I go straight for the best part with my Blueberry Muffin Tops - because nobody is fighting over the bottom of a muffin. They are soft, fluffy, and golden brown, packed with blueberries, and baked with a simple buttery crumb topping that gives bakery all day long.
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You know that saying "if I had a dollar for every..."? Seriously, I could be rich off of all of the blueberry muffins I've made in my professional career when all I really wanted for myself was a crispy and fluffy Blueberry Muffin Top.
These blueberry muffin tops are made with a thick Greek yogurt muffin batter that bakes up tender, puffy, and full of blueberries. The new crumb topping adds just enough buttery crunch without covering up the berries.
I used to finish these with a vanilla glaze, but the crumb topping makes more sense here. It bakes right on top, adds texture, and feels more like the muffin top you were probably going to pull off first anyway.
Jump to:
Why you'll love this recipe
- Best part - This is all muffin top. No bottom. No apologies.
- Buttery crumb topping - The simple flour, sugar, and butter topping bakes into sweet little crumbs with just enough crunchy contrast to the tender muffin top.
- Thick batter - Greek yogurt keeps the batter thick and helps the muffin tops bake up soft and fluffy.
- Blueberries in every bite - We're not skimping on the blueberries. They are the star 🤩
- Easy breakfast bake - These feel bakery special, but the process is straightforward enough for a weekday morning while your coffee is brewing.
Ingredients & Substitutions
This is a pretty standard setup of muffin ingredients, but I have a few substitutions you can easily make if you are missing anything, because you need these muffin tops in your life.
- All-purpose flour - If you have lots of self rising flour, from making my 2-ingredient biscuits, my 3-ingredient pancakes, or my Easy English muffins, you can use that here! Just skip the baking powder and the salt when gathering your ingredients, as self rising flour contains those.
- Plain Greek yogurt - You need the thickness of Greek yogurt to make these muffin tops rise up rather than spread out. If you don't have Greek yogurt, sour cream will do the job!
- Unsalted butter - Melted butter goes into the batter for flavor and tenderness. Cold cubed butter goes into the crumb topping so it bakes into little buttery crumbs. I always use unsalted butter because there is no standard amount of sodium across different brands of salted butter, but if you only have the salted kind, just cut the amount of added salt in half.
- Salt - I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt in all of my recipes, both sweet and savory, so I always know how salty things will be. If you have a favorite salt, feel free to use it, but if using regular table salt, you might want to reduce the amount as it actually has a saltier flavor than kosher salt.
- Sugar - I use regular granulated sugar, or table sugar, in the muffin batter, but you can use brown sugar if you want a richer muffin top.
- Blueberries - Fresh blueberries are easiest because they do not add extra moisture to the batter. Frozen blueberries can be used, but add them straight from the freezer and know that they may streak the batter a little. It is fine. The blueberries are just making themselves known.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Have extra blueberries? You've got to try my Sour Cream Coffee Cake! With any combination of berries folded into a tender coffee cake, and topped with a crumbly streusel, it's perfect at any time of day!
Variations
- Strawberry - Replace the blueberries with an equal amount of diced strawberries to make my strawberry muffin tops.
- Cinnamon streusel - Skip the berries altogether and add ½ teaspoon cinnamon to your dry ingredients. Make a streusel by mixing 2 tablespoons brown sugar and ¼ cup all-purpose flour. Use a fork, or your fingers, to cut in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter and a pinch of salt. Flatten each muffin mound just a bit and sprinkle crumb topping on top before baking.
- Banana - Reduce the yogurt to ¼ cup and add one mashed banana to your wet ingredients. Follow the recipe as written.
Go big blue! Grab some extra blueberries because you need to try this creamy and refreshing Blueberry Yogurt Smoothie to sip alongside your blueberry muffin top!
Cynthia's Recipe Review
This is the muffin top I want with coffee. Soft in the middle, lightly crisp on the edges, blueberries everywhere, and a crumb topping that just makes me happy.
Instructions
Making muffin tops is quick with this easy recipe. This is a thicker batter, so that your muffin tops will rise up, rather than spread out. Then you just need to scoop and bake.
As always, I encourage you to read all the instructions, look at the pretty pictures I took, and then bake yourself something delicious. Let's get into it!
- Heat your oven to 400°F and grease a muffin top pan or line a large sheet pan with parchment paper. Then melt your butter and allow it to come to room temperature while you get started on the batter.
Step 1: Add the flour, sugar, cold cubed butter, and a tiny pinch of salt to a medium bowl.
Step 2:Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you have a crumbly topping with some small crumbs and a few larger buttery pieces. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while you make the muffin batter.
Step 3: In a large bowl, whisk together the Greek yogurt, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
Step 4: Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt to the wet ingredients. Whisk well until everything is fully combined.
Step 5: Add the all-purpose flour and use a silicone spatula to fold it into the wet ingredients until the batter is about halfway mixed. You should still see large amounts of flour. Continue folding the batter while slowly drizzling in the melted and cooled butter.
Step 6: When the butter is almost fully mixed in, add the blueberries and fold just until the last of the dry ingredients disappears and the butter is fully incorporated.
The batter will be thick, and that is what we want. A loose batter spreads too much, and we are making muffin tops, not blueberry pancakes.
Step 7: Use a medium scoop or two spoons to portion the batter into the wells of your muffin top pan, or scoop onto a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
If using parchment paper, place six mounds per pan, using 2 baking pans, so they have room to spread.
