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A few years ago I posted my Ultimate Guide to Muffins where I made eight (!) experimental batches of muffins. I did it to figure out what exactly makes them moist, crumbly, tall, flat, tender, or tough.
Like I’ve done with my Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie and Ultimate Brownie recipes, I knew I had to take the experimenting insights to create the Ultimate Muffin recipe!
So, here it is! This is my version of the *ultimate* muffin. They’re tender, moist, and fluffy. If you want to know the whys behind the recipe, such as why I love using buttermilk, check out my free Ultimate Muffin Cheatsheet.
Otherwise, just relish in the fact that you’ve found an easy homemade muffin recipe you can turn to over and over and know it’ll work. I love this base muffin recipe because you can literally add WHATEVER you want to it. The flavor and add-in options are endless. Lots of ideas below and more are included in that free cheatsheet!
I really hope you enjoy these muffins as much as I do. I know I just love having the ultimate version of any beloved recipe treat – it makes baking that much more fun when you know you’ll be successful in the kitchen. When you have tested and trusted recipes in your repertoire!
If you’re interested in learning more about the science of baking and getting all of my best baking secrets in one place, I think you’ll love my online class, The Magic of Baking.
How to Make
ULTIMATE Muffins
The BEST Muffin Ingredients:
- All-purpose flour – measured correctly
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar – for a little extra moisture and flavor
- Salt
- Baking powder – a hefty dose for tall fluffy muffins
- Buttermilk – no substitutes!
- Butter – more flavorful than oil.
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Add-ins and flavorings of your choice – get as creative as you want!
How to Make Muffins from Scratch:
- Whisk together your dry ingredients.
- In a liquid measuring cup, beat together your wet ingredients. Pour into the dry ingredients. Don’t overmix or you’ll have rubbery muffins.
- Add your toppings or flavor variations.
- Divide among muffin tin, bake, and enjoy!
How to Bake TALL Muffins:
I recently experimented with the science of muffins and how to achieve beautiful, TALL muffins that look like they belong on the shelf of a fancy bakery. Check out my 3 tips for baking tall muffins here!
Hint: Chilling your muffin batter overnight makes for the BEST ever muffins!!
How to Prevent Blueberries from Sinking in Muffins:
When fruit sinks to the bottom it gets soggy and can stick to the paper liner. The old trick of tossing your berries with flour to prevent them from sinking doesn’t always work all that well. Not to mention it can disturb the ratio of wet to dry in the recipe.
There’s an easy way to prevent that from happening in three steps. I learned this tip from Stella Parks for Serious Eats.
- Hold off on adding your fruit or mix-ins to your muffin batter.
- Take your plain batter and scoop a tablespoon into the bottom of each muffin cavity to fill just the very bottom.
- Gently fold in your mix-ins to the remaining batter. Scoop the batter over the plain muffin batter, dividing evenly between all the cavities. Bake as directed by the recipe!
How to Store Muffins:
Muffins are best served the day they’re baked. If you have leftovers, store them for up to 1 day in an airtight container at room temperature. Refresh in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes or reheat in the microwave for 10 seconds.
For best results, freeze leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature or reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute.
Ultimate Muffin Customization Options:
Muffin Size Directions
Jumbo muffins: Bake at 450°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 400°F and continue baking for about 16 minutes. Makes about 6 jumbo muffins.
Mini muffins: Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes. Makes about 24 to 28 mini muffins.
Muffin Flavor Variations
Mix-ins: Add about 1 to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, dried fruit, candy, etc. to the batter. Be careful not to overmix.
Flavorings: For flavorings add anywhere from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons depending on your desired intensity of flavor. Flavorings include extracts, fresh citrus zest, or espresso powder.
FRUIT MUFFINS
Add: 1 1/2 cups fruit (such as berries, apples, etc.), finely chopped and well drained
Directions: To prevent your fruit from sinking to the bottom, spoon a little bit of plain batter (before adding in the fruit) to the bottom of each muffin cavity. Then, mix in the fruit to the batter and spoon it into each cavity.
Note: If chilling your batter overnight, add fruit to the mixture just before baking. The juice of your fruit will more than likely bleed into your muffin if you put it in too early.
CHOCOLATE MUFFINS
Add: 1/3 cup (28 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
Directions: Add the cocoa in with the other dry ingredients. Increase buttermilk to 1 1/2 cups.
