brown sugar and walnuts and they were perfect! My son ate 3 in a row
This is the best muffin recipe, ever! I followed the recipe exactly plus dusted about 1 tbsp of flour through my blueberries as they were frozen and didn’t want the color to spread through the dough.
We travel to south-west US for the winter and I used wild blueberries from home (east coast Canada).
Have had requests for the recipe which I shared.
Thank you!
Hi there! Can I add your cream cheese filling like in the pumpkin cream cheese muffins to this blueberry recipe? Looking for a blueberry cream cheese recipe. Thank you!!
Hi Debby, that should work just fine. Let us know how it goes for you!
I made these are they were amazing, for my sisters birthday and she loved them!
I would love to use this recipe to make Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins – what measurements would you recommend for that?
Hi Ruby, we’re so glad you enjoyed them! You can swap the blueberries here for a mix of raspberries and white chocolate chips (keeping the total amount of add-ins about the same). Or, you can use the batter from these jumbo raspberry chocolate chip muffins, following the standard size directions in the recipe Notes and using white chocolate instead of semi-sweet. Hope this helps!
May I know if it is possible to prepare the wet ingredients without an electric mixer (i.e. simply mix it with melted butter)? Thank you!
Hi Bridget, you can mix these by hand if needed (it will just take a bit of arm muscle, especially to cream the butter and sugars!). Be sure not to over-mix, which can lead to dense muffins. Hope you enjoy these!
This blueberry recipe was DELICIOUS! The crumble on top really was the icing on the cake. Highly recommend.
Best blueberry muffin I have ever had! Not to sweet, moist and delicious. My husband loves them.
Great recipe, thank you very much
Hey, I have blueberry sauce that I want to use. Do you think I could substitute this for the sour cream or milk in the recipe?
Thanks
Hi Jessica! It would take some testing to incorporate blueberry sauce into a muffin recipe. Let us know if you try anything.
Hey Sally, love your muffins recipes.Do you have any eggfree versions?
Hi Anjali! You can browse all of our egg-free recipes here.
I made this recipe gluten free today. They were totally awesome!
Not expecting this to cure my horrid-egg-smelling-baking curse, though I did run in a few problems like my eggs curdling despite both being room temperature. Overall, great recipe. I made both with blueberries and apples, the apples were good but I didn’t get to taste the blueberry ones because I went up to sleep and the next morning my brother ate all of it. Would definitely do this again, maybe with Nutella
Delicious and going in the keeper binder! My ingredients were cold, including frozen berries, so I had to cook a bit longer. They still came out moist, fluffy, and oh so good! I used almonds as that’s what I had on hand, and only a fraction of the topping, and they were still plenty sweet but not too sweet. Thank you for another winner!
I did twice already, so lovely taste. Crispy outside and inside so soft. Did with different toppings. However not big fan of the nuts in bakery. But plenty blueberries and some with chocolate. We all love it. I have one question, how I can keep crispy on tope till next day. ?
Hi Anna, so glad you enjoyed the muffins! When storing the muffins, leave a very small crack open on one of the corners. This will prevent too much moisture from being held in the container and should keep the tops from getting too soft.
Delicious. I was amazed at how pre-heating the oven first at 425, then turning down the heat to 350 made the muffins rise perfectly. I ended up baking at the lower temperature for only 10 minutes in my convection oven. The topping browned very quickly. I will add a bit of lemon zest to brighten the overall flavor next time.
Another banger from these addicts.
I never have to change a thing with any of the recipes on this site however I didn’t add as much topping to each muffin as they suggested. They still came out absolutely phenomenal!!!
This was a disaster for me! I didn’t have muffin liners so I carefully greased my muffin pan. I was unable to remove the muffins without them completely falling apart. Total waste of ingredients! I think that even if I did use muffin liners, the tops would have separated from the muffin. I’ll make them again but will only use the brown paper liners that encase the entire muffin. The pieces I had were delicious.
I’d like to make this recipe, but I can’t have nuts. What can I use for the topping besides walnuts or pecans?
Hi Brenda, you can skip the nuts so it’s just a little brown sugar/cinnamon on top of each muffin. Or skip the topping entirely.
These were amazing. My wife cannot have nuts, so I put turbinado sugar on them. They were the best
Just made these and they are awesome. Didnt change a thing. Thanks Sally for your delicious recipes.
I m making 12 mini muffins should I cook for 425? 350 short period of time
See recipe Notes for mini muffin instructions!