Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins
These blueberry buttermilk muffins are fluffy, flavorful, and moist. Bursts of juicy blueberry are dotted throughout a soft and fluffy muffin base.
These fluffy muffins are full of flavor and texture and make a delicious breakfast or snack. They are big, bright, and bold, with a moist texture and crisp muffin top thanks to the streusel topping. You can use fresh blueberries or frozen blueberries in this recipe to make them all year round.
If using frozen blueberries, check out the tips in this post to stop the juicy berries from coloring the muffin batter. For a smaller-batch, check out these small-batch blueberry muffins.
Buttermilk muffins
Buttermilk is an excellent addition to baked goods and especially so in muffins. It’s an acidic product that helps to halt gluten development in wheat flour, resulting in a lovely and tender crumb and moist muffin.
You can buy buttermilk from the store, make your own buttermilk from scratch OR you can use a buttermilk substitute.
Buttermilk substitute
If you can, use buttermilk. A buttermilk substitute will give a different tang and taste than real buttermilk. However, it will still help to create tender muffins.
Mix milk along with an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar. (White vinegar or apple cider vinegar work well.) There is a buttermilk substitute recipe in the notes on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
How to keep blueberries from bleeding in muffins
Blueberries make delicious little surprises in muffins. Biting into a juicy blueberry perfectly complements the fluffy muffin texture.
Fresh blueberries are folded through the batter right at the end to avoid the juicy blueberries being broken up by being mixed too much.
Frozen blueberries are prone to breaking up in the batter and releasing a lot of their juices, and this can make the batter unattractive, and you won’t get that distinct purple of the berries against the yellow muffin background.
Add the frozen blueberries to each muffin once the batter has been divided to avoid bleeding into the batter. Divide half the batter over the muffin cups. Gently press in some frozen berries. Add over the remaining batter and press in more blueberries.
You can do this with fresh blueberries, which helps ensure each muffin gets an even amount of berries.
The crumb
The crispy streusel topping is one of the best parts of these muffins. It’s like bites of a shortbread cookie, giving another texture element to the muffin. There is a lot of streusel, which might look too much.
Just pile it on top of the muffins really generously and as it bakes some of the crumbs sink into the batter and some of it becomes golden and crispy.
Ingredients
Find the ingredient amounts listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need –
- Blueberries – Fresh or frozen blueberries
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Melted butter – This can be salted or unsalted butter. You can reduce the salt slightly in the rest of the recipe if using salted butter.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract or paste
- Lemon zest
- Buttermilk (or use milk and lemon juice or vinegar)
The streusel topping
- All-purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- melted butter
Equipment
For this easy recipe, you will need a standard 12-hole muffin tin.
Method
Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
Combine melted butter, granulated sugar, and all-purpose flour in a small bowl. Combine it into a coarse crumb, then set it aside.
Mix the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.
Set these dry ingredients aside.
Add the melted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon zest, and buttermilk in a large bowl.
Use a whisk or a fork to combine the wet ingredients until combined.
Fold the flour mixture in with a rubber spatula.
If using fresh blueberries, they can be carefully folded into the batter.
If using frozen blueberries, wait to add them until the muffin batter has been scooped into the cups.
Divide the batter evenly over the 12 muffin liners. An ice cream scoop is easy to use for this job.
For frozen blueberries, divide half the batter over the prepared muffin cups. Gently press in some frozen berries.
Add over the remaining batter and press in more blueberries.
Generously add the streusel on top of each muffin.
Bake the muffins at 425°F/220°C for 5 minutes then turn the oven down to 350°F/180°C and continue baking for another 18-20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins spring back when lightly pressed.
Remove them from the oven and let the muffins cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before removing and placing them on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Storing
Store leftover muffins at room temperature, covered for up to 3 days. Alternatively, freeze for up to 3 months. Let them cool completely, and place each muffin in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag.
Thaw in the fridge or on the bench. The muffins can be rewarmed in the microwave or in the oven for 5 minutes at around 300°F/150°C for a fresh-baked muffin texture.
Additions and substitutions
- Soft brown sugar can be used instead of white sugar in the streusel for a deeper flavor. A little cinnamon can be added too.
- Swap the blueberries for chopped strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries.
- Omit the streusel if you like and leave muffins without topping or use coarse sugar (turbinado sugar)
Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins
These blueberry buttermilk muffins are moist and flavorful. Bursts of juicy blueberry are dotted throughout a soft and fluffy muffin base.
Ingredients
Streusel
- 45g (3 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
- 63g (1/2 cup) all-purpose flour
- 65g (⅓ cup) granulated sugar
- Pinch of salt
Muffins
- 250g (2 cups*) all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 200g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 Tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 180g (3/4 cup) buttermilk**
- 260g (1 3/4 cups) fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Grease or line a standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners.
Streusel
- In a small bowl combine melted butter, granulated sugar, and all-purpose flour. Use a fork to combine it into a coarse crumb, then set it aside.
Muffins
- Mix the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Add the melted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, almond, vanilla, lemon zest, and buttermilk in a large bowl. Use a whisk or a fork to whisk until combined.
- Fold the flour mixture in with a rubber spatula.
- Fresh blueberries can be carefully folded into the batter in the bowl. If using frozen blueberries, wait to add them until the muffin batter has been scooped into the liners.
- Divide the batter evenly over the 12 muffin liners.
- Frozen blueberries: divide half the batter over the prepared muffin cups. Gently press in some frozen berries. Add over the remaining batter and press in more blueberries.
- Generously pile the streusel on top of each muffin.
Baking
- Bake the muffins at 425°F/220°C for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350°F/180°C and continue baking for another 18-20 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the center.
- Remove them from the oven and let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and placing them on a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
Notes
*The cup sizes are US size which is smaller than metric. For best results, use scales.
**The buttermilk can be substituted with 168g of regular milk (3/4 cup minus 3/4 Tbsp) plus 12g (3/4 Tbsp) white vinegar or lemon juice. Mix these two ingredients together before beginning the recipe to let it sit and curdle for 5-10 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 270Total Fat: 11gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 301mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 4g
This is an informational estimate only. I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist
I love your recipes.
Thank you so much Terri!
Amei essa receita. INCLUSIVE A DICA DA SUBSTITUIÇÃO DO LEITE LHO
Thank you so much Maria!
Visually these muffins were lovely! Made 12 perfect pretty muffins, and I was ready to fall in love. But, flavour-wise I wasn’t as impressed. Nothing was wrong – these are perfectly fine muffins. But they weren’t spectacular. I found the base was missing something… more vanilla? add some lemon extract? more sugar? more lemon zest? I don’t know. But the sweetness of the streusal carried the muffin. I followed the recipe as written (using weight measurements) with fresh blueberries and real buttermilk.
Hi Elien,
I have been making these muffins repeatedly for the last year adding more lemon zest and adding nuts and brown sugar to the streusel. Yesterday, a friend asked me if I could make them more tart and I was not sure whether I could lessen some of the buttermilk for lemon juice. I am not a Baker-Extraordinaire like you so I thought I would ask your suggestion. Thank you
Hey Rose, so happy to hear you make these so often! You could do that, though if you add too much lemon juice, it can affect the rise of the muffin, so I would test it with small amounts first. You could also reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup to make it a little less sweet 🙂