17 Tips To Make The Best Muffins Ever!

Looking for the best tips and tricks to make the best muffins ever?!
You’re at the right place!

Indeed, I’ve had to learn some of those tricks the hard way, but you don’t have to!
These tricks will help you have moist, fluffy, and high domed muffins every time.

1. Make Sure Your Ingredients Are Room Temperature

I’ve learned that the devil is in the details when it comes to baking. Indeed, the smallest thing can impact the overall result of your recipe.

One of those detail is the temperature of your ingredients. You’ll understand that I don’t refer to dry ingredients such as flour and sugar but more specifically to eggs and butter.

To ensure moist and fluffy muffins every time, make sure to bake with room temperature ingredients such as butter which should be left on the counter 1 hour before baking.
You might be surprised to learn that warm eggs are thinner than cold ones. Hence, they are easier to mix and blend easier with the batter.

✦✧ Pro Tip: To warm eggs, simply put them in a bowl with warm water (not boiling) for 10 minutes.

2. Testing Your Leavening Agents (Baking Powder and Baking Soda)

How to make big top muffins? Use FRESH baking powder and baking soda!
If you had your boxes in your pantry for more than 6 months, you might want to buy a new one.
Yup! They start losing their power after 6 months!

You see, baking is science, there is a chemical reaction that happens when baking soda mix with baking powder and liquid. It creates carbon dioxide which promotes the lift of your muffins.

✦✧ Pro Tip: Test the power of your baking powder by combing 1 teaspoon with ½ cup of warm water. If it bubbles, it means it’s active.
✦✧Test baking soda by combining it with a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice. If you see bubbles, you are good to go!

3. Always Separate Dry Ingredients From Wet Ingredients

I hate dishes as much as you do, but using 2 separate bowls is not to create more dirty dishes for nothing.
How to make fluffy muffins? One way is to keep your dry ingredients separate from your wet ingredients until the very end of the muffin preparation process.

Why? Simply because if you mix your wet and dry ingredients in the same bowl at the same time, the leavening agents (baking powder and baking soda) will activate prematurely.
In consequence, the chemical reaction that makes big tops muffins had already happened before you put the muffins in the oven.
Skipping this advice will lead you to dense and flat muffins.

4. Don’t Over Mix Your Batter

Unfortunetly, I’m guilty of making this mistake many times…!
My perfectionist tendency couldn’t bare seeing a textured muffin mixture, in my head it had to be extra smooth.
WRONG!

Mixing your muffin preparation is a crucial moment in the making of a muffin recipe.
You want to make sure you mix enough so that all the dry ingredients are wet and distributed to prevent biting into flour.

That being said, restrict yourself from over-mixing the batter since this will destroy the air particles, giving you very dense and flat muffins.
Additionnally, an over-mixed batter will develop gluten strands and then your muffins will be tough to chew!

Mixing the batter is the wrong term, you want to FOLD the batter gently with a spatula.
For the love of god don’t make my mistake and use an electric mixer😅

5. Add Sour Cream or Mayonnaise For Moist Muffins

Hear me out!

What sour cream or mayo has to do with baking muffins right?
Well! You’ll be surprised!
First of all, you don’t taste the mayo or sour cream in your recipe, not even a little.

Second, it’s the secret to moist muffins. Indeed, the ingredients found in mayo (eggs, oil, and vinegar) actually boost the moisture and fat in muffins.
Also, the acidic component of mayo (and sour cream) react well with baking soda setting the proteins in the flour and therefore giving a higher rise to muffins.

✦✧ Substitution Tip: 3 tablespoons = 1 egg

6. How to Make Soft Muffins? Add Oil and Butter

Now I know there are some healthy alternatives like applesauce and mashed banana, but let’s be real, if you want to make bakery style muffins, you need FAT.
There, I said it.

Adding oil and butter to your muffin recipe will give them a soft and fluffy texture, there is no substitute for oil and butter that gives the same results.

Do you want Jumbo Muffins?
Oil can help with that. Indeed, adding oil to your muffin mixture slows the hydration of proteins in muffins which slows down the baking process.
When your muffins cook slower they peak at the top and will give you a cafe style muffin, big and fluffy.

Should you use oil or butter to make the best muffins ever?

On one side, butter is more flavorful than oil, but on the other side, butter is not 100% fat like oil is.
If you use only butter, your muffins won’t be as soft as if you used oil.

Why not use a little bit of both to achieve perfect muffins?

7. Rinse Your Fruits!

Adding fruits to your muffins is such a great idea to level up their taste.
That being said, no one likes to eat a blue muffin right?

Rinsing your fruits (fresh and frozen) prior to adding them to your muffin batter will prevent it from changing color.
Simply rinse your fruits until the water runs clear, and dry them gently in a paper towel before adding to the mixture.

It’s important to add fruits at the very end of the process to prevent them from getting squished and juice from leaking into the batter.

