These buttermilk blueberry muffins are light, fluffy and incredibly moist buttermilk muffins filled with fresh blueberries. They’re bakery style muffins with beautiful tall, domed tops covered in crunchy bits of sparkling sugar. This quick and easy blueberry buttermilk muffin recipe makes the best blueberry muffins you’ll want to make over and over again.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore a bakery style muffin. My Raspberry Muffins, Lemon Muffins, Pistachio Muffins, Banana Coffee Cake Muffins, and Cinnamon Streusel Muffins are just a few muffins recipes I always reach for when I want beautiful bakery style muffins. I know you’ll love this blueberry muffins with buttermilk recipe just as much as I do!
- Layers of flavors and textures: From the moist and fluffy vanilla buttermilk muffin, to the sweet, tart and lightly floral scent of the fresh blueberries and crunch of the sweet sugar topping, these tender crumb blueberry muffins will delight your senses.
- Easy to make, bake and eat: These fluffy blueberry muffins look and taste like you just bought them from the best bakery in town. But all you need to make these buttermilk muffins filled with blueberries is two bowls, a whisk and a muffin pan.
Ingredients
These lemon blueberry muffins with buttermilk require only a handful of simple ingredients to make. Here’s what you’ll need.
Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
Wet Ingredients: Gather granulated sugar, lemon zest, melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and blueberries.
Substitutions
These moist and fluffy blueberry buttermilk muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these muffins if you need them.
- All purpose flour: To make these cinnamon crunch muffins gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
- Melted Butter: Feel free to use an equal amount of salted butter in place of the unsalted butter. Just make sure to omit the added salt. Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter for this buttermilk muffin recipe.
- Granulated Sugar: This buttermilk blueberry muffin recipe calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make these muffins refined sugar free.
- Lemon Zest and Juice: Replace the lemon with any citrus you like. Lime, keylime, meyer lemons, orange, they all work well in this recipe!
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Buttermilk: Use any milk you like. To make your own buttermilk simply pour 1 tablespoon (15 ml) into a measuring cup. Then fill the cup with milk until it reaches the 1 cup (237 ml). Then allow the milk to curdle for about 10 - 15 minutes before using in the recipe.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a lovely background flavor that pairs really well with lemon and blueberries.
- Blueberries: You can fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen berries, do not let them thaw. Also note that the baking time will be a bit longer if using frozen berries.
Variations
- Blueberry Buttermilk Muffins with Streusel: Make an easy streusel topping by combining ¼ cup (30 g) flour with 2 tablespoon (25 g) sugar and 2 tablespoon (28 g) cold butter until it forms a sand like consistency. Prepare the lemon and blueberry muffins according to the recipe directions, top the muffins with the streusel and bake.
- Lemon Glaze: Top the blueberry buttermilk muffins with a tart lemon glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 2-3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the muffins and enjoy.
- Vanilla Glaze: Top the buttermilk muffins with a vanilla glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 1 teaspoons (5 ml) vanilla extract and 2-3 tablespoons milk. Drizzle over the barely warm muffins and enjoy.
How To Make
Learn how to make the best buttermilk blueberry muffins in a few easy steps!
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
- In another bowl whisk the sugar and lemon zest together until well combined with a wet sand consistency. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, alternating with the buttermilk in this order: dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry, until just combined. Do not overmix. If you are using fresh blueberries, fold them in at this time. If using frozen blueberries, fold them in after the rest period. Let the blueberry muffin batter rest at room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes. While the muffins rest, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line (2) 12 ct. muffin pans with cupcake liners.
- Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the buttermilk blueberry muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. Top with sparkling sugar if you like.
- Bake the muffins at 375 F (190 C) for 18 - 22 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes about with a few moist crumbs or when a finger pressed gently into the center of the muffins quickly bounces back. Cool the fluffy blueberry muffins in the muffin pan for 5-10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and enjoy!
How To Store, Freeze and Thaw
Store leftover muffins: Place the moist and fluffy lemon blueberry muffins in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Then transfer the muffins to the fridge for up to 3 more days.
Freeze the muffins: Make sure the muffins are completely cooled to room temperature. Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap. Place each wrapped muffin in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Thaw the muffins: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw the buttermilk muffins is to let them sit out at room temperature for at least two hours. Enjoy at room temperature or microwave the muffin for 20 - 30 seconds for that “fresh from the oven” taste.
M’s Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature.This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy and moist buttermilk muffins.
- Don’t overmix the muffin batter. Mix in the dry ingredients into the wet by hand until just combined.
- Rest the batter for 30 - 60 minutes. This is a little trick to get those beautiful bakery style domes on muffins. Allowing some time for resting allows the batter to hydrate, thicken and rise, making these the best blueberry buttermilk muffins.
- Alternate muffin wells in the muffin pan. This allows each muffin to get the maximum of amount of even heat circulating around it. The tops will still pop up, but they won’t be as high if you decide to fill all the muffin liners at once.
FAQs
You absolutely can! Use my Mini Blueberry Muffins recipe and replace the sour cream and milk with buttermilk.
Often this is caused my leaving the muffins to cool in the pan for too long. The steam from the hot muffins can become trapped in the bottom of the muffin as it cools, resulting in a soggy bottom. To prevent this, make sure to remove the muffins from the pan after 5 - 10 minutes of cooling.
Yes, Resting the batter for as little as 30-60 minutes allows the flour to better absorb the liquid in the batter, creating a thicker batter.
Other Blueberry Recipes To Try
If you try this Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! -M
Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 12 cupcake liners
- 1 large cookie scoop optional
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 lemons, zested
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 large eggs (US), room temperature
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- 1 cup (237 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
- 1½ - 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries tossed in 2 tablespoon flour
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.2¼ cups (270 g) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In another bowl whisk the sugar and lemon zest together until well combined with a wet sand consistency. Whisk in the melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 2 lemons, zested, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled, 2 large eggs (US), room temperature, 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, alternating with the buttermilk in this order: dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry, until just combined. Do not overmix.1 cup (237 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
- If you are using fresh blueberries, fold them in at this time. If using frozen blueberries, fold them in after the rest period. Let the blueberry muffin batter rest at room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes. While the muffins rest, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line (2) 12 ct. muffin pans with cupcake liners.1½ - 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
- Use a 3 tablespoon (45 ml) sized cookie scoop to scoop the buttermilk blueberry muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. Top with sparkling sugar if you like.
- Bake the muffins at 375 F (190 C) for 18 - 22 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes about with a few moist crumbs or when a finger pressed gently into the center of the muffins quickly bounces back.
- Cool the fluffy blueberry muffins in the muffin pan for 5-10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and enjoy!
Marlee says
Did you forget the word VINEGAR in the directions? "Buttermilk: Use any milk you like. To make your own buttermilk simply pour 1 tablespoon (15 ml) into a measuring cup."
Megan says
Hi Marlee, thank you for pointing out this error. It should read "...simply pour 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice or vinegar into a measuring cup."