This is a quick and easy recipe that makes for a really tasty weekend treat. These sweet (but not too sweet) sourdough blueberry muffins call for some of your daily sourdough starter discard to be mixed into the dough for added flavor. Because the recipe doesn’t rely on leavening power from the starter (just the wonderful flavor), you can use sourdough discard from that day’s refreshment, or you can use some from a jar you might have in the fridge holding discard over the course of the week (the “discard cache,” as I like to call it).
Let’s talk about muffins in general. I’m not a huge fan of overly sweet muffins. Growing up, my choice was always for the “healthy muffin” at the bakery, usually containing some mix of whole grains, dried fruit, and occasionally grated carrot. It felt like these muffins were a convenient way for the bakery to use up any leftover ingredients from other baked goods, then dubbed healthy on account of the whole grains in the mix. And I love them!
So keeping with my proclivity toward less sweet, these sourdough blueberry muffins with 30% whole grain spelt flour fit the bill. While they still lean sweet, they’re not cloyingly so, and I’d say even a little hearty, given the whole grain flour in the mix. If you don’t have whole-grain spelt flour, feel free to substitute it for any whole-grain flour in your pantry.
The flavor of these muffins is slightly tangy from the sourdough starter and sour cream, punctuated with a pop of natural sweetness each time you encounter a blueberry. I love the addition of whole-grain spelt which brings a wholesome, nutty flavor to these muffins. In terms of texture, these are incredibly tender with a distinctive crunch from the raw sugar topping.
Speaking of the sugar topping, don’t skip this! The sugar sprinkled on the top of the batter before baking forms a sweet, crunchy layer on the top and helps add a textural counterpoint to the soft muffin base below.
What If I Don’t Have Fresh Blueberries?
If you don’t have any fresh blueberries in your refrigerator, that’s ok! These sourdough blueberry muffins turn out exceptionally well using frozen blueberries from the freezer. If you go this route, be sure you skip defrosting and leave them frozen. Additionally, skip the step that calls for mashing some of the blueberries. Instead, fold the frozen blueberries into the batter after you toss them in flour, as indicated in the recipe.
Tossing the blueberries—frozen or fresh—ensures they grip the batter and help suspend them throughout, preventing most of them from sinking to the bottom when the muffins are baking in the oven.
A Note On Baker’s Percentages vs. Measuring By Volume
You might notice this recipe has ingredients measured by weight instead of volume. I develop these recipes like sourdough bread recipes: using baker’s percentages. This helps me adjust the ratio of fat to sugar to flour to liquid in a much easier and more precise way, but it’s also just a habit here in my kitchen: my favorite kitchen scale is always on the counter and ready to be used!
But perhaps more importantly, weighing ingredients is always a little more accurate. However, for ingredients included in small quantities, such as baking powder and baking soda, I measure by volume because they would require a kitchen scale with sub-gram precision, which not all bakers own.
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Sourdough Blueberry Muffins
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Cuisine: American
Description
Super tender and delicious blueberry muffins made with discarded sourdough starter, part whole-grain flour, and a healthy measure of whole blueberries.
Ingredients
- 145g all-purpose flour
- 65g whole-grain spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (2g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (3g)
- 100g butter, melted and slightly cooled (just shy of one stick)
- 150g sugar
- 105g egg (2 large eggs)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4g)
- 70g ripe sourdough starter
- 52g sour cream
- 270g blueberries
- zest of one lemon (optional)
- turbinado sugar for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F (200°C).
- In a small bowl, weigh out the called for blueberries. In another small bowl, transfer about 50g of the blueberries and mash with a fork.
- In a medium mixing bowl, measure out the called for flour. Remove about a tablespoon of this flour and add it to the bowl with whole blueberries, tossing the blueberries to evenly coat with the flour.
- Add the salt, baking soda, and baking powder to the flour and whisk to combine.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the melted and slightly cooled butter with the sugar. Stir to dissolve.
- Add eggs to the butter and sugar, one at a time, mixing after each until incorporated. Add vanilla.
- Measure out the sour cream into a measuring cup and combine it with the sourdough starter. Stir until smooth. Add this mixture to the butter/sugar and mix to combine.
- Add the zest of one lemon (optional), the mashed blueberries, and the sourdough starter mixture to the butter/sugar and mix to combine.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar, mixing just until no dry bits of flour remain. Fold in the floured blueberries.
- Line a 12-cup muffin tin with muffin liners, and fill each well to the rim. Sprinkle coarse sugar over each well (optional).
- Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 10 minutes then reduce the oven to 350°F (175°C) and bake for 25-30 minutes longer until the tops are slightly golden.
- Remove muffins from the oven and cool for 5 minutes in the pan. Then remove them to a wire rack. Store loosely covered on the counter.
