The Best Blueberry Muffins

Name: The Best Blueberry Muffin Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 Tablespoons cornstarch; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted); ¼ cup avocado oil or vegetable oil or canola oil ((may substitute vegetable oil)); 1 large egg (room temperature preferred); 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 1 cup sour cream; 1 ¾ cup blueberries; Coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional (may just use regular granulated sugar or omit entirely).)

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These soft, fluffy, and moist blueberry muffins are packed full of sweet, plump blueberries and topped with slightly sugared tops. My best blueberry muffin recipe is packed to the brim with tips for getting the fluffiest muffins with tall, bakery-style tops, and includes a step-by-step video tutorial as well!

The Only Blueberry Muffin Recipe You Need

I’m pretty proud of my muffin recipes around here, and today’s blueberry muffins are no exception.

With their soft, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth moist crumb with hints of vanilla, plump juicy berries, and slightly sugared tops, my recipe ticks all of the boxes when it comes to perfect, bakery style muffins.

They’re simple to make, no mixer required or fussy ingredients required, and they can be ready in under 35 minutes.

I think you’re going to love this one, so let’s get right to it.

Ingredients

Nothing shocking on the ingredient list, I’m sure, but let’s go over a few of the key ingredients and why I use them (and why I call for them in my blueberry muffin recipe).

Blueberries. Either fresh or frozen blueberries work great here. If you’re using frozen do not thaw the berries first and be note that frozen berries often leave purple streaks throughout the batter (especially if you’re using frozen “wild” blueberries). There’s nothing wrong with this and it won’t affect the flavor, just be aware that your blueberry muffins might look a bit tie-dyed.
Sour cream. This is my secret weapon and quickly became the obvious choice for adding moisture and a light texture to my blueberry muffin recipe (it’s also a key ingredient in my lemon poppy seed muffins)! This ingredient adds to the fluffiness and flavor to the muffins and helps give them their moist, tender crumb. I recommend only full-fat sour cream (though full-fat plain Greek yogurt could be substituted in a pinch!).
Corn starch. Another favorite secret ingredient of mine (you may remember it from my chocolate chip cookie recipe!). This helps add structure and fluffiness to the muffins, without drying them out (which would happen if we simply added more flour). It’s another contributing factor to the tender crumb that makes these blueberry muffins the best.
Butter & oil. I discovered years ago when developing my vanilla cake recipe that the trick to getting the best texture was not using solely butter or oil, but using a blend of the two. Melted butter lends flavor to the blueberry muffins (and since it’s melted, there’s no need to cream it so the batter comes together easily by hand) and a neutral cooking oil (vegetable or canola) adds moisture. Made this way, your muffins will have a flavorful and moist crumb.

How to Make Moist Blueberry Muffins

Mixing dry ingredients, adding wet ingredients, and mixing in the blueberries

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients and sugar (which is not technically considered a dry ingredient even though it’s, well, dry. It has to do with the fact that sugar becomes liquid in the oven, but that’s a post for another day).
In a separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients (minus the sugar) until thoroughly combined.
Carefully and gently begin to fold the wet ingredients and dry ingredients together.
When the batter is about 75% combined, fold in the blueberries just until the batter is completely combined. I like to add the blueberries here rather than after the batter is completely combined because it allows you to incorporate the berries without over-mixing the batter, which would leave you with dense, dry, or even crumbly blueberry muffins.

Baking the Muffins

Portioning the batter into the muffin tin and sprinkling the tops with sugar

Divide the muffin batter evenly into a paper-lined muffin tin (or use my parchment paper liners). There will be a lot of batter, with each liner being filled to the brim, this is expected!
Sprinkle the top of the blueberry muffins with coarse or granulated sugar, if desired (or go fancy and top with my streusel!), and bake until they’re beginning to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

overhead of 12 blueberry muffins in muffin tin

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my muffins turn out dry?

There are several reasons why muffins turn out dry. Most commonly this is caused by the batter either being over-mixed or over-baked in the oven. Make sure your oven is not running hotter than it leads on, or it will dry out the blueberry muffins in a hurry.. If the flour is accidentally over-measured, this could also do it. Make sure you are following my guidelines on how to measure flour properly.

Why do you use two temperatures in your blueberry muffin recipe?

This is actually one of my key tricks to tall, fluffy muffin tops!
Starting your muffin batter off on a higher temperature allows the blueberry muffins to rise nice and tall, then dropping the temperature allows the interiors of your muffins to finish cooking without drying out, keeping the centers nice, soft, and fluffy.

Is this recipe different than it used to be?

Yes. I originally mirrored my blueberry muffin recipe almost exactly after my chocolate chip muffins. Over the years, I decided the blueberries deserved a more distinct muffin base and so it has been changed. If you are looking for the original recipe, it’s not lost! Simply head over to my basic muffin recipe and add 1 ½ cups blueberries. It’s the same thing, and still a delicious recipe, though I prefer the new one here.