This will become your favorite peach muffins recipe because each bite is loaded with juicy peaches, cinnamon spice, and delicious brown sugar. Top these buttery and cake-like muffins with brown sugar cinnamon streusel and don’t forget to finish them off with a drizzle of vanilla icing. Of course, both are completely optional if you prefer plain peach muffins.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos and more helpful success tips.
Over many years and many (many) batches, this peach muffin recipe has stood the test of time. I make a point to bake multiple batches each summer, freezing extras to enjoy throughout the cooler fall months. Just a quick glance at the reviews tells me readers have the same idea:
One reader, Crista, commented: “These were amazing! Easy to make and gone by the next day. My picky 7-year-old who doesn’t even like peaches loved these! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Emma, commented: “Super excellent recipe!! Muffins are a challenge for me, and this recipe and baking strategy worked a charm! ★★★★★”
And another reader, Paula, commented: “Bravo!! This recipe is easy to follow and the muffins are a heavenly summer treat! My brunch guests LOVED them and I’m buying more peaches to make again! ★★★★★“
You’ll Love These Peach Muffins Too:
Each bite is flavorful and textured with juicy peaches and crisp-crunchy brown sugar crumble topping. You know when you bite into a muffin and there’s about 2 pieces of fruit? Not the case here—these are packed with peaches. Cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar add rich, comforting flavors. You can use fresh or frozen peaches, and the baked + cooled muffins freeze beautifully. For some wholesome flavor, you can even substitute 1 cup (125g) of the flour for whole wheat flour. Lots to love here!
Use This Top-Rated Muffin Batter Recipe
If you’re a regular reader, you might recognize this muffin batter. It’s my base muffin recipe for several muffin variations on my website, including blueberry muffins and apple cinnamon muffins. The carefully selected ingredients and ratio of wet-to-dry ingredients promises a moist, buttery, and cake-like muffin that’s still a bit denser than, say, vanilla cupcakes.
I heavily depend on this versatile recipe because it uses basic baking ingredients and holds up well to nearly any add-in. I like to change up the spices and ratio of brown and white granulated sugars depending on the flavor I’m baking. (For example, today’s peach muffins uses a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar compared to these strawberry cheesecake muffins.)
Key Ingredients in These Peach Muffins
The muffin batter recipe calls for 14 ingredients, which sounds like a lot, but they’re pretty much all basics like flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, etc. Some notes:
- Cinnamon & Allspice: Both add exceptional flavor to your muffins. If you don’t have allspice, you can substitute in ground nutmeg, ginger, or even pumpkin pie spice. If you love these flavors here, you’ll love them together in my apple pie recipe, too.
- Softened Butter: A base of creamed butter and sugar (instead of using melted butter or oil) often helps achieve a soft, buttery texture. Make sure it’s proper room temperature butter.
- White & Brown Sugars: Both sweeten, and brown sugar also adds a little moisture & flavor. Feel free to use all brown sugar.
- Eggs: 2 eggs provide structure. For an egg-free peach recipe, try my peach crisp.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: The muffins are moist because we add yogurt or sour cream to the batter. just like we do when making fresh peach cake and sour cream coffee cake. You can use either; full fat or low fat.
- Milk: Use whatever you have—whole milk, 1%, almond milk, buttermilk, oat milk, etc. You only need 2 Tablespoons, which is less than other recipes using this muffin batter. Peaches are very wet and using less milk keeps the batter thick and sturdy.
- Peaches: Peel and cut your peaches into small bite-size chunks. You need about 3.
Do I need to coat the peaches in flour before adding to the batter? No, that’s not necessary here because the muffin batter is so thick. The peaches easily stay scattered throughout the muffin and do not really sink.
Success tip for peeling and cutting peaches: Peaches are very wet, so wash and dry your hands, vegetable peeler, and knife often if everything begins to get a little slippery. I recommend doing the same when preparing peaches for peach pie and peach cobbler, too.
Streusel Crumb Topping
Crumb topping and muffins go hand-in-hand, so if you want to spruce the peach muffins up, add a spoonful to each before baking. The crumb topping uses some of the SAME ingredients you need in the muffin batter—very convenient! Some crumb toppings require cold butter and a pastry cutter to mix, but we’re using melted butter here, so just use a fork. It’s nearly the same crumb topping you use when making peach crumble pie.
My crumb topping advice: do not over-mix the crumb ingredients or else you will end up with paste. Keep it crumbly and press the crumbs slightly down into the muffin batter so it can stick.
