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This is an easy recipe for Bakery Style Mixed Berry Muffins. These muffins are moist, fluffy & have huge tops. It's easy to add your favorite frozen mixed berries to this basic muffin batter. I love that these are not overly sweet or greasy. 
*this post was updated on 5/5/20. The recipe is the same*
I couldn't start this post without admitting that I am a muffin addict. I could eat muffins all day every day. I usually gravitate to blueberry & corn but have never turned down a muffin of any kind. I do have a terrible muffin secret though.
The truth is...I'm really only in it for the muffin tops (cue the episode of Seinfeld).
I don’t know what it is about them…the muffin is just way better up there, don't you agree? Okay, so I totally still also eat the stumps, don't worry. When it comes to baked goods, trust me, nothing goes to waste!
Ripping the top off of a muffin is just totally satisfying. A great reason to bake up a dozen for yourself, no one can judge you for eating all the tops if you wanted to.
ANYWAY.
I LOVE this recipe. It is quick and easy to make and you only need a small handful of standard baking ingredients. Better yet, you can make these muffins with frozen berries.
Frozen Berry Muffins
In my fridge, you will always find a ton of frozen berries. I use them in smoothies, quick breads, crisps and so much more. Frozen berries are great to have on hand.
They work wonderfully for these muffins.
Sometimes I pick up a bag of mixed berries; blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Other times, I make a custom mix depending on what I have in my freezer that day.
Raspberries are amazing in this muffin. I love the color and pop of the deep red/pink berries, and tartness it adds.
Try a mixture of frozen blueberries and strawberries
Also incredibly delicious.
How to add frozen strawberries
If you plan on using whole, frozen strawberries, here's how to add them to the muffin batter.
Measure out about a 10 strawberries (I'm assuming they're pretty large, they usually are in those frozen bags!).
Place on a plate and microwave for about 20 seconds. They should still have some ice crystals and still be partially frozen when you remove them from the microwave.
Cut the strawberries in half and then each half into quarters to create bite-sized pieces.
Work quickly once you add the berries
Especially if you're using dark berries, such as blueberries. As soon as they start to defrost in the batter, the frozen berries can cause big streaks of color which can make the muffins look discolored.
It's not hard to avoid as long as the berries are good and frozen before you add them, and you immediately scoop the batter into the muffin tin.
I got a little sidetracked with this batch since I was also trying to take photos.
How to Make a Bakery Style Muffin
The key that I found for making the perfect muffin is to fill the muffin tin at juuust the right level. If you fill it too much, your muffin will overflow all over the place. If you under-fill it, you won't have a big enough top.
I recommend using a cookie scoop to get the exact amount into each tin. I use the 3 tablespoon size. This is a very handy size scoop to have around, especially for things like cupcakes and muffins. 
I've also had good success filling them just a little below the edge of the muffin liner (a ¼ inch or so), if you're looking for a more modest muffin.
This is the best muffin recipe
This recipe is especially wonderful because these muffins are SUPER light and fluffy, not dense and greasy.
The tops bake up with just a little bit of that crisp edge. The berries add such a wonderful pop of tartness & sweetness all at once. I like to add a touch of sparkling sugar for that bakery-made feel.
They are just absolutely divine.
These muffins are soft, fluffy and full of delicious, sweet berry flavor. You can easily make these in the morning for breakfast, they are quick and easy to prepare and bake up rather quickly.
I hope you love these mixed fruit muffins just as much as I do!
Looking for more berry recipes? Try my easy Blueberry Danish with Mascarpone or Blueberry Bread!
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Bakery Style Mixed Berry Muffins | with Frozen Berries
This is an easy recipe for Bakery Style Mixed Berry Muffins. These muffins are moist, fluffy & have huge tops. It's easy to add your favorite frozen berries to this basic muffin batter. I love that these are not overly sweet or greasy.
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
Ingredients
- ½ c butter (melted & cooled, unsalted or salted can be used- if using salted, you may want to reduce the added salt to ¼ tsp)
- 1 c granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 c buttermilk or milk
- 2 ½ c all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ c frozen mixed berries (store in freezer until ready to add in the batter)
- sparkling sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put paper liners in a cupcake tin.
- In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar and vanilla using a spoon or spatula.
- Add the eggs and mix until well combined. Pour in the milk and stir until completely incorporated. The mixture will be very liquidy at this point.
- In smaller bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt)
- Slowly add half of the flour and fold it into the mixture. Stir. Once mostly combined, add the remaining flour. Continue folding the mixture until the flour has just absorbed. Do not mix any further! The batter should be thick and have lumps.
- Lastly, take the frozen berries out of the freezer and gently fold them into the batter.
