Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins

Why This is the Best Recipe

• Perfectly Moist & Tender: The combination of sourdough discard and Greek yogurt gives these muffins a delicious light texture.
• Golden Brown Muffin Tops: Just the right amount of sugar highlights the tart blueberries and makes muffins that bake up with the most delicious golden brown top ever.
• No Waste Baking: This recipe is a great way to repurpose sourdough discard instead of throwing it away!

Ingredients

These simple, pantry-friendly ingredients come together for bakery-style muffins at home:

• Sourdough Discard: You can use inactive sourdough discard that has been stored in your fridge for up to two weeks or you can use it fresh after you've done a sourdough starter feeding. Room temperature or chilled, you can use it either way.
• Greek Yogurt: I used 5% fat plain Greek yogurt, you could also use sour cream.
• Butter: I used salted butter, if you use unsalted you'll want to add 1/2 teaspoon of table salt to the recipe.
• Fresh Blueberries: Frozen blueberries could work in this recipe but are likely to turn your muffins purple from the extra juices that run with them.
• All-Purpose Flour
• Sugar
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Egg
• Vanilla

Prep the Muffin Batter

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set it aside.

Weigh the sourdough discard in a separate mixing bowl. Add the Greek yogurt or sour cream and melted butter to it. Mix them together. This cools down the melted butter so that when you next add the egg, it won't begin to scramble from the heat of the butter.

Add the egg and vanilla, stir them in until well combined.

Now that you have one bowl of wet ingredients and one bowl of dry ingredients, it is time to fold them together. Scrape the sourdough mixture into the dry flour bowl and gently stir it together.

The final muffin batter will be very thick. Do not overmix it, stop as soon as there is almost no dry pockets of flour left.

Why Blueberry Muffins Turn Purple

See how thick that muffin batter is? Blueberries are a very delicate and juicy fruit. If you try to stir fresh or frozen blueberries into that thick batter, the juices will turn your muffins purple.

The muffins will still taste absolutely delicious but if you want picture-perfect muffins that look pretty on your breakfast platter, the most important trick from this recipe is to layer the blueberries into the muffin tin, do not try to stir them into the thick batter where they will simply break apart.

How to Layer the Blueberries

Place a cupcake liner into each well of a 12-well muffin tin.

Use a small table spoon to scoop about 1 tablespoon of batter and drop it into each well.

Press 4 - 5 blueberries into the batter dollops. The batter is so thick and sticky, you can use the berries to push it into the corners of the well.

Drop another spoonful of batter on top, layer more blueberries. Repeat once again until you have used up all the batter.

You'll want to be sure to reserve some blueberries for pressing into the tops so everything is nudged into place.

This step takes just a few minutes but makes an enormous difference in the appearance of the final muffins.

Top the Muffins

You have a few options for finishing off your muffin tops.

1. Regular Sugar: Sprinkle a pinch of regular sugar over the top of each muffin.
2. Sparkling Sugar: Use a thicker, coarser sparkling sugar for a dazzling sugary top. This was my choice.
3. Streusel Muffins: Make my easy make-ahead streusel topping. You'll probably want to use jumbo-muffin tins for this to have enough room.
4. Melted Butter: You could brush just a little more melted butter over the tops of the muffins to help them brown.
5. Plain: Don't top them with anything and enjoy them as-is.

Baking Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Bake the muffins for 20 - 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.

Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes in the pan before you try to remove them. This helps ensure the crispy muffin tops do not separate from the muffin base.

TOP TIP: If your tops bake together like mine almost did, use a non-stick spatula to gently "cut" lines between each muffin top while they are still hot. They will cool and firm up and be easy to lift from the pan without sticking to their neighbors.

Make Ahead & Storage Tips

Storage: Keep muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for a week.

Freezing: Freeze the muffins in a single layer for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or warm in the microwave.

Reheating: For a fresh-baked texture, warm the muffins in the oven at 300°F for 5-7 minutes.

Variations

Once you've used sourdough discard to make these delicious muffins, you'll want to try the method on more flavors:

• Lemon Blueberry: Add lemon zest to the batter for a bright citrus flavor.
• Cinnamon Spice: Mix in 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon for a warm, cozy taste.
• Raspberry Muffins (Or Other Fruits): You can use the same technique of layering batter and fruit with fresh raspberries, blackberries, or chopped strawberries.
• Chocolate Chip Muffins: Swap the blueberries for mini chocolate chips.

Serving Suggestions

My family enjoyed these as a special weekend breakfast treat. They quickly became my all-time favorite muffin because they were so easy to bake and I love the texture!

These would make an excellent potluck party treat to bring for a brunch party or a snack. I could definitely see serving them for Easter brunch or a Mother's Day brunch.

To make them extra fancy for a tea party, serve them alongside a dollop of lemon curd or my mock clotted cream.

I loved these muffins so much, I would happily eat one for dessert like a blueberry cupcake. You could top it with a cream cheese drizzle or serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of my blueberry preserves for a blueberry muffin sundae.

Make-Ahead Lemon Curd

Mock Clotted Cream

Blueberry Preserves

Make Ahead Cream Cheese Drizzle

More Easy Muffins and Quick Breads

Looking for more breakfast pastries to serve for brunch? Here are a few of my favorites:

Cranberry Orange Muffins with Streusel Topping

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Pineapple Zucchini Bread

More Sourdough Discard Recipes

If you're just getting started with sourdough, you'll definitely want to check out some of my favorite sourdough discard recipes:

Getting Started with Your New Sourdough Starter

Sourdough Discard Crackers

Sourdough Discard Waffles

Sourdough Discard Brownies