If you love blueberries, you’re going to devour these absolutely delicious blueberry muffins! These muffins have a little lemon zest added in for a burst of flavor in each bite.
Finished with a yummy crumb topping, the top of the muffins are crisp while the inside is moist and fluffy! The perfect blend of texture and flavor. Scroll below to learn how to expertly make these yummy muffins.
Why You’ll Love These Blueberry Muffins Recipe
These blueberry lemon muffins are made from scratch! The sweetness from granulated sugar is the perfect combination of tart lemon zest and a burst of blueberry flavor!
This delicious muffin recipe is very similar in flavor to my blueberry & lemon scone recipe. The scone recipe is a reader favorite made time and time again.
I am excited to share this new recipe with you. While it is similar in flavors, this muffin recipe is great if you’re craving a light & fluffy blueberry muffin!
Muffin Ingredients
Be sure to scroll all the way down to the printable recipe card for complete ingredients and instructions.
- Flour: All-purpose is best for this recipe.
- Sugar: Granulated is best.
- Baking Powder: Helps the muffins rise.
- Salt: Balances the flavor of these muffins.
- Eggs: Helps the muffins bind.
- Milk: Feel free to substitute any type of milk for this recipe (non-fat, buttermilk, almond, or any other type will work).
- Vegetable Oil: Added fat, you can substitute olive oil for this recipe if needed.
- Vanilla Extract: Creates a flavorful profile for the muffins.
- Blueberries: The star ingredient of the muffins. See below my tips for frozen vs fresh. I recommend fresh, but frozen will work!
- Lemon: Adds a hint of extra flavor. Lemon zest creates a fresh flavor profile in the muffins.
How to make blueberry lemon muffins:
- Preheat the oven.
- Prepare the streusel crumb topping and set aside.
- Whisk together wet ingredients: milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
- Fold in dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Fold in blueberries & lemon zest until *just* combined.
- Scoop equal amounts of batter into a lined muffin tin. Bake for 17 minutes or until just golden on top.
Muffin Making Tips
While creating my strawberry muffin recipe I did a little muffin research. After all, cooking is science. It’s very helpful to know the reason behind the method. Especially when working with something as sacred as food.
During the process, I learned quite a bit about muffins and some of the key elements of a good muffin. Did you know oil is the preferred fat for muffins rather than butter? Or that over-mixing the batter can be detrimental to the recipe? I’m here to tell you all the tips I have learned for making fail-proof muffins!!
Another important tip while baking is to measure accurately! Adding too much flour or sugar can throw off the baking chemistry. The Boxwood Avenue Mercantile has some adorable measuring cups and spoons to level up your functional baking decor.
Here are some key muffin making tips that will help your muffins turn out delicious each and every time!
- Oil vs. Butter: Muffins and cakes tend to have a better texture when made with oil rather than butter. I love using butter for cookies and scones, but I prefer oil for muffin, donut, and cake making.
- Don’t Over-Mix: Overmixing the batter is a recipe for…a very dense muffin. When you see a recipe note “mix until just combined”, they mean it! Overmixing the batter causes the gluten from the flour to react and will produce very dense and chewy muffins.
- How to Combine Ingredients: Whisk wet ingredients and dry ingredients together in separate bowls, then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. This will help your muffins stay nice and fluffy!
Frozen vs fresh blueberries:
Fresh blueberries will produce the best results in this recipe. However, you can use either fresh or frozen strawberries.
Generally speaking, you can use fresh or frozen berries pretty interchangeably when baking cakes, muffins, and cookies. Frozen berries will lower the temperature of the baked goods and may require up to an additional 5 minutes of baking time.
I have also noticed that frozen berries release more moisture than fresh berries. I always recommend reducing the liquid just a bit, in this case – milk – to prevent the recipe from becoming too “wet”.
For this recipe, I recommend reducing the milk to 3/4 cup rather than 1 cup if using frozen berries.
The Recipe
Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping
Ingredients
STREUSEL TOPPING:
- 2 tablespoons butter softened
- ⅛ cup brown sugar lightly packed
- ¼ cup flour all-purpose
MUFFINS
- 2 cups flour all-purpose
- ¾ cup sugar granulated
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk 2%
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup blueberries
- zest from 1 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F, and line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
Prepare the streusel crumb topping: combine flour, butter, and brown sugar. Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter into the flour until crumbly.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. - In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients: eggs, milk, oil, vanilla. Once combined, stir in the blueberries and lemom zest.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. It is important to not overmix, a few lumps are okay. - Fill each muffin mold with batter 2/3 full. Sprinkle each muffin with streusel topping (approximately 1 tablespoon per muffin).
- Bake at 400 F for 15-17 minutes. Or until muffins spring back like a sponge when pressed gently.
I generally make a crumb topping mixture much like yours but in a greater quantity. Then I keep it in the fridge in a airtight container to use whenever I make muffins or a quick bread. It cuts down on the prep time and makes for less cleanup each time.
Now if I only had some blueberries……..
That tip is GENIUS! I love it – thank you so much for sharing!
I made this recipe this afternoon and it is delicious. I agree with you that oil rather than butter makes for a moister muffin. I used Oat Milk and it was perfect. I will be making this recipe for the holidays when the family is home. Thank you!
The ingredients list for the topping lists granulated sugar but in the recipe is says brown sugar. Brown sugar then? I just wanted to be sure? Love to try this weekend!
Hello! Thanks for the catch! Can be either – I prefer brown sugar! :) Either will work – it caramelizes with the butter and flour like little pieces of pie crust…now I am drooling!
When you write ;mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients together in separate bowls is VERY CONFUSING! How could they be ;together; but ;separate; If you mean At the same time in separate bowls would be more clear.
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