Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
If you’ve got sourdough discard to use up, these delicious blueberry sourdough muffins are a great way to use a substantial amount, and they have wonderful flavors of blueberry and orange. They’re also on the healthier side for muffins!
I’ve always loved muffins, and love that they can range from somewhat healthy to indulgent treats.
These Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel Topping qualify for the indulgent, but many of my others like Chocolate Muffins, Pumpkin Muffins, and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are not overly sweet.
Today’s muffins fall on the less sweet side, and you can truly have them for a reasonable breakfast or afternoon snack. The crumb is tender and a little spongey from the sourdough, and there are plentiful blueberries for extra juiciness.
While I do flavors of orange and blueberry here (with notes of sourdough in the base), I’ve done variations of citrus and fruits with great success. Lemon and raspberry is another great combination.
What’s Great about this Recipe
Quick to make – These take between 5-10 minutes to mix together, then they can go straight into the oven for about 20 minutes to bake.
Substitution friendly – I’ve made numerous variations of these muffins for the past year and a half. My friend who originally gave me my sourdough starter also emailed me a base recipe for muffins that this is based on, and I’ve successfully tried many different kinds of fruits, flour, and flavorings.
Uses a decent amount of discard – You’ll use a full cup of sourdough starter discard here, which is pretty good considering we’re only making 12 muffins. Any leftover discard can be used for Sourdough Discard Flatbread.
No refined sugar, and dairy free – For this recipe, we sweeten lightly with maple syrup and use coconut oil. I have nothing against dairy, but I’ve tested many variations of fat, and the coconut oil is our family’s favorite.
Weight measurements included – I’ve got both measuring cup measurements and weight measurements below. If you have a kitchen scale, use it for best precision.
Step by Step Overview:
These muffins are straightforward to make. We will combine the dry ingredients, then the wet, add the dry to the wet, mix in the blueberries, and put the batter into cups to bake.
Combine the dry ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine all-purpose flour, baking powder, kosher salt, and fresh orange zest:
Combine the wet ingredients
In a separate large bowl, combine sourdough discard, eggs, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, and vanilla extract:
Whisk that well to blend and combine. It will take a little more mixing than your typical wet ingredients, since the sourdough discard is relatively thick. This will be even more true if your discard is cold from the fridge rather than at room temperature.
Add the dry to the wet
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl:
Stop mixing just before the flour disappears
You can start by whisking to combine, but as the batter gets thick, you’ll likely need to switch to a spatula.
Right before the flour is all incorporated, stop mixing. For best results with baked goods like muffins, you want to stay on the side of undermixing.
Add the blueberries
Add some fresh or frozen blueberries to the batter, and gently stir them in.
If you’re using frozen blueberries as I am, you won’t want to mix them too much, or it will turn the batter purple. I more “press them in” than mix.
If using fresh blueberries, you won’t have this issue.
Distribute the batter into paper liners
Use a cookie scoop (affiliate) to portion the batter into paper liners in a muffin tray. The muffin cups shouldn’t be more than 3/4 full.
Bake!
Place the muffin tin in the center of a 375F preheated oven for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean of batter (you may get some blueberry juice), and the top of the muffin springs back to the touch.
I let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the muffin pan, then I like to serve them while they’re warm and fresh from the oven.
Any remaining muffins can be cooled on a wire rack before storing.
Enjoy, and next time try my Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, Crepes, or English Style Scones. Happy baking!
Substitutions
This is an easy recipe to play around with. Here are some recipe variations I’ve tried and enjoyed.
Blueberries – You may substitute raspberries, blackberries, or cherries here for equally delicious muffins. I’ve even done peaches, just make sure you chop into small pieces.
Orange zest – You can change for lemon zest or lime zest.
Vanilla extract – You can try orange extract, lemon extract, or almond extract. In each case, use half the amount.
Flour – I have successfully used einkorn flour and whole wheat pastry flour in place of the all-purpose. You can also use an einkorn whole wheat flour.
Coconut oil – You may also use melted ghee or butter. If using melted butter, add an extra tablespoon. Avocado oil or any other neutral oil also works, but isn’t as great of a choice because it doesn’t add flavor.
Recipe FAQ and Tips
Absolutely, these freeze wonderfully. Place in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Let thaw at room temperature when ready to eat.
