Soft, fluffy, and loaded with fresh (or frozen) blueberries, these easy blueberry muffins with crumb topping are truly the best, and so easy to make. It’s that perfectly buttery, crunchy streusel topping that sets them apart from your typical blueberry muffin! This is my grandmother’s recipe and a family favorite. You’ll see why.
This is the blueberry muffins recipe I grew up on, straight from my Grandma Renelt’s recipe box. Thanks to buttermilk and just the right amount of oil, these muffins bake up beautifully moist with a delicate crumb, and bright bursts of fresh blueberries studded throughout. And, as if that wasn’t enough, there’s a crunchy, buttery, sugary crumb topping that totally clinches the win for blueberry muffins. I love them so much, I modeled my banana blueberry muffins after this recipe.
Why These Blueberry Muffins Belong on Your Breakfast Table
So many of you love this recipe. It’s one that I shared during my very first year of this blog, back in 2010. I thought these blueberry muffins deserved some extra love now that Grandma Renelt has passed away. She had such a strong, beautiful presence in our family, and we miss her dearly.
Friends and family have asked me for this recipe time and time again, and with very good reason. Once you try these, you’ll never need another blueberry muffin recipe!
What You Can Expect:
- A tried-and-true favorite for decades. These blueberry muffins are a cherished family recipe passed down with love, bringing generations of baking wisdom to every bite. They’re foolproof and always a hit.
- That sweet, buttery crumble topping. It’s not just there for looks! The streusel-style topping adds irresistible texture and flavor that sets these muffins apart.
- Simple ingredients. Every ingredient is a pantry staple, meaning that as long as you have blueberries on hand (fresh or frozen), you can whip up these moist blueberry muffins anytime!
- Freezer-friendly for easy mornings. Make a batch (or two!) and stash some away. They reheat like a dream for a quick breakfast or afternoon treat.
Ingredients You’ll Need
I love this recipe’s short ingredients list of pantry staples! Here’s a quick look at what you’ll need to make these blueberry crumble muffins, along with my notes. Don’t forget to scroll down to the recipe card for a printable list.
- Egg – Ideally at room temperature.
- Milk – Any dairy milk on hand will work.
- All-purpose flour – Measure the flour using a kitchen scale or the spoon-and-level method. Fluff, and then spoon the flour into your cup measure, and level off the top. Don’t scoop the flour right from the bag, or you’ll end up with too much.
- Sugar – Regular white sugar, but light brown sugar will also work.
- Baking powder – Helps these muffins rise and gives the perfect texture. If your baking powder has been sitting at the back of the pantry for months, consider buying fresh to ensure the muffins bake up fluffy.
- Cinnamon – Adds a little warmth to the overall flavor of the muffins, beautiful with the blueberries. Nutmeg or ginger also adds a subtle, spiced flavor.
- Blueberries – You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. If you’re using frozen, you don’t need to thaw them first.
CRUMB TOPPING
- Sugar – When baked with the flour and butter, the sugar adds a crunchy, sweet element to the tops of the muffins.
- Flour
- Unsalted butter – The butter should be at room temperature, not melted, for the perfect crunchy crumb texture.
Fresh vs. Frozen Blueberries
Even though these muffins are fantastic when made with fresh blueberries, this recipe works very well with frozen blueberries, too! Simply fold the frozen berries (do not thaw) into the muffin batter, just like you would the fresh berries.
After we pick blueberries each summer, we just have to make a batch of blueberry muffins. The fresh, sweet/tart goodness of the just-picked berries is undeniable. But I always make sure to pick enough blueberries to freeze, to ensure I have enough for a few batches of Grandma’s muffins over the upcoming months.
How to Make Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping
All you need to do is mix the batter ingredients, and then make the crumble and sprinkle it over the top of the batter. Bake, and you’re good to go! Here’s a closer look at the step-by-step recipe.
- Get ready to bake. Preheat your oven and line your muffin tin.
- Make the muffin batter. Next, combine the egg, milk, and oil. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients, and mix just until combined. Overmixing will cause the muffins to lose some of their tenderness.
- Add the blueberries. Fold in the blueberries. Then, spoon the batter into the muffin tin and let it rest while you prepare the topping. For plumper, fuller muffins, divide the batter between just 10 muffin cups (as shown in my photos). For smaller muffins, use all 12 cups.
- Make the crumb topping. Combine all ingredients with a fork until crumbly, with some larger pea-size pieces. Sprinkle the crumble over the muffin batter.
