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Home » Kitchen Guides » Blueberry muffins, what could go wrong?

Published: May 11, 2020 · Modified: Mar 16, 2023 by Veronica T

Blueberry muffins, what could go wrong?

4 blueberry muffins, cut in half, standing in a line

It's hard to beat bakery-style blueberry muffins. You can make them at home, but a few problems might pop up. I'm here to address those problems so you can make the best muffins in your own kitchen.

  • Why do blueberries sink to the bottom & what to do about it
  • Using fresh vs frozen blueberries
  • Blueberries turning red or green after baking
  • Accidentally turning your batter blue
  • The size of blueberries and their effect on how high the muffins rise
  • Sugar toppings caramelizing on the pan
  • Recommended recipes

Why do blueberries sink to the bottom of muffins, and what to do about it

This has been a problem for as long as people have been adding blueberries to muffins. The age-old wisdom to coat blueberries in flour, unfortunately, does nothing to stop them from sinking.

Blueberries can sink if the batter is too thin, but I don't remember that last time I used a recipe that resulted in a thin batter. They are all quite thick, which made me question if the problem isn't actually caused by gravity.

I am not a scientist and don't have tools to measure blueberry movement through batter as it bakes, but I have a theory anyway: when scooping batter into the muffin tins, we are unknowingly placing blueberries directly into the bottom of the cups.

A scoop of blueberry batter next to the muffin in made, to show how blueberries don't sink, but are scooped into the bottom
A scoop of blueberry batter and the resulting muffin

In the above picture, I loaded up a spatula, and plopped it into a muffin tin. Those numbered blueberries (which were coated in flour) all ended up on the bottom of the tin - not from sinking, but from my own careless placement.

How to keep blueberries off the bottom of muffins

My tests confirm coating blueberries in flour doesn't work, as do several test-based cooking sites like Serious Eats.

But that's ok, because there's an even easier, and very reliable trick to fix this: line the bottom of the muffin tins with 'plain' batter before adding in the blueberries.

Two blueberry muffins, side by side, one with blueberries on the bottom, the other had ¼ of the tin filled with plain batter.

Here's how to do this:

  1. Make your favorite blueberry batter recipe, but don't add in the blueberries yet (which are always the last step anyway).
  2. Place a little of the plain batter (about 1 TBSP) in each muffin tin - just enough to provide a layer on the bottom.
  3. Add blueberries into the remaining batter, and fill the muffin cups the rest of the way up (which is usually ¾ full).

Fresh vs frozen blueberries

Both fresh and frozen blueberries work great in muffins. In fact, when testing them side-by-side, I had a really hard time telling a difference in flavor. However, there are some differences in how they interact with the batter.

Fresh blueberries are very easy to work with - you just fold them into the batter and you're done. They are sturdy and don't break (which would lead to a blue-dyed batter). Peak-season berries also taste wonderful and I encourage you to use them in everything.

However, off-peak blueberries can be lacking in flavor. You can fix this by making a syrup that you add to the batter (more on this later). Alternatively, frozen blueberries are usually packed with flavor, as they are picked at peak ripeness and immediately frozen.

Frozen blueberries are best when added to the batter completely frozen. They will cook up perfectly during the baking process. On the flip side, if the berries thaw before being added to the batter, they will release a lot of juice and bleed blue into the entire batter (see the section about the batter turning colors).

Blueberries can turn red or blue-green

An alkaline (basic) environment can turn blueberries a bluish green color. The opposite, an acidic environment, can turn them reddish.

Comparison of blueberries that turn red or green
Left: blueberries tossed in lemon juice turned reddish. Right: blueberries that turned slightly green after baking.

Baking soda is alkaline and baking powder has both alkaline and acidic components. Don't swap them in recipes though, as they have different properties. Chowhound has a great article explaining the difference between the two, along with buttermilk's acidic role in recipes.