- Using a cookie scoop (or normal tablespoon), put 6 tablespoons of batter into each cup (I used a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop, so that's two scoops).
- Add sparkling sugar to the tops of each muffin (optional).
- Bake for 5 minutes. Then, reduce the temp to 375°F for another 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven when finished baking and let rest for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to finish cooling on a rack. These muffins are freezer friendly for up to 3 months!
Notes
Recipe adapted from: LittleSweetBaker
Made by Owlbbaking.com
How to add frozen strawberries
If you plan on using whole, frozen strawberries, here's how to add them to the muffin batter.
Measure out about a 15 strawberries (assuming they're pretty large, they usually are in those frozen bags!)
Place on a plate and microwave for about 20 seconds. They should still have some ice crystals and still be partially frozen when you remove them from the microwave.
Cut the strawberries in half and then each half into quarters to create bite-sized pieces. This should yield about 1 ½ c of chopped fruit. If you need to use more, store the cut pieces in the freezer (until ready to use) and repeat with more berries.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Mixed Berry Muffins
Recipe adapted from: LittleSweetBaker
Cindi
These are delicious! In my 30 years of baking, I have never found a muffin recipe I liked, until now. It isn't just the mixed berries, either. The base muffin recipe is moist inside, top is slightly crunchy, and it's not too sweet. Because of that last point, using sanding sugar on top to give it that extra hint of texture and sugar is recommended. It would also be great with a touch of fresh lemon juice to brighten it up. I'm deleting all those other inadequate recipes and keeping this one!
Kelley Gibson
This recipe turned out perfectly. I also think it would make a good base muffin recipe to modify with other add ins like lemon juice, zest and poppy seed, or chocolate chips, or cherries, almond essence and topped with almond flakes. This was a winner!
Brittany
Could honey or maple syrup be substituted for the sugar? Would it be 1:1 if so? Thanks!
Liz
I have not tested this recipe with those swaps - based on what I found in a Google search, "Honey is largely fructose and is therefore much sweeter than refined sugar. Depending on the honey, it can be two or three times sweeter than sugar. For every 1 cup of sugar, replace it with 1/2 to 2/3 cups of honey." Let me know if you test it out!!
Brittany
The muffins were delicious with honey! I used 2/3 cup, and did not find them overly sweet. I also used Bob’s red mill egg replacer due to my daughter’s egg allergy and almond milk (ran out of regular milk). Will definitely make again!
Sandy
I wonder if I could make this into a small loaf cake?
Iam a caregiver, client doesn't have muffin papers or tin. Does have glass loaf pan...
Liz
Hi Sandy! Great question, I think it would work, but glass is not recommended - I would stick with a metal pan if possible!
Emmi
This recipe is nice to mix up. Clear easy to follow instructions with reasoning for the ingredients etc.
I have just made them following ALL directions and after reading the whole blog and the accompanying recipe and it’s footnotes etc PRIOR to starting baking.
The reason I am personally giving it 3 stars. I baked mine 5 minutes at 425 per the instructions. Then turned the heat down to 375 for 20 minutes.
The tops are NOT as the authors is depicted in this write up.
Her’s are this lemony golden tan shade.
Mine are the shade of brownish deep burnt sienna hues.
So that being the case for mine;
I will be baking mine Next time for Wayyyyyyyyyyyyy less time than 20 minutes.
I will watch the oven and time them so as not to have my tops turn so brown and like hard as rocks.
Liz
Thanks for sharing, Emmi! This most likely occurred due to variations in ovens.
Heather
This is a great recipe! I subbed 1 cup erythritol/monk fruit sweetener and it was just as good. Thanks!
Liz
Thank you for sharing, Heather!! I'm glad that substitution worked out great!
Brenda
I am also a muffin addict. 🙂
I used Splenda blend due to health issues in our family. I also used half all purpose flour and half white whole wheat flour.
These were outstanding.
Avery Johnson
These are amazing! I swapped in dairy free “butter” sticks and oat milk due to dairy sensitivities in our family, and I also added some almond extract (I’m addition to the vanilla). Everything else I followed exactly but found they only needed about 17-18 mins at the lower temp in my oven. They were a hit with everyone who tried them! Going to try some lemon zest next time just to experiment with flavors - this is such a wonderful base recipe!
Haley
Firstly this is by far one of the best recipes for a bakery style muffin I have found, and it is SO easy to adapt to change the recipe. Secondly, i was just curious if there is a nutrition facts sheet for these muffins somewhere? I did look around the page before asking this question!
Bethan
Absolutely brilliant muffins 😁
I put a tablespoon of lemon juice into semi skimmed milk to make buttermilk.
I sprinkled Demerara sugar on the top which worked really well.
