These lemon blueberry muffins are quick to make with a moist and tender center bursting with blueberries and perfectly golden brown tops. These are inspired by our popular blueberry muffin recipe. We’ve been making those muffins for years and are so happy that we added this fresh lemon spin! Jump to the Lemon Blueberry Muffins Recipe
Watch The Video
How to Make The Best Lemon Blueberry Muffins
You only need a couple of bowls and a spoon to make these easy muffins with fresh lemon, blueberries, flour, sugar, vanilla, and vegetable oil.
- Fresh or frozen blueberries work in our recipe. It’s tricky to find sweet fresh blueberries all year round. Thankfully, this doesn’t prevent us from getting our muffin fix! When using frozen blueberries, add them when they are still frozen.
- For the lemon, we prefer using fresh and actually use both the zest and juice. I rub the zest of a lemon into the sugar, which does a fantastic job of getting all the aromatic oils to permeate the muffin batter.
- We use all-purpose flour, but whole wheat flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend should work in the recipe. If you find the batter seems a bit thick, don’t worry, an extra splash of liquid will fix it.
- Unlike a lot of our baking recipes, we use oil as the fat for these muffins. I usually love using butter for flavor, but oil makes these muffins light and airy in the middle.
- For the liquid, use milk or non-dairy milk. I’ve even used water when I’m out of both. Try our homemade oat milk!
Making the Muffins in Three Easy Steps
When you realize how easy these muffins are to make, you’ll want to make them over and over again. In fact, so many of our readers already have. This lemon muffin recipe is inspired by our easy blueberry muffins recipe. It has lots of five-star reviews!
- Rub lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar takes on a lemon aroma.
- Whisk dry ingredients together in one bowl, and then whisk the wet ingredients in another. Combine the two mixtures to make the batter.
- Fold in the blueberries, divide the batter between muffin cups and bake.
Optional step: In our photos, you can see that we added a thin slice of lemon to the top of each muffin. I love the way this looks and since we recommend sprinkling a little sugar on top of the lemon before baking, it tastes amazing, too.
Just like with our original muffin recipe, this recipe can be used to make a variety of muffin sizes:
- Eight or nine big-topped, bakery size muffins
- Eleven to twelve standard-size blueberry muffins
- Twenty to twenty-two mini blueberry muffins
More Muffin Recipes
- For a slightly healthier take, try our Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins.
- Fresh Strawberry Muffins with a little spice from cinnamon and black pepper — the black pepper may seem odd, but it is delicious with fresh strawberries.
- Try our Classic Chocolate Chip Muffins with brown sugar, sour cream, a vanilla-scented batter and lots of chocolate chips.
- Try our Ginger Oatmeal Blueberry Muffins made with fresh ginger, fresh or frozen blueberries and oats.
Quick and Easy Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This lemon blueberry muffin recipe makes eight large big-topped muffins, ten standard muffins or 20 to 22 mini muffins (see note below about baking time for mini muffins). Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used. When using frozen, do not thaw them before adding to the batter.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for muffin tops
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 lemon
1/3 cup (80 ml) neutral-flavored oil; canola, vegetable and grape seed are great
1 large egg
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup (80 ml – 120 ml) milk; use dairy or non-dairy
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 to 8 ounces fresh or frozen blueberries (about 1 cup); see note below about frozen berries
Extra thin lemon slices, optional
Directions
- Heat Oven and Prepare Pan
1Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (204° C). For big-topped muffins, line 8 standard-size muffin cups with paper liners. For standard-size muffins line 10 muffin cups.
- Make Lemon Sugar
1Use a microplane or citrus zester to remove the zest from a lemon. Add the zest (about 1 tablespoon) to a small bowl with the sugar. Rub the zest into the sugar until the sugar is perfumed by the lemon.
- Make Batter
1Whisk the flour, lemon sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2Add oil to a measuring jug that holds at least 1 cup. Add the egg then fill the jug to the 1-cup line with milk (1/3 to 1/2 cup milk). Measure 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice and then add it along with the vanilla. Whisk until well blended.
3Add the milk mixture to the bowl with dry ingredients then use a fork to combine. Do not over mix. (The muffin batter will be quite thick — see note below for more details). Fold in the blueberries.
- Bake Muffins
1Divide the batter between muffin cups. (If making big-topped muffins, the batter will come to the tops of the paper liners). Sprinkle a little sugar on top of each muffin. (As another option, If you have another lemon, add a small, thin slice of lemon to the top of each muffin and sprinkle the sugar on top of the lemon slice.)
2Bake muffins 15 to 20 minutes or until tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer to a cooling rack.
3To store, place cooled muffins in a plastic bag, seal, and store at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. To freeze, wrap them tightly in aluminum foil or place them in freezer bags. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- You can make these with fresh or frozen blueberries – if you use frozen, do not thaw the blueberries.
- For mini muffins, the baking time will be less — keep an eye on them while they bake and expect them to take 9 to 11 minutes.
- Batter Thickness: The batter should be thick and “scoopable” — not runny and not dry or extra thick like dough. If the batter is too runny, add flour, a tablespoon at a time until correct consistency. If the batter is dry or too thick, add milk, a tablespoon at a time until the proper consistency.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values. Calculations are for one standard muffin (this recipe makes 10).
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste Recipe inspired by and adapted from Allrecipes.com
These are by far the best muffins I have ever had. No exaggeration! I used the zest of a whole lemon, and added an extra, small handful of the fresh blueberries. Mine are very tart and sweet at the same time. My batter seemed thicker than yours on the video, but they are so ligh and fluffy. Thanks! Putting this as a regular in my house!
Found this recipe in 2021 and have been making it ever since, always comes out awesome! I even forgot to add the vanilla last time, and they were still delicious and perfect with all the lemony blueberry goodness
Just made these and they were fantastic! I made a crumb topping (4 TB melted butter, 3 TB white sugar, 3TB packed brown sugar, pinch salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon mixed together, then combine well with 1 cup flour) instead of using sugar on top and used more like 1 1/3 cup frozen blueberries than 1 cup but otherwise followed the recipe. Thanks for sharing this one!
Lovely twist on Bluebarry muffins…a keeper.
Fantastic! Will definitely make again
Wonderful!
Just as title says, easy. Tender crumb. Keeper
Wonderful!
Just like it says, easy and delicious.
Tender. Made 12.
We are thrilled that you enjoyed them.
WOW!!!! These are sooo….good. Didn’t put the sugar on top, thought it would make them too sweet. Perfect!!!
This is hands down the best muffing recipe I have ever used! Thank you so much for sharing it and everyone loves them so much! I make them all the time and even add pomegranates to it😊thank you again!
Very moist yummy muffins. The lemon zest and juice give it the perfect touch. Definitely will recommend to anyone!
Hi. Can I make these muffins without lining the pan with cups & just using PAM to grease the pan? Thank you
You should be fine if your muffin tin is nonstick. (I’d still grease or use spray).