These classic gluten free blueberry muffins are crisp on the outside, soft and tender inside. So easy to make, and they taste just like they came from your favorite bakery!
What makes these the best gluten free blueberry muffins?
These gluten-free blueberry muffins are the perfect sweet treat for any occasion. The buttery muffins are light and fluffy, with a burst of flavor from the sweet-tart blueberries.
For extra texture, each muffin is topped with crunchy sugar that adds just enough sweetness to make them irresistible. Perfectly moist and flavorful, these delicious treats are sure to be a hit with everyone!
These are my favorite gluten free blueberry muffins, studded with big fresh blueberries. And they're really easy to make. They're made with plenty of butter, buttermilk, and granulated sugar for the most tender, decadent type of muffin.
The combination of sweet-tart berries and light yet fluffy muffin batter creates an incredible flavor combination. Plus, each bite is packed with healthy antioxidants thanks to the tiny burst of juice found in every blueberry. No matter what the occasion, these scrumptious yet simple muffins will make your day a little sweeter!
The taste is perfect, but the incredibly tender texture and perfectly craggy top are the real reasons I love these gluten free muffins. Resist the urge to add more blueberries, or they'll take over the whole muffin, add too much moisture and your muffins may even sink and become dense as they cool. You want to taste that sweet, moist muffin crumb for your gluten free breakfast.
Tips for perfect blueberry gluten free muffins every time
This recipe for gluten free muffins is simple. Even if you're a total newbie to gluten free recipes. But these tips will help you get perfect, delicious blueberry muffins every time.
Begin baking your gf muffins at 400°F
Baking your muffins for a few minutes of their baking time at a higher temperature activates the baking powder quickly, and helps your muffins rise into a high dome. Be sure to lower the oven temperature after the first few minutes, or they'll burn on the bottom, though.
Don't defrost frozen blueberries
Adding frozen blueberries to muffin batter is much better than defrosting them first. The cold berries help keep the muffins from becoming over-mixed, which can lead to a dense and gummy texture. Frozen blueberries also retain their natural juices, which helps keep the muffins moist and light.
Plus, your batter will be beautifully flecked with specks of blueberry color. Just add the frozen berries straight from the freezer to the muffin batter when the recipe calls for it for perfectly delicious gluten free blueberry muffins!
Prevent frozen berries bleeding
Keep them in the freezer until right before you're ready to add them to the muffins. Working quickly, toss the still-frozen berries in some of the dry ingredients and add them to the prepared batter as directed.
Finally, fold the frozen berries into the soft gf blueberry muffin batter. Treat them like you would whipped cream or egg whites that get folded in to batter like we do in our gluten free angel food cake.
Help stop the berries from sinking
If you toss the blueberries in the dry ingredients before adding them to the batter, the berries are more likely to stay spread evenly throughout the muffins.
Second, be careful about how you scoop your muffin batter into the wells of the tin. The top of the scoop becomes the bottom of the muffin, so avoid having lots of berries down there! You can even try lining the well of each muffin tin with some plain batter before scooping the rest in, berries and all.
Finally, use the right muffin batter, like in this recipe. This batter is thick, and not like a liquid at all, so the berries don't sink to the bottom!
Choose the right gluten free flour blend
Admittedly there are a lot of gluten free flour blends to choose from. But they're not all great. This recipe calls for an all-purpose gluten free flour blend, based on superfine rice flour.
I used Better Batter gluten free flour (the classic blend), as it's my preferred choice for this type of baking because of its consistent performance and texture. But did you know you can also make your own gluten free flour blend that will work perfectly in this and many other recipes?
Can I freeze these gluten free blueberry muffins?
Yes! You can freeze the muffins once completely cool.
Freezing gluten-free blueberry muffins is a great way to enjoy these tasty treats later on without having to make them fresh each time.
Once the muffins have cooled completely, place them on a baking tray in the freezer until frozen and then move them to an airtight freezer-safe container or zip-top bag.
And because these muffins freeze so well, you can make a big batch and store some away for those busy days when you don’t have time to bake from scratch.
To refresh a frozen muffin, microwave it for 30 to 45 seconds at 50% power or until even the berries are defrosted. For that just-baked texture, sprinkle lightly with some tap water, and bake at 250°F in a toaster oven for 5 to 10 minutes.
Try vanilla extract
Sometimes, I replace the lemon juice with pure vanilla extract. I personally prefer the lemon juice because it helps to balance the sweetness of the sugar and berries. However, if you really love vanilla, or you're just out of lemon juice, this is a great substitution.
Replace blueberries with other fruit
If you don't have blueberries, but you do have raspberries, you can make these into gluten free raspberry muffins. If your raspberries are fresh, follow the recipe as written, only substituting that one ingredient.
