A blueberry lovers muffin, these are light, moist and buttery, with a touch of lemon and a full pint of blueberries packed into them!
These Blueberry Lemon Muffins are everything I want from a blueberry muffin. They are a light and moist cake style muffin, beautifully buttery and with a touch of lemon zest to brighten the flavour. And best of all, these muffins are chock full of blueberries.
I also love that these muffins are made with pretty basic pantry items. No need for sour cream or yogurt. These muffins are made with things you probably always have around. (Even if you don’t have a lemon, you can just skip the lemon and make delicious, straight-up blueberry muffins).
You’ll be able to pack a whole pint of blueberries into these muffins or if you don’t have any fresh blueberries on hand, frozen, un-thawed blueberries are just fine.
Ingredient Notes
Baking Powder: Just a reminder to make sure your baking powder is always fresh, for best results. While baking powder doesn’t go bad, per se, it does lose its potency over time. I like to replace mine every 6 months. To test your baking powder, if you aren’t sure how long yours has been around, add a 1/4 tsp of your baking powder to 1/2 cup of hot water. If it fizzes, you’re good to bake.
Blueberries: With decent fresh blueberries available year round, fresh is my first choice for these muffins. If only frozen blueberries are on hand, go ahead and use then, unthawed, just allow a few minutes more baking time, as noted in the Cook’s Notes.
Lemon: Freshly grated lemon zest is best here, but if you have no fresh lemon at hand, but you have lemon juice in the fridge, add about 2 Tbsp of lemon juice to the batter, reducing the amount of milk by that amount. You can also omit the lemon completely and just go for a straight-up blueberry muffin.
Butter: Use either salted or unsalted butter here. If using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 1/4 tsp.
White Sugar: I don’t find these muffins overly sweet. I always suggest that people try recipes with the recommended amount of sugar first time. From there, you can best judge if you’d like to reduce the sugar and by how much.
Milk: Any variety of dairy milk is fine here. I generally use whole or 2% milk. I haven’t tested these muffins with non-dairy milks, though I suspect it would work without issue.
If you want to use buttermilk instead of regular milk, adjust for the acidity of buttermilk by adding a 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda and reducing the baking powder to 1 3/4 teaspoons.
Cook’s Notes
Be sure to take your butter and eggs out of the fridge about 30-45 minutes before baking. You want your butter to be just room temperature – no more or no less. Test by gently pressing on the butter with your index finger. If you leave an imprint in the butter, you’re good to go. (And yes, there is such as thing as too soft butter for baking. You never want to use super soft butter for baking, as it will create an oily/greasy result.)
These muffins don’t need paper muffin liners, unless you prefer to use them. Greasing the muffin tins well is all you need to do.
Be sure to grease the top of your muffin pans, as well as the cups. As these muffins will cook over the top, greasing there as well makes it easier to remove them later.
If starting with frozen, un-thawed blueberries, allow a bit of extra baking time, as the cold berries will slow the cooking process slightly.
Top Tip! How to Measure the Flour Measuring the flour is one of the most important parts of any baking recipe. Follow this easy method for best results. 1. Stir the flour in its storage container (never scoop directly from the bag!). 2. Using a large spoon, spoon flour into a dry (usually metal) measuring cup until it rises over the top of the measuring cup. 3. Using the back, flat-edge of a knife, swipe across the top of the measuring cup, allowing the excess to fall back into the storage container.
Get the Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp fine salt, reduce to 1/4 tsp if using salted butter
- 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, or vanilla bean pasta
- 1 tsp lemon zest, freshly grated
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 cups fresh blueberries, or un-thawed frozen blueberries, about 1 pint, plus a bit more for putting on top
- Confectioners'/Icing Sugar, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F, with rack in centre of oven.
- Grease/spray 12 muffin cups, greasing both the cups and the top of the muffin tin. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times.
- With mixer on low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the milk, another 1/3 of the flour, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Beat until smooth.
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the blueberries until combined.
- Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Place 3 blueberries in a the centre of each muffin, gently pressing them into the batter.
- Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown around the outside and a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan set on top of cooling racks for about 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove muffins from pan, by running a knife under the muffin top edges then gently lifting out. Place on cooling rack to cool completely.
- Serve garnished with a dusting of confectioners/icing sugar, if desired.
Notes
More Muffin Recipes You Might Like …
Simply Perfect Cranberry Orange Muffins
Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Simply Perfect Pumpkin Muffins
Could I sub sour cream or yogurt for the milk?
Hi Gail, I haven’t tried it in this recipe. Generally it is fine to swap out sour cream or yogurt for milk (in the same quantity). I suspect the batter will be thicker, so I’m not sure if that will affect the finished muffin at all, but probably not in any way that would be bad. Just different :)
This is by far the best muffin recipe
I have ever made! Absolutely delicious!
So glad to hear :) Thanks so much!
This is literally the BEST muffin recipe I’ve ever tried. I’ve got a screenshot of it and will use it as a base for all of my fruit muffins.
Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed them, Kim :) Thanks so much!
LOVED your orange cranberry muffins!! These seems similar but quantities a little different. Wondering if they’ll be ok with only 2 eggs?
Hi Andy and thanks :) I haven’t tried this recipe with fewer eggs. I suspect it would result in an edible, but more dense muffin. Generally, if you want to reduce the eggs in a baking recipe, you may want to replace it with something- applesauce or yogurt generally work (about 1/4 cup-ish), though I haven’t tested that either :) If you try it with 2 eggs, let me know how it turns out.