Pretty easy to make - I can’t wait to make with different fruits.
Thank you
Kaedie
I love this recipe. I was video chatting my niece and she said to put powder sugar on top, and I did. Omg they came out so amazing!!! I absolutely loved them.
Cheryl
I was looking for a recipe to use up some fresh berries that I didn't want to throw away. Came across this recipe, read the reviews and am so glad to have found this recipe. I just finished baking, smells delish in here and had to try one fresh from the oven...these are absolutely amazing...thank you so much for sharing. This will be a favourite that I will be making lots 🙂 🙂
Layla
I’ve made this a couple times now - it’s perfect! My kids love it. Trying it today with spelt flour (that’s all I had on hand!) thank you so much for this recipe. It’s going to be a staple in my baking 🙂
Liz
I'm so glad you love the recipe Layla!
Natalie
These are a family favourite. So easy to make and so delicious ❤️
Christine Scanling
Excellent recipe...Thank you !
Wendy
I'm making these now! I used the mixed cherry blend from Walmart. I knew I bought them for a reason! Lol... Didn't realize how big everything was in the bag so I had to actually chop it all up besides the blueberries. I'm sure these will turn out amazing from all the reviews online!
Liz
Yayyy!!! I hope you loved the recipe, Wendy!
Kelly
These were great. Used coconut sugar, fresh berries and oat milk. Put sanding sugar on top. Used greased mini muffin tins and baked 7 mins at 425 then 5 mins at 400. Came out golden and crunchy on top and moist inside. Great for kids!
Liz
I'm so glad you loved the recipe, Kelly!! I love the substitutions you made!
Daniela
These were delicious!!.. I used fresh berries, but everything the same. My new go to muffin recipe, thank you!
Liz
So glad you loved the recipe!
Amanda
Hello, made this recipe and was a huge hit with the whole family. Wondering, does this recipe double well if I wanted to make 2 batches at once?
Thank you.
Liz
Hi Amanda! I typically don't recommend doubling recipes if they contain a leavening agent (baking powder & baking soda) like this one does. It can sometimes alter how they bake. I would suggest making them in 2 different bowls if you want to double up.
Alex
Hi can’t wait to try these! Can i sub milk for plain yogurt or sour cream?
Thanks!
Liz
Hi Alex! Yay! Great question! I know many folks have made substitutions in this recipe with good success. I think if you were to mix the yogurt or sour cream with water to loosen it to a 'milky' consistency, it should still work! I haven't personally tried it but I think it would be a good experiment!
Vicki
This has become my go to, my favorite berry muffin recipe. I didn’t have frozen berries so I subbed with fresh. Omg... I was pleasantly surprised with the result. The batter made the most perfect muffin, not to sweet, so much fruit.. this will forever be my fav!
Liz
Thank you so much for your kind words!! I'm so glad you love it!
Reann
The muffins turned out amazing! Personally I would reduce baking time to 18 minutes
Liz
I'm so glad you loved the recipe! Thanks for the feedback!
Mrs Orange
This was actually really really good. Sweet crunchy outside. I’d toss the frozen berries in flour and sugar tho to absorb some of that wetness after.
I subbed half cup of flour with oat flour. But it turned out amazing. Great directions. Good ratio of ingredients. And great real ingredients. Thank you for sharing
Liz
Thanks for the comment!! So glad you love the recipe!
Aislinn
YUM! Hello perfect muffin! I just stumbled across your website, because I was searching for a recipe to use up a bag of frozen berries I have. This recipe exceeded my expectations. I followed your recipe, exactly. The only recommendation I can make, is to ensure your buttermilk (or milk) and eggs are at room temperature. My butter curdled, so I had to sit my wet ingredients in a warm water bath. Thank you for this great recipe, and hello from France.
Liz
Hi Aislinn!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! You made my day! Great tip for sure, room temp ingredients will definitely help the batter come together much better!
Annette
I just made these very addictive muffins again. I had some fresh blueberries in my fridge which I added about 2 cups instead of frozen. Also added some lemon zest. They are incredible. Seriously the base recipe is great. The add in possibilities are endless.
Liz
Thank you so much for sharing Annette!! 🙂 The added lemon zest sounds amazing! I love using this recipe for all kinds of flavors!!
Caroline
I just made this recipe and the muffins are DELICIOUS. Thank you for sharing it.
Liz
Thank you so much for the kind words, Caroline!! I make this recipe all the time, it really is so good!! 🙂
Annette
This is absolutely the best muffin recipe. I have made them several times. They NEVER make it to the freezer. This will always be my go to recipe.
