These light and fluffy lemon blueberry muffins taste just as good—or better!—than any bakery version. Greek yogurt keeps them extra moist, creamed butter creates a wonderfully soft and fluffy texture, and blueberries and lemon add a burst of flavor. Sprinkle each muffin with a lemony-brown sugar crumb topping for a sweet finishing touch.
One reader, Cathy, commented: “I made these today. They were moist, had a nice crumb, and an excellent balance of flavor. I will definitely make these again. Thanks for an awesome recipe! ★★★★★“
It’s no secret that I have a soft spot in my heart (err… stomach?) for the delightful flavor duo of lemon + blueberry. Desserts like lemon blueberry cheesecake bars, lemony blueberry galette, and lemon blueberry tart are always a refreshing change from rich chocolate. But these light and fruity flavors also make for a wonderful breakfast treat or anytime snack, especially when topped with a zesty-sweet crumble that takes these humble muffins to new heights. They’re also a lovely choice for your Easter brunch recipes and add such a beautiful pop of color to your table!
Why You’ll Love These Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Bursting with juicy blueberries and fresh lemon flavor
- Soft, tender, and cakey, like a muffin version of this popular lemon blueberry cake
- Easy to prepare
- Can use fresh or frozen blueberries—so convenient
- Topped with a delicious crumb, like your favorite bakery muffin
Ingredients You Need
Today’s lemon blueberry muffin recipe is a variation of my basic muffin recipe. I slightly reduced the butter because I found the muffins too fragile with the lemon juice and so many blueberries. (You’ll use the rest of the stick of butter in the topping!)
This batter can be used to create endless muffin varieties and you’ll see it again in my classic blueberry muffins, peach muffins, cranberry orange muffins, apple cinnamon muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins, and more.
Here are all of the ingredients you need for the muffin batter, and why each is important:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of these muffins.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: Both leaveners help the muffins rise. See my trick below for super-tall bakery-style muffin tops.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: Salt and pure vanilla extract add flavor. Try using homemade vanilla extract.
- Butter: We use creamed butter for a lighter, fluffier texture. My orange lemon poppy seed muffins are made with melted butter for a denser, heartier texture.
- Sugar: In my muffin recipe, I swap between brown sugar and granulated sugar. I like to use granulated sugar in today’s muffins so the lemon flavor really shines, but like to use brown sugar in my blueberry muffins for a little extra flavor.
- Eggs: 2 eggs bind everything together.
- Yogurt: Greek yogurt adds moisture. Use your favorite yogurt—I prefer nonfat or low-fat plain Greek yogurt but regular (not Greek) would be just fine, and any fat content. Sour cream is a great substitute if you don’t have yogurt.
- Milk: You can use dairy or nondairy milk.
- Lemon Juice & Lemon Zest: We’re using both, for lots of zingy lemon flavor. Make sure to zest the lemon before slicing and juicing it—much easier to do it in this order!
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen berries. If using frozen, do not thaw before using.
You could also add poppy seeds, like I do in these blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins.
You’ll need a couple mixing bowls and an electric mixer (either a stand mixer or handheld), because we’re creaming the butter and sugar together. If you need a refresher on this step, here is my tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar. From there, it’s as easy as combining dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet in another, and then mixing them together and folding in the blueberries.
Expect a thick and fluffy batter:
Easy Crumb Topping
Today’s crumb topping doesn’t have cinnamon, unlike many streusel recipes. It’s just brown sugary, lemony, and sweet. I love cinnamon in the crumb topping on these blueberry muffins, but here the cinnamon would take away from the zesty lemon in these muffins. And we want that lemon flavor to really shine through!
The crumb topping comes together quickly and easily in the small bowl—just use a fork to combine the melted butter, brown sugar, flour, and lemon zest.
It doesn’t make a large amount, just enough for a little crumble on top of each muffin. You can double it if you want extra crumb.
Baker’s Tip: Gently press the crumbles down into the muffins’ surface before baking, or they will topple off as the muffins rise in the oven.
How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
For big bakery-style muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin cups all the way to the top.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, then reduce the temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin tops. Once the temperature is reduced, the centers of the muffins bake. I do this in all my muffin recipes, including zucchini muffins and banana muffins too!
Not only does this trick create beautifully sky-high muffin tops, it also makes the muffins extra fluffy inside because the tops don’t stay flat.
