These sourdough blueberry muffins have an incredible texture and flavor thanks to sourdough discard! My recipe takes just 30 minutes from start to finish and makes a dozen beautiful muffins.
Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
Before I talk about these sourdough blueberry muffins, I think I should admit that I might have a bit of a blueberry muffin obsession. If you’ve been following along, you know that I recently shared a recipe for blueberry muffin cookies that is simply incredible (if I do say so myself). I also have classic blueberry muffins, plus blueberry cream cheese muffins. How many blueberry muffins recipes is too many?
Correct answer: the limit does not exist.
Now back to today’s recipe, which I absolutely love. Not only are these muffins full of blueberries, but they have a truly amazing texture; they are so, so, SO soft and tender. The sourdough discard is a key player in creating this lovely texture, and of course, it also adds a beautiful depth of flavor too.
What to love about this recipe:
- Comes together fast.
- No mixer needed (seriously, please don’t use one!).
- Beautiful tall muffin tops, thanks to my special muffin trick (also used in my banana muffins).
- Amazing flavor and texture from sourdough discard.
What You Need
Most of these ingredients are pretty standard, except for the sourdough discard–obviously! Here are the most important ones:
- Sourdough discard. You should have some of this lying around if you’re feeding an active sourdough starter! If you don’t, check out the FAQ section below.
- Melted butter. Not only does melted butter make this recipe super easy to mix together by hand, but it also yields a buttery flavor too.
- Blueberries. Fresh or frozen blueberries will work here, but just know that frozen berries will dye your batter purple. If I’m using frozen berries, I prefer to thaw and drain them before adding them to the batter.
- Sour cream. Similar to buttermilk, sour cream adds moisture, tenderness, and flavor.
- Room temperature egg. It’s important that your egg is at room temperature so it incorporates easily; otherwise, you might end up over-mixing your batter. If you forget to set yours out ahead of time, read my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.
SAM’S TIP: For a pretty, bakery style look I recommend sprinkling some extra granulated sugar on top of your sourdough blueberry muffins just before baking. Or, if you’d really like to take your muffins to the next level, skip the sugar and add some streusel!
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!
How to Make Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until the batter is 50% combined.
- Add the blueberries and keep folding until just combined. Do not over-mix!
- Portion the batter into a lined 12-count muffin tin. I like to use an ice cream scoop for this!
- Sprinkle granulated sugar over the tops (if using) and bake for 8 minutes at 425F.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350F (don’t open the door!) and bake for an additional 12 minutes or until cooked through.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.
SAM’S TIP: Using two oven temperatures ensures our muffins will have a beautiful rise. We’ll start off high, then reduce the temperature (without opening the door!) to finish baking. You’ll see this technique used in most of my muffin recipes, including my bakery style chocolate chip muffins.
Frequently Asked Questions
These sourdough blueberry muffins were carefully designed to be moist and tender, so they should not be dry at all. If yours are, it’s possible that you over-measured your flour (it’s easy to do!), over-mixed your batter, or simply baked them too long.
Over-mixing will doom any quick bread, muffin, or pancake; it makes them dense and dry. To avoid this, make sure you stir everything together by hand (do not use a mixer!) and stop once everything is just combined.
Sourdough discard is actually a byproduct of feeding/maintaining a sourdough starter. Before you feed your starter, you always discard half of what is in the jar. Instead of wasting that discard (it still has lots of nutritional benefits), I like to use it in other recipes, like these muffins or my sourdough crackers or sourdough pancakes.
If you are interested in baking with sourdough, check out my post on how to make a sourdough starter!
Yes! Just make sure to wrap them really well in plastic wrap beforehand and store in an airtight container. They’ll keep this way for a few months.
To thaw, you can let your muffins sit at room temperature, or you can microwave them for a few seconds.
The muffin liners I’m using here today are my parchment paper muffin liners! They are so easy to make and instantly elevate the look of your muffins.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Sourdough blueberry muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (187 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup (105 g) sourdough discard
- ¾ cup (180 g) sour cream or plain full-fat Greek yogurt
- 1 large egg room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (210 g) fresh blueberries
- Granulated sugar for topping optional
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (220C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.1 ½ cups (187 g) all-purpose flour, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon table salt
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, sourdough discard, sour cream, egg, and vanilla extract until ingredients are evenly mixed.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, ½ cup (105 g) sourdough discard, ¾ cup (180 g) sour cream, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add wet ingredients to dry and use a spatula to gently fold together. Once batter is about 50% combined, add blueberries and continue to mix, gently, until blueberries are well-distributed and batter is just combined. Do not over-mix or muffins will be dense and dry.1 ½ cups (210 g) fresh blueberries
- Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin tin. If desired, sprinkle with granulated sugar.Granulated sugar for topping
- Transfer to center rack of 425F (220C) oven and bake for 8 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, decrease oven temperature to 350F (175C) and bake for 12 minutes longer/until muffins are baked through. The tops will be beginning to turn a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Allow muffins to cool for 10 minutes in the muffin tin before carefully removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Blueberries
Frozen blueberries will work but may streak your batter blue/purple. I typically thaw and drain the berries before using.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Muffins may also be tightly wrapped (after cooling) and frozen for up to 3 months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Danielle
This is my absolute favourite discard recipe and I get success every time. I substitute all purpose white flour for whole wheat flour, and just use 1/2 cup sugar instead. Its so delicious!!!