8. Let Your Batter Rest

One of the most overlooked tips when making muffins is to rush the batter into the oven as soon as it is mixed.
Letting your batter rest overnight is simply one of the best tips for bakery style muffins.

When you batter is mixed, you want to let it chill overnight in the fridge.
This will allow the starch to absorb the moisture and relax making soft, tender, and taller muffins!
When your batter rests, it will thicken and you’ll get beautiful muffin tops.

In a rush? If you can’t let them rest overnight, even 1h of rest can help in softer and taller muffins.

9. Prepare Your Muffin Tins Correctly

If you ditch the liners, your muffins might be more dense than with a liner. That being said, it’s important to properly grease your muffin tins before pouring the batter.

Why do I like muffin liners? It’s easier to get the muffins out of tins and the cleaning process is less messy!

There are many types of liners out there, paper, aluminum, silicon (reusable), or glassine.

10. Rice to Prevent Greasy Stains on Your Liner

If you want perfect-looking muffins, you might want to add a tablespoon of white dry rice to the bottom of the tins.

The rice will absorb the excess oil and moisture from the muffins leaving your muffin with a consistent color and clean of stain liners.

11. Use an Ice Cream Scoop to Fill Your Muffin Tin

Transfering your muffin batter to your muffin tins can be messy and it doesn’t have to be.
One of the best tricks is to use an ice cream scoop to scoop your muffin batter into your muffin liners.

It’s fast and easy and prevents making a mess or wasting your muffin batter.

11. Layer The Batter To Taste Your Fruits In Every Bite!

Making blueberry muffins but the blueberry all sink at the bottom of the muffin?
Been there.

The trick is to layer your batter into your muffin tins, so simple!
Layer plain batter at the bottom of your tins first. Then, add the fruit batter on top of it.
This will help your fruits to stay on top and evenly spread into your muffins making every bite a tasty one.

12. Don’t Be Afraid to Fill The Muffin Tins

How to make big muffin tops? Fill them up!

I know most of the muffin recipes say to fill the tins 2/3 max, but I say screw that.
If you want your muffin big, don’t be afraid to fill your tins 3/4 or even all the way to the top.

Yes, your muffins will cook over the tins BUT you’ll definitely get that muffin top you crave for.

13. Final Touch – Raw Sugar

This optional is totally optional but it can definitely be a final touch that differentiates good muffins from GREAT muffins.

Adding raw sugar on top of your muffins is a professional final touch.
The raw sugar won’t melt under high temperatures and your muffins will have a nice crunchy top.
Sprinkle raw sugar on your muffins just before putting them in the oven, and voila!
It’s too easy to not do it.

14. Important: Pre-Heat The Oven

It’s the first step in every baking recipe. You might think it’s unnecessary. think again!

Indeed, as previously said, baking is science and you can just improvise and expect great results. Every step is calculated and has a purpose.

Pre-heating the oven is one of those steps that can be overlooked, but can make the difference in the muffins you’ll get.
As a matter of fact, pre-heating your oven promotes an even rise in your muffins, it saves you cooking time, and your muffins are cooked evenly.

✦✧Pro Tip: It’s best to set your oven to 75 degrees Fahrenheit higher than what the recipe calls for before putting your muffins in.
This will help keep a steady temperature as you lose the heat when you open the door to put your muffins in.

15. Leave The Oven Door Closed!

I know it’s easy to want to check on your muffins by opening the oven door but restrain yourself.
As mentioned, the cooking temperature is crucial to obtain big tops soft and moist muffins.
Every time you open the oven door, you lose 150° or more!

That rollercoaster of temperature can ruin your muffin batch.

Check your muffins through the window and wait until the cooking time is over to test them.

16. Test Your Muffins With a Toothpick

The ultimate way to know when your muffins are ready is the good old toothpick trick.
Of course, they’ll be signs that your muffins are baked like golden brown color or texture forming.

That being said, you can never assume if your muffins are fully cooked inside just by looking at them. That’s an easy way to end up with uncooked muffins.

To test your muffins, stick a toothpick in the center of a muffin, if the toothpick comes out clean, your muffins are cooked.
If the toothpick comes out dirty, your muffins need to bake a little longer.

17. Let Your Muffins Rest on a Cooling Rack

Don’t waste time, as soon as your muffins are out of the oven, place them on a cooling rack.

Why is that? Well! the muffins continue to cook if you leave them in the muffin tin that is extremely hot right out of the oven.

The cooling rack is not another kitchen gadget. On the contrary, by elevating your muffins, you allow the airflow to cool underneath your muffins too, this will keep them fresh longer.

To Sum It Up!

There you have it!
17 best tips and tricks to ensure perfect muffins every time! Making muffins is fun and easy, but there are important steps to respect during the process.

Hopefully, this post was helpful for you!

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