More Lemon Blueberry Recipes
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These light and fluffy lemon blueberry muffins taste just as good—or better!—than any bakery version. Greek yogurt keeps them extra moist, creamed butter creates a wonderfully soft and fluffy texture, and blueberries and lemon add a burst of flavor. The lemony-brown sugar crumb topping adds a sweet finishing touch, but feel free to skip it if desired.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain Greek yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature*
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) milk*
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 cups (210g) fresh or frozen blueberries, tossed in 1 Tbsp flour*
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (41g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2 Tablespoons (25g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the lemon zest and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla, and beat for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and mostly creamy. (It’s ok if it appears somewhat curdled.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients, milk, and lemon juice into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Gently fold in the blueberries. Avoid over-mixing. Batter is thick and fluffy.
- Spoon the batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them all the way to the top.
- Make the crumb topping: In a small bowl, use a fork to mix all of the crumb topping ingredients together.
- Spoon topping evenly on top of each filled muffin cup, gently pressing it down onto the surface so it sticks. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 18–19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 23–24 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. Enjoy warm, or at room temperature.
- 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. Warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer)
- Yogurt: You can use nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, Greek or regular. You can also use sour cream.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Blueberries: If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw.
- 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Every week when I babysit my granddaughter, I bring her a muffin for a snack. We’ve done bran graham, orange, pumpkin, apple, blueberry, and oatmeal raisin. But when I bring her one of these Lemon Blueberry muffins tomorrow, I know she’ll be head-over-heels for it. The crumb is tender, the crunch on top is fun, and there are a LOT of blueberries. Plus, they’re big, so I know one will fill her up. Thank you Sally. I know I can always count on you for a new Super Favorite recipe.
How sweet, Laurie! Thank you so much for giving this recipe a try.
The batter looked amazing. All the beating gave it a lot of air and I ended up with 16 cupcakes. The early hi temp gave them a good rise but when I turned it down, they fell. 🙁 I am a fan of this site and will keep coming back.
Hi Carly! Careful not to over-mix the batter. Did you keep the oven closed when you changed the temp? Opening the oven can deflate the muffins.
Instead of making 12 regular muffins would it work to do 24 mini muffins?
Hi Mary, This recipe makes between 36-40 mini muffins. The bake time will be between 12-14 minutes at 350°F (the whole time).
Hi – Can you make the batter the day before, store and fridge and cook the next day?
Hi Danielle, we don’t recommend it. Because the leaveners are activated when wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, it’s best to bake the muffins shortly thereafter. Otherwise, the texture will be different. You can bake the muffins and reheat in the microwave before enjoying if you wish!
These tasted lovely. Your recipe states to give them at least 5 minutes in the pan to cool before removing to a wire rack though. I gave them more than 10 minutes & a couple still fell apart. Either way – they were enjoyed. I may have accidentally put in more than 1 1/2 cup of blueberries. Perhaps that made them more fragile?
My new go-to muffin recipe! They were soft and airy and moist. I made a few changes but that was just to my preference. I subbed half the butter for canola oil and only baked the muffins for 20 mins (I have an old oven that leans hot.) They had the most beautiful domed tops and I can’t wait to make them again
Hi Sally,
The butter and cane sugar did bot end up like the one you showed in video. I tried beating it more to get the texture but it was not possible. Any idea why that happened
Hi Nilu, cane sugar typically is slightly larger granules than granulated sugar, which is why it’s not creaming in the same way. It’s also usually a bit darker. How did the finished muffins turn out for you?
Texture was good but the flavor was a little less sweet and punchy than I hoped for. If I were to do again I’d up the lemon zest even more and maybe add a little more sugar. My blueberries were fresh and sweet but not as sweet as some batches. I’m sure that impacted the sweetness. Also found the blueberries all sank and wish I had noticed comments about adding more flour or flouring the berries before I jumped into the project. Would make again w a bit of tweaking
Thanks for the tip on flouring the berries. I’ve never heard of that and will try it next time! 🙂
I love this recipe! I’d like to make two batches at once. Can this recipe be doubled with no issue?
Hi Tara, yes you can double it. Enjoy!
Another hit from this site! I was in a hurry so I left off the crumble topping. They were still delicious and did not last long enough for me to see how they tasted the second day. Thanks for a great recipe.
Just made this with one of the last of our Meyer lemons. Very moist, very tasty! My batter was not thick – I used Greek Yogurt, regular stick butter. Everything else was measured acturately. Also found that adding the crumb topping before baking made it just sink into the muffin and become invisable.
