Strawberry muffins are tender and fluffy, made with yogurt, lots of ripe berries and a light streusel topping. Hello breakfast!
You’ve got to think on your feet during strawberry season. When you happen upon perfectly ripe berries like I did at the farmers market this week, you want to have a few great strawberry recipes at the ready, else you’ll end up downing your sweet treasure, one by one, before you can even tuck a towel into your waistband and preheat the oven. Simple strawberry muffins are just one of those strawberry recipes I’m already dreaming about as I bag up my fruit.
why this strawberry muffin recipe??
- There’s yogurt in the batter, and it’s the acidity in yogurt that reacts with baking soda to produce carbon dioxide gas that helps the muffins rise, making them light and fluffy.
- The acidity also helps tenderize the gluten in the flour, preventing the muffins from becoming tough.
- I use a heavy hand with the vanilla (actually I love to use vanilla bean paste, if you can get your hands on it) and this creates a lovely flavor pairing with the berries.
- The light streusel topping adds textural interest and an extra hint of sweetness to the muffins.
what you’ll need
As you see, aside from the strawberries this is totally a from the pantry muffin recipe.
- strawberries
- depending on their size I’ll halve tiny berries, slice medium ones, or chop large ones.
- vegetable oil
- sugar
- eggs
- vanilla bean paste or extract
- the vanilla flavor with strawberries is a wow combination. You could also use almond extract.
- yogurt or buttermilk
- I love to bake with cultured buttermilk, but lately I’ve discovered that drinkable yogurt works just as well and has the same consistency.
- baking soda, baking powder, and salt
- all purpose flour
- butter
- just a tablespoon soft butter for the streusel
related: Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
tips for baking strawberry muffins
I like to make the streusel topping first. Note that it’s got a dry consistency, but do mix it thoroughly with your fingertips to get the butter completely incorporated.
I wash, dry, and hull the strawberries but don’t slice or dice them until just before I combine the wet and dry muffin batter ingredients. This is because I don’t want the fruit to start releasing moisture as it sits.
Take the old adage seriously ~ don’t over mix your batter. Fold the dry into the wet and before that’s completely accomplished, add the berries so you aren’t endlessly folding.
Scoop the batter directly into the muffin cups, don’t wait. If you like to let your batter sit for 30 minutes, do it after filling the muffin pan. This is so you don’t disturb the batter too much after it has begun expanding.
Pop a few extra berries on the top of the muffins before adding the streusel. This makes them extra pretty.
of course I’ve got more strawberry recipes
- Salmon with Strawberry Salsa
- Strawberry Panna Cotta
- Strawberry Rhubarb Smoothie
- Strawberry Banana Bread
- Fresh Strawberry Frosting
- Strawberry Sheet Pan Pancakes
Strawberry Muffins
Equipment
- standard muffin pan
- paper muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup yogurt, drinkable yogurt, or buttermilk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups strawberries, thinly sliced or chopped
streusel topping
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a 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, and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the milk and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, and then gently fold in the strawberries.
- Fill muffin cups, and sprinkle streusel evenly over the top of the muffins. Depending on the size of your muffins this recipe will make 12-16 muffins.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until the muffins bounce back when lightly touched on top. Be aware that your baking time can vary depending on the size of your muffins and your particular oven.
- Serve warm with butter! Store leftover muffins loosely covered on the counter.
Hi! For the yogurt should we use plain yogurt? I can’t wait to make these!
Yes, but I’ve used vanilla yogurt in a pinch and it’s fine.
Wow! This recipe is outstanding. Muffin stayed fresh for days. Another great recipe to add to my morning rotation.
Thanks for the review Nancy!
Even the supermarket berries are good right now 🙂
There must be a way to make this without so much butter or oil. So many recipes use too much fat. Please think about this.
You can reduce the sugar if you like, by 1/3 without any textural issues. I think 1/2 cup oil or butter for 16 muffins is pretty good. You might try subbing with applesauce or banana.
Looks really good! Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but I was wondering. Do you think it would work with a Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose gluten free flour? Thanks!
Hi Hailey ~ most of my baked goods can be converted using gf flour, but be aware that this recipe is soft and tender to begin with, so gf flour will make it more so. Let me know how it works for you, I know others will be interested.
These strawberry muffins were incredible. So much berry goodness!
I can never say no to strawberry muffins. My berries were big supermarket style so I chopped them. They came out great, will definitely make again.
Loved these moist muffins, great way to use up our huge stash of pick your own strawberries!
I developed this recipe right after picking my first batch of the season!
These muffins were so moist and tasty. Really hit the spot with our summer berries.
These were outstanding, and I did use the drinkable yogurt.