Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins, bakery style
These soft and airy Bakery Style Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins have a ton of big fat blueberries in them, the perfect amount of lemon zest and flavor, and a sweet and crumbly streusel topping to bring it all together! The best is having them still warm from the oven with a little butter—SO GOOD.
Reasons Why You may like this Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins Recipe
- Straightforward to mix
- They're loaded with plump blueberries
- Tangy and sweet
- So soft and tender
- Sprinkled with a sweet and crumbly streusel topping
- Easily adaptable from using fresh blueberries to frozen, unthawed blueberries—you can also use fresh or frozen, unthawed raspberries!
- The perfect amount of lemon flavor
- Can be made using buttermilk substitutes
- Genuinely flavorful
If you love having nice warm, airy muffins for breakfast, brunch, or any time of the day—this easy lemon blueberry muffin recipe needs to be the next treat you bake!
What goes in
To make these lemon blueberry streusel muffins, you'll need the following ingredients:
Streusel Topping
- All-Purpose Flour
- Granulated Sugar
- Cinnamon
- Unsalted Butter
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Eggs – room temperature
- Granulated Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Lemon Zest
- Lemon Juice
- Whole Milk or Buttermilk
- Vanilla Extract
- Blueberries
Substitutions
Lemon Juice. You can use fresh lemon juice or a bottle. If you use bottled lemon juice, you can omit the lemon zest.
Whole Milk. In place of whole milk, you can use buttermilk or plain yogurt.
Fresh blueberries. You can use frozen blueberries instead of fresh blueberries. Do not thaw them before adding them to the muffin batter!
Buttermilk Alternatives
If you would like to use buttermilk instead of whole milk, here are a few alternatives you can try.
Saco Pantry's Cultured Buttermilk Blend. This is a powdered buttermilk that you add water to. It can usually be found in the baking aisle with powdered milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. After opening the container, it needs to be kept in the refrigerator.
House-made Buttermilk. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice to a 1 cup measuring cup. Then fill the remaining cup with whole milk. Stir, then let it sit for 5 minutes before you add it to the batter.
If you don't have lemon juice, you can use the same amount of white vinegar instead.
How it comes together
You can choose to use your hand mixer or stand mixer to make any of these steps, but honestly, the easiest way to go here is by simply using some mixing bowls. You will also need a whisk or two, a spatula, a cookie scoop, a 12-cavity muffin tin, and some muffin liners.
Make the streusel topping. First, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Add in the melted butter, then stir together until you have small streusel crumbles. Having a few big crumbles is totally fine too.
Whisk the dry ingredients together. Use either a medium- or large-size mixing bowl to whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. I know it's tempting to skip this step, but it helps to evenly distribute all of the ingredients.
Mix the wet ingredients together. For this step, you will need the eggs, granulated sugar, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, buttermilk, and vanilla extract. I whisk together the first five ingredients, then I add in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. You can use either whole milk or buttermilk. See the quick tips section below for additional buttermilk substitutions.
Add the whisked dry ingredients to the wet. Use a spatula for this step instead of a whisk, and gradually add in the dry ingredients.
Fold in the blueberries. Before adding the blueberries to the batter, you can coat them with 1-2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour (use a Ziploc bag). This will help keep them from sinking to the bottom while baking. This is an optional step though that I myself don't always do when making this method.
One Sovuh reader mentioned that she did this, so I thought it was important to add it as an option.
Regardless of whether you coat them or not, use a spatula to fold them gently into the batter. Do not use a whisk or a mixer.
Scoop, then bake. I used my two tablespoons size cookie scoop to evenly distribute the batter into each muffin liner. Using these tulip cupcakes/muffin liners yielded 12 muffins. If you use a standard-size muffin liner, you will yield more.
Top with extra blueberries, then sprinkle the tops with the streusel topping.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400ºF or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When done, remove them from the oven and let them cool in the muffin tin for 5 minutes before removing them.
Equally good when cooled completely — that is what these are truly good served warm with a little butter but are.
