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These blackberry muffins are soft, buttery, and packed with juicy berries under a thick layer of streusel. Whip them up in one bowl and bake at 425°F for that tall, bakery-style top. If you already love my blueberry muffins, these use the same method with a cozier, seasonal flavor.
Muffins are my favorite thing to bake when people are coming over in the morning. If you want more, try my cranberry orange muffins, pistachio muffins, monkey bread muffins, and blueberry banana muffins. They’re all in my easy muffin recipes roundup.
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Pin ItWe used to pick blackberries with my grandmother, and she’d turn whatever we brought back into something warm and sweet by the afternoon. These muffins come from that. Blackberries bake down into jammy pockets you don’t get from any other berry, and the tartness is exactly why the streusel works on top.
What Makes These Blackberry Muffins Bakery-Style
- The 425°F bake. That blast of high heat right at the start gives you a fast rise and tall, domed tops instead of flat ones.
- Butter and oil together. Butter brings the flavor, oil keeps them soft for days.
- Cardamom and orange zest. Warm, citrusy, and it makes the blackberries taste more like themselves.
- Streusel on every single one. Buttery, crumbly, and worth the extra bowl.
Blackberry Muffin Ingredients
Flour. All-purpose is what I use. A 1:1 gluten-free baking flour works too.
Granulated sugar. Sweetens the batter and helps the tops brown.
Baking powder and salt. The lift and the balance. Check that your baking powder is fresh, because old baking powder is the number one reason muffins come out flat.
Eggs. Room temperature, so the batter mixes evenly.
Buttermilk. This is what makes them tender. The acidity keeps the crumb soft instead of tough.
Oil and butter. Both. Melted butter for flavor, a neutral oil like canola for moisture that lasts. It’s the same combination I use in my strawberry muffins.
Cardamom. Warm and a little floral. Cinnamon or nutmeg work if that’s what you have.
Orange zest. Brightens everything. Lemon zest is lovely here too.
Fresh blackberries. Wash them and pat them completely dry before they go in, because extra water on the berries will make the crumb gummy.
For the streusel: flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and melted butter. Four ingredients, one small bowl.
How to Make Blackberry Muffins
Preheat. Heat the oven to 425°F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
Whisk the dry ingredients. Flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix the wet ingredients. Eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, oil, vanilla, and orange zest in a second bowl.
Combine gently. Fold the wet into the dry with a spatula and stop as soon as the flour disappears. The batter should still look lumpy.
Add the blackberries. Fold them in just until they’re coated. A few strokes, no more.
Scoop and top. Fill each liner with ¼ cup of batter, then crumble the streusel evenly over the tops.
Bake. 12 to 14 minutes, until golden and set in the middle.
Eden’s Tips
Use room temperature eggs and buttermilk. Cold liquids seize up the melted butter and you’ll end up with a lumpy, uneven batter.
Halve your blackberries if they’re big. Grocery store berries can be enormous, and whole ones sink and leave soggy pockets. Cut in half, they spread through the batter and stay put.
Don’t overmix. Lumpy batter makes light muffins. Smooth batter makes dense ones. This is the same rule that makes my blueberry banana muffins work.
Use frozen berries straight from the freezer. Don’t thaw them. They’ll bleed a little more color into the batter and may need an extra minute or two in the oven, but the flavor is just as good.
Scoop with a cookie scoop or measuring cup. Even portions mean even baking, and they look so much prettier lined up in the tin.
Swap the berry. Raspberries, blueberries, or chopped strawberries all work in this exact batter.
How to Store Blackberry Muffins
Let them cool completely and uncovered first, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
To freeze, cool completely and seal in a freezer bag for up to 3 months.
Thaw at room temperature, or microwave straight from frozen for about 30 seconds. Warming it with a little butter is honestly the best way to eat a day-old muffin.
Blackberry Muffins FAQs
Yes, and you don’t need to thaw them. Fold them in frozen and add a minute or two to the bake time. They’ll tint the batter a little purple, which I think is pretty.
Usually the berries were too big or the batter was overmixed and went thin. Halve large berries and stop folding the moment the flour disappears. A thick, lumpy batter holds fruit in place.
Don’t overbake them. Start checking at 12 minutes and pull them when a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. The butter, oil, and buttermilk are already doing the work, so all you have to do is not leave them in too long.
You can mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately the night before and store the wet ones covered in the fridge. Combine, fold in the berries, and bake in the morning. They’re best the day they’re made, so I’d bake fresh over refrigerating finished batter.
Yes. Use a flax egg in place of each egg, swap the butter for vegan butter or coconut oil, and use a non-dairy milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice stirred in to replace the buttermilk.
More Muffin Recipes
If you make these blackberry muffins, please leave a 5-star rating and a comment below. It helps more than you know! And tag me @sugarandcharm so I can see your batch.
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Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup canola oil , or vegetable oil
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 2 cups fresh blackberries
Streusel Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tbsp granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tbsp melted butter , unsalted or salted will work
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a muffin tin with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, 1 cup granulated sugar, 2 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cardamom, and 1 tsp salt.
- In a second bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk, 4 tbsp melted butter, 1/4 cup oil, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 tbsp orange zest until combined.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold with a spatula just until the flour disappears. The batter should still be lumpy. Do not mix until smooth.
- Add 2 cups fresh blackberries and fold just until coated in batter.
- Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup of batter.
- In a small bowl, stir together 1 cup flour, 6 tbsp granulated sugar, 6 tbsp brown sugar, and 4 tbsp melted butter until crumbly. Crumble evenly over the tops of the muffins.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown and set in the center. Cool in the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
