With juicy blueberries and crunchy pecans, these blueberry nut muffins are quick and easy to make, and so moist and delicious!
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Originally published January 2019. Blog post, recipe and photos updated January 2021.
As soon as I could smell these baking in the oven I knew I was on to a winner with these blueberry nut muffins. They are so moist and fluffy and packed with juicy blueberries and crunchy pecans!
Muffins are one of my favourite things to make because they are so quick and easy, requiring just two bowls, a whisk and spatula. If you love muffins too, check out my other recipes like my Hummingbird Muffins, Chocolate Chip Muffins, Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins, Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Lemon Coconut Muffins!
Easy homemade blueberry nut muffins
I love the simplicity and ease of this recipe, which means you can make them on a whim with minimal fuss. The dry ingredients are whisked together in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl. Then just add the wet to the dry, fold in the blueberries and voila!
The finished mixture will be quite thick and lumpy which is ok – the thickness helps to keep the blueberries and nuts from sinking!
Blueberry Nut Muffins Ingredients
You can find the full ingredient amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of this post! In summary, to make these easy blueberry nut muffins you’ll need:
- Plain flour for the muffin’s structure
- Baking powder
- Bicarbonate of soda both these raising agents help the muffins to rise up tall
- Salt to enhance flavour
- Cinnamon is optional but trust me, this works perfectly with these muffins!
- Caster sugar
- Light brown sugar both sugars are added for sweetness of course, but the light brown sugar also helps add extra moisture to these muffins
- Eggs for structure
- Melted butter to give a touch of buttery flavour
- Oil mild flavoured oil such as vegetable or sunflower oil is recommended
- Buttermilk both oil and buttermilk bring plenty of moisture – no dense, heavy muffins here!
- Vanilla extract for flavour
- Blueberries fresh or frozen can be used in these muffins
- Pecans finely chopped, they add great flavour and texture to the blueberry muffins!
How to make the best blueberry nut muffins
I’ve added step-by-step photos to the recipe card at the bottom of this post, but here’s a quick summary of the steps:
- Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C fan and line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases/liners. This recipe makes 15 muffins so you’ll need to bake them in two batches
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, caster sugar, light brown sugar and finely chopped pecans
- In a medium bowl whisk the eggs, melted butter, oil, buttermilk and vanilla extract until combined
- Pour this wet mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula. Mix until just combined as overmixing can lead to dry, heavy muffins
- Add flour-coated blueberries to the mixture and gently fold through until evenly distributed
- Fill the muffin cases ¾ full and sprinkle the leftover chopped pecans on top of each
- Bake for 5 minutes then drop the oven temperature to 180°C/160° fan and bake for a further 13-15 minutes
- Leave the tray to cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the tray and place them on the wire rack to finish cooling
How to make tall, bakery-style blueberry nut muffins
This recipe includes both baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to help the muffins rise in the oven. However, my top tip is to do as I’ve described above and bake your muffins at a higher temperature for five minutes before reducing the temperature for the remaining baking time.
This initial high temperature causes the muffins to rise more quickly at the start. Reducing the temperature then helps to bake the muffins through without them burning or drying out. I swear by this muffin trick!
How to make moist blueberry nut muffins
This recipe uses buttermilk and oil, which both give amazing moisture to bakes. You can use normal milk instead, though buttermilk really does bring more moisture to these muffins (see my notes below on how to make your own buttermilk)!
The muffins also get a little extra moisture from the melted butter, eggs and light brown sugar!
Blueberry Nut Muffins FAQs
How to make buttermilk from scratch
Simply add a tablespoon of either lemon juice or white wine vinegar to 200ml of full-fat or semi-skimmed milk. Stir to combine and then set it aside for 10 minutes, after which it’ll look slightly thickened. You’ve just made buttermilk!
Which oil is best for muffins?
I recommend using a mild flavoured oil like sunflower or vegetable oil for muffins. Using flavoured oil such as olive oil will result in slightly odd tasting muffins!
What can cause dense, dry muffins?
One cause is overmixing the muffin batter. You should fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined; handle the mixture as little as possible. The more you fold the batter, your muffins will become less fluffy and moist and more dry and heavy!
Another cause is not measuring the ingredients correctly. Too much flour or not enough oil or buttermilk for example can throw the recipe ratio, leading to dry muffins. Dry muffins can also occur by overbaking them; you’ll know they’re done when a skewer inserted into the tallest part comes out clean.