If your raspberries are frozen, follow the instructions above for frozen blueberries. You might be able to make this recipe with fresh strawberries if you slice them into chunks about the size of a blueberry.
You cannot make them with frozen strawberries. They can't be sliced into proper chunks without defrosting them first, and they will add way too much moisture to the raw batter.
How to make the easy gluten free blueberry muffins
To make the best blueberry muffins gluten free, we want a thick muffin batter that will hold the blueberries in the batter as the muffins bake, but it should never be stiff. The gf blueberry muffin batter should be soft enough to allow you to mix in the blueberries without breaking them.
Combine room temperature wet ingredients
We begin with unsalted butter that's been melted and cooled until it's no longer hot to the touch, and whisk it together with the other wet ingredients: room temperature buttermilk, lemon juice, and eggs. If any of these ingredients is cold, the other ingredients will clump and won't combine fully to make a smooth gf blueberry muffin batter.
Whisk together dry ingredients
We want to ensure that all the dry ingredients are fully combined with one another, so we don't have pockets of blueberry muffin batter that have too much of one ingredient and not enough of another. Then, we toss the blueberries in a bit of the whisked dry ingredients to help keep them from sinking in the batter, and combine the wet and dry ingredients.
Transfer the gf blueberry muffin batter, and add the optional toppings
There is enough batter to fill the wells of my standard muffin tin completely full, which is part of how the muffins rise into a beautiful dome. To add some texture and extra crunch to that muffin dome, you can brush your muffin batter with a little bit of melted butter and sprinkle coarse sugar lightly on top.
Substitution suggestions for gluten free blueberry muffin ingredients
While my recipe for gluten free muffins is perfect and one of my absolute favorites in its current state, there may be times when you need to make additional changes to cater to dietary needs and preferences other than just being gluten free.
Gluten free dairy free blueberry muffins
For a dairy-free buttermilk substitute, mix together half plain dairy free yogurt and half unsweetened almond milk. Or, if you don't like almond milk, then use your favorite dairy free milk as long as it's not nonfat and is unsweetened and unflavored.
If you need to replace the butter in the recipe, Melt and Miyoko's Kitchen vegan butter are great options. With these easy swaps, your gluten-free and dairy-free blueberry muffins will be delicious!
Gluten free egg free blueberry muffins
To make this gluten free blueberry muffin recipe egg-free, you can use a “chia egg” in place of each of the two eggs called for.
To prepare a chia egg, mix 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds with 1 tablespoon lukewarm water in a small bowl and allow it to sit until it thickens and forms a gel-like consistency.
With these simple substitutions your muffins will be delicious and free from eggs! You may also be able to use pre-packaged egg replacer, usually aquafaba, although I've never tried.
Gluten free corn free blueberry muffins
This recipe calls for an all purpose gluten free flour blend, specifically Better Batter, that's lightened into more of a gluten free cake flour by adding cornstarch. If you can't have corn, try using arrowroot or potato starch.
If you're using a high-starch all purpose gluten free flour blend like Cup4Cup, use an extra 36 grams Cup4Cup in place of cornstarch.
FAQs
Can I make these gluten free muffins using regular milk?
No. Honest-to-goodness buttermilk from the dairy case at your grocer isn't just regular milk that's been soured.
Real buttermilk is thicker and creamier than milk that's simply had some lemon juice added to it. But you can still replace it if you don't have buttermilk.
If you don't have buttermilk in the house, you can use half unsweetened milk and half sour cream or plain yogurt by volume. You can also use plain kefir in place of buttermilk without any other adjustments to the kefir.
How do I make my gluten free blueberry muffins light and fluffy?
You can make your gluten free muffins light and airy by following me recipe to the letter! Make sure your eggs and buttermilk are at room temperature, that the oven is at the correct temperature when you put them in the oven, and that you're using fresh dry ingredients—including baking powder that isn't out of date.
If you've added too many berries or plain milk instead of buttermilk, your muffins will have too much moisture and will likely end up dense from rising and then falling as they cool. Measure and select your ingredients carefully!
How to make healthy gf blueberry muffins
This original recipe was a lighter version but I've since moved away from that recipe. The original recipe was lower in both sugar and fat.
If you're looking for a whole grain version of gluten free blueberry muffins, you might prefer our oat flour blueberry muffins recipe.
If you're interested in the lighter recipe then the ingredients that change are listed below:
- 7 tablespoons (98 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled (in place of 10 tablespoons butter)
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar (in place of 1 cup (200 g))
- 3/4 cup (170 g) Greek-style plain yogurt, at room temperature (addition)
- 1 egg (50 g, weighed out of shell) + 2 egg whites (50 g), at room temperature (in place of 2 eggs)
All other ingredients remain the same. The muffins will be smaller and less tender since fat and sugar are tenderizers in baking, and the lighter version has less of both.
