This kitchen tested muffin batter creates extra large bakery-style muffins with big muffin tops and dense, moist centers. Create plenty of flavors using this as the base—1 muffin batter with endless options.
I love light, fluffy, cupcake-style muffins and you can find my base recipe for cakey muffins in this master muffin recipe post. But I (and maybe you!) also enjoy big muffins with a tight crumb, moist and dense center, and a tall crunchy muffin top. I call these “bakery style” and that’s what you’ll find today, my master bakery style muffin recipe.
These Bakery Style Muffins Are:
- Jumbo in size, but you can easily bake in a standard or mini muffin pan
- Sky-high with big muffin tops
- Moist and dense inside
- Topped with crunchy coarse sugar
- Adaptable to many different flavors
And I know you’ll appreciate this as much as I do: there’s no mixer required and the batter comes together in less than 10 minutes.
Behind the Recipe
Feel free to jump to the full written recipe and instructions below. If you’re interested in how and why this recipe works, let me explain. I’ve made a few notable changes from when I first published these bakery style muffins. The recipe, as originally written, produced wonderful muffins but they dried out quickly and tasted overly dense. In the past few years, I’ve worked to improve it by replacing some of the oil with melted butter, some baking powder with baking soda, and adding sour cream for moisture and lightness. (If you’d like the original recipe, see my recipe note.)
A look at the ingredients:
- Flour: We use a lot of flour to keep the batter thick and sturdy, as well as to keep the add-ins (chocolate chips, berries, nuts, etc) elevated.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Significant rise requires a lot of leavener. I used to use all baking powder, but I recently began adding a touch of baking soda too. In addition to leavening, a little baking soda helps brown the exterior.
- Cinnamon: I usually use cinnamon in this master muffin mix, but leave it out if it doesn’t fit well with the other flavors. For example, I use it when I make banana or apple muffins but skip it when I make berry muffins. It’s an optional ingredient.
- Vanilla Extract & Salt: Use both for flavor.
- Eggs: Eggs add moisture and bind everything together.
- Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt: Sour cream helps keep the muffins extra moist. If needed, you can use plain yogurt instead.
- Sugar: Use granulated sugar to sweeten these muffins. I used to use some brown sugar and some white granulated sugar, but brown sugar weighed the muffins down. If desired, though, you can always use 1/2 cup (100g) white granulated sugar and 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar.
- Oil & Butter: Oil produces a moist, tender muffin. Combine with melted butter for extra fat, moisture, and a little flavor.
- Milk: Milk adds plenty of moisture and lightens up the crumb. I usually use whole milk or buttermilk.
- Coarse Sprinkling Sugar: I recommend a sprinkle of coarse sugar for crunchy, sparkly muffin tops. I like Sugar in the Raw or you can use white sparkling sugar sprinkles, usually found with the sprinkles in the baking aisle.
Several Bakery Style Muffin Recipes in 1
Let’s talk flavor options. Add-ins and flavors are totally up to you! Pictured above are banana nut muffins and mixed berry muffins. I also use this bakery style muffin recipe for my raspberry chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and jumbo blueberry muffins.
- Banana Nut Muffins (pictured above) – Follow the master recipe below. Increase cinnamon to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons, leave out the melted butter and replace with 1 cup of mashed banana (about 2 large bananas, mashed), increase oil to 1/2 cup (120ml), and use 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts as the add-in. In addition to coarse sugar, I like to add a few thin slices of bananas on top of each muffin before baking. *The banana nut muffins become pretty dense after a couple days, but warming in the microwave for 10-15 seconds lightens them up again.
- Mixed Berry Muffins (pictured above) – Follow the master recipe below. Leave out the cinnamon and use 2 cups of mixed berries as the add-in such as any combination of blackberries, raspberries, chopped strawberries, and/or blueberries.
- Jumbo Raspberry Chocolate Chip Muffins (muffin batter pictured above)
- Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Jumbo Blueberry Muffins (pictured below)
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins – Follow the master recipe below. Add 1 extra teaspoon of cinnamon and use 2 cups of diced, peeled apple as the add-in.
Or use any combination of berry, fruit, nut, chocolate chips, etc. As long as the total amount of add-ins is between 1-2 cups, you’re golden! You can also add vanilla icing to the warm muffins right before serving, or replace the coarse sugar with the same crumb topping I use for these apple cinnamon muffins.
- How to add the crumb topping: Fill the muffin cups only about 3/4 full and gently press the topping down into the batter so it sticks. You’ll have enough batter for more muffins since you’re only filling the cups 3/4 full.