Step 8: Place a ring mold or the ring from the top of a mason jar around one mound of batter. Sprinkle the crumb topping inside the ring so it stays mostly on top of the muffin batter. Lift the ring straight up and repeat with the remaining muffin tops.
Finish: Bake at 400°F for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the muffin tops are puffed, lightly golden around the edges, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Let the muffin tops cool in the pan or on the sheet pan for about 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack. Eat one warm because that is the whole point of baking at home.
Cynthia's Helpful Tips
- Keep the batter thick - Thick Greek yogurt or sour cream helps the batter hold its shape and keeps the muffin tops soft and fluffy.
- Do not overmix - Fold the flour in gently and stop as soon as the batter comes together. Overmixing can make muffin tops tough.
- Add the blueberries at the end - Fold them in when the butter is almost fully mixed in so they stay whole and do not turn the batter completely purple.
- Use a scoop - A scoop keeps the muffin tops evenly sized so they bake at the same rate.
- Use a ring for the crumb topping - A ring mold or mason jar ring helps keep the crumb topping on top of the batter instead of scattered all over the pan.
- Give them room - If you are using a parchment-lined sheet pan, leave room between each mound of batter., preferably on two sheet pans.
Serving suggestion
These are absolutely the blueberry muffin tops of my dreams, but they are even more dreamy if sliced in half, like a fluffy biscuit, and schmeared with a spoonful of my simple lemon curd. Try it and then drop me a comment telling me how right I am 🤗
Recipe FAQs
Yes, but add them straight from the freezer and do not thaw them first. Frozen blueberries can streak the batter a bit and may add 1 to 2 minutes to the baking time.
Yes. Scoop the batter onto a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper, leaving a few inches between each mound. They may spread a little more than they would in a muffin top pan, but the batter is thick enough to bake into soft, puffy muffin tops. Just in case, I would bake them on two sheet pans.
Best eaten the same day, you can store these muffin tops in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Reheating can be a challenge due to the glaze, but can be reheated in the oven or microwave until warm. For best results, do not glaze until ready to serve.
Did you try this recipe?
Please consider leaving a comment with a ⭐️ rating below and tell me all about it! It helps me to continue to improve my content and lets others know what you think!
I appreciate it so much!
-Cynthia
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Muffin Tops with Crumb Topping
Recommended Equipment
- Parchment paper if using a sheet pan
- Silicone spatula
Ingredients
For the crumb topping
- ¼ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons (36 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- Tiny pinch of kosher salt
For the blueberry muffin tops
- ½ cup (125 g) Greek yogurt room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- ⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ¼ cups (150 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly spray a muffin top pan with nonstick spray, or line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Make the crumb topping. Add flour, sugar, cold cubed butter, and a tiny pinch of salt to a medium bowl. Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you have a crumbly topping with some small crumbs and a few larger pieces. Place in the refrigerator while you make the batter.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
- Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Whisk well until fully combined.
- Add the all-purpose flour and use a silicone spatula to fold it in until the batter is about halfway mixed. You should still see some dry streaks of flour.
- Continue folding the batter while slowly drizzling in the melted and cooled butter.
- When the butter is almost fully mixed in, add the blueberries. Fold just until the blueberries are evenly distributed, the last of the dry ingredients disappears, and the butter is fully incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be thick.
- Use a medium scoop or two spoons to portion the batter into the prepared muffin top pan, or scoop onto a large sheet pan lined with parchment paper. If using parchment paper, leave a few inches between each mound.
- Place a ring mold or mason jar ring around one mound of batter. Sprinkle crumb topping inside the ring so it stays mostly on top of the muffin batter. Lift the ring straight up and repeat with the remaining muffin tops.
- Bake at 400°F for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the muffin tops are puffed, lightly golden on the edges, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Let cool in the pan or on the sheet pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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Notes
- Greek yogurt: Use thick Greek yogurt or sour cream for the best shape and texture. Regular yogurt is usually thinner and can make the muffin tops spread more.
- Frozen blueberries: You can use frozen blueberries, but do not thaw them first. Fold them in straight from the freezer and add 1 to 2 minutes to the baking time if needed.
- Crumb topping: Keep the crumb topping cold until you are ready to sprinkle it over the muffin tops. Cold butter helps the topping bake into crumbs instead of melting flat.
- Sheet pan option: Scoop the batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan and leave a few inches between each mound. They may spread a little more, but they will still bake into soft, fluffy muffin tops. Just in case, I would recommend putting six amount of dough onto two separate sheet pans.
- Ring mold tip: Use a ring mold or mason jar ring to keep the crumb topping in place. Set the ring around each scoop of batter, add the crumbs, then lift the ring straight up.
- Storage: Store fully cooled muffin tops in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- Freezing: Freeze cooled muffin tops in a single layer until firm, then transfer to a freezer bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 2 months.
- Reheating: Warm muffin tops in a 300 F oven for 5 to 8 minutes, or until heated through.
I know I already commented, but I tried something today,, I liquidfied a peach and added it to the mix,along with adding the blueberries,, give a hit of peach, turned out yummy.
Oh my gosh thank you for trying something and letting me know how it worked out. That looks and sounds delicious!
I made these today, used the 4 inch silicone muffin top pans, doubled the recipie, I got 12 of the big tops, came out nice and thick like I like them.
Awesome!
Just made these but substituted the flour for Wholemeal a d used a raw sugar/stevia blend to reduce the sugar a bit. Turned out great!!
Awesome! 🙌