How to prevent blueberries from sinking in muffin batter
The muffin batter is quite thick so will help to keep the blueberries in place, although I also recommend coating them in a teaspoon of plain flour to help prevent them from sinking.
Is it best to use fresh or frozen blueberries in muffins?
You can use either, although if using frozen I recommend using them straight from the freezer. Using defrosted blueberries will result in soggy blueberries and will cause your batter to turn a purply-blue colour!
Why do my blueberry muffins turn blue?
This can occur if you’ve used defrosted blueberries from the freezer which bleed into the mixture. Also, if you’re heavy-handed when mixing the blueberries into the muffin batter, this can cause them to break and leak into the mixture.
How should I store homemade blueberry nut muffins?
They are best kept at room temperature in an airtight container and should keep well for around four days!
Can I freeze homemade muffins?
Muffins are suitable for freezing so they are great for a grab and go breakfast, lunch boxes and snacking! I recommend storing them in an airtight container or wrapping them individually in film before freezing. They should keep well in the freezer for around three months.
To summarise, these blueberry nut muffins are:
- Full of juicy blueberries and crunchy pecans, for plenty of flavour in every bite
- Simple and easy to make with just two bowls, a whisk and spatula
- Light and fluffy inside
- Really moist thanks to oil, buttermilk, melted butter and light brown sugar
- Ideal for freezing so great for a grab and go snack or breakfast!
If you try this recipe I’d love to see! You can show me by tagging me @bakerjoblog or using #bakerjoblog!
Other muffin recipes to try:
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Hummingbird Muffins
- Lemon Coconut Muffins
- Raspberry White Chocolate Muffins
Blueberry Nut Muffins
Equipment
- 12 hole muffin tin
- Large bowl and medium bowl
- Whisk
- Spatula
Ingredients
- 300 g plain flour
- 2 + 1/2 tsp baking powder level
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda level
- 1/2 tsp salt level
- 2 tsp cinnamon (optional) level
- 100 g caster sugar
- 100 g light brown sugar
- 50 g unsalted butter melted
- 2 medium eggs room temperature
- 200 ml buttermilk* room temperature
- 50 ml sunflower oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp flour to coat the blueberries
- 200 g blueberries (fresh or frozen) coated in 1 tsp flour
- 100 g finely chopped pecans, divided 80g for muffin batter, 20g to sprinkle on top before baking
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 220°C/200°C Fan. Spray a 12 hole muffin tin with non-stick spray or use muffin cases/liners. Set aside. This recipe makes 15 muffins so you'll need to bake two batches.
- Finely chop your pecans and keep 20g aside to sprinkle on top of the muffins later before baking.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon, caster sugar and light brown sugar until well combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, melted butter, buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract until well combined.
- Pour this bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Fold together with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined – do not over-mix or your muffins will be dense!
- Add a teaspoon of flour to your blueberries and stir to coat them all evenly. If using frozen blueberries, use them straight from the freezer as unthawed blueberries will dye the muffin batter blue!
- Add the blueberries to the muffin mixture and stir together until just combined. The mixture will be quite thick and lumpy.
- Fill the muffin holes/cases about 3/4 full. I like to make sure at least two blueberries are showing on top of each muffin so that they burst in the oven, but this is just to make them more visually appealing!
- Sprinkle the remaining 20g of finely chopped pecans on top of each muffin.
- Place the muffin tray into the pre-heated oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. At the 5 minute point drop the oven temperature to 180°C/160° Fan but do not open the oven door. Bake for a further 15 minutes. Check that they are baked by inserting a cake skewer into the tallest part and ensuring it comes out completely clean.
- Remove from the oven and place the muffin tray on a wire cooling rack. After 5 minutes carefully remove the muffins from the tray and place them onto the cooling rack.
- You can then either eat one straight away still warm from the oven, or wait until they’re cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature. These are best eaten with 3 days.
These look divine and delicious! Can one use regular all-purpose flour for this if one doesn’t have self-rising? Thank you for posting!
Author
Hi, thank you so much for your lovely comment! I haven’t personally tested it with all purpose flour but I think it would be ok if you increase to 3 tsp of baking powder instead of 2, to make sure you still get tall muffins! Hope this works, let me know how it goes xxx
Author
UPDATE 07/01/2021: Recipe has now been amended to use plain flour instead of self-raising flour 🙂