4 Success Tips for Jumbo Muffins
- Thick muffin batter: Thick batter helps ensure the muffins lift UP rather than spread OUT. It also creates a denser muffin instead of a light and cake-y cupcake style muffin.
- Use a jumbo muffin pan: I can’t find a link to the exact jumbo muffin pan I use (it’s about 12 years old), but I swear by USA Pan for other bakeware. A jumbo muffin pan holds 8 ounces of batter. These are big muffins!
- Fill the muffin pans to the very top: Since we’re using an initially high oven temperature trick (explained next), it’s imperative to fill the muffin cups to the very top. You can make this recipe as 6 large muffins (shown), 14-15 standard size muffins, or about 40 mini muffins.
- Bake at an initially high oven temperature: Bake the muffins for 5 minutes in a very hot oven. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, lower the oven temperature. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I do this in all my muffin recipes.
Master Bakery Style Muffin Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 jumbo muffins or 15 standard muffins
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This kitchen tested muffin batter creates extra large bakery style muffins with big muffin tops and dense, moist centers. Create plenty of flavors using this as the base– 1 muffin batter with endless options.
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1/3 cup (5 Tablespoons; 80g) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil*
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (80g) sour cream or yogurt, at room temperature*
- 1 cup (240ml) milk, at room temperature*
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1–2 cups add-ins (see blog post above for suggestions)
- optional: coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Generously grease a 6-count jumbo muffin pan with butter or nonstick spray (nonstick spray recommended) or line with muffin liners. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon (if using) together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk the melted butter, oil, sugar, and eggs together until combined. Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract. Mixture will be pale yellow. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until completely combined. Use a whisk to rid any large lumps of flour, if needed. Avoid overmixing. The batter will be thick. Fold in the add-in(s).
- Divide batter between each muffin cup, filling all the way to the top. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (for added crunch, recommended!). Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes, then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C) and continue to bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops are lightly golden brown and centers are set. Stick a toothpick in the center of a muffin to test for doneness. If it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before serving.
- Cover leftover muffins and store at room temperature for 5 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week. Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 6-Count Jumbo Muffin Pan | Jumbo Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Oil: Vegetable oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil work best in this recipe.
- Sour Cream/Yogurt: I recommend full fat sour cream or full fat or low fat plain yogurt. I don’t recommend fat-free for either.
- Milk: I like to use buttermilk or whole milk in this recipe because either add wonderful moisture and flavor. You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy, but the lower fat milk you use, the less flavorful and moist your muffins will taste.
- Can I Make These into a Loaf? Definitely! You’ll have too much batter for 1 loaf, so I recommend 2 9×5 inch or 8×4 inch loaves. I’m unsure of the best bake time, but use a toothpick to check for doneness. Bake at 350°F (177°C) the whole time.
- Standard Size Muffins or Mini Muffins: For standard size muffins baked in a 12-count muffin pan, reduce baking time to about 20 total minutes: 5 initial minutes at 425°F and 15 minutes at 350°F. Yields 14-15 standard size muffins. For about 40 mini muffins, bake for 11-13 minutes at 350°F the entire time.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read here for more information.
- Original Recipe: This recipe was updated in 2020 since its original publish date in 2014. The muffins are now moister and softer. If you’d like the original recipe, follow above but make these changes to the ingredient list: increase baking powder to 4 teaspoons, leave out the baking soda, leave out the butter, increase oil to 1/2 cup (120ml), and leave out the sour cream.
Keywords: jumbo muffins
I have a question. When making your master muffin recipes using 2 pans at a time I found that the top shelf muffins were I E
rounded, but those on the lower shelf rose at first, then spread and flattened out. What can I do about that? It happened 3 times as I made 6 dozen different muffins. Otherwise, FANTASTIC. Thank You!
Hi Susanne, it could be that the muffins are baking on two separate shelves. We always recommend baking on just one shelf at a time in order to promote even baking. Otherwise, the heat will bake the muffins at different rates (like you mention) and results will vary. Hope this helps for next time!
Question:
How do I adjust your delicious muffin recipes to bake in a “muffin top”muffin pan?
Hi Sara! We would love to help but have no experience with baking muffin tops – let us know if you give them a try!
★★★★★
Every year my family goes to the beach for a week. I always make Jess banana nut muffins for our breakfast. They are so delicious. They are gone way before the week is over.