Gluten free blueberry muffins: the method
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins | Tender and Delicious
Ingredients
For the muffin batter
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) buttermilk at room temperature
- 10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; click link for details on appropriate blends)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch See Recipe Notes
- 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 the optional topping
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter melted
- Coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Make the muffin batter
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Grease or line a standard 12-cup muffin tin that is light in color, and set it aside.
- In a medium-size bowl or measuring cup, place buttermilk, melted butter, lemon juice, and eggs, and whisk to combine well. Set the mixture aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Transfer 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients to a small bowl, add the blueberries and toss to coat. Set the berries aside.
- If using frozen berries, set the tablespoon of dry ingredients aside to use after the rest of the batter has been prepared.
- Create well in center of large bowl of dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Mix until just combined. The batter will be quite thick, but soft.
- Add the blueberries and reserved dry ingredients, and gently fold the berries into the batter just until they are evenly distributed throughout.
- If you’re using frozen berries, remove them from the freezer, rinse them quickly and toss in the reserved dry ingredients. Fold them carefully into the batter, working quickly.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 prepared muffin wells, filling the wells almost completely. Smooth the tops with wet fingers.
Add the optional topping
- Brush the tops lightly with the optional melted butter, and sprinkle the tops lightly with the optional coarse sugar.
Bake the muffins
- Place the muffin tin on the top rack of the preheated 400°F oven, and bake until the muffins are beginning to dome (8 to 10 minutes). Reduce the oven temperature 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).
- Remove the muffins from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutritional information is approximate, and does not include the optional butter and coarse sugar topping.
Nutrition
Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins | Tender and Delicious
Ingredients
For the muffin batter
- ¾ cup (6 fluid ounces) buttermilk at room temperature
- 10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons (1 fluid ounce) freshly-squeezed lemon juice
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature
- 2 ½ cups (350 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I used Better Batter; click link for details on appropriate blends)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons xanthan gum omit if your blend already contains it
- ¼ cup (36 g) cornstarch See Recipe Notes
- 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 the optional topping
- 1 tablespoon (14 g) unsalted butter melted
- Coarse sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
Make the muffin batter
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Grease or line a standard 12-cup muffin tin that is light in color, and set it aside.
- In a medium-size bowl or measuring cup, place buttermilk, melted butter, lemon juice, and eggs, and whisk to combine well. Set the mixture aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Transfer 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients to a small bowl, add the blueberries and toss to coat. Set the berries aside.
- If using frozen berries, set the tablespoon of dry ingredients aside to use after the rest of the batter has been prepared.
- Create well in center of large bowl of dry ingredients and add the wet mixture. Mix until just combined. The batter will be quite thick, but soft.
- Add the blueberries and reserved dry ingredients, and gently fold the berries into the batter just until they are evenly distributed throughout.
- If you’re using frozen berries, remove them from the freezer, rinse them quickly and toss in the reserved dry ingredients. Fold them carefully into the batter, working quickly.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 prepared muffin wells, filling the wells almost completely. Smooth the tops with wet fingers.
Add the optional topping
- Brush the tops lightly with the optional melted butter, and sprinkle the tops lightly with the optional coarse sugar.
Bake the muffins
- Place the muffin tin on the top rack of the preheated 400°F oven, and bake until the muffins are beginning to dome (8 to 10 minutes). Reduce the oven temperature 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).
- Remove the muffins from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack. Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutritional information is approximate, and does not include the optional butter and coarse sugar topping.
Helen says
Made these this morning for Mother’s Day and they turned out so so amazing! I used fresh raspberries, and did 1 tablespoon of almond extract instead of the lemon juice, and they were delicious! Thank you Nicole :)
Nicole Hunn says
That sounds amazing, Helen! So glad you enjoyed them.
Bert stauff says
forgot to read about frozen blueberries, but came out beautiful anyway.
Simone says
You mentioned substituting raspberries or strawberries. Do you think blackberries would also work? Thanks
Nicole Hunn says
That’s a good question, Simone. I find that blackberries aren’t great for baking until they’re cooked and strained of seeds. But if you like blackberries in muffins, despite the prominent seeds, I don’t see why not. I’d try to select smaller blackberries, though.
Dee Simpson says
So easy and honestly the best blueberry muffins ever! Even my husband who doesn’t always eat gluten free raves about them! Thanks Nicole 😁
Nicole Hunn says
That’s the holy grail of gluten free baking, when we prove it to the gluten eaters, Dee! :)
Kim says
These Blueberry Muffins are the best!
Thank you!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Kim!
Crystal says
My frozen wild blueberries tend to get ice on them. Should I rinse the ice off before tossing them in the batter? Or should I get the ice off another way?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Crystal, that’s a great question. I wouldn’t suggest rinsing them, no, since they’ll defrost even when you rinse them with cold water. First, try to buy bags of larger blueberries, not the tiny ones. Then, this is my usual tactic: take the bag of berries, still closed, and drop it a few times flat on the counter. That will help separate the berries from the larger clumps of ice. If there’s still more ice than seems like a good idea, you can select the best berries and place them in another closed bag and shake it around. You should be okay after that!