Success Tip: How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
For tall 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 with batter.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial 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 lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of these muffin recipes.
Don’t get nervous if some of the crumb topping melts down into the muffin batter—totally normal here.
Icing Is Optional
Vanilla icing is a lovely finishing touch and definitely gives the muffins a dessert-like vibe. You need just 3 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream (or half-and-half or milk), and vanilla extract. Whisk all 3 together and drizzle over your warm muffins. Feel free to skip the icing, and again, you can skip the crumb topping as well.
In fact, one reader, Pamela, commented: “I made these without the streusel and glaze. They are wonderful! I did add a bit of coarse sugar to the tops. The muffin is simply heavenly on its own… ★★★★★”
More Muffin Recipes
I have dozens of muffin recipes on my site and in my cookbook! Here are a few favorites:
- Applesauce Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Double Chocolate Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Peach Streusel Muffins
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Buttery, tender, and moist, these peach muffins are topped with a brown sugar streusel crumb and sweet vanilla glaze. Both toppings are completely optional if you prefer plain peach muffins.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (4 Tbsp; 56g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup (84g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
Muffins
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (300–320g) peeled chopped peaches (about 3 peaches)*
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream (or milk for a thinner consistency)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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 crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter together in a small bowl until combined. Add the flour and use a fork to gently mix until crumbs form. Don’t over-mix into a paste. Just mix until it is crumbly. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, 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 both sugars 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 eggs, yogurt or sour cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed 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 and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Fold in the chopped peaches.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner, filling each all the way to the top. Spoon crumb topping on each, gently pressing it down so it sticks.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F; then, without opening the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–24 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. When warm, the muffins are quite fragile because of the wet peaches. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before unwrapping and eating.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm or cooled muffins.
- Iced or plain muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months. It’s best to freeze the muffins without the icing and add the icing after thawing and before serving. (Freezing them with the icing on is completely fine, but the muffins taste better with fresh icing.) Thaw muffins in the refrigerator or at room temperature before icing/serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Cupcake Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Yogurt or Sour Cream: You can use either regular or Greek plain yogurt in this recipe (any fat content) or sour cream. The same amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used if needed.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Frozen Peaches: You can use chopped frozen peaches—do not thaw. Extend total bake time by 1–2 minutes.
- Jumbo Muffin Pan: 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes for a total of 27–30. Makes about 6.
- Mini Muffin Pan: 350°F for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
- Quick Bread: This butter-based recipe isn’t ideal to turn into a quick bread because of the heavy, wet peaches. However, a slightly different oil-based batter yields wonderful results, so use my Peach Quick Bread recipe instead.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about room temperature ingredients in baking.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
Reader Comments and Reviews
This recipe makes a very moist and delicious muffin. I used part cinnamon and ginger but would increase the amounts next time for more flavour and used part almond extract and vanilla. Also left off the crumb topping, just sprinkled turbinado sugar on top, to cut down on calories and fat. I followed the method but wondered about using the mixer rather than doing it by hand even though they turned out crumbly and not tough. Any suggestions on the mixer idea?
Hi Jacquie, we don’t recommend using a mixer for the crumble topping, as it would be easy to overwork the crumble into a paste-like crumb that would melt into the top of the muffin. We’re glad you enjoyed trying these muffins!
Made these this morning with fresh yellow and white peaches. DELICIOUS! Definitely will make again!
This is a great recipe! So delicious. I actually made it in a non-stick 9 inch pan. Going to make it again for company this week.
This is a great recipe. I usually skip the toppings on your muffin recipes – I just sprinkle Turbinado sugar on top – but this time I made the streusel and it added a wonderful crunch and flavor. It seemed like a lot but I got all of it onto the 12 muffins. I think I chopped my peaches too coarsely so the muffins aren’t as sturdy as I’d like. I’ll know better next time. The batter was very sticky so I was scraping it off the spoon with a spatula and vice versa. Not a complaint but it made it a little harder to fill the muffin cups. I used sour cream. It sure makes the muffins lighter and fluffier. I have a spicy cheese and bacon muffin recipe that uses milk. I substituted sour cream and it made a world of difference.
Thanks again for a great recipe.