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While this recipe is wonderfully delicious, it is not what its name suggests. I was looking for a dense bakery-style muffins, and these were most certainly fluffy and not at all dense. I also followed the suggestion to use a greased (with non-stick spray) muffin pan instead of my usual paper liner and every single piece stuck. And because the muffins were so fluffy, they basically tore in half even after I used a pliable utensil to pry them out. You basically have to scoop out the bottom from the pan if you still want to eat them. They’re also a tad too sweet for my taste, but that’s not a deal breaker for me. This is the second recipe I’ve tried in my search for a dense muffin recipe. I’d say this scored lower than the other recipe I tried.
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Sorry, updating my previous post. I reviewed prematurely. It IS dense, like HEAVY—and yet fluffy at the same time so go figure. I think I may have removed them from the pan too soon. It’s best I think to cool them completely before trying. And still definitely using paper liners. I strongly recommend liners.
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If I just use just chopped Strawberry’s should I sprinkle them separately with flour before adding to the batter so they don’t sink while baking or no need?
Hi Erin! We’ve never had an issue with strawberries sinking in these muffins, but some bakers swear by that trick. Either way is fine!
This recipe is fantastic. The sour cream makes it especially moist. I love the bakery tips you offer to help get a good rise from the muffins.
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I’ve made the banana nut muffins using your recipe and they were super awesome! What’s the best way to make apple cider muffins? Do I leave out the butter and add the reduced apple cider?
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Hi Dorothy! For apple cider muffins, we would use the batter from our apple cider donuts recipe and bake in a muffin pan instead – see recipe notes for details on baking in a muffin pan. Enjoy!
Thank you for the prompt reply. Would it still work if I follow the jumbo muffin method (i.e. add more baking powder, start with higher heat, etc.) so I can make them nice and jumbo?
This IS the BEST muffin recipe I have EVER made! A HUGE THANK YOU for this recipe!!!
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Hi – wondering if you have any muffin recipes that are designed for using frozen fruit?
Hi JanDry, you can use frozen fruit in this muffin recipe (and in most of our muffin recipes). Do not thaw the fruit first. Depending on the fruit, the colors may bleed a it more into the batter, but will be delicious nonetheless!
I really love this recipe! I find it to be a little too sweet for me, would reducing the sugar by 1/4 cup have an effect on the texture of the muffins? Thank you!
★★★★
Hi Sam, while you can certainly try reducing the sugar in this recipe, keep in mind that it also plays a role in the texture and structure of the muffins, too. Reducing the sugar will change the overall outcome, so we recommend starting small (1/4 would be a great place to start) and then adjusting more/less for future batches. Glad you enjoyed these!
Hi Sally!! I love this recipe and I use it as the base for all sorts of addins. Orange choc chip, Eggnog cranberry, Apple crumb, Triple berry, Banana walnut, Cinnamon pecan etc. and they are always a hit. I am wanting to make a chocolate muffin… what would be the measurements of dry ingredients? Flour, cocoa? Thank you 🙂
Hi Del, we’re so glad you love this recipe. This is our recipe for chocolate muffins. Enjoy!
Do you have a cranberry pumpkin recipe for this same style muffin
Hi Dawn! Our pumpkin muffins would be the best base – cranberries would be a great addition! Let us know if you give it a try.
I’ve been making these as a standard sized muffins for my boyfriend bi-weekly, and he loves them! I was thinking about adding orange marmalade to the next batch. Have you ever added jam or marmalade to them? Should I be omitting anything since I’d be adding that extra sweetness? Thanks!
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Hi Lu, we haven’t tried adding any jam or marmalade to these muffins. It may take a bit of tweaking, since you’ll be adding additional wet ingredients to the batter. You could try simply swirling it into the tops of the muffins like we do with blueberry jam in this blueberry muffin bread. Let us know what you try!
Hi Sally! I love this recipe and have turned it into several variations with different mix-ins. However, I always end up with less batter than I should! Today I only got five jumbo muffins, and previously only got 11 regular sized. They taste delicious and have a great texture, but don’t seem to rise quite as much as I’d like either. Do you have any ideas why I might be getting so much less batter?
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Hi Emily! It may be the size of your muffin pan. Do you have a specific muffin pan? Some can be larger. We use the same pans for cupcakes and muffins. Glad you enjoy this recipe!
Thank you for all the beaitiful recipes Sally!!! Love your coconut cake which I often make into cupcakes for baby showers with coloured frosting because holy YUM! =D haha. Just wondering with these muffins as I want to make some maple pecan ones- how you would go about adding in maple syrup ? And also how much sugar to reduce? Would it be best to swap out some butter fin place of syrup or would you have any other thoughts/recommendations too? Thank you so much again!! Hope you’re having a wonderful day full of all sorts of delicious things! =D
Hi Beks, thank you so much for the kind comment! I haven’t tried turning this recipe into maple pecan muffins before and it would definitely require some specific testing. I’m sure you could try reducing the sugar to 1/2 cup (100g) and adding 1/2 cup (120ml) of maple syrup with very little issue (but some great flavor!). And, of course, you can use pecans as the add-in.