Notes
- Sour cream can be substituted with full-fat yogurt.
- Whole grain spelt can be substituted with whole wheat flour.
- You can use frozen blueberries in place of all, or some, of the fresh blueberries, but use them frozen straight from the freezer (don’t thaw). If using frozen, don’t mash a portion as called for in the recipe. Instead, toss them with some flour and fold them into the batter as directed.
What’s Next?
After making these sourdough blueberry muffins, if you’re looking for more sourdough starter discard recipes, you might like strawberry shortcake with drop biscuits (you could even use any leftover blueberries from this recipe!), or your new go-to sugar cookies.
104 Comments
Hi Maurizio, This is now officially the website I will go to for sourdough discard recipes.
I made these muffins as written, only had to sub WW flour since I didn’t have spelt and I used frozen blueberries. I love the lemon zest!! I don’t normally like muffins much but these were great- not too sweet and chock full of blueberries! Thank you!
Appreciate that Jeannie and so glad you liked these!
Hi Melania! Can you please share how much did you use for coconut oil and yogurt? Thank you!
Altitude — I didn't see a note about this… is this recipe for high altitude like some of your bread recipes are? Or do I need to adjust. I'm in CO at 5,400 feet.
I baked these as-is here at 5280ft. Just keep an eye on baking and make sure theyre colored how you like!
These were great tho I would use 50% less sugar next time (I did reduce the sugar, but not enough). I used oil in place of butter as its getting very expensive now in NZ. Thawed frozen blueberries and it worked fine (read Maurizio's comment after baking them). Baked these in an air fryer and could only fit six https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/40cc3d1d19d5d8b051909741bdcb6b113e37f68e78e23ba967b9759c059e2298.jpg halved the receipe
A great, tasty recipe. I did make some alterations. I used just under 1/2 cup coconut sugar (decreasing the amount of sugar and substituting coconut sugar for regular sugar).
I read the comments about cooking time being too long. I definitely agree with them. Once I turned down the heat to 350, I cooked them for 12 minutes and they were perfect.
Love these. Swapped the blueberries for frozen cranberries 🥰 and replaced the sugar with Maple sugar.
Great swaps there, Shelley!
Another great recipe, thanks. The recipes using discard are so good. I agree with others who thought the sugar amount in these was excessive. I cut it in half, which was fine. A little more than that might be just about right – I’ll keep experimenting.
This has become a family favorite! My kids get so excited when I make these! Thank you for a wonderful recipe that will become a cherish part of my children’s childhood memories!
I was gifted some sourdough starter recently and this was my first recipe using it. I used bread flour instead of the recommended blend, but that was my only alteration. I took them out of the oven when the tops browned, around 25 minutes total baking time. The muffins turned out beautifully! Flavorful, but not too sweet. Don’t skip the lemon zest—it really makes them sing!
So happy you liked these, Shannon! I'm with you on the zest, it makes them something special. Enjoy!
This was the first thing I baked with my first sourdough starter I made since last week with your instructions! The batter turned out amazing, thank you! Just the sugar and lemon maybe was a bit too much for me, next time I'll try with half for each.
So glad you liked these! Yeah, the sugar and lemon can easily be adjusted next time. Enjoy!
Made these with frozen mixed berries since that is what I had, and they came out delicious. At the recommendation of a previous reviewer I checked the muffins at 25 minutes total (10 min at 400, 15min at 350 – confirmed with a thermometer) and they were definitely done! My muffin pan is on the darker side, so was happy to have this advice to avoid burned muffins 🙂 Reduced the sugar by about 30 grams and may try to further reduce next time – also would like to try with more whole wheat flour percentage.
Nice work there, Stephanie. These would be wonderful with whole wheat!
These turn out lovely. My two teen boys loved them and have asked me to make them again. It is a great way to use up discard.
So glad you guys liked em Nancy! (My kiddos love them, too 🙂)
I love love LOVE these muffins. I’ve substituted raspberries for another fun option. I’ve also increased the vanilla & used chocolate chips.
Any ideas on how I could modify this to make lemon poppyseed or orange cranberry muffins??
Love the idea of choc chips! Both those sound really good. I'd start with a small amount of poppy in the batter. Check out our poppyseed loaf for an example: https://www.theperfectloaf.com/tangy-lemon-poppyseed-loaf/
These are my go-to summer muffins BUT in case anyone else wants to create something more seasonal for winter, these can easily be made in cranberry orange muffins. I followed the recipe exactly — just replaced blueberries for cranberries and orange zest for the lemon zest. They are incredible! Maurizio you have provided the sourdough perfect muffin base!!
REALLY great swaps there, Kelsey!