Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping
These Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping are my absolute favorite. They have a soft, tender bite, with a crunchy streusel crumb topping and tons of blueberries inside. They taste AND smell incredible!
To me, these are the best of the best.
The inside is properly loaded with lots of blueberries, held together with a muffin batter that bakes up soft and cakey, with a wonderful hint of citrus taste and aroma, and finished off with a sweet and crunchy streusel topping.
In some sense, there’s a lot going on with this muffin. That’s part of its greatness, is there are multiple textures, flavors, and aromas.
But they’re actually not fussy or difficult to make.
It’s a bakery-quality muffin, with no mixer or fancy equipment required. It’s simply made by stirring together the ingredients by hand in a standard bowl.
Another thing that’s nice about these muffins is I find they taste best a couple hours after they’re baked.
This means that they’re fantastic for making ahead of time, whether you’re baking them ahead for hosting at home or if you’re bringing them elsewhere. They’re one of my go-to’s for brunch, along with these moist buttermilk Chocolate Muffins.
I find myself gifting these quite a bit to friends, family, and neighbors. I put them in these cute paper boxes that I buy online (affiliate) and they look so beautiful!
How to Make Them:
Start with the Streusel Crumb Topping:
The crumb topping takes less than 5 minutes to make and really takes the muffins up a notch. Don’t skip it!
In a small bowl, combine all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and ground cinnamon:
Whisk that all to combine, then pour in some melted butter:
Stir together with a fork until large crumbs form:
Place that in the refrigerator to chill and harden while you prepare the muffin batter.
Make the Batter:
In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and both orange and lemon zest:
When I can find them, I like to use solely Meyer lemon zest here. The day I shot these pictures, the store actually had some but they didn’t look fresh.
When I can’t get Meyer lemons, I do a combination of equal parts orange and lemon zest.
In another bowl, combine one egg, melted butter, and buttermilk:
Please, oh please, use true buttermilk here. Not milk mixed with vinegar. I have used the latter in a pinch but the real stuff is definitely better.
Buttermilk tends to come in a quart size container, which is more than you need for this recipe, but it’s a good excuse to also try this incredible Lemon Buttermilk Pie.
Or make Buttermilk Pancakes, this amazing Cornbread Recipe, or this legendary Fried Chicken Recipe. My friend Lindsay also has a post on How to Freeze Buttermilk, though I haven’t tried it myself. I just make a point to use it all up!
Whisk the wet ingredients until combined, and don’t worry if it looks curdled and lumpy:
Combine the wet and dry ingredients and you’ll end up with a very thick dough:
Add blueberries, either fresh or frozen (I almost always do frozen), and stir them in just enough to distribute them somewhat evenly. If you stir too much you’ll make the whole batter purple.
Use a large 3-tbsp cookie scoop (affiliate) to portion the batter into muffin liners. I find that a generous scoop with this size is the right amount for each well.
Get the streusel crumb from the fridge, and break it up with your fingers a bit. Crumble it over the tops of the muffin batter:
Bake the muffins for about a half hour, until the crumb topping is golden.
If you have a toothpick handy, you can check that no wet batter comes out when you insert it into the center of the muffin. Though I honestly find it easier to just press my fingertip gently onto the top center of the muffin. If it springs back, it’s done.
These blueberry muffins are nice enjoyed warm out of the oven, but I personally believe they are best after they’ve cooled for a couple hours.
Cinnamon Rolls, Orange Coffee Cake, and English Style Scones are a few of my other favorite brunchy baked treats. Enjoy!
Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping
Ingredients
For the Streusel Crumb Topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (72g)
- 1/2 cup sugar (112g)
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter melted (salted or unsalted both work)
For the Blueberry Muffins:
- 1.5 cups all-purpose flour (212g)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- Zest of 2 meyer lemons (or do zest of 1 orange plus zest of 1 lemon)
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted (about 5.33 tbsp)
- 1 large egg
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups blueberries (I use frozen)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- Start with the streusel crumb topping. In a small bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Pour in the melted butter and mix with a fork until crumbs form. Chill in the refrigerator while you continue with the recipe.