The amount of alkaline ingredients in a muffin recipe aren't enough to cause a problem. Instead, the color-changing reaction happens when baking soda or powder isn’t evenly mixed in, creating little alkaline pockets that turn nearby blueberries green. So be sure to whisk your dry ingredients together to prevent this from happening.

Some people toss blueberries with lemon juice to get that deeper red-purple color (shown on the left in above picture). This is often done in pies but can also be done in muffins.

Realistically, it doesn't matter unless you expect the people who eat your baked goods to be scrutinizing them.

Blueberries can turn your batter blue

Not only can the batter's acidic or alkaline environment change the color of your blueberries, the blueberries can bleed into your entire batch of batter. You might not care, since it has no effect on the flavor.

When the batter turns blue, the muffin tops are more brown and look like they were made with whole wheat flour. The interior is a blue or blue-green color.

A comparison of what blue batter looks like baked up, compared to batter that didn't get dyed.

As noted above, I filled each muffin tin with plain batter to keep blueberries off the bottom. Since I didn't add the blueberries in that step, the batter wasn't dyed yet. But you can see how the top half is a blueish green color from the blue batter (muffin on the left).

How to prevent this?

First of all, this only seems to be a problem when using frozen blueberries, as any thawing will release juices that bleed into the batter on contact. Fresh blueberries are sturdy enough that they don't cause problems.

I've noticed some bags of frozen blueberries have thawed at some point in transit (including my own time getting them home). When this happens, the berries might be coated in some juice, dying everything, including your measuring cup or your hands.

If you want to keep the dye out of the batter, pat them dry with a paper towel, then toss in flour to absorb any die. When you fold them into the batter, the color transfer will be minimal.

Getting a higher rise

Muffins that rise properly have a good texture and crumb. If they don't rise enough, they are disappointingly small and dense.

When testing different types of berries, I noticed a pattern in how high they were rising. It seemed that smaller blueberries, or batter that had less berries, rose better. So I tested another batch to isolate these variables.

3 blueberry muffins from left to right: no blueberries rose high, large blueberries didn't rise as much, and a muffin with small blueberries rose as much as the one without blueberries.
Berry size effect on rise height. Left to right: no blueberries (control), large blueberries, small blueberries.

I made another batch of batter and separated it into thirds. One had no blueberries, another had large blueberries, and the last had small blueberries. I precisely measured the batter that I put into each muffin tin.

I expected the no-blueberry batter (left) to rise higher, but it didn't - it was about the same as the small-blueberry version (right). The large berry muffins (center) were all noticeably smaller and had a denser texture that was a bit disappointing.

I'm still not a scientist, but if I had to guess, the larger berries make it harder for the batter to rise around them. The smaller berries create more space and are lighter, possibly allowing the berries to rise with the batter.

For smaller blueberries, go wild

There are two categories of blueberries: cultivated and wild.

  • Cultivated blueberries are planted and cared for by farmers or home gardeners. These are almost always what you find in the fresh produce department at grocery stores as well as farmers markets.
  • Wild blueberries are a plant native to North America that are harvested where they grow. They are quite a bit smaller than cultivated ones. You can usually find them frozen.
Blueberries lined up by size, the larger ones are twice the size of the smaller ones

This picture shows the size difference between cultivated and wild blueberries, as well as the variance within their respective types.

The majority of wild blueberries in frozen bags are significantly smaller in size than cultivated berries, as shown in the last row of the above picture. However, about 10% were larger in size (as shown in row three). Whereas cultivated blueberries are actually pretty uniform in size and on the larger end of the scale.

Since wild blueberries are smaller, on average, they are perfect for muffins. It's rare to find them in the grocery store fresh produce section or at a farmers market. However, you should be able to find them frozen is most grocery stores, but they are usually twice the price (or more) than cultivated berries.

Fresh blueberries work as well, but be sure to not overload the batter - in this case, more is not better.

