This will become your favorite peach muffins recipe because each bite is loaded with juicy peaches, cinnamon spice, and delicious brown sugar. Top these buttery and cake-like muffins with brown sugar cinnamon streusel and don’t forget to finish them off with a drizzle of vanilla icing. Of course, both are completely optional if you prefer plain peach muffins.
Initially published back in 2014, this peach muffin recipe has stood the test of time. I make a point to bake multiple batches each summer, freezing extras to enjoy throughout the cooler fall months. Just a quick glance at the reviews tells me readers have the same idea:
“Sooooo good.”
“Super moist & flavorful.”
“Just absolute perfection.”
“Great recipe, wonderful flavor.”
You’ll Love These Peach Muffins Too:
Each bite is flavorful and textured with juicy peaches and crisp-crunchy brown sugar crumble topping. You know when you bite into a muffin and there’s about 2 pieces of fruit? Not the case here—these are packed with peaches. Cinnamon, allspice, and brown sugar add rich, comforting flavors. You can use fresh or frozen peaches, and the baked + cooled muffins freeze beautifully. For some wholesome flavor, you can even substitute 1 cup (125g) of the flour for whole wheat flour. Lots to love here!
Use This Top-Rated Muffin Batter Recipe
If you’re a regular reader, you might recognize this muffin batter. It’s my base muffin recipe for several muffin variations on my website, including blueberry muffins and apple cinnamon muffins. The carefully selected ingredients and ratio of wet-to-dry ingredients promises a moist, buttery, and cake-like muffin that’s still a bit denser than, say, vanilla cupcakes.
I heavily depend on this versatile recipe because it uses basic baking ingredients and holds up well to nearly any add-in. I like to change up the spices and ratio of brown and white granulated sugars depending on the flavor I’m baking. (For example, today’s peach muffins uses a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar compared to these strawberry cheesecake muffins.)
Key Ingredients in These Peach Muffins
The muffin batter recipe calls for 14 ingredients, which sounds like a lot, but they’re pretty much all basics like flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, etc. Some notes:
- Cinnamon & Allspice: Both add exceptional flavor to your muffins. If you don’t have allspice, you can substitute in ground nutmeg, ginger, or even pumpkin pie spice.
- Softened Butter: A base of creamed butter and sugar (instead of using melted butter or oil) often helps achieve a soft, buttery texture. Make sure it’s proper room temperature butter.
- White & Brown Sugars: Both sweeten, and brown sugar also adds a little moisture & flavor. Feel free to use all brown sugar.
- Eggs: 2 eggs provide structure.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: The muffins are moist because we add yogurt or sour cream to the batter. just like we do when making sour cream coffee cake. You can use either; full fat or low fat.
- Milk: Use whatever you have—whole milk, 1%, almond milk, buttermilk, oat milk, etc. You only need 2 Tablespoons, which is less than other recipes using this muffin batter. Peaches are very wet and using less milk keeps the batter thick and sturdy.
- Peaches: Peel and cut your peaches into small bite-size chunks. You need about 3.
Do I need to coat the peaches in flour before adding to the batter? No, that’s not necessary here because the muffin batter is so thick. The peaches easily stay scattered throughout the muffin and do not really sink.
Success tip for peeling and cutting peaches: Peaches are very wet, so wash and dry your hands, vegetable peeler, and knife often if everything begins to get a little slippery. I recommend doing the same when preparing peaches for peach pie and peach cobbler, too.
Streusel Crumb Topping
Crumb topping and muffins go hand-in-hand, so if you want to spruce the peach muffins up, add a spoonful to each before baking. The crumb topping uses some of the SAME ingredients you need in the muffin batter— very convenient! Some crumb toppings require cold butter and a pastry cutter to mix, but we’re using melted butter here, so just use a fork. It’s nearly the same crumb topping you use when making peach crumble pie.
My crumb topping advice: do not over-mix the crumb ingredients or else you will end up with paste. Keep it crumbly and press the crumbs slightly down into the muffin batter so it can stick.
Success Tip: How to Create the Perfect Tall Muffin Tops
For tall muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top with batter.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at an initial high temperature, and then lower the temperature while keeping the oven door closed. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is lowered, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of these muffin recipes.
Don’t get nervous if some of the crumb topping melts down into the muffin batter—totally normal here.
Icing Is Optional
Vanilla icing is a lovely finishing touch and definitely gives the muffins a dessert-like vibe. You need just 3 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream (or half-and-half or milk), and vanilla extract. Whisk all 3 together and drizzle over your warm muffins. Feel free to skip the icing, and again, you can skip the crumb topping as well.