Kelly Stevens
These Sourdough Blueberry Muffins were delicious! So happy to find more recipes to use my sourdough discard. And this one is definitely a keeper.
Thanks Sam!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you liked them Kelly! We have lots more sourdough recipes for you to choose from, and more on the way 😊
Joyce
Perfect muffins. I needed a vessel for some of my sourdough discard. These muffins are beautiful, light, and flavorful.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you chose our recipe, Joyce! Enjoy 😊
Debbie
These muffins were amazing. They taste like gourmet muffins you would buy from a bakery. This recipe makes 12 large muffins. I suggest using the parchment paper to line your muffin pans to prevent overflow. I used a combination of the greek yogurt and sour cream to make the needed amount. Will definitely make again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are SO happy you enjoyed them so much, Debbie! Thanks for the review 🙂
Erica
Could I use canned blueberries for this?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Erica! We don’t see why not. Just make sure to drain them well 😊
Kristin
AMAZING!!! and super easy, especially for someone who doesn’t bake alot. Perfect texture and taste, Most important step is don’t overmix the blueberries!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for trying our recipe, Kristin! We’re happy the muffins turned out so nicely for you 🥰
Christie
These turned out so good! Will definitely be making them again 🙂 2 cups of sugar seemed like a lot to me, so I did cut that in half and they turned out perfect for my family’s taste. I also subbed coconut oil for the butter, just because I was out, and it didnt seem to affect them! Just in case someone else is reading the comments wondering if oil would work well. Very fluffy and soft
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out for you, Christie! 😋
Nori
Hi Sam,
Your recipes are absolutely amazing! My husband called these “Righteous!”; he doesn’t loosely throw words like that around. I’m really a novice using sourdough, as well. I was wondering, besides fruit, would possibly using chocolate chips (a dry ingredient) work using this recipe, as well? I was afraid to try it without asking. I used another recipe, didn’t really want to, and it wasn’t as good. I wasn’t surprised, actually.
Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and talent with the world. Can’t wait to try more of them!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Nori! I think you could swap the blueberries for chocolate chips here without much of an issue. 🙂
Ani
Delicious flavor! I substituted half of the sugar for coconut sugar and it worked great. We are at high altitude and the mixture was VERY dry but adding a little bit of lukewarm milk heated in the microwave worked well to get the consistency where we needed it. My husband loved these muffins!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ani! 🙂
Tesia
Hi! I just put this in the oven in a loaf pan. Any changes in baking time?
Sam
Hi Tesia! You will certainly need to alter the bake time. I’m not sure if it’s going to work well. 🙁
Tesia
Update in case anyone else doesn’t have muffin tins: the top of the loaf was perfectly crisp, the bread was sooo soft and yummy, but I did need to bake it an additional 42 years 😂 worth it! But now I know for next time. Thank you Sam!
Amul Kumar
Hi Sam! I was halfway through reading this recipe before I realized it was yours. 🙂 any tips on using this recipe in a decorative muffin tin, like my precious Nordic Ware Rose Tins (that I ask you about in just about every comment)?
Also, shouldn’t I be able to substitute time for baking soda? once you’ve mixed all the ingredients together, shouldn’t that wake up the yeast in the sourdough?
Sam
Hi Amul! I’m not sure about the pan since I don’t have one, maybe I’ll have to find one. Time for baking soda likely won’t provide quite the lift you are looking for especially since we are using discard and not active starter here. 🙂
Lisa R Butt
Absolutely love these muffins just like ALL the other Sourdough recipes You have provided. Enjoying making Sourdough bread, muffins, cinnamon rolls, banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.
Thank you so very Much.
Sam
You’re very welcome, Lisa! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed everything so much! I am working on a few other sourdough recipes. Did you have any requests?
Carol Murphy
I am these muffins and they were a big hit! I didn’t have blueberries, so I used strawberries instead and they were yummy. I cut the strawberries into small pieces, and it worked out great.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! We’re so happy you liked the muffins Carol ❤️
Momma Cass
This is the second time I’ve made this recipe but first time using fresh milled flour. I milled soft white berries and my muffins didn’t rise at all! They are still delicious. But do you have any suggestions on modifying the recipe when using fresh milled flour vs all purpose?
Sam
While I don’t have much experience using freshly milled flour, I don’t think that would be the issue. I think I would check that your leavening agents haven’t expired, that would be my best guess. 😔 I’m glad you were still able to enjoy them!
CJ
These are FANTASTIC! I have tried a couple of blueberry muffin with sourdough discard recipes, but will not need to try anymore. The recipe is easy and the muffins come out with an amazing texture and flavor – a clear winner for everyone. Bonus, the batter keeps the blueberries in place so they are well dispersed with almost no effort! I let a second round sit about half an hour and the muffins were even “fluffier” than the first batch.
Sam
Thank you so much, CJ! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much!☺️
Susan
I’m new to sourdough baking and was quite happy to find use for the discard. I was very, very pleased with the outcome. I am not good at baking, but these were fluffy and moist without any effort on my part- I simply followed your recipe. I most enjoyed the balance of sweetness. The muffins were not overly sweet and sugary. Thank-you.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Susan! 🙂