Liz
Thank you so much for the kind words Annette!!! I love these muffins and make them all the time with all kinds of flavors and add ins. They are the best! So glad you love them too! 🙂
Karen
This recipe is scrumptious! My husband liked them so well that he ate 3!!
Liz
Thank you so much for sharing, Karen! I'm so glad you both loved the recipe!! 🙂
Madison
Can I substitute margarine for butter in this recipe?
Liz
Hi Madison! I haven't tried this swap before, but that should be fine!
Lily
Hi,
Can I use vegetable oil in the place of melted butter?
Liz
Hi Lily! I have not tried this, but yes, I think you could. The muffin might be a tad more oily since butter and oil absorb a bit differently.
Cathy
I used strawberries and rhubarb picked from our garden and cooked down with a little sugar and honey. The muffins came out nicely.
Liz
Those flavors sound divine! I'm so glad you liked the recipe!
Nancy
I made these with frozen mixed berries, i fousn that once the muffins were done, the tartness of the berries took over the entire muffin :/ is there a way to make the berries sweeter or not as tart?
Liz
Hi Nancy! Oh no! That doesn't sound too good! Hmm, that's a tough question. The only way to offset that is with more sugar, but since the berries are added frozen, more sugar wouldn't stick to them. Even if they are thawed and strained, you could add sugar but the batter will get very streaky and extra wet from the thawed fruit. I'm wondering if perhaps the berries were just an extra tart batch? You can always make this recipe using fresh berries too!
Miriam Sicilia
Thank you so much for this yummy recipe! I used blueberries, raspberries and pecans. These muffins were delicious! The only thing I need for my next batch is that pretty coarse sugar for that legit bakery look and a little crunch!
Liz
I'm so glad you loved it, Miriam!! Oh my, Pecans sound like a GREAT addition!! Definitely - the coarse sugar on top makes these extra amazing!
Cassie
These muffins are absolutely AMAZING!!! I substituted unsweetened almond milk (as that's what I had on hand). I loved that they used frozen berries and baked up so big! They are to die for delicious! Will definitely be my go to recipe for berry muffins! Thanks so much!
Liz
Hey Cassie! Thank you so much for the kind words!! Using unsweetened almond milk is a great substitute for these, I'm so glad you loved them!!
Shirley Satter-Hill
The recipe says frozen berries. One of you answers to a comment said to thaw and drain the juice. Which one do I do? Also, I have mixed berries that also contain strawberries. Can I use these?
Liz
Hi Shirley! Apologies for the confusion. Looks like I do need to add a note for this! Appreciate you bringing it to my attention. Add the berries in their frozen state. Do not thaw. I haven't tried this recipe with frozen strawberries, but it would probably work as long as you slice/dice into small pieces (maybe while they're partially frozen).
Shirley Satter-Hill
Thank you for clarifying that!
Steph
This was so yummy!! I only had two changes, I used almond milk and also just left muffins in for 20 mins at 375
Great recipe!! These are just too good 🙂
Liz
Thanks so much for the comment, Steph!! I've used almond milk in this recipe before too, it's a great substitute!
Sarah
Could I use half and half in place of the milk/buttermilk? Looking to use up half and half and berries!
Liz
Hey Sarah! Yes, that should work just fine! 🙂
snooches
I've made these twice in the last 2 weeks - the first time I followed the recipe and aside from being delicious, several kids in my son's class gave me compliments for them. They were the only batch of muffins that got all eaten up amongst a few other recipes other people brought in! The second time I made them was today and I used gluten free flour and they are just as delicious. I put my berries in while still frozen and didn't have any problems either time.
Liz
Thank you so much for the comment!!! You're so sweet! Good to know that using GF flour is interchangeable, I haven't tried it before!
Christine Scanling
These muffins are delicious! Thank you for a spot on recipe ! ????
Liz
Thank you for the kind words!! So glad you loved them!!
Jessica
Do you thaw the berries and drain excess juice before you add them, or do you add them while frozen?
Liz
Hi Jessica! Great question! I would thaw them and drain the excess juice. Otherwise it might be too much liquid added to the batter.
Mandy
Do you mean 1/2 cup of each berry? These turned out excellent! I doubled the recipe but cut the sugar by half a cup. They took an additional 6 minutes to bake for me. Perhaps bigger muffins.
Liz
Hi Mandy! I apologize, I think that is a typo! 1 cup of mixed berries can be added, or more to your liking. I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Vilma
You do not indicate how many eggs and when to put in the frozen berries.
admin
Hi Vilma,
Thanks for the alert! I apologize for the miss and delay getting back to you! This recipe has now been updated. 🙂
Vilma
This muffins are so delicious. Making my second batch.
admin
So glad to hear you're enjoying them, Vilma! They've become a staple in my house!