Vanilla muffins are soft, moist and fluffy bakery style muffins filled with flecks of sweet vanilla bean. Top these quick and easy to make vanilla bean muffins with crunchy sugar or with a creamy vanilla glaze. They’re the perfect addition to any breakfast or brunch spread.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore simple, bakery style muffins. My Double Chocolate Chip Muffins, Cranberry Orange Muffins, Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins, Raspberry Muffins, Lemon Muffins and Cinnamon Muffins are a few I love muffin recipes I always reach for when I want beautiful bakery style muffins to match the seasons. I know you’ll love these fluffy muffins with vanilla all season long.
- Simple muffins with big flavor. These vanilla muffins are made using a few basic ingredients, have a moist and tender crumb and are filled with sweet vanilla flavor.
- Easy to make, bake and eat. These homemade muffins with vanilla taste like you just bought them from the bakery, but are so simple to make at home. Just mix everything in a bowl, rest the batter while the oven preheats, scoop, bake and enjoy.
Ingredients
These simple vanilla bean muffins require only a handful of ingredients to make. Here’s what you’ll need.
- Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.
- Wet Ingredients: Gather butter, sugar, eggs, sour cream, milk and vanilla bean paste.
Substitutions
These moist and fluffy vanilla muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these homemade muffins if you need them.
- All purpose flour: Make these orange muffins with cranberries gluten free by using a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill. Measure based on weight (240 g) rather than cup for cup.
- Unsalted 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.
- Granulated Sugar: This moist muffin recipe calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make these muffins refined sugar free.
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Sour Cream: Use a full fat greek style yogurt or full fat buttermilk in place of the sour cream.
- Milk: Use any milk you like.
- Vanilla Bean Paste: This is a key ingredient in these moist and easy muffins. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste, use vanilla extract instead.
Variations
- Vanilla Glaze: Top the moist vanilla muffins with a creamy vanilla glaze. Whisk 1 cup powdered sugar (120 g) with 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or paste and 1 - 2 tablespoons (30-45 ml) milk or heavy cream until smooth. Drizzle over the muffins and enjoy.
- Mini Vanilla Muffins: Prepare the muffin recipe according to the recipe directions. Grease or line a 24 ct. mini muffin pan with mini cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) and fill each muffin liner with out 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of vanilla batter. Bake for 12-14 minutes. This recipe makes about 36 mini muffins.
How To Make
Learn how to make the vanilla muffins in a few easy steps.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
- In a mixing bowl fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 - 3 minutes until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, mix in the eggs and vanilla paste until well combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low, alternate mixing in the sour cream and milk with the dry ingredients in this order (dry, sour cream, dry, milk, dry) until just combined. Do not overmix. Let the muffin batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge for longer storage. This step is recommended for bakery style muffins.
3. While the muffins rest, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line (2) 12 ct. muffin pans with cupcake liners. For bakery style muffins, alternate filled and unfilled muffin wells. Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. Top the muffins with granulated sugar if you like. Bake the muffins at 375 F (190 C) for 16 - 20 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 moist vanilla muffins in the muffin pan for 5 - 10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and enjoy!
How To Make Ahead, Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Make Ahead: Prepare the muffin batter through to the resting step. Cover the batter with plastic wrap and store in the fridge up to overnight. Sit the batter out at room temperature while the oven preheats and bake as directed in the recipe.
- Store: Place the moist and fluffy vanilla bean muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 - 4 days.
- Freeze: 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 easiest and tastiest way to thaw the muffins is to let them sit out at room temperature until thawed. 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 muffins.
- Use vanilla bean paste. For the most pronounced and robust vanilla flavor, it’s important to use vanilla bean paste.
- 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 french vanilla 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
Both are made with vanilla bean pods. Vanilla extract is a liquid made by steeping vanilla bean pods in alcohol. The vanilla flavor is strong, but not as intense as vanilla paste. Vanilla paste has a more gel like consistency and is made by grounding vanilla bean pods with vanilla extract.
Vanilla muffins are typically more dense and moist, while vanilla cupcakes are fluffier and bouncy. Vanilla muffins are typically less sweet and have plain or minimal toppings, while vanilla cupcakes are almost always topped with frosting.
A couple of ingredients can make muffins super moist. The addition of oil and/or buttermilk or sour cream makes muffins very moist and tender.
There are a few things that can help create domed, bakery style tops on muffins. Make sure to let the batter rest for at least 30 minutes, use a higher oven temperature and alternate filled and unfilled muffin wells.
Other Vanilla Recipes To Try
If you try this Vanilla 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
Vanilla Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters
- 1 mixing bowl
- 2 12 ct muffin pans
- 12 cupcake liners
- 1 large cookie scoop (3 tbsp, 45 ml) optional
Ingredients
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla bean paste or extract
- ½ cup (120 g) sour cream, room temperature
- ½ cup (120 ml) milk, room temperature
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together until well combined.2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- In a mixing bowl fitted with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 2 - 3 minutes until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, mix in the eggs and vanilla paste until well combined. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as needed.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, room temperature, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla bean paste or extract
- With the mixer on low, alternate mixing in the sour cream and milk with the dry ingredients in this order (dry, sour cream, dry, milk, dry) until just combined. Do not overmix. Cover the batter and let the muffin batter rest at room temperature for 30 minutes or in the fridge for longer storage. This step is recommended for bakery style muffins.½ cup (120 g) sour cream, room temperature, ½ cup (120 ml) milk, room temperature
- While the muffins rest, preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Line (2) 12 ct. muffin pans with cupcake liners. For bakery style muffins, alternate filled and unfilled muffin wells. Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. Top the muffins with granulated sugar if you like.
- Bake the muffins at 375 F (190 C) for 16 - 20 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 moist vanilla muffins in the muffin pan for 5 - 10 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and enjoy!
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