- Bake. Bake these muffins for about 20 minutes, until the crumb topping is golden.
Avoiding a Soggy Crumb
My biggest piece of advice for making crispy crumb topping for muffins is to use butter that is just nicely softened at room temperature. Do not melt the butter, and do not use overly soft butter. And then, with a fork, just keep pressing the dry ingredients into the butter until pea-sized pieces form. When sprinkling the crumb topping mixture over the muffin batter, use your fingers to compress some of it into larger pieces.
Serving and Storing Blueberry Muffins
With the sweet, crunchy topping, these muffins really don’t need anything else. However, a schmear of good-quality, salted butter is always welcome. For even more flavor, try my whipped blueberry butter or cinnamon honey butter!
These blueberry muffins are best eaten on the day they are made, when the crumb topping is crunchiest. If we don’t eat all the muffins on the first day, we leave them out on the counter, uncovered. This helps to keep the crumb topping crisp.
Can I Freeze These Muffins?
Yes! These muffins can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. You can either defrost them in the fridge or pop one in the microwave for a quick breakfast on the go. Just know that the crumble topping will not be as crisp as when they are just baked.
More Muffin Recipes to try
Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping
Ingredients
for the muffins:
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1½ cup blueberries fresh or frozen (if frozen, do not thaw)
for the crumb topping:
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Spray standard muffin tin with non-stick spray, or use baking cup liners, and set aside.
For the blueberry muffins:
- In a small bowl, mix the egg, milk, and oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir. Do not over mix.
- Fold in blueberries. Batter will be very thick. Spoon into muffin tin and let rest a few minutes while you prepare the crumble topping. For plumper, fuller muffins, divide batter between just 10 of the muffin cups (as shown in my photos). For smaller muffins, use all 12 cups.
For the crumb topping:
- In a small bowl, combine all topping ingredients with a fork until crumbly. Be sure to have some larger pea-size pieces of crumble. Sprinkle over muffin batter.
- Bake until crumb topping is a bit golden and a toothpick comes out just barely clean, about 20 minutes. Let rest in pan for about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool.
Video
Notes
- Muffins are best eaten on the day they are made, when the crumb topping is crunchiest. If we don’t eat all the muffins on the first day, we leave them out on the counter, uncovered. This will help to keep the crumb topping crisp.
- From Grandma Renelt’s recipe box.
Nutrition Information:
A few memories from the past…
My grandma was an incredibly special woman to me. She always worked hard and played even harder – she was a force to reckon with when it came to games of cards, dice, and marbles! And I’m positive that much of my domestic ways were passed directly from her, to my mom, to me. I am grateful for all the recipes Grandma passed along to our family, including the one for these blueberry muffins.
This post was originally published in 2010, and then updated in 2016, 2018 and 2021.
I made them with regular milk and they were a grand success! I was so happy with the way they turned out I had to bake another batch to share with some lovely people at work! Thank you :)
These look absolutely delicious! I’d love to try your lovely Grandma’s recipe. Do you think substituting almond milk for the milk would work?
I have never tried almond milk, but definitely think it’s worth experimenting with.
Your Grandmother’s blueberry muffin recipe you have shared… is positively SCRUMPTIOUS!!! My mother made blueberry muffins almost identical to these when us kids were growing up. This recipe brought back sweet memories as I devoured my indulgent blueberry muffin!! Thank you for sharing a part of who you are and this superb recipe to go along with it! God bless :-)
Thank you so much for coming back to comment, Kristy. I’m happy to know you are enjoying this recipe!
These muffins are the best! I found this recipe a while back when I was trying to figure out how to make blueberry muffins like the ones they sell at Starbucks with the crumbly topping. I wanted to make them myself from scratch and tried your recipe. I’ve since made them several times and everyone always loves them. My boyfriend spontaneously raves about them from time to time and has requested that I make them again this weekend! Can’t wait. They’ll be devoured in no time at all! Great recipe! Thank you!
Hi Brenda!
I made these a couple days ago and they were AMAZING!
However, I filled the muffin tins until full, which meant I only got 9 muffins instead of 12. Also, I made half with the crumble on top, and half with just sugar sprinkled over, just because I felt like it. I’ve gotta say, the crumble ones were definitely a hit with my boyfriend. Thank you for the recipe, and thank you to your Grandma Renelt for coming up with this recipe!