In fact, one reader, Pamela, said: “I made these without the streusel and glaze. They are wonderful! I did add a bit of coarse sugar to the tops. The muffin is simply heavenly on its own…”
More Muffin Recipes
I have dozens of muffin recipes on my site and in my cookbook! Here are a few favorites:
- Applesauce Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Banana Muffins
- Double Chocolate Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Peach Streusel Muffins
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Buttery, tender, and moist, these peach muffins are topped with a brown sugar streusel crumb and sweet vanilla glaze. Both toppings are completely optional if you prefer plain peach muffins.
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 cup (60g) unsalted butter, melted
- 2/3 cup (84g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
Muffins
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) plain yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1 and 3/4 cups (about 320g) peeled, chopped peaches (about 3 peaches)*
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45ml) heavy cream (or milk for a thinner consistency)
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Make the crumb topping: Mix the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter together in a small bowl until combined. Add the flour and use a fork to gently mix until crumbs form. Don’t over-mix into a paste. Just mix until it is crumbly. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, yogurt or sour cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed until the mixture is combined and mostly creamy. (It’s ok if it appears somewhat curdled.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Fold in the chopped peaches.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner, filling each all the way to the top. Spoon crumb topping on each, gently pressing it down so it sticks.
- Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F; then, without opening the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 16–19 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–24 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling. When warm, the muffins are quite fragile because of the wet peaches. Let them cool for at least 15 minutes before unwrapping and eating.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm or cooled muffins.
- Iced or plain muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months. It’s best to freeze the muffins without the icing and add the icing after thawing and before serving. (Freezing them with the icing on is completely fine, but the muffins taste better with fresh icing.) Thaw muffins in the refrigerator or at room temperature before icing/serving.
- Yogurt or Sour Cream: You can use either regular or Greek plain yogurt in this recipe (any fat content) or sour cream. The same amount of unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used if needed.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Frozen Peaches: You can use chopped frozen peaches—do not thaw. Extend total bake time by 1–2 minutes.
- Jumbo Muffin Pan: 425°F for 5 minutes, then reduce to 350°F for 22–25 minutes for a total of 27–30. Makes about 6.
- Mini Muffin Pan: 350°F for 12–14 minutes. Makes about 36–40.
- Quick Bread: This butter-based recipe isn’t ideal to turn into a quick bread because of the heavy, wet peaches. However, a slightly different oil-based batter yields wonderful results, so use my Peach Quick Bread recipe instead.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. Read more about room temperature ingredients in baking.
- Why the initial high oven temperature? Like I do for most muffin recipes, bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a very hot temperature. Then, keeping the muffins in the oven, switch to a lower temperature for the remaining bake time. This initial high temperature will quickly lift the muffin tops so they’re extra high, then the centers will bake during the lower temperature bake time. This trick makes beautiful bakery-style muffins every time.
Keywords: peach muffins, peach streusel muffins
Great recipe, wonderful flavor. I was quite worried when I added in the yogurt, eggs and vanilla. The mixture looked curdled, almost threw it out and decided to mix it together. Once the dry ingredients were added, it was fine and tasted fine as well. Will definitely make this again.
★★★★
Hi Sally!! I can’t wait to try this recipe! Unfortunately I don’t have ground allspice where I live. What can I use instead?
Thank you so much ☺️
Hi Claudia! You can leave it out or replace with cinnamon.
Thank you so much
★★★★★
A friend gave us a large number of peaches so of course I came to Sally’s for help! I made these muffins along with several other peach recipes from Sally’s (did I say there were a lot of peaches). All came out beautifully and delicious!
★★★★★
These were delish! I used 1c fresh peaches and .5c blueberries and made them in a mini loaf pan (+3 large muffins) will absolutely make them again!
★★★★★
I made these with a combination of nectarines and peaches. They came out delicious! This recipe is similar to your apple crumb muffin – when I make these my granddaughters request more. I expect to have the same reaction to these.
★★★★★
I made these without the streusel and glaze. They are wonderful! I did add a bit of coarse sugar to the tops. The muffin is simply heavenly on its own. No streusel or glaze needed.
★★★★★
Can I please use white peaches for this or other peach dessert recipes you posted? I bought a box of it today and i don’t have any yellow ones at all.
Hi Veronica, we don’t see why not!
Made these this morning using the exact recipe (except I only had strawberry Greek yogurt in the fridge). AH-mazing!!!! Just absolute perfection.