BANANA MUFFINS
Add: 3/4 cup mashed overripe banana (from about 2 small bananas)
Directions: Add in with the wet ingredients.
LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon zest
Directions: Add the poppy seeds with the dry ingredients and the lemon zest with the wet ingredients.
Toppings, Icings, & Fillings:
STREUSEL TOPPING
- 1/2 cup (64 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons (71 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Directions: In a small bowl combine the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut the butter into the mixture using the back of a fork until it is coarse and crumbly. Sprinkle over each muffin, gently pressing into the batter, before baking as directed.
CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions: Combine all ingredients until mixture looks like wet sand. Sprinkle over every muffin before baking.
MUFFIN GLAZE
- 1/3 cup (42 grams) powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon milk
Directions: In a small bowl whisk together ingredients until a thick but pourable icing forms. Add more milk to thin, or more sugar to thicken, if needed. Use fresh citrus juice in place of milk, if desired. You may also added in fresh citrus zest to taste.
More Muffin Recipes:
-
2 1/4
cups
(286 grams) all-purpose flour
-
1/2
cup
(100 grams) granulated sugar
-
1/4
cup
(50 grams) brown sugar
-
1/2
teaspoon
fine salt
-
1
tablespoon
baking powder
-
1
cup
buttermilk,
at room temperature
-
1
stick (113 grams) unsalted butter,
melted and cooled
-
2
large eggs, at room temperature
-
1
teaspoon
vanilla extract (if desired)
-
Add-ins and flavorings of your choice
-
Coarse or turbinado sugar,
for sprinkling (if desired)
-
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Position an oven rack to the upper third of the oven. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
-
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
-
In a liquid measuring cup beat together the buttermilk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until a few streaks of flour remain. Stir in any desired add-ins, such as fruit or chips.
-
If time permits, cover the muffin batter and allow it to rest in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight. This will produce more moist, tender, and tall muffins.
-
Divide evenly among the muffin tin cups. Sprinkle each with coarse sugar, if desired.
-
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 16 to 18 minutes.
(This post was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2021 with new photos by Ashley McLaughlin, a new video, and a new PDF guide.)
March Baking Challenge
This recipe was the selection for the March 2021 monthly baking challenge! Every month you can join the challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s muffins:
So I tried the recipe twice. Both times was not a success. I followed everything in the recipe. The first time I chilled the batter for around an hour and the second overnight. In both cases when I took the batter out of the refrigerator I noticed it was nice, bubbly and airy. When I started scooping it into the muffin tins it started to deflate and by the time I was done filling them up, it turned into liquid-like consistency. The end result was very dense muffins in both cases. Also the second time when I left it overnight, they took much longer to bake, so they browned a lot as well. What could be wrong?
Hi Jonathan! I’m sorry to hear that you had trouble with these muffins. Without having baked alongside you, it’s tricky to say exactly what the issue was here, but here are a couple of things that may have happened:
– How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
– How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. From what you described, it sounds like your baking powder may be close to expired, as it sounds like it’s losing its strength by the time you measure out your batter. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope something here helps, and I hope you give these (or one of Tessa’s other muffin recipes) a try – they really are so good!! Happy baking!
Fabulous! We’ll-named. I made cupcakes and they were scrumptious.
Hi! Can muffin batter be frozen to be baked later? Thank you!
Hi Lina! We haven’t tried freezing muffin batter, but feel free to experiment with this and let us know how it goes! Alternatively, you can bake, cool and freeze the muffins per Tessa’s instructions in the pink tip box (above the recipe): “For best results, freeze leftover muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight at room temperature or reheat in the microwave for about 1 minute.” I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Thank you and I’ll let you know if I try freezing the batter!
When my kids were still at home I had a small toaster oven that would fit a 6-muffin tin perfectly. None of us particularly liked frozen and re-heated muffins, so I bought every 6-muffin tin I could find when I went to the local thrift store. I would mix up a huge batch of muffin batter and fill the tins, freeze them, then seal them in the good heavy zip-lock freezer bags. In the morning I could pop a tin in that little toaster oven and in 30 minutes everyone had fresh muffins for breakfast!
Hi! Is there a mini muffin recipe to make ahead and freeze for my kids. I would love to make different flavors and keep in the freezer for breakfast.
Hi Sophia! Tessa included directions for this in the Customization options above the recipe:
Mini muffins: Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes. Makes about 24 to 28 mini muffins.
Happy baking! 🙂
Approximately how many calories are in the banana chocolate chip version of these muffins?
