Made from scratch blackberry muffins are a farmhouse favorite! The easy muffins are light and fluffy, bursting with sweet berries, and a perfect summertime treat. Serve them for breakfast with a cup of coffee or as an afternoon snack with a cold glass of lemonade. Nothing beats a front porch swing and the best blackberry muffin recipe!
Casey picked a basket of fresh wild blackberries from the side of the road last week, and instantly requested a batch of our favorite blackberry muffins. There's just no better way to enjoy the sweet, tart summer fruit!
These old-fashioned treats are classic farmhouse fare: they're made from scratch with simple ingredients, they're easy to stir together in about 10 minutes, and they make everyone happy at any time of day. Serve them with coffee and juice for a tasty morning meal, offer them for a grab-and-go snack on your way out the door, or add them to the bread basket at dinner. Warm with butter, they're totally irresistible!
How can I make my muffins light and fluffy?
There are a couple of simple tricks that keep these blackberry muffins exceptionally light and fluffy:
- Use whole buttermilk. The acid in the thick, rich, whole buttermilk yields a muffin with a moist, tender crumb. While regular milk will technically work here, buttermilk provides the best texture.
- Do not over-mix the batter. You want it to come together so that everything is combined, but then stop stirring! Mixing too much activates the gluten in the flour and results in dry, dense muffins.
- Use the correct amount of leavener. In this case, the baking powder acts as the leavening agent that helps the muffins rise. If you use too little baking powder, the muffins won't rise enough. If you use too much, the muffins will rise too quickly and then collapse. One tablespoon is the sweet spot.
Ingredients
This is a quick overview of the simple ingredients that you'll need for a batch of easy blackberry muffins. As always, specific measurements and complete step-by-step instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- All-purpose flour: the base of the batter.
- Granulated sugar: for just the right amount of sweetness.
- Baking powder: the leavening agent that helps the muffins rise.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg: spices that add cozy warmth.
- Salt: to enhance the other flavors in the muffins, balance the sweetness, and add depth of flavor.
- Buttermilk: provides a slightly tangy flavor, yields a more tender crumb, and provides a little bit more lift for light and fluffy muffins. If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, you can substitute with regular milk in a pinch -- the recipe will still work.
- Egg: for structure.
- Butter and vegetable oil: I like the combination of both butter and vegetable oil because you get the flavor of the butter and the moisture of the oil. If you prefer, you can use all butter or all oil.
- Fresh blackberries: sweet, tart, and bursting with summer flavor! You can substitute with frozen blackberries, but they're not my preference because they turn the batter an odd shade of bluish-green.
How to Make Blackberry Muffins
You can make these easy blackberry muffins from scratch in about 10 minutes with just a few simple steps.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
- Fold in the blackberries.
- Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups.
- Bake in a 400° F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
How to Serve Blackberry Muffins
Blackberry muffins are such a versatile little treat -- especially when paired with butter, cream cheese, honey or jam. You can offer them for a quick grab-and-go breakfast on busy mornings; pile some in a basket as a part of a special brunch buffet; set out a few with a glass of lemonade or iced tea for an afternoon snack; or even add them to your bread basket as a side dish with dinner. We love the variety of a bread basket that includes some homemade bread, a few warm muffins, and a couple wedges of cornbread. It turns an ordinary weeknight meal into a special restaurant-worthy occasion -- and you can pull each of these items from your freezer with almost zero effort!
How to Store Blackberry Muffins
Allow the muffins to cool completely. Store in a large Ziploc freezer bag or other airtight container. The muffins will last for 2-3 days at room temperature, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months.
How to Reheat
If the muffins are frozen, allow them to sit on the counter for a few minutes while you preheat the oven to 350° F. Frozen muffins will require about 10-12 minutes in the oven; room temperature muffins will only need about 5 minutes to warm through.
Alternatively, you can microwave one muffin at a time for 15-30 seconds or just until warm.
Recipe Variations
- Use any fresh berries that you have available. A mix of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries is delicious.
- Lemon Blackberry Muffins: to give these muffins a powerful lemon punch, add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest to the batter and omit the cinnamon and nutmeg. Similarly, you can make orange blackberry muffins by adding 1 tablespoon of fresh orange zest to the batter.
- Blackberry Muffins with Crumble Topping: sprinkle this streusel on top of your muffins before baking.
- Banana Blackberry Muffins: fold the blackberries into this banana muffin batter.
- For an earthy, savory complement to the berries, add some fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary or basil.
- Blackberry Mini Muffins: bake the batter in mini muffin tins in a 350° F oven for about 12-15 minutes.
Tips for the Best Blackberry Muffin Recipe
- Fresh summer berries are always best. You can substitute with frozen blackberries; however, be aware that the frozen berries may "bleed" and turn the batter a weird bluish-green color. Do not thaw the frozen berries before adding them to the batter.
- I use wild local blackberries, which are about the size of blueberries (much smaller than store-bought blackberries). If you're using very large blackberries, I recommend cutting them in half before adding them to the batter.
- Use well-shaken whole buttermilk for the best flavor and texture.
- The key to a perfect muffin is just barely mixing the ingredients. You want them to come together, but a few lumps are fine. This way they’ll stay moist and tender!
- Fill the muffin cups nice and full. I like to use an ice cream scoop to make sure that each cup has an equal amount of batter, ensuring that the muffins bake evenly in the oven.
- To check if the muffins are done, insert a toothpick into the center and make sure it comes out clean. Don’t cook them for too long, or they can dry out.
What can I do with a lot of blackberries?
If you have plenty of fresh blackberries available this season, you can enjoy them in this blackberry cobbler, a batch of blackberry jam, or a refreshing pitcher of this old-fashioned blackberry lemonade.
More Recipes with Fresh Summer Fruit
Farmhouse Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup whole buttermilk, well shaken (or substitute with regular milk)
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup (½ stick) salted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup fresh blackberries (cut very large blackberries in half)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk or sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg, melted butter and oil.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir just until combined; do not over-mix.
- Gently fold in the blackberries.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Notes
- Fresh summer berries are always best. You can substitute with frozen blackberries; however, be aware that the frozen berries will "bleed" and likely turn the batter a weird bluish-green color. Do not thaw the frozen berries before adding them to the batter.
- I use wild local blackberries, which are about the size of blueberries (much smaller than store-bought blackberries). If you're using very large blackberries, I recommend cutting them in half before adding them to the batter.
- Use well-shaken whole buttermilk for the best flavor and texture.
- The key to a perfect muffin is just barely mixing the ingredients. You want them to come together, but a few lumps are fine. This way they’ll stay moist and tender!
- Fill the muffin cups nice and full. I like to use an ice cream scoop to make sure that each cup has an equal amount of batter, ensuring that the muffins bake evenly in the oven.
- To check if the muffins are done, insert a toothpick into the center and make sure it comes out clean. Don’t cook them for too long, or they can dry out.
These look absolutely delicious! We love blueberry lemon or strawberry muffins, they are the kids’ favourite, but I don’t think I’ve made blackberry muffins before. Will try soon!
Thank you, Mila! The kids love these even more than classic blueberry muffins. 🙂 Hope you get to try them!