Easy Blackberry Sourdough Muffins

Fresh blackberries grow outside the side of our house and we make these all July long, the perfect use of leftover sourdough starter at a time we aren’t baking as much bread. Adding plenty of course sugar on top gives them a bakery-style look without the hassle of a crumb topping. I won’t even make you get out two bowls. Such an easy discard recipe for a lovely homemade breakfast.

Three things make these muffins absolutely perfect: the tender, moist crumb, the burst of the tart berries, and that satisfying sugar crunch on top. The sourdough starter adds the slightest tang that isn’t sour at all. Everyone loves them.

What You’ll Need

If you’ve somehow stumbled on this recipe and don’t have a sourdough starter, add a ¼ cup more flour and ¼ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt.

As written, this recipe makes 12 muffins. If you have an extra muffin tin, it will double beautifully. Use the 2x button on the recipe card at the bottom of the post and it will calculate everything for you.

Muffin Batter

• ¾ cup white sugar
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil (or substitute with melted unsalted butter)
• 1 egg
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup milk (whole or 2% are both fine)
• ½ cup sourdough starter – doesn’t need to be active, day-old discard works perfectly
• 1¾ cup blackberries (halved if large)

Topping

• Coarse sparkling sugar for topping

Instructions

Prep

First things first – get your oven heating to 400°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. I always position my oven rack in the center because these muffins bake best with even heat all around them.

Mix Your Dry Ingredients

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until everything’s evenly distributed.

Add the Wet Ingredients

Add your oil (or melted butter), milk, egg, and sourdough starter right to the dry ingredients. Now comes the most important part: stir gently until just combined. It’s okay if the batter looks a little lumpy, as long as the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stop stirring the second everything comes together. Overmixing will get you dense, tough muffins.

Fold in the Blackberries

Using a spatula, carefully fold the blackberries into the batter. If your berries are big, cut them in half first. Be gentle here so you don’t smash the berries.

Fill and Top

Scoop the batter into your muffin cups, filling each about ⅔ full. I use a large cookie scoop but a ¼ cup measuring cup works too. Then sprinkle that coarse sparkling sugar generously on top…generously! This is what gives you that amazing crunch contrast.

Bake

Pop them in the oven for 18-23 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through. Start checking at 18 minutes with a toothpick .You want it to come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Cool and Enjoy

Let them cool in the tin for 5 minutes (this helps them hold their shape), then transfer to a wire rack. They’re perfect warm or at room temperature.

Storage Instructions

These muffins stay fresh and moist for 3-4 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

If you want to keep them longer, they freeze beautifully for up to 3 months. Wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap, then toss them all in a freezer bag. To thaw, just leave them on the counter for about an hour, or pop a frozen one in the microwave for 30 seconds. The texture stays perfect, and that sugar crunch comes right back.

Easy Variations to Try

Lemon blackberry: Add the zest of one lemon to your dry ingredients and replace 1 tablespoon of the milk with fresh lemon juice. I make this version quite often.

Mixed berry: Swap out some of the blackberries for raspberries or blueberries. I like doing half blackberries, half raspberries. Just keep the total amount at 1¾ cups.

Crumb topping: Skip the sparkling sugar and make a simple crumb topping instead. Mix ¼ cup flour, ¼ cup brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons cold butter (cut into small pieces) until it looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle on top before baking.

Vanilla glaze: For something a little fancier, drizzle cooled muffins with a simple glaze made from 1 cup powdered sugar, 2-3 tablespoons milk, and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.

Questions and Troubleshooting

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