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.
Beth
Very good muffins bursting with lemony flavor.
I didn’t have sour cream so I used buttermilk and I used frozen blueberries and they turned out great! Thanks for sharing!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Breanna
Made these last week and they turned out AMAZING. I’m glad I bought double the amount of lemon and blueberries…about to make them again!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Lynda
These muffins turned out amazing!!! I didn’t have sour cream so I used plain Greek yogurt and it still worked out just the same! I also needed to leave them in the oven for longer. Total 22 mins. My house smells amazing and now I have a yummy treat with my coffee in the morning!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m so glad that you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Jane
I’m going to make these tonight and will see for myself. But no way could these be flavorless. Lemon juice AND zest? Blueberry? Almond extract? And still flavorless? Seriously doubt it. The baker did something wrong. Left out salt or one of the above.
Celebrating Sweets
I hope you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Jane
I did and we are! Moist and Flavorful! And that is with me not having quite enough sour cream. Very good! Thank you!
Shandra
I made these today and they turned out so well! I was worried because the batter was very thick and every well in the tin was full but they cane out perfect! The most moist and soft muffins I’ve ever had. Thanks!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Sarah
Baked these muffins and are very happy how they came out! I substituted the almond extract with lemon extract. Definitely worth trying.
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping taking the time to comment. 🙂
Saira
These muffins came out amazing! They were flavorful with a beautiful lemon and blueberry taste. I didn’t have sour cream so I used plain yogurt mixed with lemon and baking soda and it worked great. These will be perfect for Mother’s Day, thanks for the recipe. ?
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for stopping by. ?
Melissa
I love this recipe. I wished for a little more sweetness in the muffin itself. That was quickly remedied by added the lemon icing/drizzle on top. Yum!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Kelli Anderson
Oh my word. These are heavenly. I just altered this recipe to make it dairy-free and it did not disappoint in the slightest! Coconut cream instead of sour cream and a vegan butter. These are my new go-to!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m so glad that you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