Our favorite Lemon Blueberry Muffins! Fluffy and tender muffins filled with lemon zest, lemon juice, and blueberries and finished with a lemon-sugar crumb topping and tangy lemon icing. These flavorful muffins are perfect for breakfast or snacking. They can even be served as dessert.
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In my world, muffins fall under one of two categories:
- “Company Muffins”: These are the muffins you make when you want everyone to be impressed. You make them for company, you bring them to a brunch, and you serve them on holidays. They’re buttery, sweet, and tender – like something from a bakery.
- “Everyday Muffins“: These are the muffins that I make for my family on a regular basis. Because we can’t always start our day with something that closely resembles cake (dang it!), I make some healthy swaps like reducing sugar and swapping in whole grain flours, etc.
These Lemon Blueberry Muffins fall squarely into the “Company Muffin” category, and I couldn’t be happier about it. You need to make these and share them and spread the Lemon Blueberry Muffin love!
Recipe overview
This recipe is super easy. You don’t need any fancy equipment. You can use a hand mixer or make it by hand.
- Start with the crumb topping. Assemble it and place it in the fridge while you continue with the muffins.
- Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in the blueberries.
- Place in a muffin pan and top with the crumb topping.
- Bake!
- Cool and add the lemon icing.
What makes this recipe the best
There are several things that make these muffins better than any other lemon muffin I’ve made before:
- Lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon glaze ensure that every bite of these muffins is loaded with bright lemony flavor.
- Sour cream makes these muffins extra moist and gives them a tender texture. The tang from the sour cream also complements the lemon.
- A splash of almond extract imparts a subtle almond flavor that goes great with lemon.
- Blueberries! Lemon and blueberries were made to be together. The pop of fresh blueberries takes these over the top!
- Lemon sugar crumb topping AND lemon icing. The perfect finishing touch on top of the muffins.
FAQs
Yes. Keep the blueberries frozen and stir them in straight from the freezer. The smaller they are the better, since large (frozen) blueberries will hold quite a bit of moisture. Note: The color might bleed into the muffin batter a bit more than it would with fresh blueberries.
Sure! You’ll have a delicious lemon muffin.
Try one of these Sour Cream Substitutes.
Two large lemons should provide enough juice and zest for this recipe.
Nope. This batter is supposed to be thick. I recommend scooping it with an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups. It will likely be too thick to pour.
You can make my Blueberry Bread or Lemon Loaf Cake.
Try this recipe instead: Lemon Blueberry Bread.
Recipe tips
- Don’t overmix when combining the wet and dry ingredients.
- If you choose to use a hand mixer instead of a whisk (for the wet ingredients) make sure you don’t beat the mixture for too long. You don’t want to incorporate too much air.
- Use a fine grater (like a Microplane) or zester to remove the zest from the lemons. Only remove the yellow part of the skin, not the white pith.
- Use an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter into the muffin pan.
- Prefer to skip the crumb topping? You can absolutely leave it off and these muffins will still be delicious (see pic below).
Serving and storage
Serving: These muffins are best the day they are made. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. They are perfectly delicious on their own, but adding a pat of salted butter makes them extra tasty.
Storage: Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 2 months. Note: The crumb topping might soften over time.
Recipe
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
Crumb topping:
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- ¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Muffins:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- Finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
- 2 large eggs, room temperature*
- ¾ teaspoon pure almond extract
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 ⅓ cups fresh blueberries
Icing:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- a pinch of lemon zest
Instructions
Crumb topping:
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a 12-count muffin pan with paper liners.
- For the topping: In a medium-sized bowl rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingers. Stir in the flour. Add the cubed butter and use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour/sugar until all of the butter is in small pieces and the mixture resembles sand. Place in the refrigerator while you continue with the recipe.
Muffins:
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, eggs, almond extract, and melted butter. You can do this by hand with a whisk or with a hand mixer. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
- Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and carefully stir with a rubber spatula until the two mixtures are just combined (it will be thick and a little lumpy. That's OK. Don't overmix). Carefully stir in the blueberries.
- Evenly divide the batter among the muffin cups (I use an ice cream scoop). Sprinkle the crumb topping on top of each muffin cup, lightly pressing the crumb onto the top of the muffin batter.
- Bake for 18-23 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove each muffin to cool completely.
Icing:
- Whisk all ingredients until smooth. Adjust to your desired consistency by adding more powdered sugar to thicken or more lemon juice to thin. Drizzle icing over cooled muffins.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!Recipe adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours.
Thia
Can you use frozen blueberries instead of fresh?
Celebrating Sweets
I have never tried it. If so, I would recommend tossing them with 1-2 tablespoons of flour before adding them to the batter. Enjoy!
Jen
These muffins are so delicious! I absolutely loved them. Will definitely make again!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for stopping by! I’m glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Gina
I just made these muffins today and just ate one, warm from the oven. It is moist and delicious ; iI didn’t even ice them, they are perfect!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Lorraine
These muffins were a 10+. Thank you for sharing.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Daniel Tichota
Made these for my co-workers…they loved them. I doubled the amount of blueberries for my liking. Sooooo good!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Kelly
Can these be frozen after baking?
Celebrating Sweets
They should freeze just fine. Enjoy!
Brooke Kuenzi
I made these one night for early mornings. They were super easy to make. They were AMAZING!!
Celebrating Sweets
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Heather Johnson c/o
Can I substitute the blueberries for poppy seeds?
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Heather. That should work. Maybe 1-2 tablespoons? Enjoy!
Jeff Cristol
Do you have a suggestion for how to change the recipe to make 6 large muffins instead of 12 smaller ones?
Celebrating Sweets
You should be able to use a large muffin tin and increase the bake time by at least 5 minutes (check periodically with a toothpick). I’m not sure exactly how muffins it will make, just fill each cup about 2/3 to 3/4 with batter. Enjoy!
Allison
Pretty flavorless. Was super disappointed because I love lemon and blueberries together. Total miss for me.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m sorry to hear that. Did you use 1/4-cup of lemon juice and the zest of 1 large lemon? That’s where most of the flavor is coming from.