Soft and fluffy, these are the best blueberry muffins ever! This recipe is so quick and easy. Fresh or frozen blueberries work great!

This tried-and-true recipe is a keeper, and the only one you need if you’ve been looking for a straightforward, go-to blueberry muffin recipe!

Six blueberry muffins on wire rack.

Blueberry Muffin Batter

First, whisk up the wet ingredients:

  • oil (could also use melted butter)
  • eggs
  • sugar
  • buttermilk or milk
  • lemon zest (optional, but adds a lovely bright note to the muffins)
  • vanilla
Glass bowl with milk, eggs, lemon zest, and sugar.

Then add the usual-suspect dry ingredients:

  • all-purpose flour
  • baking powder + baking soda + salt

And mix JUST until combined. In fact, stop a few stirs before that. You want a few dry streaks throughout the batter when you add the blueberries.

Flour dusted blueberries in bowl with muffin batter.

Fresh or Frozen Blueberries

Fresh OR frozen blueberries work great in this blueberry muffin recipe.

If using frozen berries, don’t thaw first!

Toss the blueberries with a teaspoon or two of flour before gently stirring them into the batter.

Again, you don’t want to over mix here. Not only because that can mean death to a nice fluffy muffin, but it also can decimate the blueberries leaving the batter (and your soul) with sad, blue streaks.

Blueberry muffin batter in glass bowl.

Coarse Sugar: A Recipe for Craggly Tops

I highly recommend topping the muffin batter with coarse sugar. It gives the most delightful crunch and craggly top to the muffins.

However, the muffins will still bake up soft, fluffy and delicious if you leave off the sugar.

Turbinado sugar, coarse sanding or sparkling sugar, or even granulated sugar will work. Although the fine-textured granulated sugar won’t offer the same crunch on top like the coarser sugars.

Muffin batter in lined muffin tin with coarse sugar on top.

The Best Muffin Tins

These blueberry muffins bake at 375 degrees. That extra boost in temperature (beyond the typical “bake at 350”) helps with the perfect domed muffin top.

These muffins (and all the muffin recipes on my site, actually) bake best in light-colored muffin tins vs dark-coated muffin tins.

If you only have a dark-coated or colored muffin tin, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

I can’t say enough good things about the USA brand muffin tin (unsponsored, I just really love them). After using them a few years ago, I converted completely and got rid of my other ones.

They are nonstick, everything bakes evenly (and perfectly), and if this blog post was a love song, I’d dedicate it to these muffin tins {aff. link}, that’s how much I love them.

Baked blueberry muffin in muffin tin.

I love how straightforward and simple these blueberry muffins are. So quick and easy to whip up, they can literally be out of the oven and in your mouth in less than an hour.

Although beware of hot molten blueberry craters in muffins just out of the oven. You don’t want to mess around when it comes to those, so mayyybbbeee let them cool for just a minute or two. Signed: a loving friend with firsthand experience and a burned tongue that may never recover

At first glance, these muffins might seem like nothing out of the ordinary, but they really are spectacular.

{FYI: this old (old!) recipe for blueberry muffins is great, and I’m definitely not turning my back on it, but this new and improved recipe is so much simpler, and the muffins are just as tasty.}

Baked blueberry muffin on wire rack.

As long as you remember the three cardinal rules for the best blueberry muffins:

  • Don’t over mix
  • Don’t over mix
  • Don’t over mix

you’ll be in good shape and well on your way to enjoying soft, moist and fluffy muffins.

And for all my huckleberry loving friends, yes, huckleberries work very well in these muffins. I recognize that when and how to use hand-gathered huckleberries is a weighty decision, but I can testify that these muffins are worth it. 😍

Half of a baked blueberry muffin in small white dish.

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Baked blueberry muffin with paper liner on small white dish.

The Very Best Blueberry Muffins

4.82 stars (54 ratings)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
  • ½ cup neutral-flavored oil (like vegetable, canola, grapeseed)
  • ½ cup milk or buttermilk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest (see note)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups (340 g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (don't thaw if frozen)
  • 1-2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ to ½ cup coarse sugar, for topping (optional)

Instructions 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with paper liners or lightly grease with cooking spray (the recipe makes 16 muffins).
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, milk (or buttermilk), eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla until well-combined.
  • Add the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda and mix until a few dry streaks remain. Don't over mix.
  • Toss the blueberries with the 1-2 teaspoons flour and then add the blueberries and flour to the batter.
  • Stir and fold gently so as not to crush the blueberries. Mix until the batter is just combined. Don't over mix.
  • Fill muffin liners about 2/3 full and sprinkle each muffin with coarse sugar (optional).
  • Bake for 16-18 minutes until the tops spring back lightly to the touch. Remove from the oven and immediately remove the muffins from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes

Lemon zest: you can leave out the lemon zest if you don’t have it on hand, but if you do have it, I encourage you to use it! It adds a very subtle bright lemon note to the muffins. 
Coarse sugar: the coarse sugar for topping is also optional. I love the craggy/crackly top it gives the muffins. You can use turbinado or regular granulated sugar in place of the coarse sugar. 
Serving: 1 muffin, Calories: 209kcal, Carbohydrates: 32g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 8g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 24mg, Sodium: 142mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 19g

Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe