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Perfectly tender and incredibly addicting! These gluten-free blueberry muffins have a sparkly sugar crust on top and are moist on the inside, just bursting with fresh blueberries!
Not a dry crumb in sight!
These gluten-free blueberry muffins are now a go-to recipe around here. I’ve made these more times than I can count on one hand and, AND, AND I’ve made them with regular all-purpose flour too. Just to be sure that this recipe works for those of us that may not necessarily be on a gluten-free diet.
With our trip to Italy right around the corner, it seems like it’s getting harder and harder to fit everything we need to get done before leaving. Lately, I’ve had super packed days where I’m rushing from the time my alarm clock goes off in the morning to the time I rest my head back down on the pillow at night. For all the crazy mornings, I’m starting to put together things like these gluten-free blueberry muffins and my breakfast croissant boats that make breakfast a grab-and-go affair.
Husband calls these blueberry muffins his breakfast dessert. I call myself lucky if I can get something in my system before lunchtime.
The BEST homemade gluten-free blueberry muffins
In the past, I’ve shared a variety of muffin recipes with you guys like my healthy carrot cake muffin. But to be honest, this is the first time I’ve dabbled in a gluten-free blueberry muffin recipe. Of course, you can easily swap out the blueberries for raspberries or even blackberries if you prefer those more. This recipe works well with a simple swap.
As a child, my favorite thing to pick out when we made a trip to Sam’s Club were those freakishly huge muffins from the bakery section. Have you ever had them? They’re so good! They came in a sampler pack with banana nut, blueberry, and chocolate with chocolate chip. Though I haven’t had them since I was a teenager, I distinctly remember always gravitating towards the chocolate variety. It wasn’t until the chocolate muffins ran out that I’d make my way over to the fruit kind.
Funny how things work out. It’s quite the opposite now. I’ll take a blueberry muffin over chocolate chip any day!
The baking mix we use in our gluten-free blueberry muffins
First off, you’ll need gluten-free flour blend. Sometimes it’s sold as a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix. For those that aren’t too familiar with this type of baking mix, it’s usually a combination of brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and white rice flour. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll contain all these ingredients, but most gluten-free baking mixes contain some or all of these ingredients in various proportions. The bag or box will also list it as a ‘1 to 1 baking mix.’ That means that you can directly replace the all-purpose flour with the gluten-free mix and achieve similar results. You can also find it online in case your grocery store doesn’t carry it.
Everything else you need
- leavening agent
- softened butter
- sugar
- ground cinnamon/nutmeg
- vanilla/almond extract
- eggs
- buttermilk
- blueberries
Though this recipe is pretty similar to most gluten-free blueberry muffin recipes out there, I feel it has one thing that takes the muffins over the top. Almond extract is an ingredient I often use when making blueberry muffins. Up until recently, I wasn’t a fan of the stuff. To tell you the truth, I still reserve it to use in a few, select muffin recipes. But there’s just something about blueberry muffins, and almond extract works well together. It elevates the flavor and makes it more of a bakery-style muffin. If you aren’t a huge fan, I urge you to still give it a try as you may change your mind, it’s only a ¼ teaspoon!
One more thing I wanted to talk about, buttermilk. Buttermilk gives these gluten-free blueberry muffins the most distinctive, slightly tangy flavor. It tends to work well in recipes that contain berries. The acid in buttermilk also helps these muffins rise nice and high.
How to make the best gluten-free blueberry muffins:
The method is pretty simple. We’ll combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set that aside. Then, cream the butter and the sugar together and add the eggs one at a time before adding in the extracts and finally alternate the buttermilk and the flour until everything is combined. Just be sure not overmix the batter.
One thing I like to do before folding the blueberries into the batter is wash them, and toss them in a tablespoon of flour. This helps keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.
Recipe Tip
If you want your muffins to be more visually appealing, save a few of the blueberries and top the batter with them once you’ve portioned them out into a paper-lined muffin pan. They burst, and the juices run down the side, and the muffins – gorgeous!
Then just sprinkle the remaining two tablespoons of sugar on your muffins and let them bake. Trying not to eat them while they’re hot out of the oven is the hardest thing! The sugar on top gives these muffins the most distinct crunch. These muffins are addicting!
How long will these last?
My experience with gluten-free muffins in the summer is that they don’t really hold up more than two days. Especially not in the Texas heat! So usually, I’ll bake a batch and send some to family or friends and keep a few for us. Or I’ll do option number two below.
Can you freeze gluten-free blueberry muffins?
The answer is, yes, you can! You can bake these muffins off, allow them to come to room temperature, then pop them into a zip-top bag and freeze them for up to 2 months. Just let them defrost in the refrigerator overnight, and they’re ready to go in the morning.
Smear them with a little butter while they’re still warm and eat them over the sink. It’s so much more satisfying this way. I hope these gluten-free blueberry muffins become a Sunday morning staple at your place too!
Outrageous Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free baking mix or all-purpose flour, plus more
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract optional
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg optional
- ½ cup salted butter , softened
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar divided
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 cup blueberries
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 425F; line muffin pan with paper baking liners and set aside.
- DRY INGREDIENTS: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside. In another bowl, toss the washed berries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- CREAM: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute. Then, add 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of sugar and cream together for roughly 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides.
- BATTER: With the mixer on the stir setting, add the eggs one at a time and waiting until each is mixed in well before adding the next. Add the vanilla and almond extract.