Hi Jamie! We don’t have nutritional information for our recipes, as we believe that baking should be an indulgence! You should be able to find a nutritional calculator online to assist with this, if you wish! 🙂
I made the muffins, texture wise it was perfect but it tasted less sweet. Likeness there was no sweetness. Can you suggest something?
Hi Debjani! These muffins were designed to be slightly sweet, but you should definitely notice some sweetness from them. Were your sugars accidentally mis-measured, and did you include both granulated and brown sugars? It can be so easy to accidentally skip an ingredient or mis-measure, especially if you’re not using a digital scale to measure. If you enjoyed the texture and flavor, I recommend checking out Tessa’s tips (above the recipe) for customization; you can add chocolate chips or fruit, top with a streusel or even finish with an icing or a glaze, for added sweetness! I hope that helps, Debjani! Happy baking 🙂
I made the chocolate version. Added chocolate chips and more milk in it as instructed, didn’t use the topping and it turned out great anyway! Love the soft and moist texture. This recipe is so quick and easy I’m thinking of playing around with the flavours, maybe espresso. My question is, can I turn this muffin recipe into a cake?
Hi Debbie! We are so glad to hear that you’re enjoying Tessa’s muffin recipes! Adding espresso powder should be delicious 🙂 As you compare muffin and cake recipes, you’ll notice that there is a big difference in ratios of ingredients, so this recipe won’t really work as an actual cake – but muffins and quick breads are very similar, so you may be able to experiment a little and bake these as a quick bread/loaf! We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure how long to bake for etc, but let us know how it goes if you give it a try – or check out Tessa’s decadent Double Chocolate Banana Bread for an amazing loaf bread recipe. Happy baking!
My muffins turned out doughy and dense:( I followed the recipe to a T, what could have caused this? I was careful about overmixing too.
Hi Hallie! Other than overmixing, there are a couple big reasons why muffins could be doughy and dense. The first big factor is mismeasuring of flour. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
The second big factor is leaveners. How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
I hope something here helps, Hallie! Happy baking 🙂
I’ve never used buttermilk before. All the buttermilk available to me are labeled “low fat” or “99% fat free”. Is the buttermilk you use also low fat? Is all commercially made buttermilk low fat?
Hi Nat! Yes, most commercially-available buttermilks are low fat, because traditionally, buttermilk was the leftover liquid produced following the churning of cream into butter. These days, buttermilk is made by adding lactic acid producing bacteria to milk (usually low fat milk) to “culture” it. There is the occasional variety of buttermilk where lactic acid producing bacteria is added to full fat milk, but it’s not a common practice and therefore not the easiest to find. So, you can use the low fat buttermilk varieties you’re finding available in any recipe calling for buttermilk. Learn more about buttermilk, and Tessa’s substitution tests, here! I hope that helps, Nat 🙂 Happy baking!
hello, in my country buttermilk is not available, what is the best alternative to replace it?
Thank you
Hi Isabel! Check out Tessa’s article here all about buttermilk – you’ll find some good substitutes mentioned in there 🙂
Hello, novice here and just wondering if there is a Handle The Heat endorsed method of melting butter? Microwave vs saucepan, etc?
Hi PJ! Either way works great and Tessa uses both methods, depending on the recipe – but typically, she finds the microwave to be quicker. Just do it in small bursts and stir in between, so you don’t explode the butter all over the inside of your microwave lol! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
These are so easy to make and a hit with everyone who tries them.
These were SO good! I browned the butter and the flavor was insanely good. Best muffin recipe to go with soup. 10/10 recommend.
Yay! So glad to hear this, Alicia!
Hi there, I’m a big fan! I am wondering if there is a way to incorporate oats, flax or whole grain flours into this recipe without messing with the dry/wet ratio? I love oatmeal muffins but haven’t been able to find a recipe that is light and fluffy. Thank you!
Hi Leeane! I’m sorry, I couldn’t really say because we have not experimented with anything like that! You could experiment and see if you can strike a balance you enjoy! Whole grain flours all absorb a lot more liquid than regular flour, so I would suggest starting your experimentations with a ratio perhaps of 50:50 (or even lower) of all-purpose flour to whole wheat flour, and go from there. Alternatively, you could experiment with simply adding oats and/or flax and maybe bumping up the buttermilk a touch if the mixture seems dry. Again, as we have not tried any of this, these suggestions are educated guesses only, and I can’t guarantee the results will be great! Good luck! 🙂
I have made this recipe many times already and it’s my go to for muffins for sure.