★★★★★
How can I improve the peach flavor in the muffins? I can’t find peach flavoring or concentrate in the store and the muffins didn’t have as strong of a peach flavor as I’d like.
Hi Jan, making sure the peaches are in season and ripe should help accentuate the taste. Otherwise, you might try searching online for a peach flavored extract.
These were so good! Grandson loved them. Will be making again
Delicious! I added 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and next time, I’m going to increase it a bit just to further enhance the wonderful peach flavor.
★★★★★
Excellent!! Super moist and flavourful!
★★★★★
Omg sooooo good
★★★★★
I don’t have any milk in the frig. Can I use heavy cream?
Hi Claire! We haven’t tested this muffin batter with heavy cream so can’t say for sure – it may be a bit thick. You could try thinning out the heavy cream (1.5 Tbs water and 1.5 Tbs heavy cream) for a closer consistency to milk. Heavy cream works perfectly in the glaze. Hope this helps!
These are delicious! Made for my mom while she was visiting and she loved them. Thank you for the recipe, it’s a keeper!
Can this recipe be used for Jumbo muffins? TY!
Hi Amanda, absolutely! To make jumbo peach muffins, we recommend following the same baking times/temperatures for these jumbo blueberry muffins.
So, so good!
Took some extra effort…first batch of peaches ( early May) did not peel well so made a quick trip to the grocery for BETTER peaches.
OK. All set now. Arrived at the step to add yogurt. Oh-oh my yogurt is spoiled. Back to store
End results. Perfect muffins worth the extra effort!!!
★★★★★
I used GF all purpose flour with these and they still came out amazing!
★★★★★
Did you add any extra liquid to the GF version?
Would strawberries work instead of peaches? (Minus the cinammon and allspice)?
Sure! Or you may love these Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins as well!
Can you use frozen peaches in this recipe?
Hi Madeleine, you can use chopped frozen peaches – do not thaw.
Could this recipe be made in a loaf pan? (Life making bread) If so, how long would I cook? Can’t wait to try this recipe. Also, Could I use frozen or canned peaches if fresh are not available?
Hi Janie, This recipe should fit nicely into a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350F and we’re unsure of the exact bake time needed but it will be much longer. You can use frozen or canned peaches if needed. For frozen, do not thaw. For canned, rinse and blot them before adding to the batter. Let us know if you try it!
Can you use chopped canned peaches if you don’t have fresh!
Hi Sharon, you can use canned peaches. Rinse and blot them before adding to the batter.
I love these muffins and received grand accolades from the family. I froze half and when we ate them at a later date, they were just as delicious.
★★★★★
Made today with fresh peaches. Made 12 humongous muffins! Next time I’ll make smaller ones. These overflowed the pan at the top. They structure was so light that I really had to let them cool for about 20 minutes so they wouldn’t break apart coming out of the pan. Likely will use liners next time. My glaze came out more like icing so I thinned it. Probably skip it next time. Delicious and will make again using a bit of almond extract as some one suggested. Thanks!
★★★★★
Can this recipe be made into a cake instead of muffins?
Hi Wendy, This recipe should fit nicely into a 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350F and I’m unsure of the exact bake time needed but it will be much longer. Let us know if you try it!
Very moist, nice recipe. Not a pronounced peach flavor in spite of all the peaches. I’ll use peach yogurt next time to amp up the peachiness
★★★★
Just perfect and even more delicious the next day warmed a little in the toaster oven. Thank you for sharing another fabulous recipe! I will make this one again and again.
★★★★★
I made these yesterday. Absolutely delicious! My only change was using Penzey’s Pumpkin Spice in the batter instead of the cinnamon and allspice. And I only put a teeny drizzle of the icing because I did not want them to be too sweet. Delicious!
★★★★★
Made these for the first time today to use up some leftover peaches from canning peach jam. Quick, easy, and delicious! Adding into my baking rotation for sure. The whole house smells awesome.
These were very yummy and didn’t take much time. I’m going to make another batch to freeze. My husband said they were better than Perkins mammoth muffins.
★★★★★
Could I use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose?
Hi Gretha, You could use whole wheat flour but the muffins will be very dense and chewy. I recommend sticking to all-purpose flour. If you do want to try using whole wheat flour, I recommend starting with 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, but we haven’t tested it this way. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I always sub in a small amount of whole wheat flour when I bake so I used 1/4 cup whole wheat and the rest all purpose flour. The muffins were great. I imagine you could try 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour as well.
★★★★★