What about fresh cranberries—can you use them—same amount?
Hi Linda, you can use fresh cranberries like we do in these cranberry cardamom spice muffins!
How could you adapt this recipe to make pumpkin cranberry muffins?
Hi Dawn, We haven’t tested this, but to turn these into denser pumpkin muffins, you could try to leave out the melted butter and add about 3/4 canned pumpkin puree. Feel free to add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, too. Then, use cranberries for your add-in. Or, these pumpkin crumb muffins bake beautifully as jumbo muffins — you can use that recipe and bake in jumbo muffin pans using this master muffin recipe bake times as a guide. You could add cranberries to that batter, too. Let us know what you try!
Fantastic! Thank you for another great recipe. I followed the instructions for the banana nut version and they came out perfectly. This will be a go to recipe for sure!
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My grandkids love this recipe, thank you!
What about Lemon poppyseed muffins?
What would the variation be?
Hi Leilani, we recommend making the recipe for blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins (leaving out the blackberries if you wish) and then baking them in jumbo muffin tins with the baking instructions from this master recipe. Hope they’re a hit!
This is my favourite muffin recipe!! Thank you! I’m wanting to make savoury muffins – would this be able to be adapted easily to a savoury version??
Hi Emma, We haven’t attempted a savory muffin from this recipe, but would start by reducing the sugar and adding your favorite savory add-ins. Let us know if you try it!
I do not have a jumbo muffin tin . Can I use my regular muffin tin and jut make more muffins ?
Hi Sherree, absolutely. For standard size muffins baked in a 12-count muffin pan, reduce baking time to about 20 total minutes: 5 initial minutes at 425°F and 15 minutes at 350°F. Yields 14-15 standard size muffins.
This recipe is incredible! The apple cinnamon version is sublime and the blueberry streusel is always a winner with my friends. If I were to freeze the apple ones, how do you keep the top crunchy? Would you suggest returning it to the oven for a few minutes on grill? I’m worried it may dry them out.
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Hi Brenda, We are so happy you enjoyed these muffins! The top shouldn’t get soggy after freezing but you can always toast them after they have thawed for a minute or two if you wish.
Fabulous recipe! Used mixed frozen berries!
I love this versatile recipe so much! I was wondering what I need to do alter if I added some canned pumpkin to it?
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Hi Liz, We haven’t tested this, but to turn these into denser pumpkin muffins, you could try to leave out the melted butter and add about 3/4 canned pumpkin puree. Feel free to add 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice, too.
Not sure what happened. Is the 3 tsp baking soda right? These tasted “tinny.” Could it be because I used almond-based yogurt vs. dairy? They rose wonderfully and look beautiful but are inedible.
I don’t know if you’ve realized yet since this comment was posted several months back, but it’s supposed to be 3 tsp baking POWDER and only 1/4 tsp baking soda.
Can these muffins be frozen?
Hi Jordan, absolutely. Baked muffins can be wrapped and frozen for up to three months.
Not sure what happened. Is the 3 tsp baking soda right? These tasted “tinny.” Could it be because I used almond-based yogurt vs. dairy? They rose wonderfully and look beautiful but are inedible.
Ooo we do LOVE that pistachio cake. Great suggestion – thank you! That cake is so delicious and can be so elegant.
As much as I know you love pistachios, Sally, I was surprised to see that you don’t have a pistachio muffin in your collection…or did I miss it somewhere? I used this recipe and added a package of pistachio pudding, about 1/2 cup of chopped salted pistachios, and 1/2 tsp of almond extract. They were sublime – just like the bakery muffins only, of course, much better!
While the pudding seemed like a surefire way to make this muffin, I would love to have a recipe that does not require the addition of a processed, pre-packaged food like instant pudding. If you have a suggestion for adapting this recipe to make a pistachio muffin without the additives found in instant pudding mix, please let me know. In the meantime, this adaptation I made served up a dozen gorgeous, moist, and flavorful pistachio muffins. I would love to share some photos if possible.
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Hi Ialabeth! Our pistachio cake recipe is a favorite – you could make cupcakes without the frosting for a naturally flavored and colored muffin/cupcake. You could also try adding some chopped pistachios and a bit of almond extract to this master muffins recipe. Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes!
This recipe is fantastic! I added frozen cherries and a tsp of raspberry jam in the middle, and it made the most decadent fruit explosion muffin. Thank you!
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