Tools
Below is the equipment Try when making these lemon blueberry streusel muffins!
- Lemon Grater
- Citrus Juicer
- OXO Stainless Steel Food Scale
- White Tulip Baking Liners (for standard-size muffins and cupcakes)
- 2 Tablespoon Stainless SteelCookie Scoop (or you can use this 3.4 tablespoon size cookie scoop)
- 12-cup Muffin Tin
- Half-size Stainless Steel Cooling Rack
- Zassenhaus Magnetic Retro Kitchen Timer
For all of my top recommended baking tools, equipment, baking pans, ingredients, and more, visit and follow Sovuh Favorite Finds on Amazon!
Baker notes
- You will yield more than the 12 noted in the method for standard liners.
- If you are not using liners, generously spray each muffin tin cavity with a flour-based baking spray.
- Fold the blueberries into the batter at the end, but be careful not to over mix.
- To give your bakery style lemon blueberry streusel muffins some height (a.k.a. “muffin top”), fill them to the top of the muffin tin. Only do this if using the tulip-style muffin liners.
- If using standard-size liners, fill them 2/3 full.
Lemon Blueberry Muffin FAQs
What kind of liners did you use with the lemon blueberry streusel muffins?I used tulip style cupcake/muffinliners from Katgely.
Can Use standard cupcake liners instead?Yes, genuinely. You will likely yield more muffins because they won't hold as much batter. If using standard-size liners, fill them 2/3 full.
Can frozen blueberries be used in place of fresh?Yes. Use frozen blueberries straight from the freezer. Do not defrost them before adding to the batter.
Are there any substitutions for the flour, butter, or eggs?No, not at this time.
- Yield 12 muffins
- Prep 25 minutes
- Cook 20 minutes
- Total 45 minutes
- Calories 320
Ingredients
Streusel Topping
- 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter, melted
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- 2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2 Large Eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp Grated Lemon Zest
- 3 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 cup Buttermilk or Whole Milk
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 cups Fresh Blueberries, rinsed and dried (plus some extra for topping)
Tools
- 12 Cavity Muffin Tin
- Standard Muffin or Cupcake Liners
- Fine Grater
- Stand Mixer, or Hand Mixer
- Mixing Bowls
- Spatulas
- Whisks
Method
Streusel Topping
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and cinnamon.
- Add in melted butter and mix until small crumbles form. Big crumbles are cool too. Hold to the side.
Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Adjust the oven rack to the 2nd level mark, just above center, and heat the oven to 400ºF. Line a standard size muffin tin with tulip liners. If you're using standard size liners you will yield more muffins. If not using any liners, generously spray the muffin tin cavities well with a flour-based baking spray.
- In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Hold to the side.
- In a separate medium-size mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, melted butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Then add in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
- Using a spatula, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture stirring until just combined. Gently fold in the blueberries. Optional step: coat the blueberries in flour before adding them to the batter. This can prevent blueberries from sinking to the bottom during baking.
- Using a 3 tablespoon-size cookie scoop or two spoons, evenly divide the batter into the muffin liners, filling them to the top. Do this only if you are using the tulip liners. If using standard size liners, fill them 2/3 full. Top with any extra blueberries (optional) and streusel.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes at 400ºF or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. When done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the tin.
- Muffins are best served still warm with a little butter, but are equally just as good completely cooled.
Baker notes
For standard liners, you will yield more than the 12 noted in the method.
If you are not using liners, generously spray each muffin tin cavity with a flour-based baking spray.
Fold the blueberries into the batter at the end, but be careful not to overmix.
To give your bakery-style lemon blueberry streusel muffins some height (a.k.a. "muffin top"), fill them all the way to the top of the muffin tin. Only do this if using the tulip-style muffin liners. If using standard-size liners, fill them 2/3 full.
For more lemon flavor, increase the lemon zest flavor to 1 teaspoon and rub the zest into the granulated sugar before mixing with the remaining wet ingredients in step 3.