Getting the most flavorful muffins

For a more blueberry-flavored muffin, the first solution that comes to mind is adding more blueberries. Sadly, that doesn't work - too many can make the muffins fall apart and inhibit the rise. However, adding a blueberry syrupy-jam does work. This is also a great solution if your fresh blueberries are lacking in flavor.

It's actually quite simple to do. Cook 1 cup of blueberries with 1 teaspoon of sugar in a saucepan and simmer until it reduces to about ¼ cup of sauce. That leaves you with 1 teaspoon of blueberry sauce per muffin (there are 12 teaspoon in ¼ cup).

After you fill the muffin tins with the blueberry-studded batter, swirl this sauce in on the top using a chopstick, a straw, or whatever is lying around.

A picture of muffins with blueberry sauce swirled into the top
Muffins with blueberry sauce swirled into the top

Sugar toppings

Some muffins are meant to be healthy and can be eaten for breakfast, guilt free. But blueberry muffins are best with a full cup of sugar and a sugar topping. Sometimes life needs a little indulgence.

Three sugar topping options:

  • Lemon-sugar - in my opinion, the best option. You mix lemon zest with granulated sugar and add it to the top before baking. It cooks up to that classic crackled-sugar top and adds and nice brightness to the flavor. (See note below if you use this).
  • Cinnamon sugar - after baking, dip the muffin tops in melted butter, then into a bowl of cinnamon-sugar. It actually gives them a noticeable extra buttery flavor, along with a hint of cinnamon.
  • Streusel topping - another good option, although if you aren't in love with streusel toppings, I'd suggest the other two for more flavor.

Lemon-sugar topping tips

This topping can caramelize if the sugar spills over onto the pan. It's not going to affect the muffin quality in any way, but can create a mess.

Muffins in the pan with sugar that caramelized around the edges
#1 is a muffin tin that was overfilled and the lemon sugar topping caramelized as it hit the pan.
#2 is a ¾ full muffin tin where the sugar hit the edge and caramelized.

To prevent it you can do the following:

  • Don't fill the muffin cups to the top. Most batter recipes make enough to fill the tins ¾ full anyway, but if were trying to be clever to fill them to the top to get a larger muffin, the sugar topping might spill over onto the pan as it rises.
  • Be careful to keep the sugar away from the edges of the muffin cup, even when filling it ¾ of the way full.

If this happens, I have a few tips for you:

  • Be careful not to touch it with your fingers. It will stick to you and burn (it's caramel now).
  • Do try to separate the muffin edge from the caramel with a knife, or the muffin will stick to the pan and you'll have to tear it out.
  • Soak your pan. I have a good non-stick pan and it wasn't too much of a hassle to clean.

My recipe recommendations

After all of my tests, I've settled on the best recipe. It's a combination of the "Famous Jordan Marsh department store blueberry muffin" recipe published by King Arthur Flour and the berry-swirl technique from Cook's Illustrated.

My recommended blueberry muffin recipe
Taking the best elements from popular recipes results in the ultimate muffin.
Check it out
A picture of blueberry muffins in the tin

The batter from the Jordan Marsh / King Arthur recipe turns out better. It uses a mixer to beat the butter with sugar, and it also has twice the amount of butter. The Cook's Illustrated recipe uses melted butter (no need for a mixer), buttermilk, and vegetable oil.

However, the Cook's Illustrated recipe's use of the blueberry syrup/sauce is a great idea. They also add lemon to the sugar topping, another addition I prefer. When I incorporate those into the Jordan Marsh / King Arthur recipe, it was the best of both worlds.

If you are looking for a healthier blueberry muffin, try the whole wheat version from Cookie + Kate. It adds some subtle flavors with cinnamon, honey, and coconut oil (unrefined will taste slightly more coconutty).

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Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    April 24, 2025 at 2:05 pm

    Loved this post! I’ve always been intimidated by baking, especially muffins, but your tips about ingredient quality and mixing techniques make it sound so much more approachable. Can't wait to give your blueberry muffin recipe a try!

