Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Closeup image of a gluten free blueberry muffin with a light golden brown topping sits on a wire cooling rack among several other muffins.

4.99 from 68 votes

These tender gluten free blueberry muffins have big, craggy tops and plenty of juicy berries, with no chilling, special pan, or mixer needed!

Prep Time15

Cook Time20

Course: Muffins

Cuisine: American

Keyword: blueberries, butter, buttermilk, eggs, gluten free blueberry muffins, gluten free flour, lemon juice, white sugar

Servings: muffins

Author: Nicole Hunn

Ingredients

For the muffin batter

¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) buttermilk at room temperature
10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 (100 g out of shell) eggs at room temperature
2 ½ cups (350 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (See Recipe Notes)
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum (See Recipe Notes)
¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups (250 g) fresh or frozen blueberries (See Recipe Notes)

For topping

1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter melted, optional
Coarse sugar for sprinkling, optional
2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar optional, for sprinkling

Instructions

Make the muffin batter

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Grease and/or line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffins liners. Set it aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, lemon juice, and eggs until well combined.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.
Toss the blueberries in about 1 tablespoon of the dry mixture to coat. Set them aside.
Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the wet mixture and mix until just combined. The batter will be thick.
Use a silicone spatula to gently fold in the floured blueberries until evenly distributed, taking care not to burst the berries.
Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, piling it a bit more toward the center of each well, if possible. The cups should be completely full.
Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using. And/or sprinkling the brown sugar evenly on top.

Bake the muffins

Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350°F.
Finish baking the muffins at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in the center (and not in a blueberry) comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs attached (10 to 12 minutes more). When the muffins are done baking, the tops will also spring back when pressed gently in the center.
Let muffins cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Video

Notes

Flour blend/xanthan gum tips
These muffins work best with a well-balanced gluten free flour blend like Better Batter, with an extra 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum for taller muffins, or Nicole’s Best with 1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum (a bit more than usual per cup for muffins, so they rise tall). If using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1, add 3/4 teaspoon extra xanthan gum to avoid a crumbly texture since the blend has some, but not enough, binder.

For DIY blend instructions, visit my all purpose GF flour blends guide.

Using frozen blueberries
Don’t thaw them! Use straight from the freezer and toss in dry ingredients before folding into the batter.

Dairy free version
Use half plain dairy-free yogurt and half unsweetened non-dairy milk, by volume, instead of buttermilk. Swap butter for block-style vegan butter (like Miyoko’s or Melt brand). And be sure to choose a dairy free flour blend.

Nutrition