Have you ever eaten a shop bought blueberry muffin and felt a little…underwhelmed? They can look so appealing, but all too often they are dry, lacking in flavour and you end up playing hunt the blueberry.
These soft and fluffy blueberry orange muffins are a world away from shop bought – they are absolutely crammed full of jammy blueberries and orange zest!
blueberry orange muffin recipe
I’ve made lots of blueberry muffin recipes in my time, and this is the one I go back to time and time again.
Make a batch of these beauties, pop a few in the freezer and you’ll never be tempted to buy supermarket muffins again. There is just no comparison.
The orange zest and juice really lifts the flavours and somehow enhances the flavour of the blueberries. They are absolutely delicious for a weekend breakfast with coffee or an on the go snack whenever you’re in need of an energy boost.
If you love orange bakes, you’ll also love these recipes for orange cranberry loaf cake and chocolate chip orange drizzle cake!
ingredient list
You’ll find the ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post!
- plain (all purpose) flour and a pinch of fine salt.
- baking powder and bicarbonate of soda to help the muffins rise.
- one large orange. I use both the orange zest and juice in these muffins.
- melted butter.
- granulated sugar. I tend to use this rather than caster sugar in muffin recipes. Why? Well, to be perfectly honest, I’ve never noticed a huge difference. While some bakes are undeniably better with caster sugar, in my opinion muffins aren’t one of them. Granulated does the job perfectly well.
- two large eggs.
- vanilla extract
- buttermilk. If you don’t have any buttermilk, then you can make your own by stirring together 120ml semi skimmed milk and 60ml plain runny yoghurt.
- Blueberries – fresh or frozen, undefrosted
- Demerara sugar for a crunchy top, optional
step by step method
Step one – place the sugar and grated orange zest in a bowl. Rub the orange zest into the sugar until the sugar is damp and fragrant. This locks the flavour of the zest into the sugar, so it’s really worth taking an extra minute to do this.
Step two – melt the butter in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Step three – Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt to the sugar. I always stir the blueberries in at this stage too – it’s very easy to overmix the batter if you add them last.
- Step four – squeeze the orange juice into a measuring jug and add enough buttermilk to make 240ml of liquid. Give it a quick stir then add the eggs, melted butter and vanilla extract. Stir to combine.
- Step five – Stir the flour into the bowl of wet ingredients (as you can see from the photos below I had to switch bowls after realising I needed a larger one – rookie error) and using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir lightly to combine. You don’t need to beat the batter – just a light stir is all that’s required.
Step six – Stop mixing as soon as you have a blueberry batter – and please don’t even think about beating out those lumps! Step away from the bowl.
Step seven – Sppon the batter into a lined muffin tin lined with paper cases. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with a little demerara sugar, if you wish. I like a large muffin, so I fill the cases almost to the top. Bake at 200C/180Fan for 20-22 minutes or until the muffins are golden, risen and smell gorgeous.
serving blueberry muffins
These muffins are at their very best served warm with a little butter and if you have a real sweet tooth, drizzled with honey.
how long will blueberry muffins keep for?
Like all muffins, they are best eaten on the day of baking, but as I mentioned they do freeze beautifully for up to two months.
I can also recommend this – a day or two after baking, cut them in half, pop them under a hot grill for a few minutes, then spread with butter and some jam if you like. In fact, I highly recommend you do this!
can i make muffins with frozen blueberries?
Yes, you can use frozen blueberries to make these muffins. There is no need to defrost them – just use them straight from the freezer.
Troubleshooting
My blueberry muffins Aren’t fluffy
if your freshly baked muffins are hard and tough instead of super soft and fluffy, then it means the batter was overmixed.
The ingredients only need lightly stirring together with a spoon or rubber spatula. Stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are incorporated.
Lumps are good! Don’t try and beat them out – that will develop gluten and guarantee a tough, dense muffin.
want to see more easy muffin recipes?
Blueberry Orange Muffins
Blueberry orange muffins - soft, Fluffy Buttermilk Muffins Full of Juicy Blueberries and Zesty Orange Flavour!
Ingredients
- finely grated zest and juice of one large orange
- 80g (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) caster sugar
- Roughly 180ml (3/4 cup) buttermilk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 115g (4oz) butter, melted and cooled
- 260g (1 cup+ 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons) plain flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 225g blueberries, fresh or frozen (unthawed)
- 1 tablespoon demerara sugar, for the topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/400F. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases.
- Pour the orange juice into a large measuring jug and pour in enough buttermilk to make 240ml (one American cup measurement). Stir in the eggs, vanilla extract and melted butter.
- In another large bowl, rub the orange zest into the sugar until the sugar is damp and fragrant. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Stir in the blueberries. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and working quickly but gently, stir together to combine. Don’t worry about lumps – they are desirable here! A lumpy batter makes light muffins.
- Spoon the mixture into your muffin tins, filling them no more than 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with granulated sugar if you like and bake for 20-22 minutes or until golden, risen and they spring back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 227Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 52mgSodium: 292mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 14gProtein: 4g
Calories and nutritional information are provided by a third party application and should be viewed as indicative figures only.
These look scrummy!
Thanks Kat!
These look perfect!! ?? thank you for sharing ?
No problem at all – thank you! ?
the bursts of blueberry fruit make these so pretty and tempting to look at and to eat. I love the flavours you have combined too. yummy. thanks for linking to #Bakeoftheweek xx
I love blueberry muffins, they are definitely my favourite and these look so light and fluffy.
Thank you so much Jenny ? I absolutely love orange with blueberries – it’s such a nice combination xx
Thank you Cat, I love blueberry muffins too ?
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Shop bought are always underwhelming! I can almost taste the tang from yours. Thanks for joining in with #BakeoftheWeek
That’s so true Helen! Thank you ?