    Reply
    • Veronica T says

      April 24, 2025 at 5:31 pm

      If you want to be even more confident, get an instant-read thermometer for baking. I know everyone thinks thermometers are only for meat, but I use them so much more in baking. One of the easiest ways to ruin any baked good is by under- or over-cooking it. It's SOOO hard to tell when they are done just by looking at them, and the toothpick test is mediocre at best. A thermometer makes sure they are perfect every time. I can't bake without it now! Here's a list of internal temperatures for different types of baked goods. I try to always give those temps on my recipes, but if you follow someone else's recipe, this will come in handy: https://blog.thermoworks.com/baked-good-doneness-temps/

      Reply
  2. Jalwa Game says

    April 20, 2025 at 12:30 am

    I loved this post! It was so interesting to see the different factors that can affect blueberry muffins. I never realized the type of blueberries could change the flavor so much. Definitely going to pay more attention to my ingredients next time!

    Reply
  3. In 999 says

    April 05, 2025 at 9:40 am

    I loved this post! It’s true, blueberry muffins can seem simple, but there are so many little things that can go wrong (overmixing, underbaking, too many or too few blueberries). I appreciate the tips you provided to avoid those pitfalls. I can’t wait to try your recipe!

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says

    April 05, 2025 at 9:15 am

    I loved this post! Blueberry muffins are my favorite, but I’ve definitely had my share of muffin mishaps. It's so easy to overmix or misjudge the baking time! Thanks for the tips on avoiding those pitfalls – I can't wait to bake a batch!

    Reply
    • Veronica T says

      April 06, 2025 at 4:41 pm

      I'm glad to have helped! When I mess up, I find myself oddly excited now, so I can help other people NOT mess up 🙂 At least most mishaps still taste good.

      Reply
  5. 66 lottery game says

    March 23, 2025 at 7:18 am

    What a fun take on blueberry muffins! I never thought about the potential pitfalls, but it makes so much sense. I've definitely had my share of overmixed batter and soggy bottoms! Your tips on troubleshooting are super helpful, especially the baking time adjustment. Can’t wait to try the recipe!

    Reply
    • Veronica T says

      March 24, 2025 at 5:42 pm

      Glad to have helped and hope you enjoy the muffins.

      Reply
  6. The Appreciator says

    July 12, 2023 at 6:51 pm

    Was googling to find out why my blueberry muffins looked like asphalt mixed with the blood of ancient entities and got scientifically sound research. Love this website

    Reply
    • Vee says

      July 17, 2023 at 6:44 pm

      This is the best description of blueberry muffins gone wrong. You made my day, and glad I could help.

      Reply
  7. Mere says

    August 28, 2022 at 4:56 pm

    In the part you say you measured the batter precisely when seeing which rose best I think you should have measured out the same exact amount of batter for each but then added the berries after. Since of course the space the berry is taking up will not rise it is not muffin mix!

    Reply
    • Vee says

      August 28, 2022 at 6:00 pm

      Oh that is a very good point. I will try this again and update the post 🙂

      Reply
  8. Susie says

    June 23, 2022 at 2:07 pm

    This may seem strange..but I find that omitting eggs from blueberry muffin recipes gives a cleaner pure blueberry flavor without egg getting in the way..also neutral oil vs. butter..which actually would be vegan. I'm not vegan but I think that's the key to a blueberry tasting muffin. The old Fanny Farmer cookbook has an eggless recipe too.

    Reply
    • Vee says

      June 23, 2022 at 9:37 pm

      Thanks for sharing. I'll have to try that myself now, and see how the blueberry comes through 🙂

      Reply
  9. Carli says

    July 24, 2021 at 12:06 pm

    Hello! I was searching for recipes using frozen blueberries and your site came up, so being that I had never heard of it, I decided to click on it. WELL, I have to tell you that I truly love your approach to your research! I can't wait to read other topics!

    Reply
    • Vee says

      July 25, 2021 at 9:37 pm

      Thank you very much 🙂

      Reply

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