- For the muffin batter, in a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and citrus zest.
- In another large bowl, whisk to combine the melted butter, egg, and buttermilk. It's fine if it looks curdled or lumpy.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir just enough to bring the batter together. It will be thick and lumpy, and that's fine. Take care not to overstir, which can make your muffins tough.
- Dump in the blueberries, and fold them in gently, just enough to distribute them somewhat evenly. Take care not to stir too much, or your batter will turn purple.
- Use a large 3-Tbsp cookie scoop and scoop slightly overfilled portions evenly into the 12 lined muffin wells.
- Remove the crumb topping from the fridge and break up the crumbs with your fingertips, sprinkling the topping onto each of the muffin batter scoops.
- Bake for 28-30 minutes, until the crumbs are golden brown. To make sure they are done inside, I gently press my fingertip in the top center of the muffin. It should spring back to the touch.
- They can be enjoyed warm out of the oven, but I personally find the flavor to be at its best after they've cooled for about 2 hours. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post and recipe updated in May 2020. Originally published July 2011.
122 Comments on “Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping”
These are absolutely the best muffins I’ve ever had in my life. I used brown sugar instead of regular for the topping and added a handful of oats, but otherwise followed the recipe. So delicious.
Great flavor!! , but I found the batter very thick and I had way too much of the topping (streusel) left over. Guess I’ll be making more! lol
Thanks
These are amazing! I pick fresh blueberries every year at my friend’s blueberry farm. I make them with fresh berries and share with people in my community. This will always be my go to recipe.
Picked berries one day ago, making a batch today!
What a great recipe! This will be my go-to blueberry muffin recipe from now on.
I did make 2 small changes. I upped the lemon zest, because you can never get too much lemon in my book!
As I was rummaging through my spice cabinet looking for the cinnamon, I happened upon the Chinese five spice, so I added that instead. I think I’ll be swapping that in for cinnamon more often.
I used this recipe to make a blueberry crumble cake, and it was delicious!!! The cake itself is flavorful and the crumble is very nice. I doubled the recipe, but otherwise made no modifications. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing! Didnt have lemins so I used 1tsp of lemon extract!
I made these for my husband’s co workers last week. Needless to say I’m making a double batch for them again today! Everyone said best blueberry muffins they ever had! His boss was even willing to order them from me! Even though I told him he didn’t need to! I’ll just make them. Thank you! Need to try your other recipes!
I’m about to make this recipe for the 3rd time. It’s the only blueberry muffin recipe I make – it’s soo good – and really very easy. If you don’t have buttermilk, add a Tbsp lemon juice to your milk and let it sit for 30 mins. It’ll be fantastic as ever.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with us!
These are amazing little morsels of deliciousness!
These Blueberry Muffins were the Best Blueberry Muffins I’ve ever made. Made over the holidays and a few times since. The streusel topping is amazing and than the muffins with the zest of a lemon and blueberries, I’ve used fresh and than ones I had frozen, are absolutely to die for. My 30 year old son texted me today and asked for the recipe, so I know that they are truly a recipe that will be passed down for generations.
So wonderful. That citrus zest really adds to the layered flavor! I used fresh blueberries and zest of 3 Clementines ( that’s all I had). This goes into my permanent cookbook!
Can you freeze them? And if so, how long?
Yes, up to 2 months in an airtight container.
These are probably the best blueberry muffins I’ve ever made/eaten. I made these for my husband’s birthday because he doesn’t like cake and they were a huge hit! Thank you!
So delighted to hear this!
Just made these and OMG they are AMAZING!!! Thanks for the great recipe!
BTW USED THE ZEST OF ONE LEMON AND ONE ORANGE… AND FRESH BLUEBERRIES! SO FREAKING GOOD!
So happy to hear this, Stephanie!
Your recipes sound amazing! Can’t wait to start!
I used milk instead of buttermilk. The whole thing was too watery so I added flour. Will try with real buttermilk next time.
Best muffin ever loved the hint of lemon