Celebrate strawberry season with these Buttermilk Strawberry Muffins. Assembled in one bowl and quick to make, they are a welcome addition to the breakfast table.
These strawberry muffins are a great way to celebrate spring's arrival of the red berry. The buttermilk adds a wonderful tang to accompany the sweet strawberries (and helps tenderize the muffin, too). The muffins calls for both fresh and freeze-dried strawberries (more on that below) to pack a lot of strawberry flavor. You can make it with all-purpose flour or optionally add some almond flour for an extra punch of protein to start the morning off right.
These muffins are perfectly sweet, come together in one bowl, and freeze really well.
So let's get to making it! You can jump around the article using the menu below, or you can just head right to the bottom for the complete recipe.
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Ingredients and Substitutions
Here is a brief overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The recipe card lists the full recipe with quantities below this text. If tested substitutions are available for this recipe, they'll be listed here.
- fresh strawberries (buy the ripest you can find)
- freeze-dried strawberries (see more on these below)
- buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk, you could substitute thinned greek yogurt in equal quantities)
- light olive oil (I like to use this in all baking recipes in place of canola oil or vegetable oil since it's healthier but doesn't add any taste to the end result, but you can substitute it with any flavorless oil)
- vanilla + almond extract (the almond extract really boosts up the strawberry flavor so I don't recommend you skip it, but if need be, it can be omitted)
- all-purpose flour (and optionally you can add in almond flour for an extra punch of protein, see more of this below)
- baking powder + baking soda
- kosher salt
- coarse sugar (this is for sprinkling on top of the muffins before they are baked)
Optional Flours
Muffins are typically served with breakfast (at least in my house), and as a mom, I'm always thinking of ways to bulk up their first meal of the day with foods that will fuel them until the next meal. While this recipe calls for all-purpose flour, there is some room in the recipe to add in more nutrient-dense flours in place of some of the white flour (like in this Whole Wheat Banana Muffin or Greek Yogurt Wild Blueberry Muffin recipe).
Typically, I remove ½ cup (or 60 grams) of the all-purpose flour and replace it with ½ cup (50 grams) of almond flour. This adds additional protein and healthy fats.
You could also swap out up to 1 cup of all-purpose flour for 1 cup of whole wheat or spelt flour to add additional fiber!
Why Two Types of Strawberries are Used
The recipe calls for both freeze-dried strawberries and fresh strawberries (similar to this Strawberry Oatmeal and Strawberry Granola recipes). Using both fresh and frozen strawberries is essential.
Freeze-dried fruit is amazing because it adds flavor without adding moisture to a recipe. This is key in these strawberry muffins, as it allows for the maximum strawberry flavor without making the muffins too soggy.
I'm assuming that you'll be using ripe, juicy, and flavorful strawberries, which will have the most delicious impact. But if you aren't (because sometimes we get an off bunch), the flavor from the freeze-dried strawberries will ensure that you still get a delicious strawberry flavor in the muffins.
Where to Buy Freeze-Dried Strawberries
Never bought freeze-dried strawberries before?
Freeze-dried strawberries can be commonly found in most grocery stores. They are typically found near other dried fruit or nuts. I buy mine from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.
You can also buy freeze-dried strawberries online.
Step-By-Step Recipe Overview
This is a quick visual overview of the steps needed to make this recipe. If you are looking for the full recipe, keep scrolling!
Many quick bread and muffin recipes can easily be made using only one bowl. The trick is to add the dry ingredients that need to be evenly distributed (we are talking about the baking soda and baking powder) in with the wet ingredients, and then, after they are all mixed thoroughly together, add in the flour.
As always, once you add your flour to the wet ingredients, do not overmix it. Overmixing will result in gluten build-up, resulting in a tough muffin. For this recipe, I don't fully mix the flour together before adding the strawberries to ensure a tender crumb.
Step 1: Whisk together all the wet ingredients, the salt, and the leaveners.
Step 2: Add the flour and freeze-dried strawberries.
Step 3: Begin to fold the dry ingredients into the wet.