I have made this recipe many times..today I changed slightly. I removed 2 tablespoons of the granulated white sugar and replaced with 2 tablespoons of Lavender Vanilla sugar. A wonderful subtle flavour … muffins were so good !!
Sounds lovely Candy! Thanks so much :)
Well not reading properly got me again. Messed up and added all the wet ingredients all at once and mixed…. milk included:( the batter is super dense and I’m just hoping at this point they are edible and not a complete waste (I’m so sad)
I don’t think it will be fatal :) Let me know how they worked out!
Hi, can I use dried berries instead? Fresh ones are hard to come by in my part of the world.
Hi Kat and yes, I think dried berries would be fine :) Enjoy!
made these today and OMG so good, crunchy on top and moist in the middle. I will surely make again, thank you
So glad to hear, Brenda :) Thanks so much!
Our day car provider made these for the parents one day and they were awesome 👏. They were kind enough to share the recipe. However, what I have on hand Now is strawberries. Would it be ok to swap them in for the blueberries?
Hi Aline, You could. Strawberries have a lot more moisture, so if you use them fresh, the muffins will be a lot more moist. You could roast the strawberries off a bit, which could be good. Less moisture and more flavour. Either way, they should be fine :)
Hi Jennifer,
I recently tried baking the blueberry lemon muffin, it’s delicious! However, I can’t taste the lemon in it … May I know if the lemon is added to enhance the batter only?
Hi and yes, the lemon is there as a subtle flavour, but you can certainly add more (zest or juice) to make them more lemon-y if you like.
Thanks for the prompt reply, Jennifer! :)
Hi Jennifer – I made the muffins with the cranberries 🤞🏻. They are just out of oven now waiting for a taste! The batter looked lovely but it made 2 dozen muffins! I am going to have to start hunting more a better sized muffin pan!
Hi Sara and sorry, you caught me in the middle of the night with your question :) Let me know how they taste. Are they sweet enough with the cranberries? Did you use the lemon or switch to orange with the cranberries?
No need to apologize! I am on Alberta time and it was late here. You are right – the muffins were a bit tart with the cranberries. I sprinkled extra icing sugar on the top. 😉 They sure look pretty though. The batter was lovely – can’t wait to use blueberries next time! Thanks for your website – I have made a lot of your recipes. Delicious 😋
Thanks so much, Sara :)
Hi Jennifer – we are sticking very close to home these days – using ingredients we have on hand! What do you think about using frozen cranberries?? I know there blueberry/lemon is spectacular but these are make do times!
Wonderful muffins, I added the tsp of grated lemon rind, but also added 1/4 cup of lemon juice. I reduced the milk as well.
So glad you enjoyed them, Helen! Thanks :)
I just made them. I found with my muffin pan it was just enough for 12 positions I have an older style I would say regular size muffin pan.
I never change a thing and my daughter who was home said the came out excellent. She said the taste reminded her of Baba’s blue berry strudel. I don’t even know how to bake..lol..only tried your recipes.
Your recipes are so easy I feel anyone can look good with your guidance.thank you for sharing I know I will be asked to make them again.
Just to let you know I am a 57 year old grandfather who loves to cook for my family.
Have a good day.
Pat
So happy to hear, Pat! Thanks so much and I’m so glad to be cooking along with you :)
Was reading your Blueberry Sour Creme Cake and somehow ended up with Blueberry Lemon Muffins… funny how that happens.
So I made them today – Got a lot more than 12, 20 to be exact. Your muffin tin must be huge! That’s another funny thing that changes with time, back in the 50’s a muffin tin was smaller than a cupcake pan, then cupcake became the norm for muffins whcih then graduated to extra large, LOL
No matter the size these were/are delish! Scoffed down 2 right away and a 3rd while packaging the rest up for the freezer.
Love blueberries
Love lemon
and love your recipes!
So glad to hear, Gwen and thanks so much :) And yes, while my muffin tins aren’t the “jumbo” ones, they are ones I have had a really long time (15-20 years?), so I suspect they are maybe bigger than the ones you would buy now :)
Your photos are soooo pretty!
Thanks so much, Mary :)
They really do look like bakery style muffins! Love the look of those muffin tops and the amount of blueberries packed in there. The perfect way to enjoy fresh blueberries!
Lemon and blueberry go so well together and who doesn’t love a homemade muffin? They look delicious , Jennifer!
I wish I had one, or two, of these fluffy muffins for breakfast this morning! Your muffins look terrific Jennifer. So many blueberries in each bite – LOVE it!
Hi there, can I mix by hand if I don’t have an electric hand mixer :)
Hi Genevieve and you could certainly give it a go. The critical part would be using lots of elbow grease with a spoon/whisk and bowl when mixing together the wet ingredients. Stir as much and as fast as you can :)
Such a delicious flavor combination Jennifer. It’s always been one of my favorites. Will need to add to my baking list!
Thanks Mary Ann! You’ll love having these muffins around :)
They really are simply perfect – that airy texture studded with juicy blueberries, mmm!
Thanks Milena! I love all the blueberries in these muffins :)
You’ve made my day! I have plenty of blueberries just waiting to be baked into something delicious!!
Thanks Annie and so glad! These muffins are a worthy destination :)