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Easy Sourdough Blueberry Muffins Recipe with Discard

Nothing says “Good morning!” like these moist and tender sourdough blueberry muffins. Use your sourdough discard to make the perfect breakfast.

Serve these tasty sourdough blueberry lemon muffins as a stand-alone fast breakfast on your way out the door or make a batch to have as part of a delicious brunch for guests or family.

Closeup of Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

What is Sourdough Discard

Sourdough discard is an unfed sourdough bread starter. Sourdough starter has to be fed (active) in order to use it to bake sourdough bread recipes. When the starter runs out of the food that makes bread rise, it’s referred to discard.

Why Bake With Sourdough Discard

When baking muffins with sourdough discard you end up with a moist and tender result with a texture resembling coffee cake. Our sourdough blueberry muffins are perfect for breakfast!

The best part is you are using something that would otherwise just get thrown away. If you’re like me you really dislike throwing something away that has another use.

Here are some more recipes that are great using sourdough discard.

Equipment Needed To Make Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins

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Muffin Tin – This is the muffin pan that I use. It bakes evenly and is of great
quality.

Mixing Bowls – I love these bowls. They come with lids so I store leftovers in them too.

Paper liners – These paper liners are greaseproof and non-stick. I use this brand
all the time.

Ingredients: flour, sourdough discard, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vegetable oil, water, brown sugar, vanilla extract, egg, blueberries, lemon juice, old fashioned oats, butter.

Ingredients For Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

  • Sourdough Starter Discard
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Salt. I use finely ground sea salt.
  • Baking Powder
  • Baking Soda
  • Ground Cinnamon
  • Nutmeg
  • Ground Ginger
  • Vegetable Oil. Canola will work.
  • Water
  • Brown Sugar. I use dark but light is fine
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Large Egg
  • Blueberries
  • Lemon Juice

Streusel Ingredients

  • Old Fashioned Oats
  • All-Purpose Flour
  • Brown Sugar
  • Butter – cold and diced.
batter mixture in process.

How To Make Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

Step One. Preheat the oven to 375 F, and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Step Two. In a large mixing bowl, on low speed with a hand or stand mixer, mix together sourdough starter, oil, water, vanilla extract, egg, and lemon juice. Muffins may be mixed by hand too.

Step Three. Once mixed, slowly mix in the brown sugar, sea salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix until combined, do not over mix.

Step Four. Add in your blueberries, fold in until combined, being careful not to squish them. If squished, your batter will turn purple!

Step Five. In a separate bowl, combine the Oat topping ingredients, for the butter, roughly dice this into small pieces before adding to the rest and then cut it into the other ingredients using two forks or a pastry cutter.

Step Six. Fill prepared cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter, and put 1 Tbsp of the oat topping mixture on each filled muffin.

Step Seven. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out mostly clean. (just a few crumbs)

Step Eight. Remove the muffins from the pan when slightly cooled. Finish cooling on a wire rack.

How to Make Streusel

Mix all of the ingredients of the streusel together with a hand mixer or mash together with a fork, pastry cutter, or potato masher.

batter, streusel, and muffin tin on a counter.

Serving Ideas

We love a great muffin recipe. They go great with our Ground Italian Sausage and Potatoes or a piping hot bowl of 13 Bean Soup. A simple Orange Salad with Quick Muffin recipe makes a great snack.

Other muffin recipes that we make all the time

Subsitutions & Additions

  • Add chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans.
  • Instead of the streusel topping, Leave it off or sprinkle the top with turbinado sugar for a delicious crunch.
  • Add lemon zest with in the muffin batter or to the streusel topping.
  • Add a basic powdered sugar glaze with a dash of lemon extract drizzled on each muffin.
  • Use strawberries or dried cranberries instead of blueberries.
Closeup of sourdough blueberry lemon muffin

How To Reheat & Store Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

Best Way To Store Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins?

Keep your leftover muffins at room temperature for 2 to 3 days in a resealable plastic bag or airtight container.

