A simple discard recipe for sourdough blueberry muffins, with a sweet streusel topping and plenty of blueberries. Made in one bowl, these can easily be made dairy free.
We have one sourdough discard muffin recipe already in the books – our sourdough morning glory muffins – but these one-bowl blueberry coffee cake muffins are sweeter, more delicate, and perfect for afternoon tea or coffee.
It’s blueberry season right now, but these can be made with either fresh or frozen blueberries, so they can be enjoyed year round. So if you have too much extra sourdough starter lying around, put your discard to use in some muffins!
Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the printable recipe card with full ingredient measurements and complete instructions.
Ingredients
- Milk (or non-dairy milk)
- Sourdough starter discard
- Sunflower or other vegetable oil (see substitutions)
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Baking powder
- Cinnamon
- Sea salt
- Fresh or frozen blueberries
- Butter or coconut oil (for streusel)
Method
Start by making the streusel topping. Place the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter (or coconut oil/milk) into a medium bowl and use your hands to mix. It should be crumbly, with some larger pieces, when it’s ready. Set aside.
Preheat the oven and line (or grease) a 12-cup muffin tin.
Whisk the milk, discard, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a large bowl. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and mix until just combined. There shouldn’t be any streaks of flour visible, but try not to over mix.
Add the blueberries to the muffin batter and carefully fold them in with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Spoon the batter evenly into each muffin cup, then top with the streusel topping. It might seem like a lot, but as the muffins rise you want enough streusel for each one!
Bake the muffins for about 22 minutes. Do the toothpick test to make sure they’re done before taking them out of the oven, then let them rest in the muffin tin for a few minutes before cooling fully on a rack.
Tips and Notes
If using frozen berries, use them directly from the freezer to reduce the purple colour leaching into the muffin batter too much. This batter is thick enough that the berries won’t sink to the bottom, so there’s no need to coat in flour beforehand.
The muffins are on the sweet side with the addition of streusel, so if you prefer a less-sweet muffin, you may want to leave the topping off. Or, if making the streusel seems like a bit much, you can also sprinkle the tops of each muffin with a little sugar instead.
We prefer using muffin liners for fruit muffins because added fruit can sometimes burn when it’s in direct contact with the muffin tin.
Substitutions
As mentioned above, both fresh and frozen berries work well. We recommend wild blueberries for their small size (more blueberries in each bite) but it doesn’t matter. Raspberries and blackberries also work well.
Sunflower oil is great here for its neutral taste, but avocado oil, organic canola oil, and grape seed can all be used instead. Melted butter will likely be fine but we haven’t tested these with it.
The recipe card provides instructions for making the streusel dairy free, and the muffins can be made with dairy-free milk (like oat or almond) if you prefer. Don’t like cinnamon? We recommend using half the amount cardamom instead.
If you want a slightly more wholesome muffin, whole wheat pastry flour can be used instead of all-purpose.
More Sourdough Discard Recipes
Sourdough Crêpes
Sourdough Biscuits
One Bowl Sourdough Banana Bread
Sourdough Waffles
Sourdough Crumpets
If you make this recipe, let us know by tagging @baked_theblog + #bakedtheblog on Instagram! We love to feel like we’re in the kitchen with you.
Recipe
Sourdough Blueberry Muffins with Cinnamon Streusel
Description
Equipment
- 12-cup muffin tin
- muffin cups
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Wooden spoon
- Measuring cups and spoons or a digital kitchen scale
Ingredients
Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ cup sunflower oil
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup wild blueberries, fresh or frozen
Cinnamon Streusel
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅓ cup butter
Instructions
- Start by making the streusel. Mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, then add the butter. Use your hands to mix until a crumbly mixture forms, then set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line or grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk the milk, oil, discard, eggs, and vanilla until fully combined and slightly frothy.
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to mix until no streaks of flour remain in the bowl.
- Add the blueberries to the muffin batter and carefully fold them in to incorporate throughout.
- Spoon an equal amount of batter into each muffin cup, then cover each with the streusel topping.
- Bake the muffins for 22-24 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
- Cool the muffins in the tin for five minutes before removing and cooling fully on a rack. The muffins will keep for a couple of days at room temperature, but are best on the day they’re baked.
Ruth Setacci says
I did not see the temperature you are supposed to bake the muffins at. Did I miss it??
Thanks, Ruth Setacci
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Ruth, were you looking at the recipe card at the bottom of the post or the ingredient/method run through in the post body? Please be sure to look at the card for the correct amounts of each ingredient, and the baking temperature in step two (350F/180C) to make sure the muffins turn out well. Hope that helps!
Daphne says
This was the first time we tried a sourdough discard recipe. They turned out amazing! We added fresh cranberries instead of blueberries because we like it a bit less sweet, and used 80% spelt flour. We had to fill the muffin pan to the brim, next time we’ll make 14 muffins instead of 12. They are super tasty and amazing for breakfast!
Alexandra Daum says
I’m so happy you liked them, thanks Daphne!
Tsippi says
First time that I used my discard for something other than bread. And when I say “tastes like a regular homemade blueberry muffin” I’m not kidding. This recipe is definitely a keeper and worth being doggy eared. I used 70%wheat as that’s what I had in hand and it came out just like the pics!!
Thank you Alexandra!!
Alexandra Daum says
That’s lovely to hear, thank you so much!
Susan says
I just started my sourdough journey and was looking for recipes to bake bliueberry muffins with the discard. These taste really great and chewy! Delicious!
As I has some leftover filling from making cinnamon rolls, I used them (added coconut oil) instead of a crumble with flour. Was sweet but thankfully went delightfully well with the moderately sweetened muffins. Yummy:)
I actually replaced a couple of tbsp of AP flour with cornflour for lightness.
Thank you!
Jann says
Another great muffin recipe but less hefty than the morning glory muffins. Could I use buttermilk for the milk in this recipe? I combined some vanilla sugar with Demerara sugar for the top instead of streusel for a nice crunch. I used coconut oil instead of sunflower.
Also I downloaded recipe to paprika app and oven temp did not show up.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Jann, I think buttermilk could be used with no changes. We aren’t affiliated in any way with the paprika app, as they are essentially stealing recipes from sites like this one, and have no control over issues on their end.