Perfect Rhubarb Muffins are tender and fluffy one bowl muffins with a featherweight streusel topping. It’s the perfect rhubarb recipe to celebrate the arrival of spring1
We crave peach buckle in August, pumpkin bread in October and, cranberry cake in December. According to the calendar it’s rhubarb season, so we know exactly what to do. These rhubarb muffins are the perfect, simple little baking project to get you in the mood for spring and make good use of those first few precious pink stalks you bring home from the farmer’s market or local grocery store.
my rhubarb recipes are legendary!
what you’ll need for rhubarb muffins
- rhubarb – find this now in the produce section of your supermarket, or pluck it from your (or your neighbor’s) backyard patch. Does it have to be bright red? No, all colors, from pale green to deep crimson will give you that classic rhubarb flavor. I prefer the slender young stalks, but if yours are large, just chop them rather than slice.
now raid your pantry:
- flour
- sugar
- neutral vegetable oil
- eggs
- milk
- vanilla
- baking powder and baking soda
- salt
my easy one bowl method for rhubarb muffins
This recipe is a one bowl affair, which I love. I’ve converted many of my baking recipes to one bowl, here’s how I do it:
1. whisk together the wet ingredients
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. And yes, sugar is traditionally considered a ‘wet’ ingredient for baking purposes.
2. whisk in the leavening agents first (baking powder, soda) along with the salt, then your flour.
When you add these first you avoid the need to whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. You can then mix in your flour.
3. fold in your add-ins
You can now fold in whatever extras you’re using, whether that’s fruit, nuts, or chocolate chips. That’s it!
the bottom line
I’m telling you straight ~ you need to make these muffins asap. You won’t regret it! They’re fluffy, tender, and have the most ethereal flavor, thanks to that bright, tangy rhubarb.
variations to try:
I’m particularly fond of this base recipe for muffins (it’s very similar to my triple berry muffins), and there are tons of variations you can try using all sorts of different add in’s and flavorings. Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
- Make strawberry rhubarb muffins by substituting 1 cup of rhubarb with chopped strawberries.
- Use buttermilk instead of milk for extra flavor.
- Add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the batter and sliced almonds to the streusel.
- You can use melted butter instead of oil.
- I prefer fresh rhubarb for these muffins but you can use frozen in a pinch. Don’t thaw before using or it will get soggy.
“The third batch of these amazing muffins this rhubarb season is in the oven. Friends and neighbors are actually requesting more. Perfect with morning coffee.” ~Joanna
Rhubarb Muffins
Video
Equipment
- standard muffin pan
- paper muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups rhubarb, thinly sliced
streusel topping
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper muffin liners.
- Make the streusel first: combine the ingredients and rub together with your fingers until the butter is incorporated and the mixture has a dry crumbly texture. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the oil, sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.
- Next, whisk in the baking powder, baking soda and salt, making sure to mix well to get it evenly incorporated.
- Whisk in the flour, and then gently fold in the chopped rhubarb.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups, and sprinkle streusel evenly over the top of the muffins.
- Bake for 23-25 minutes.
- Serve warm with butter!
Hi Sue Is 1 1/2 cups of milk correct in this recipe? I just made a batch and the batter was like thin pancake batter. They did not rise well but taste good. I substituted a cup of chopped strawberries for a cup of rhubarb and added a couple drops of orange extract. Flavor was good appearance awful. I found another blueberry muffin recipe on line and it only called for 1/2 cup milk and was scoop able. I have loved your blog and recipes for a couple years now. Thank you
Hey Lynne ~ the amount is correct, remember this recipe uses 2 3/4 cups flour. The basic ratio with muffins is 2:1 flour to milk in muffins, so this has a tad more liquid. I often use cultured buttermilk when I bake muffins, so that makes the batter a little thicker. But in general I find that a thinner batter bakes up lighter and fluffier, which I like. But all that being said, feel free to reduce the milk by 1/4 cup.
This recipe made 20 muffins (and I filled the papers almost full). They are very moist but I felt like The recipe was bland. I am glad I added 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg but wish I had done more. It just didn’t have a lot of flavor.
Too much batter for 12 muffins
I only used 1 cup and 2 Tablespoons of milk. The batter was still quite thin. The muffins were delicious.
I tried this in spite of some of the reviews, and they did not disappoint. DELICIOUS just as shown in the recipe. Tastes like spring! Nice mix that lets the subtle rhubarb flavor shine through, not overly sweet, not heavy at all – pretty much perfect in my book. They did make way more than I expected, but I had lots of muffins pans so that wasn’t a problem. I doubled the recipe as I had a ton of rhubarb on hand, so I’m sharing with friends. Thanks for the recipe – this is a keeper!
Reviews are useful, but only to a point. People have vastly different tastes in food, and often they make changes that they don’t admit to 😉 Glad you enjoyed these Mary Ann!
I made these for my mom yesterday and of course I had to test one first! Soft texture, tart rhubarb flavor, and I loved the dry streusel. These are such a nice change from the bloated muffins my supermarket sells. Thanks Sue!
Omg I hate those ginormous supermarket muffins, lol. Hope mom loved them as much as you did!
I went against my normal routine of reading reviews before I make a recipe. I should have read them but was in a hurry. These were OK as written and it was pretty easy to make, but will definitely try ALL of the alterations recommended by other bakers. I found them kind of blah like others have, but with a different streusel topping, added sugar and vanilla, orange zest, and butter instead of oil they could be good. On the plus side, we had a large group and the recipe with no alterations made 18 muffins – and I filled every one of the silicone muffin cups nearly to the top. They had a nice crown to them too. The flavor was just disappointing for a recipe rated 4.9.
I added an extra cup of rhubarb, did 2 cups flour and 3/4 cup of vanilla protein powder. Then to the topping I added some cinnamon. Made 24 muffins for me and they were delicious. Could have added a little more rhubarb yet.
Definitely could have used more rhubarb. The streusel was not good. It was basically flour sprinkled on top. I ended up making my own by adding oats, melted butter, and brown sugar after the first batch. This recipe made 24 muffins for me.
I made these rhubarb muffins with gluten free flour and they are delicious! Thank you for your recipe!