I made this for the very first time with frozen blueberries a couple of days ago and it resulted in an undercooked muffin so I had to throw it back in the oven for like an extra 10-12 mins.
How should I adjust the cooking time or temperature when using frozen blueberries? I still have a lot more frozen blueberries so I definitely intend to use them all up in this recipe! Thank you
Hi Heba! I’m so glad you enjoy this recipe!! I’m sorry, but we really haven’t tested this muffin recipe with frozen berries! Our best advice is to just bake a few minutes longer, as you ended up doing last time, baking until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean! Good luck and happy baking 🙂
Hi Tessa, thank you for sharing the result of your thorough research and for the amazing recipe. This recipe requires though 1 Tablespoon baking powder. I was wandering if it is a typo. It is a very large amount of baking powder. This does affect the taste of muffins till the point when you just fill it with every bite. Could you please clarify.
Thank you.
Hi Olga! No, it’s not a typo! This recipe was written to yield super tall muffins, and a hefty does of baking powder does that for us here! If you are outside of the US or using a different brand of baking powder, that could possibly be accounting for the flavor difference you are experiencing? If the flavor is too strong for you, feel free to try lowering the baking powder – just note that they won’t be as tall as the muffins pictured here as a result! I hope that helps 🙂
Hello,
Could you please let me know how much centiliters is a cup of buttermilk?
Thanks !
Hi Laura! Tessa doesn’t typically weigh her liquids and instead uses cups because there’s no air inside those ingredients; however, a quick search on Google resulted in 23.66 centiliters = 1 cup of buttermilk. I hope that helps!
So easy to make! I chilled mine for 1 hour and they came out absolutely perfect! Favorite muffin recipe
I made this recipe with blueberries and streusel topping and they were the best muffins I’ve ever made. I made the banana variation and they were the worst muffins I’ve ever made. Completely inedible. I think the amount of buttermilk called for should have been reduced to account for the addition of bananas.
Sorry to hear that customization didn’t work well for you Sarah, thanks for your feedback! I’d recommend checking out our Bakery Style Banana Muffins the next time you’d like to make Banana Muffins instead. Hope you enjoy those more!
I could hardly wait for it to cool (not completely, not to exaggerate! Lol) the best muffins of all time by the professional Tessa! The texture is like a cloud, moist and soft, so delicious on another level! I added chocolate chips – perfect!
Thank you so much Dear Tessa for the multiple investments, tips, and detailed explanations!
So happy you loved these muffins!
I have been making this recipe nonstop for about 2 months now….
Every week my husband requests blueberry muffins to take to work! I top mine with turbinado sugar too
The best muffin recipe ever
That’s amazing! Sounds like such a delicious treat, so happy he loves them! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Hi,
Can I bake it in silicone mold ?
We haven’t tried that, but it should be fine 🙂 Let us know how it goes!
This is the best muffin recipe ever! they were so moist and delicious, I highly recommend chilling the batter overnight. Will be making again. Can’t wait to try a pumpkin version!
Woohoo! So glad you loved these muffins as much as we do.
Hello! Can I replace all purpose flour with cake flour ?
Hi Xiu! We actually never use cake flour with muffins-we found that they end up being a bit too dry and crumbly.
Ah icic! Thank you! I was wrong, thought that cake flour has a lower protein and would make it softer 🙂
The best.
I’ve made these every weekend for the past 3 weeks. We do lemon blueberry and let them “marinate” overnight. In the morning, we pop them in the oven for breakfast.
Amazing, Kara! So happy to hear this recipe is such a hit, lemon blueberry sounds fantastic!
About 50 years ago I learned how to make Surprise Muffins in Home Economics class. I still make them, but now i use Tessa’s muffin recipe and I follow her advice. I fluff the flour with a fork before i measure it in grams on my food scale. I let the batter sit overnight in the fridge. The “surprise” is strawberry preserves. I put some batter at the bottom of the cup, add a tsp of strawberry preserves, cover it with more batter and then bake. It makes 18 small surprise muffins and I bake six at a time so we can have fresh hot muffins with coffee for two or three days. We love this recipe!
