Ultimate Muffins

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This is truly the Ultimate Muffin recipe. They’re tender, moist, and fluffy, and so full of flavor.

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.

All that experimenting was perfect to help me create the best possible base muffin recipe; a super easy homemade recipe you can turn to again and again and know it’ll work perfectly every time.

I love this Ultimate Muffins recipe because you can whatever your heart desires to make them your own. The flavor and add-in options are endless (and I’ve included lots of ideas in the tip box below).

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 The Ultimate Muffins

How to Make Moist Muffins

• Measure your flour correctly: I like to use a digital kitchen scale, but if you don’t have one, use the spoon-and-level method. Learn more about the importance of measuring flour correctly here.
• Don’t reduce the sugar: Sugar does SO much more than simply sweetening these muffins. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking here.
• Use REAL buttermilk: I highly recommend using real buttermilk in this recipe. It brings a beautiful tang and helps produce a moist, tall, light muffin. DIY substitutions simply can’t provide the same benefits. Learn more about the science of buttermilk and buttermilk substitutes here.

How to Prevent Liners from Sticking to the Muffins

Some brands of liners tend to stick more than others, so use a high-quality liner. This is my favorite brand of muffin/cupcake liners. If this is a common issue for you, check out my article on How to Prevent Muffin/Cupcake Liners from Sticking here.

How to Bake TALL Muffins

This Ultimate Muffins recipe uses a generous amount of baking powder in the batter and a generous amount of batter in each muffin tin cavity, for beautifully tall Ultimate Muffins. If you’re baking at high altitude, you may need to reduce the amount of baking powder. I also recommend chilling your muffin batter, if time permits. Chilling your muffin batter overnight makes for the BEST ever muffins! Learn more about baking tall muffins here.

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.

1. Hold off on adding your fruit or mix-ins to your muffin batter.
2. Take your plain batter and scoop a tablespoon into the bottom of each muffin cavity to fill just the very bottom.
3. 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 Ultimate 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

Alternate 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 Ultimate Muffins batter. Be careful not to overmix.
• Flavorings: Add flavorings, such as extracts, fresh citrus zest, or espresso powder, from 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons, depending on the desired intensity of flavor.

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 Poppyseed 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.

Muffin 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 (56 grams) unsalted 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.

This post was originally published in 2014 and has been updated with additional baking tips and new photos by Ashley McLaughlin.