- ALTERNATE: Add half of the prepared flour mixture, followed by all the buttermilk, and then finally the remaining flour until it is well blended, but make sure you don’t overmix. Fold the floured berries into the batter until *just combined* Overmixing will result is a blue/green muffin once they’re baked.
- DIVIDE: Divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the muffins with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar.
- BAKE: Place the muffin pan in the oven and immediately drop the oven temperature to 375ºF. Bake the muffins for 26-32 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If you have unsalted butter, just up the salt to ½ teaspoon total.
- Leftover muffins can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days and kept at room temperature. You can also pop these into a zip top bag and freeze them for later.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
These were the tastiest and most beautiful muffins I’ve ever made. I’ve been making GF food for about 10 years for my celiac daughter, so I’ve tried a lot of recipes. I used a xanthan gum free flour, so I added 3/4 tsp. of xanthan gum and I used Egg Beaters for the eggs because my husband can’t have egg yolks. Other than that, I made the recipe as written, with the optional ingredients (almond extract & nutmeg). I’m making them for a 2nd time this week with my fresh blueberries!
The Muffins were amazing one of the best I have made yet
The first time I made receipe they were delicious, but sunk in the middle. Served them anyway and folks liked them.
I bought new baking soda and just made them again. They dipped in middle again, worse than first time and ran over side .
I used almond milk and lemon juice and almond flour.
Any suggestions?
Hi Barbara! Sorry to hear the recipe didn’t turn out for you. I think the culprit is the almond flour. Unfortunately, it’s not a 1:1 substitute for the GF baking mix in this recipe. GF baking mix usually contains ingredients like rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, and xanthan gum. For best results, I suggest trying the recipe with a homemade (there are tons of recipes available online) or a store-bought baking mix instead of almond flour. Hope that helps!
Fabulous! I added flax seed and hemp seed and a little lemon juice, So good.
Can I make the batter the night before and bake in the morning?
Hi Carolyn! Unfortunately I don’t think the muffins will turn out if you prepare the batter ahead of time. For best results, I suggest mixing and baking immediately.
Yes I made the muffins using almond flour. Except for them not raising they were delicious.(My baking powder must be old)
Hey Barbara-
Have you tried making again with almond flour?
I am a novice cook/baker and made these today. They were so simple and so very yummy. I did have to substitute sour cream for buttermilk but the muffins looked and tasted perfect. I am definitely going to make these again and again.
Oh my goodness! These were perfect! Thank you so much! My daughter and I loved them and it replaces many tried recipes. Wonderful!
I did. These are delicious!
Hey Peggy!! I’m so excited to try your receipe! Quick question, if I use Bob’s Red Mill GF all purpose baking flour, do I need to adf xantham gum to the mix? It says to on the back so I’m confused. Any thoughts? Thank you!
Would light (reduced fat) buttermilk work just as well in this recipe?
Love these muffins! So easy to make!
Made these and my hand beater broke while creaming the butter and sugar so I used a whisk and did my best and this is by far the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had, gluten free or not. SO GOOD even though I messed it up lol. Used measure for measure gluten free flour and almond milk in place of buttercream. They rose pretty well are nice and soft and moist inside and have a nice crust from the sugar on top. Deff making these again!!!
This is a great recipe! I replaced buttermilk with plain yogurt and it turned out pretty good.
These are so very delicious. I used olive oil instead of butter. Thankyou.
I’ve made this recipe twice and each time I get delicious muffins … that sink in the middle. What am I doing wrong ?
Hi Pamela! Sorry to hear the muffins didn’t turn out for you. Since I haven’t heard this happening to anyone else, I wonder if it’s something as simple as the baking powder you used. If you’ve had it in the pantry for a while, maybe it just needs to be replaced? Or it could be the oven temperature (if your oven runs hot) the muffins will rise rapidly but then sink. If you have an oven thermometer, and it’s reading 425ºF, then chances are it’s the baking powder or the muffin batter may have been overmixed. I hope that helps!
What is the nutritional Information /facts on one muffin?
So yummy!!
The fluffiest gluten free muffinns I’ve ever made.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi Dora! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the muffins! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment 🙂
I have missed gluten for so long! GF breads,cakes,pizza and muffins are tough and dense but, these are soft and fluffy. First batch was on our Sunday morning brunch and poof they were gone side note there’s only 3 of us and 18 muffins. I have more in the oven now and the house smells wonderful I’m sure they will disappear quickly.
Hi Sammy! I totally get it, we’ve polished off quite a few of these muffins and there are only two of us here! Appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment 🙂
This muffin recipe is absolutely incredible from texture to taste. I would 100% recommend it. The muffins are neither dry nor dull and can easily be whipped up for relatively last-minute plans. I have made it 3 times now and it’s always been a huge success amongst guests – both children and adults. Thank you so much for sharing it – it is fast becoming a family favourite.
Hi Amelie! I’m so glad to hear you’ve made these a few times! Really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
I have never left a review of a recipe before, but this recipe blew my mind away. I have NEVER had a gluten free home baked good taste SO GOOD. I ate them warm out of the oven and they were amazing. The muffin tasted like a fresh cinnamon doughnut, and then you get the blueberries and the whole combination is perfect. Thank you so much!
Hi Kira! Appreciate you taking the time to leave a review! So happy to hear you enjoyed the muffins – you’re so right, they do taste like a cinnamon donut!