Step 4: Just before you are finished folding in the flour, toss in the fresh strawberries and mix together until just combined.
Step 5: Scoop into the muffin tin (see note below about baking up big and tall muffins) and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
Step 6: Bake for about 18 minutes, or until fully cooked.
Tips for Making Big, Tall Strawberry Muffins
We are all after super tall fluffy muffins like the ones we see in a bakery, right?
Well, for years, I've been trying to develop a recipe that does this, but it never came out quite as tall as I wanted, no matter what type of muffin I was trying to make. I had heard that some bakeries space out their muffins when they bake, which I had never done in any of the bakeries I've worked at, so I was a bit skeptical. Then I saw my friend Sam, from Buttermilk by Sam do it with her muffins, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm so glad I did because it really does make a difference!
But, it's also an extra annoyance when it comes to baking to have to deal with two muffin tins. So I'll completely leave it up to you. If you want extra tall muffins, use two 12 cup muffins tins, and space out the muffins (see the photo above for a visual explanation)
But let's take it one more step further. For truly extra tall muffins, overfill the muffin tins, with a heaping ¼ cup of batter. Because if you want your muffins to be extra tall, they're going to need more batter! If you do this, you will only have enough batter for 11 muffins. I thought about reworking the recipe then to make extra super tall muffins and still make 12 automatically, but after already making this recipe a good 8 or 9 times, I decided not to mess with perfection and leave it at 11 if extra tall muffins are wanted.
Do you just want regular-sized breakfast portion muffins? Fill one 12-cup muffin tin with ¼ scoop of batter, and you'll be good to go. And this is what the recipe instructs, with a note about extra big + tall muffins.
Storing Strawberry Muffins
These muffins will keep well, covered in an airtight container, for 1-2 days at room temperature, depending on your home's temperature. As the days go on, they will become more moist.
They also freeze extremely well, which is the preferred storage method. Store in an airtight container or plastic bag in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, let it defrost at room temperature for a few hours.
Watch the Video
More Muffins + Quick Bread Recipes
- One Bowl Banana Bread
- Healthy Apple Oat Muffins
- From-Scratch Pistachio Muffins
- Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins
Making the recipe? Be sure to leave a comment with a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review on your experience! Have a question? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can!
PrintFull Recipe
Buttermilk Strawberry Muffins
- Prep Time: 00:10
- Cook Time: 00:18
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 11 or 12 muffins 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Bake
Description
Celebrate strawberry season with these Buttermilk Strawberry Muffins. Made in one bowl and quick to make, they are a welcome addition to the breakfast table.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup light olive oil (or other neutral oil)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2-¼ cups (270 grams) all-purpose flour (see note)
- ½ cup crushed freeze-dried strawberries (about ½ ounce bag)
- 1 cup (about 5 ounces) finely diced ripe strawberries
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and place parchment paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin (see note for extra big and tall muffins).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the eggs, buttermilk, olive oil, vanilla extract, and almond extract and whisk together until combined.
- Add in the flour and freeze-dried strawberries and fold it in until it’s almost mixed together.
- Add in the fresh strawberries and finish folding together until combined. Do not overmix.
- Scoop ¼ cup batter into each paper muffin liner.
- Sprinkle each muffin with about 2 teaspoons of coarse sugar.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the muffins are set and a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. If the muffin edges are browning unevenly, rotate the pan halfway through baking.
- Let cool slightly before serving.
Notes
Weighing your flour is the most accurate way to measure. If you aren’t going to weigh it, make sure to spoon it into the cup, and then level it off. If you scoop the flour out with the measuring cup and then level, it could change the outcome of the final product.
To add additional nutrition, you can sub in 1 cup whole wheat or spelt flour or ½ cup almond flour in place of the all-purpose flour.
To crush the freeze-dried strawberries, either crush them with your hands while they are still in the bag or roll them with a rolling pin. They shouldn't be a powder, just crumbled.
Want extra big and tall strawberry muffins? Check out the paragraph written above about scooping the muffins with extra batter and spacing them out on two muffin trays.
If you are using a muffin scooper, use a 2-ounce portion to get ¼ cup.
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