Sounds absolutely delicious, Irma! The surprise of strawberry preserves would be lovely! Thanks so much for letting us know 🙂
I made the ultimate muffin recipe and I had fresh blueberries from my yard and zest of a lemon. I did let the batter rest overnight in the fridge and topped these with a lemon glaze. OMG, they are tender and moist and so DELICIOUS!!! Thank you for all your hard work so I can look like the best cook to my family and friends!!!
Wonderful! You just made my day, Cyndi! I’m so happy everyone enjoyed them 🙂
Hihi I came across your recipe and I tried making the chocolate chip muffins and they tasted great! I have made the chocolate based muffin batter by adding 28g of cocoa powder and 1.5 cup of buttermilk. However, I noted the batter was super watery! I have placed them in the fridge for baking tomorrow, hopefully it turns out fine.
Let me know how they turn out!
Hihi, I have baked it and it turned out to be great! Was so afraid that it would not be successful as the batter was watery
Great! I’m so happy to hear they turned out well 🙂
Excellent recipe. I’ve never been able to make good muffins before I tried this recipe
I made them with Lind curd, delicious!
Hello,
I just cam across your website – I could not be happier. I have made many types of muffins – love baking so I am happy to hear all the different suggestions. I will definitely try to refrigerate overnight the muffin batter. Question:when would you add frozen blueberries to the muffin batter – before you refrigerate or the nect day just before baking?
Thanks for such an amazing website!!!
Annie
Welcome 🙂 If you’re chilling your mixture, add the blueberries just before baking; otherwise the blueberry juice will bleed into the batter. Enjoy your muffins! I’d recommend baking up a couple the night before so you can compare them to the chilled ones the next morning!
Hi Tessa, I was wondering when you add the fruit to the batter for storing over night? The recipe instructions are a little confusing – you advise to add some batter to the paper before fruit, however you add the fruit to the batter to let it rest overnight. Do you separate when you rest it overnight? Appreciate the clarification. Thanks 🙂
Hi Erin, I would recommend adding the fruit after letting the batter rest. Your fruit will more than likely bleed into your muffin if you put it in too early. Adding plain batter to the liners before adding in the rest of the muffin batter (with fruit) prevents your fruit from sinking to the bottom as well as making the muffins easy to remove from the liner 🙂
Soft and delicious
Awesome
Super moist and such good flavor!!!
I didn’t have actual buttermilk, because I forgot to pick it up at the grocery store, but I made some with milk and vinegar (had both of those) and it still tasted delicious. I’ll have to make them again with actual buttermilk to see if it will change the texture and flavor!
Such Delicious Muffins!!! They were super moist and yummy would definitely recommend to make! Love how Tessa makes this recipe sooo customizable Would recommend adding salted butter but other that that it’s perfect!!!
So glad you loved this recipe, Carmen!
Loved the trick of putting the mix in the fridge!!!
These were incredible! Read the pink box and all her tips. The muffins were tall, tender, and so IG worthy haha. Will be making these over and over.
Hooray!!!
Clear and easy instructions with lots of tips! Love it! Thanks for the great recipe! I made chocolate chip muffins this time but can’t wait to try other toppings! Delicious!!!!
Thrilled you hear you loved this recipe, Megan!
Loved these muffins, my lemon poppy seed muffins were so tender and yummy! Can´t wait to try them in others flavors!! This is a must do, so delicious!
Wonderful to hear!!
Resting overnight is a total gamechanger!!
If I could add a dance emoji to this comment, I would LOL! So happy you tried chilling your muffin mixture!
Perfect with berries and white chocolate.
Love, love, love this muffin recipe! I do enjoy how it adapts to the filling combination of your choice. I have made glazed blueberry muffins, cinnamon muffins which I glazed with Tessa’s gooey cinnamon roll glaze recipe, and chocolate chip muffins with the same glaze that I lightly brushed over the tops. I did follow Tessa’s direction to refrigerate the batter overnight. They domed beautifully! Also, her tip to cool in the pan for only a couple of minutes gave me a gorgeous naked muffin when I removed the liner to devour. I could go on and on, but I’d hate to be a review hog . Enjoy making these delectable treats … it will become your go-to muffin recipe that will be appreciated and loved by all
Thank you SO MUCH for your glowing review, Gwen! I’m thrilled you love these muffins! <3
The perfect present for my sister who loves fruit in the cakes, half with blueberries and half with raspberries and white chocolate.
Yummy, yummy, yummy! These blueberry-strawberry muffins didn’t last very long in our house!!!
Made this muffin recipe several times using different variations. So moist and tender everytime.
So tall and moist!!!