To get 12 muffins, they are a bit smaller. So when I’m in the mood for bigger fuller muffins, I usually make 9 or 10, just like you did. I’m so glad you liked this recipe – thanks for coming back to let me know! :)
I made these tonight. They are simply AMAZING! Thank you so much for posting this recipe…our lives will never be the same!
I never met my grandmothers so I truly appreciate you sharing yours through her wonderful recipe. I have made them twice. The first, using standard size muffin tins, and they vanished! So I just took 3 dozen mini size muffins from the oven. I lowered the temp to 375 for these little guys. They are just as wonderful and now I can share some with co-workers before they vanish again!
Just made these with blueberries from the farmers market . I did use more berries, way more cinnamon in the batter and brown sugar and cinnamon in the crumble!
I made these this morning and they were delicious (they quickly vanished in our house)! Used frozen blueberries and did not thaw as you noted. Thank you for sharing this recipe! It will become a family favorite for sure!
Awesome. Thanks for letting me know. Enjoy!!
This recipe is wonderful!! I made these last night and they were the best blueberry muffins I have ever made! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I made these tonight and I have to say, they are pretty amazing. I have been trying hard to find a blueberry muffin that comes close to Starbucks, I do not know why but I am so in love with those. These are very tender and the closest I have found. I did do 2 things different, I used vanilla sugar, I keep it going with vanilla beans for baking. I also added about 2 tbls of sour cream, not enough to do anything else with and needed to be used. I had it and it goes well with blueberries. Thanks for sharing this one. By far my favorite homemade one :)
I had these muffins savec onto my “to bake” list for a while now, and this morning I finally got a chance to make them. They were so delicous! I did alter them slightly, but only in taking out the blueberries and increasing the cinnamon and adding a dash of nutmeg. The muffins turned out so soft and the crumb topping was really amazing.
These are begging me to try them with some of this delicious rhubarb staring at me. I think I’ll coat the rhubarb pieces in sugar before I add them. I mean really, how can more sugar be a bad thing?? :)
I think these would be really good with rhubarb. Please let me know how it goes!
They are DELICIOUS! I put the rhubarb in a 2 cup measure, and poured enough sugar over the rhubarb, so I could roll it around and give it a coating. Folded it into the batter like you do the blueberries, then when I took them out of the oven, I sprinkled the tops with the large grain sugar for a little extra sweetness. Soooo good! Thanks for the recipe!
Mmmmm…you’re making me hungry! I need to try this now!! Thanks for letting me know. :)
Can I just say what a relief to seek out someone who truly knows what theyre speaking about on the internet. You definitely know how one can bring a problem to gentle and make it important. More individuals need to learn this and perceive this facet of the story. I cant imagine youre no more standard since you positively have the gift.
Hi there…..I made these today and my boys just loved them.
They are really, really yummy. Thanks so much for the wonderful photos, stories and recipes. Joy…in Australia. :):)
Thank you so much for letting me know, Joy! Great to meet you!
Made these yesterday, they were great and my husband said that they were the best he had ever eaten.
That’s so great to hear!! Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it.
Your Grandma is my Great Aunt – sweet, wonderful lady. I love the photos with the cowboy. I can hardly wait to make the recipe and look forward to more of Veoma’s recipes. Great blog!
Hi Karyl! It’s so fun to hear from people, thanks for commenting. And enjoy the muffins!
I made them for dinner today. Delicious!! Kudos to you and Grandma Veoma!
I really enjoy your website.
Hi Patsy! Ohhhh, YAY! Thanks for letting me know. See you this weekend!
I LOVE your creativity! You look like her, you laugh like her and now …. you even bake like her!!! Yes, those midwestern farm women are hard to compete with! I can’t wait to try these when I get home. My boys will love em’.
Hey Beck! Now I’m having memories of your mom, in her farm kitchen. She had THE GREATEST laugh. Enjoy the muffins!
Absolutely fantastic!
No need in changing anything. It is a perfectt & delicious recipe, which i will use regularly.
I’m just so happy i found it. Made them tonight. I tripled the recipe, and made mega muffins, with mega amounts of crumble.
They are beautiful.
Thank you so much for the share!
Big fan now.
I agree. These are the best! Loved the photos of Grandma and your girls. I had NOT realized the cowboys were the same.
Mom – those pictures are fun – I’m sure there must be one of Cheryl, Jessica, and me with The Cowboy, too. Somewhere…