Christine says
What could be substituted for the 1/4 cup corn startch?
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the section of the post titled “Gluten free corn free blueberry muffins”
Diane Pollock says
I love your recipes. Instructions are so, so clear. But I need to go on a pre-diabetes plan. So are any sugar substitutes okay? Are there any specific ones that I should use?
Nicole Hunn says
Thank you for the kind words, Diane. Sugar substitutes are tricky, since they tend to be drying in baked goods, so you’ll often have to add additional moisture. Watch the how-to videos carefully and look carefully at the photos and try to mimic the raw texture of the batter you see. I like Lankato brand monkfruit alternative sugars, and Truvia is pretty good, too. I hope that helps!
Diane Pollock says
Thank you. I’ll start to experiment.
Judy says
These were fantastic! I didn’t have enough berries so I cut the recipe in 1/ 2. And still had to add a T of raisins.
Nicole Hunn says
Great idea to cut the recipe in half. I actually have a 6 cup muffin tin that I use more often than I would have expected to!
Maime says
YUMMY
MaryAnn Hubele says
Could this recipe be used for chocolate chip muffins?
Nicole Hunn says
No I don’t recommend that, MaryAnn. Instead, please use my recipe for gf chocolate chip muffins!
Linda says
Quick update to my comment:
Forgot to mention, had no buttermilk, so used half greek yogurt and half milk mixed well.
Also, made in mini muffin tins because, hey, for me, it helps with portion control. These are so delicious, I would devour them all! :)
Love this recipe, Nicole!! Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
So glad you enjoyed them, Linda! If you use Greek yogurt, I’d recommend using more milk than yogurt for the proper balance. It’s less important with the minis, but for future reference. Just try to mimic the texture of buttermilk. :)
Linda says
Took them out of the oven 20 min ago, and my husband has inhaled a few already. Okay, so have I . LOL. They are scrumptious!
Loretta says
I have powdered buttermilk. Can I reconstitute it and use it just as fresh?
Nicole Hunn says
No, I’m afraid that won’t work, Loretta. I love using powdered buttermilk as an ingredient, sometimes in place of powdered milk, but it doesn’t make anything approaching the consistency of buttermilk when reconstituted.
Emelia says
My son has to eat gluten free. He doesn’t like blueberries, can I substitute raspberries instead of the blueberries ?
Nicole Hunn says
Yes, Emelia. I discuss that specifically in the post. You can read through the post itself, or just search “raspberries.”
Donna says
I’ve got these in oven right now. Batter looked good. Can’t wait to taste!
Lizzie says
Hi Nicole!
I made these today with frozen blueberries and they were amazingly light and moreish! The recipe is easy to follow and pretty quick to make – no-one would know that these are gluten free! Thank you so much! xxx
Nicole Hunn says
Well that’s absolutely lovely to hear in every way, Lizzie. Thank you so much for letting me know!
Candice says
These are in the oven and they smell SOOOOO good!! Mine are not as light since I used full fat milk and yogurt as that was what I had. But excited about the less sugar for the kiddos. And if they taste half as good as they smell, they will be inhaled like cupcakes:) Thanks for another great recipe. Keep ’em coming!
Stacy says
Yum! Just made these for my office staff tomorrow….had to do some quality control tasting and they are fabulous! Light, slightly sweet with a nice crunch from the sugar on top. Made as listed with cup4cup (given to me as a gift…too $$$ for me). Thanks for another winner!
Shruti Nath says
Just made these!!
I substituted the eggs with egg replacer. They rose beautifully in the oven but did fall flat a bit when I took them out. Super fluffy tho! I didn’t use liners coz I didn’t have any, just buttered the muffin tin and these popped out quite nicely.
Thank you so much! I’ve always loved baking but haven’t been able to since going gf. Thank you for bringing back baking to me!!
Jenn F. says
Do you have an approximate calorie count?
Jennifer S. says
Yummy! I just bought a big container of blueberries so I’ll be making these today I think – I hope they freeze well for breakfasts on the go! :) I’ll let you know how it goes….
melissa says
Have you tried this with an egg substitute?
Jennifer S. says
I do a lot of Nicole’s recipes with egg beaters with great success – just note that you have to use a little bit more than directed to get the rise you want.
Donia Robinson says
Reference gotten.
Jennifer S. says
Me too and dang it I thought that hair band was in the 90’s not the 80’s. I’m not ready for the 80’s to be retro.
Anneke says
I got it, too, but I think I am actually older then all of you, including Nicole! Can I use the excuse that my kids love that song?