Triple Berry Muffins are high rising muffins bursting with tart berry flavor. We use fresh or frozen berries for a deliciously convenient breakfast treat. (This latest muffin recipe is a new favorite in the test kitchen!)
you’re going to love these triple berry muffins
Ok, this one is really good, people! In fact, we made this recipe three times, and ate just about every last muffin. It’s everything you could want in a perfect muffin ~ they’re moist, soft, and cake-y, with excellent flavor. How did we do it? We’ve hit on the perfect ratio of butter, sugar, eggs, milk, flour and leavening for the texture, and nailed that bright flavor thanks to a generous amount of vanilla extract, lemon zest, and of course the bright, tart berries.
did I mention they’re a breeze to make?
- Melted butter means no creaming.
- No mixer necessary, just use a good old spoon.
- You can do it in one bowl, just sift your dry ingredients right into your wet.
- Use frozen berries right from the freezer for convenience.
why I use lemon zest and juice in mixed berry muffins
You might be wondering why there is lemon juice and zest in a berry muffin recipe. I do this for two reasons:
- I use lemon zest to brighten the berry flavor. Much like vanilla, lemon can bring out flavors and make them even more vibrant. The flavor of lemons is concentrated in the peel, so grating the bright yellow zest into my batter gives these muffins a distinctive flavor.
- A bit of lemon juice adds acidity to the batter, which helps it rise. The leaveners react with the acid to form carbon dioxide, which in turn rises the muffins.
Baking with frozen berries
One of my favorite baking rituals of the year is in late winter when I use up the last of my precious frozen berries we picked the previous summer. That means sometime in February or March we bake something delicious with the random assortment that’s left in the freezer and get to enjoy that bright taste of fresh summer fruit. I used a combo of raspberries, blackberries, and black raspberries, but feel free to get creative.
- If you don’t have a stash of berries in your freezer, store-bought frozen berries will work great too.
- Use your frozen berries straight from the freezer, don’t thaw them first.
- I actually prefer to bake with frozen berries because they don’t get crushed or stain my batter when I fold them in.
- Smaller frozen berries work best for muffins: avoid whole strawberries or very large blackberries.
- Even when I’ve got fresh berries I’ll often flash freeze them before I bake with them!
top 3 tips for high rise muffins
- make sure your oven is preheated – a hot, preheated oven helps muffins rise to their full potential.
- for large high rise muffins fill your muffin cups right to the top.
- a combination of baking powder and baking soda gives these muffins their nice lift. Make sure your baking powder is fresh.
reheat those leftovers
These muffins reheat beautifully in the microwave the next day – just microwave them for about 20 seconds and they will be (almost) as good as hot out of the oven.
More great uses for your frozen (or fresh) berries!
- Raspberry Champagne Sorbet
- Blackberry Cobbler Bars
- Blueberry Lemon Breakfast Cake
- Raspberry Coffee Cake
- Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
Triple Berry Muffins
Video
Equipment
- muffin pan
- muffin liners
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1 medium lemon
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups mixed berries (fresh or frozen), heaped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin tin liners.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, milk, vanilla extract, lemon zest and lemon juice.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix to combine, until there are no pockets of dry flour left.
- Gently fold in the berries, just until evenly distributed.
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. This recipe makes enough for 12 large muffins, so you should be able to fill your muffin cups all the way to the top.
- Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until risen and just starting to turn golden on top.
Yum delicious. I added in 1/2 cup coconut a splash more milk and white chocolate chips on top
Absolutely delicious. I’ve made these twice and each time the muffins have been perfect! Thanks for a great recipe
Can you add graham cracker crumbles to this recipe? Plus some sprinkled on top?
You could definitely sprinkle them on top, but I haven’t tried mixing them into the batter. You might replace a bit of the flour with finely ground graham crumbs.
I followed the recipe exactly. The muffins were moist and delicious!
Thanks for coming back to let me know Susan, I just made a batch of these the other day 🙂
Could the Splenda-Stevia mix be substitued for sugar? How much would you suggest?
I’m not familiar with that particular mix, but I suggest an alternative granulated sugar that can be used in a 1 to 1 ratio, that way you can just use in the same amount.
Could these be made sugar-free, and if so, how?
Made exactly as recipe except used 3/4 c sugar and a little sprinkle if turbinado sugar on top. Look like bakehouse muffins. Delicious! Thank you.
I just made these and they are delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
I get so excited when you guys make a recipe right away, thanks Diana.
Can you make these muffins without any of the lemon as for medical reasons I can not have any form of lemon?
Absolutely, you can just leave it out. If you’re interested you might use buttermilk in place of milk, but it’s not necessary.
love your stuff, Sue! How to make these gluten-free?
Hi Simone ~ I would try substituting the flour with a good quality gf baking mix like one from Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.