Classic Strawberry Muffins Recipe

What kind of muffins do you like best? While blueberry, chocolate chip, and banana nut might be among the most popular varieties, once you try these strawberry muffins, you might discover a new fruity favorite. As recipe developer Kate Shungu describes, "These strawberry muffins are tender, moist, and bursting with strawberry flavor."

The star ingredient in the muffins is the fresh strawberries, of course, and luckily these are available in supermarkets year-round thanks to the magic of modern refrigerated food transport. Other ingredients, however, do their part to make these muffins memorable. Shungu tells us, "I love how the lemon zest perfectly complements the sweet/tart strawberries," while she also notes that "The buttermilk in this recipe provides a tanginess that balances out the sweetness from the sugar and the berries." If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can always do as the Pioneer Woman does and make your own DIY version using plain milk and lemon juice. Plain milk mixed with distilled white vinegar works as a buttermilk substitute, too — in either case, simply combine a tablespoon of acid with a cup of milk and you're good to go.

We've already mentioned the strawberries, lemon zest, and buttermilk (DIY or otherwise), but what else do you need to make these muffins? Just a few fridge and pantry staples, that's all. Take the sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, and salt out of your cabinets, then check the refrigerator for eggs. Once you have all of these items assembled, get ready to bake.

The first step in making the muffins is to preheat the oven to 375 F. As it heats up, you can prepare the strawberries. Rinse them with cool water, pat them dry with a paper towel, then remove the stems and hulls. If you need to measure the berries, do so at this point. (You can skip this step if you bought a pint basket.) Once you have the required amount, chop them into pieces measuring about ½-inch in size.

Mix the sugar with the oil, buttermilk, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Fold in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) until you have a homogeneous mixture, then stir in the berries. Don't over-mix the batter, though, as it might make the muffins too dense.

If you're using a standard-sized muffin pan, line the cups with cupcake liners, then divide up the muffin batter between each cup. If you don't have any paper liners or are using a mini muffin pan or a jumbo-sized one that no liners will fit, that's okay. You can just grease the cups before adding the batter, as this will also allow the muffins to release from the pan in one piece.

Bake the muffins for 20 to 24 minutes. When they're done, they should be brown around the edges and you'll be able to stick a toothpick in the middle and have it come out clean. If you're using a non-standard-sized pan, though, be aware that the baking time may be different since small muffins will cook more quickly while larger ones will take longer. In this case, Shungu advises, "Test [the muffins] regularly with the toothpick test for doneness."

Shungu notes that you'll need to refrigerate any muffins you don't eat right away. The reason, she explains, is that "The moisture from the berries makes them prone to spoil quickly." You can always freeze the muffins, though, and then just thaw them out on an as-needed basis.