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.
THESE WERE AMAZING AND DID NOT LAST LONG
Great recipe! I substituted 1/2 cup kefir for 1/2 cup milk and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. I also sprinkled the top with porridge oats and Demerara sugar. The texture and flavour of these muffins is great and they were easy to make!
Loved it, it’s super moist and not too sweet (I made my berries into a compote with a 3rd cup of the cup of sugar and frozen berries), and the perfect ratio of ingredients and the lemon and zest make it supreme in flavour. Will definitely make it again
This muffin recipe is wonderful. It is easy to follow and the muffins turned out tender and moist. The multiple berries offered a variety of flavorful bites. A polite flavor bomb in your mouth.
Nicely said!!
Unimpressed. I also have to agree with one of the comments about the flavor tasting plain. I baked according to the recipe felt like it was also missing something.
How do I store them
I store them on the counter loosely covered with foil.
I made it. Followed the recipe. It tasted like dough with a berry aftertaste. Not at all like a berry muffin. Or even a muffin. It’s not sweet and even fully cooked still tasted like dough. It’s missing something.
It sounds like maybe they didn’t bake long enough if it tasted like dough. My muffins and coffee cakes aren’t overly sweet, especially compared to overly sweet commercially baked products. You can feel confident adding a bit more sugar, and sometimes I like to sprinkle sugar over the tops of the muffins before they bake.
My husband and I enjoy these so much! The only problem I have encountered is that once they are done cooling, they are sticky and will melt into anything.
Yummy
Making this for the second time today, I use duck eggs and fresh whole raw milk, and holy moly these turn out amazing!! This is going to be a staple around our house!