Through a stupid mistake I accidentally used 2 full sticks of butter (one cup :0) and to my surprise they turned out amazing. So if you want muffins that taste more like a pound cake – increase the butter, lol. This recipe was otherwise flawless and I will definitely try again with the right portions >_<
Amazing recipe! I used frozen wild blueberries and it turned out great! Beware if you use frozen blueberries though… your batter turns purple! Still such a good recipe 🙂
This was delicious! I made these without the crumble as I planned to freeze them and I didn’t want to worry about stacking them in the freezer. They turned out wonderfully! I love the tip about baking them at a high temp first and then lowering- it made the tops nice and big and a little crispy and kept the insides moist!
Can this be baked in a loaf pan?
Hi Patty, this recipe would work well in a 9×5-inch loaf pan. You can use the baking time and directions from blueberry muffin bread as a guide.
I am absolutely in love with your recipes! Thank you so much!
This is the best blueberry muffin recipe ever! They are wonderfully moist and tender, yet the crumble adds a delicious crunch to each bite. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
I was wondering if it would be possible to use a vanilla yogurt in the muffins instead of a plain one?
Hi Hadley, yes, that should be fine!
I followed the recipe exactly, but my muffins ended up sort of bland. Could it be my blueberries? Should I add extra lemon zest/juice? Maybe toss blueberries in sugar before adding to mixture?
Hi Morgan! The flavor of your blueberries will make a big difference – did you taste them before using? You want them nice and sweet!
I used frozen blueberries that were sweet. Any other tips?
these muffins came out so light and fluffy! I will definitely be using this recipe again!!
Another winner recipe! However, since I love the combo of lemon, blueberries and cream cheese – I whipped up some of your cream cheese filling from your strawberry or pumpkin muffin recipes. I put a little bit of the cream cheese filling on top of first scoop of muffin batter and then one more scoop of batter on cream cheese mixture. Of course, still put the crumb topping on too. The bake time was the same as your regular size muffins in recipe. Had one with my salad tonight and very delicious muffin!
Not sure what happened to these. The flavor was just ok but they looked horrible. The crumb topping melted into the batter and the middle of the muffin opened up and batter was oozing out the tops and running down the muffin while baking. Almost like a muffin volcano, lol!!! The batter is also not think enough and the blueberries all went to the bottom and were a sloppy mess. The amount of butter also seemed to make them have a greasy feel. Would not make these again.
Hi Stacey! It sounds like your batter wasn’t the correct consistency, which could be caused by a couple things. Did you make any changes to the recipe? Also, make sure to start with proper room temperature butter – it’s cooler than many think and using butter that is too warm can lead to greasy muffins. Thank you for giving them a try!
I can’t seem to find an answer to this… some fresh blueberries have a tiny stem. Should you pick through all of them to remove these?
The stems don’t hurt to eat but they may be noticed as a textual difference. I will usually wash my berries and remove any remaining stems before use. Hope that is helpful.
Just made these and the taste was good BUT the proportions are definitely off. Once baked – way too many blueberries and not enough batter. I’ve made MANY muffin recipes (like many of us!) but this one was definitely a flop.
Hi Sally – the photo says to use Greek yogurt, but the recipe does not. Help!
Hi Sara, sorry for any confusion! The recipe ingredients state “1/2 cup (120g) plain yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature*” The corresponding recipe note indicates that you can use nonfat or low-fat plain yogurt, Greek or regular—or sour cream. We typically use Greek yogurt here. Hope this helps!
These are so delicious.
May I use plant based butter (Miyoko’s cashew) in this recipe? It sounds amazing but I’m watching cholesterol
Hi Sarina, we haven’t tested it, but that should work just fine. Let us know how it goes for you!
Can I use white whole wheat for half the flour?
Hi Laurie, you can certainly try it, but the muffins may taste a bit dry and dense.
Ces muffins sont vraiment délicieux. Ils ont la texture d’un petit gâteau et c’est ce à quoi je m’attendais. Ils sont exactement tels que décrit. Par contre, c’est la troisième fois que je les fais et j’ai modifié un peu la façon de faire. Je cuis les muffins à 350 dès le début de la cuisson et c’est ce qui donne le meilleur résultat dans mon cas. Sinon, les muffins gonflaient beaucoup et retombaient quand je baissais le feu. Je mets des bleuets congelés ce qui donne une pâte très dure. J’ai donc laissé reposé la pâte quelques minutes avant de la mettre au four. Voilà! Selon ma fille, ce sont les meilleurs muffins au bleuets.