These may be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days. Place in an airtight container or cover well with plastic wrap. If you want to keep them longer, freeze them for up to 2 months.
See the post for an extensive list, but you can play with all sorts of berries and fruits, citrus zests, baking extracts, flours, and baking fats.
Did you enjoy the recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Or, follow me on Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest!
Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3.75oz or 108g by weight)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp orange zest (zest of 1 orange)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup sourdough discard (274g by weight)
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil (79g by weight)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1.5 cups frozen blueberries* (172g by weight)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking powder, orange zest, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk to combine the sourdough discard, maple syrup, coconut oil, eggs, and vanilla extract. Be patient with it, as the discard takes a decent amount of mixing to incorporate everything in, especially if it's cold from the fridge and not at room temperature.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix. You may use a whisk at first but will need to switch to using a spatula as it gets thick. Just before the flour is fully incorporated, gently add the blueberries, being careful not to overstir, or it will turn the batter purple.
- Using a large cookie scoop, divide the batter between the 12 paper baking cups. They will be about 3/4 full.
- Bake for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out without wet batter (it may have blueberry juice). You can also check that the top of the muffin springs back to the touch when you press on it.
- Let the muffins cool for a few minutes, but enjoy the muffins while they are warm. Let cool completely before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
18 Comments on “Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins”
Great muffins! I’m new to sourdough baking and love that this is an easy and delicious way to use up some discard. I like that they’re not too sweet and my kids enjoyed them too! I used olive oil instead of coconut oil and it worked great.
Fantastic! Followed the recipe (except subbed lemon zest for orange because I was out) and they were delicious. Very moist and not too sweet.
I love these with Lemon zest too! Thanks Claire!
I’m new to sourdough baking. This was simple and amazingly delicious
Welcome to the sourdough club! so glad you enjoyed this one!
Forgot to give the 5 star rating.. Thank you for this wonderful recipe..
They came out perfect. Used fresh blueberries, dusted with gf flour.. Also used all gf flour.. Great recipe, will definitely make over and over again.
Delicious! My go to recipe. I make these every week. Everyone loves them from my 4 year granddaughter right up to my 80 year old parents. Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe.
This recipe came out fantastic, though I did make a few modifications to better suit our specific nutritional needs. I ended up adding 1/2 c of nonflavored whey protein powder, 3/4 cup of sprouted whole wheat flour in place of white all-purpose flour, and then used a sugar free (Allulose) Maple syrup to try to shave some carbs off (though I realize it still isn’t low carb, just free of added sugar). The consistency still seemed quite a bit wetter than what is pictured above, but the muffins still came out beautifully & were so delicious! I may add a sprinkle of powdered stevia to add just a touch more sweetness! (Allulose is only 70% as sweet tasting as real maple syrup) So I believe they would have had perfect sweetness if I had used real maple syrup as suggested in the recipe. Thank you so much for sharing! Will definitely be coming back whenever my sourdough discard reaches the 1 cup mark in my fridge 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I want to get a starter soon
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for the recipe. This is now our go to muffin recipe. Our 4 year old granddaughter LOVES them, she requests them all the time.
Fantastic! Loved the creamy, rich, moist texture without all the dairy. Almost like they have buttermilk in them. Finished off my friend’s first batch of these and now we will have to make our own. It was still tasty without the orange zest which she skipped.
Super fluffy and delicious muffins, and very easy to make! Thanks so much for this recipe.
Didn’t care for these. Not sweet enough, and taste like coconut.
These are barely edible. Way too many blueberries and the mix was very runny with the amount of flour suggested.
Is the amount of flour right? I weighed mine (which I don’t usually do), but the batter came out much runnier than seemed right. I added quite a bit more to get it closer to the kind of consistency I’m used to.
I love to make muffins and grind my whole grains for the health benefits. I use to keep a sourdough starter but it called for too much sugar and I got tired of feeding the starter or having to pour off some but like the idea of using it in muffins. I would like to try your starter since you said it was not too sweet. I have enjoyed many of your recipes and tips too. Thank you.
You were adding sugar to your sourdough starter? I have never heard of that. We just maintain ours with water and flour. Feeding it is definitely mildly annoying. My husband has now taken over the task lol.