Strawberry Muffins
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Soft, tender and loaded with fresh juicy berries, these strawberry muffins are bakery-worthy! This simple, carefully-tested recipe yields the prettiest and tastiest muffins you’ve ever tried. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Bakery-Style Strawberry Muffins
One of my favorite summer muffin recipes, these strawberry muffins are getting a refresh with new photos and a new topping. I previously recommended drizzling them with a vanilla glaze after baking (still tasty!), but lately I’ve been liking a sprinkle of coarse sugar instead. Try them both ways to see which you prefer!
Why This Recipe WORKS
- Impressive, yet simple: No fancy tools or ingredients needed! Instead, we’ll use pantry staples and baking basics you should already have on hand. You don’t even need a mixer to make the batter (and please, do not use one even if you do have one!).
- Perfectly balanced flavor and texture: Starting with a blend of a neutral oil and butter has proven time and time again to be the best way to get the best flavor and texture when making muffins.
- Tried and true baking technique: Adopted from my bakery-style chocolate chip muffins, this technique allows the muffins to get a nice rise by baking on a high temperature first before cooling things down so the interiors can bake through without drying out. It’s simple, reliable, and provides beautiful results!
- Bakery-style: Resting the batter, filling the muffin liners to the top, sprinkling with coarse sugar, and baking at two oven temperatures all contribute to the bakery-style results we are looking for. To sell the bakery look even further, bake your muffins in my parchment paper muffin liners!
Table of Contents
Ingredients
Just a few key ingredients make these strawberry muffins extra special. Let’s talk about them a bit before we head into the full recipe.
- Strawberries. Flavorful strawberries = flavorful strawberry muffins! If you use tasteless December strawberries, your muffins won’t magically develop an amazing strawberry flavor in the oven (if only!). So use berries that taste good if you want tasty muffins! See my note in the FAQ section below if you want to use frozen berries.
- Butter and oil. This combination is the best way to make your muffins flavorful and moist. Using all-butter tends to dry out cake-y baked goods while using all oil can make them soft and moist, but not quite so flavorful. A blend of the two is key 👌
- Buttermilk. Real, full-fat buttermilk is best and will provide the best flavor. My easy buttermilk substitute will also work if you can’t find buttermilk or don’t feel like running to the store, but the real stuff is the best.
- Cornstarch. A pinch of cornstarch contributes to the soft, tender texture of our muffins.
- Coarse sugar. This is optional, but I highly recommend sprinkling some coarse sugar (I use a baker’s sugar, but turbinado or even granulated will work too!) over your muffins before they bake. This adds a bakery-style finish that is just so pretty (and tasty too, I love the texture!).
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
BAKING SODA NOTE: You do NOT need to add baking soda to this recipe just because we are using buttermilk! This is a common misconception for many bakers. You only need baking powder today–save the baking soda for your sweet tea 😉
How to Make Strawberry Muffins
Start by stirring together the fats (butter and oil) and sugar in a large bowl. Once that’s combined, add the remaining wet ingredients, starting with the eggs and vanilla and ending with the buttermilk.
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then use a spatula (do NOT use a mixer!) to gently fold them into the batter until about 50% combined. Add the berries at this point, then continue gently folding until the batter is just combined. It is essential to not over-mix this type of batter, just like when making pancakes or banana bread.
Don’t Skip the Rest!
While not completely mandatory, I highly recommend that if you have time, you cover and rest the batter for at least 30 minutes or up to one hour. The batter thickens as it sits and results in fluffier muffins with gorgeous tall muffin tops!
Divide the batter into a lined muffin tin, filling each liner all the way to the top. While this recipe will evenly fill 12 muffin liners, I actually will usually only divide the batter into 9 or 10 liners for bigger muffins. Sprinkle the top of each muffin with coarse sugar or granulated sugar if desired–I love doing this!
Bake for 8 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature (keep the oven door closed!) and bake for 12 minutes or until the muffin tops are just starting to turn a golden color.
