Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Who doesn’t love a classic blueberry muffin? I know I do, especially blueberry streusel muffins for some extra sweet, crunchy goodness on top!
Recipe Mood: Morning Treat
Indulgence Level: Medium
Effort Level: Moderate
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our affiliate disclosure.
Who can resist blueberry muffins, or, specifically, blueberry streusel muffins? I recall blueberry muffins really being the only type of muffin I was exposed to during my childhood, so I consider myself lucky that I liked them. My love for bakery-style chocolate chip muffins came some time later.
I developed this recipe using my chocolate chip muffins as the base and tweaking it from there. One key detail about these muffins is that they contain less sugar than most—just 3/4 cup—because of the added sugar in the streusel topping.
The result is a moist, hearty muffin—the best kind—bursting with juicy blueberries and offering a mild tang from buttermilk.
These blueberry-laden treats make a great breakfast with coffee or tea. They also work as a tasty mid-afternoon treat. Furthermore, they freeze really well, helping to ensure you have muffins on hand whenever your sweet tooth kicks in.
Why You’ll Love These Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Nice and big: If you love jumbo muffins, you’ll love these.
Bake tall: A combination of double-acting baking powder, letting the batter sit for a few minutes, and an initial bake at a higher temperature helps yield that sometimes-elusive tall muffin top.
Freeze beautifully: Stashing a few of these in the freezer is a good thing when you want a sweet treat.
Key Ingredients
- Cake Flour: This creates a lighter and more tender texture than AP flour.
- Double-Acting Baking Powder: This helps add more height to the muffins.
- Low-Fat Buttermilk: This gives the muffins a nice tang.
- Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen (not thawed).
- Cinnamon: This adds a spicy warmth to the streusel.
See the recipe card below for more information on ingredients and quantities.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address to get a link to this post in your inbox!
How to Make Blueberry Streusel Muffins
- Mix the cake flour, baking powder, and salt: Use a small bowl for this and set it aside when done.
- Mix the butter, oil, and sugar: Blend them in a large bowl with a mixer until incorporated. Blend in the eggs and vanilla extract. Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula.
- Add dry ingredients to wet: Incorporate only halfway into the wet ingredients. Set aside.
- Prepare the streusel: In a small bowl, add the AP flour, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Give it a light toss. Add the melted butter and toss gently with the dry ingredients until clumps develop. Don’t overmix.
- Prepare the muffins: Add the blueberries to the batter and stir just until everything is incorporated. Don’t overmix. Pour the batter evenly into a prepared 6-muffin tin. Top the muffins with the streusel and top with more blueberries.
- Bake the muffins: Place the muffin tin on the oven’s middle rack and bake the muffins at 425F for 8 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350F and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes until an inserted cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.
Pro Tips
Don’t thaw frozen blueberries: If you use frozen blueberries, add them to the batter straight from the freezer. Using thawed frozen blueberries could leave behind purple streaks in your batter. Streaks may still appear when you stir them in, but they shouldn’t be visible after the muffins bake.
Use double-acting baking powder: This helps achieve a taller muffin top.
Don’t overmix the streusel: You want it to be clumpy.
Use low-fat buttermilk: Non-fat buttermilk is too much like regular milk, as it isn’t thick enough.
Variations & Substitutions
-Omit the streusel topping if you’d like. If you do, you might want to increase the sugar used in the muffin batter from 3/4 cup to 1 cup.
-Instead of making 6 jumbo muffins, make 12 smaller ones or even minis. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly.
-You can use vegetable oil and canola oil interchangeably.
-It’s fine to use light brown instead of dark brown sugar.
Recipe FAQs
Bake the muffins at a higher oven temperature—425F—initially, then lower the temperature to 350F to finish baking. That high initial heat helps the batter rise more quickly. Follow the recipe below for specific times.
You can, but I can’t guarantee results because I’ve only tested this recipe with blueberries. Berries seem like they should be easily interchangeable, but the reality is that a different fruit can change the texture and overall outcome of a muffin.
Yes, but the muffins will probably cook faster without it. Therefore, bake the muffins for less time than the recipe states, then continue baking if they need more time. You also might want to increase the sugar in the muffin recipe to 1 cup to compensate for the missing sweetness of the streusel.
You can, but I would wash them by hand instead of in the dishwasher. Believe it or not, they can absorb the “flavor” of the dishwashing detergent over time, causing the muffins to develop a soapy taste as they bake in the oven. This happened to me once, and it took me a while to realize the culprit was silicone liners!
Storage
Room temperature: These muffins can sit in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Refrigerator: Store these muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Freezer: You can freeze them in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 2 months.
Defrost: Defrost a muffin in the microwave for about 20 to 30 seconds on high power. You can also fully defrost it by letting it sit out at room temperature.
More Breakfast Recipes
- Bakery-style chocolate chip muffins
- Moist chocolate muffins with buttermilk
- Sun-dried tomato omelette
- Fluffy Betty Crocker pancakes with frozen blueberries
If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, please take a moment to leave a five-star review below. You could also tag me on Instagram (@forcarbssake) with a picture of your finished dish!
Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
For the Muffins
- 2 and ¼ cups cake flour spooned and leveled (Note 1)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder double-acting, preferably aluminum-free
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup low-fat buttermilk room temperature
- 1 and ¾ cups blueberries fresh or frozen, divided
For the Streusel
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour spooned and leveled (Note 1)
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar tightly packed
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon fine salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- For the muffins, mix the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- Using a mixer, combine the butter, oil, and sugar in a large bowl just until incorporated. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue mixing just until incorporated. Stir in the buttermilk with a spatula.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and stir until everything is mixed halfway (you'll stir it more later). Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- For the streusel, place all dry ingredients in a small bowl. Give a quick toss, but don't break down the brown sugar or mix everything too much.
- Pour the melted butter over the flour/sugar mixture and toss lightly with a fork until the mixture becomes clumpy. Don't press the ingredients too much with the fork—you don't want to turn it into a paste.
- Prep a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan by spraying each cup with nonstick cooking spray or using paper liners.
- Gently stir 1 and ½ cup blueberries into the batter just until the blueberries and dry ingredients are incorporated and no more streaks of flour are visible. You don't want to overmix it. Pour the batter evenly into the individual muffin cups. Top each with some of the streusel and the remaining ¼ cup blueberries. Gently press the blueberries into the tops of each muffin to help set them.
- Place the pan in the oven's middle rack and bake the muffins for 8 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350F and continue baking for 25 minutes. If they're still underbaked, rotate the pan and cook them for another 3-5 minutes. Test the muffins with a cake tester or toothpick. They're done if it comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs attached.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