Made these per the recipe for breakfast this morning. Very good! I was concerned that amount of fresh peaches would make the muffins wet and dense, but they were perfect. I used the crumble topping but not the drizzle. I did reduce the cinnamon in the batter to about 3/8 tsp and left out the allspice. I like these spices in some fruit desserts but not with peaches. This is a keeper. Thank you!
Is there nutritional info listed somewhere, or shouldn’t I ask?
Hi Ruthann! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These were good, but I only used about half of the topping, so I think the topping listed in the recipe is more than is needed for the muffin, in the future I would only make half the topping.
Made these this morning for coffee with a Gluten free friend and they were a hit. All I did was trade out the flour for 1:1 King Arthur gluten free and, SUCCESS! Sally your recipes are always the best, but this one was a real winner today. Thanks so much for all you do.
Do you think these would work subbing frozen wild blueberries? Love peaches but haaate chopping them , lol ! Thanks!!
Hi Lexie, that should work just fine–do not thaw the blueberries before adding to the batter. Or here is our blueberry muffin recipe instead!
The most time consuming part was preparing the peaches. The muffins were but my timing was a little off. Still getting used to this oven. Would like to try using strawberries.
these are some of the best muffins I’ve baked!! The hints given for the high-top muffin worked, and the crumb topping was delish. They’ve disappeared so quickly I’ll have to make more!
Recipe was very good! And using Greek yogurt to add some protein made it a good breakfast food as well.
I really want to try this. The recipe says softened butter but in the video you pour in melted butter. Which one should I use? Thank you!
Hi Ron! You use melted butter in the crumb topping, softened butter in the muffins.
Absolutely love these muffins. I have some mini plucots. Going to try subbing part of peaches for these
Sorry, forgot to rate this recipe.
Hi, made these today very moist. Iwas disappointed in the flavor as the cinnamon overpowers the peach.
Same here Sharon -I have some ripened, sweet SC peaches (THE BEST!) but was disappointed in the muffin flavor. To your cinnamon comment I would add that I wonder if the allspice also resulted in a hearty, fall-like muffin where the peaches got lost. I think I had more of a “peach cobbler” desire and should have looked for a recipe where the flavor of peaches would be on high profile.
I had some fresh peaches about 7 and made this recipe turned out great
Ugh!! I changed the time, but forgot to change the temp after 5 minutes at 425! The muffins looked done after 13 minutes and I think they are ok. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Sally! I’d love to make this in cake form. Any suggestions? Thank you!
This recipe should fit nicely into a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350F and I’m unsure of the exact bake time needed but it will be much longer. Let us know if you try it!
These are delicious. Will definitely make again.
Sally, does this recipe lend itself to doubling? You mentioned freezing and that sounds great to me.
Hi Carol! For best results and to prevent over or under mixing, we recommend making separate batches rather than doubling.
Great muffin. I used fresh very sweet muffin, but I don’t really taste a Peach Muffin. I taste a semi-sweet muffin with peaches in it. I haven’t immediately added the icing. I’m going to do that now…I literally just took them out of the oven. I have a feeling the icing “kicks it up a notch.” Ps. I love baking with your recipes! Everytime I make the Coconut Cake – it’s a complete HIT. Thank you!!
Lesson learned: don’t use white peaches in this recipe. The muffins *looked* beautiful, but the white peaches didn’t have enough peach flavor to come through, and worse, the low acid in the peaches meant that the bitter flavor of the baking soda was overpowering. This was on me. I’ll happily try this recipe again with yellow peaches!
These are delicious! I subbed in 1/2 the flour for whole wheat (soft white wheat) by volume and they are still light and have a great texture and flavour. I seemed to have WAY too much crumble…hubby baked it up and ate it as a snack on ice cream.
Everyone loves these muffins! I make them without the icing.
Can I make these in jumbo muffin tins?
Hi Tammy, absolutely! Follow the baking time and instructions for jumbo blueberry muffins as a guide.
this looks so good. Do you think it will work with some portion of whole wheat flour?
Hi Carolann, you could certainly try swapping for some whole wheat flour, but the muffins will be a bit denser/heavier. Let us know if you try it!
Can I use nectarines instead of peaches?
Hi, yes you can! Enjoy!
Huge hit! these were super easy and delicious!
I’ve been baking all of your recipes and love them all. Is it possible to used canned peaches as don’t have any fresh peaches?
Hi Laura, canned peaches shouldn’t be a problem! Blot a bit dry before using.
Could you use double yogurt and no sour cream ?
Hi Robin, plain yogurt and sour cream both work great here.