SAM’S TIP: To avoid soggy/greasy muffin liners, gently remove the muffins from their pan after about 5 minutes. I use a butter knife to gently lift and pry them from the pan before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and you do not need to thaw the berries first! I do however recommend chopping the frozen berries before adding them to the batter, as they usually come in halves and we want bite-sized pieces.
Yes! Like most of my muffin recipes, these muffins freeze very well. Just make sure to wrap them tightly in plastic wrap (a layer of foil isn’t a bad idea either!) and store in airtight container to keep them fresh.
To thaw, either set the muffins on the counter or pop in the microwave for a few seconds.
I suspect raspberries or blackberries would work well here, though I haven’t tried them myself. If you want to use blueberries, this recipe would work, but I recommend you follow my recipe for blueberry muffins.
Recommended Muffin Toppings
Check out my full collection of strawberry recipes for even more berry-filled treats 🍓
Enjoy!
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Strawberry Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled at least 5 minutes
- ¼ cup (60 ml) neutral cooking oil , (avocado, vegetable, or canola oil)
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk, (see note)
- 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons corn starch, cornflour UK
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup (175 g) hulled, chopped strawberries
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling , see note
Instructions
- Combine butter and canola oil in a large bowl and whisk until well-combined.4 Tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, ¼ cup (60 ml) neutral cooking oil
- Add sugar and whisk to combine.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- Add egg, egg white, and vanilla extract. Whisk vigorously, until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.1 large egg + 1 egg white, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- Gradually whisk in buttermilk until completely combined.½ cup buttermilk
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, corn starch, and salt.1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons corn starch, ½ teaspoon salt
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet gently, taking care not to over-mix the batter. Once about half of the dry ingredients have been combined, add your chopped strawberries and continue to gently stir until ingredients are just combined.1 ½ cup (175 g) hulled
- Optional, but recommended: Cover bowl with a dry towel and allow the batter to rest for 30-60 minutes before proceeding (see "resting note" below for more info). Meanwhile, preheat your oven.
- Preheat oven to 425F (215C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners.
- Once oven has preheated, evenly divide batter into prepared tin (note: this recipe will make 12 muffins, but for bigger/bakery style muffins i recommend dividing the batter into only 9 muffin liners!).
- Sprinkle a small bit of sugar over the top of each muffin.
- Transfer to center rack of 425F (215C) preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes and then (without opening the oven door) reduce the oven temperature to 350F (175C) and bake another 10-12 minutes, or until tops are just beginning to turn golden brown.
- Allow muffins to cool in their tin for 5-7 minutes then carefully remove from muffin tin and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before enjoying.
Notes
Buttermilk note
If you don’t happen to have buttermilk, you can use this buttermilk substitute (you only need 1/2 cup still!), but real buttermilk gives the best and tastiest/moistest results.Coarse sugar
I love and use this bakery style sugar, but you could also use turbinado or just plain granulated sugar! Alternatively, skip the sugar all together and drizzle the muffins with my vanilla glaze!Resting
This is optional, it helps give the muffin tops a higher rise but you can certainly put them straight in the oven without waiting and they’ll still taste delicious. Ideally you would let the batter set at least one hour, but I found 15 minutes gives me a decent rise (the muffins in the photographs were allowed 15 minutes) while still not dragging out the process too much.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the freezer (tightly wrap each muffin individually and store in an airtight container) for up to 3 months.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
I originally published this recipe in June of 2018 but have updated the photos and the post. The recipe for the muffins themselves remains the same, though I now top them with sugar instead of vanilla glaze (but include a note if you still want the glaze!).
Followed the recipe exactly and they turned out great! Taste good and actually look like the picture 🙂 I am going to try the same recipe again, but with blueberries.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these so much, Jenni! I actually have a blueberry muffin recipe that you can try. 🙂
Hi Sam,
I love your streusel topping and was wondering if you think that would be a good alternative to the coarse sugar.
Thanks
Absolutely! That would be delicious here 🙂