How Long Will Sourdough Blueberry Muffins Last In the Fridge?

If you would like to refrigerate the muffins, they will keep in an airtight plastic bag or airtight container for two to three days refrigerated.

Can I Freeze Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins?

Yes. Place them in a freezer-quality plastic bag or an airtight container and freeze them for up to three months.

How To Reheat Sourdough Blueberry Lemon Muffins?

Place a frozen muffin in the microwave for 20-30 seconds depending on the wattage of your microwave.

Sourdough Blueberry Muffin Recipe FAQs

Can I use frozen blueberries to make sourdough blueberry muffins?

Yes! I’ve successfully used fresh and frozen. I love the organic wild blueberries. They
are smaller but pack a lot of flavor.

Make sure they’re not covered in ice crystals. Too much liquid can cause muffins to be dense. You can add them directly from the freezer to the recipe or if you thaw them make sure any extra liquid is drained from them.

How can I make my muffins lighter and fluffy?

Make sure your ingredients are room temperature before mixing. That will assure that the muffins properly expand when bakes which is what makes them light and fluffy.

Also, make sure that your baking soda and baking powder are fresh and active. Our Baking Basics post will show you how. Don’t overmix the batter. Overmixing causes muffins to be dense and flat.

What is the secret to making moist muffins?

Acidic ingredients help keep muffins moist. In this recipe, the sourdough discard provides the acidity to make these muffins moist.

I also used dark brown sugar. It is less drying than white sugar. You can use light brown sugar if that’s what you have.

Can I substitute melted butter for oil in muffins?

Yes, you can substitute butter for vegetable oil. For this recipe melt 5 1/3 tablespoons of
butter and then let it cool a bit.

sourdough blueberry muffins in a muffin tin.

Tips to Make the Best Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

The muffin papers that I recommend are greaseproof and don’t stick. If you’re unsure of your liners, spritz them with a little non-stick cooking spray.

Don’t overmix the batter. That will make these muffins dense and tough.

Fold in the blueberries, especially if they’re frozen. Using the mixer can break the berries up.

For more lemon flavor, use 1 teaspoon of lemon zest. You can also replace some of the vanilla extract and half lemon extract. Lemon extract can be very powerful so be careful.

Preheat your oven to make sure it’s up to temperature before baking and don’t open the door unnecessarily.

Don’t overbake the muffins. They’re done when tested only a few crumbs are stuck to the toothpick. The toothpick doesn’t have to be totally clean.

Remove them from the muffin tin as soon as you can handle them to stop them from baking.

Let the muffins cool completely before removing the paper liners. They will pull back from the sides and not stick to the muffin papers.

Streusel Tips

Apply the streusel topping right before baking. You don’t want the topping to absorb the
moisture from the muffin batter which will prevent your topping from being crumbly.

Don’t mix your streusel topping with using your hands. The heat of your hands will soften the butter.

Don’t cut the butter too finely into the streusel. That will keep the topping from being
crumbly. You want the butter cold and crumbly, not fine.

Other Sourdough Discard Recipes You’ll Love

Sourdough discard makes recipes soft and tender. If you love soft and tender discard recipes, give our Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies and these Sourdough Pancakes a try.

Start your own Sourdough journey!

If you’re interested in starting your own sourdough bread journey, you can start your own sourdough starter. This Overnight Sourdough Bread recipe is my #1 post! Homemade Sourdough Bread with All-Purpose Flour is a keeper too!

sourdough discard blueberry muffin on a plate.

Don’t Forget To Come Back And Let Me Know How Your Sourdough Discard Blueberry muffins Turned Out!

3/4 angle of a Blueberry Muffin topped with streusel sitting on a white plate.

Sourdough Blueberry Muffin Recipe with Discard

Author: Julie Menghini
Serve these tasty sourdough blueberry lemon muffins as a stand-alone fast breakfast on your way out the door or make a batch to have as part of a delicious brunch for guests or family.
4.69 from 16 votes
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Bread, Breakfast
Cuisine American
Keyword: Blueberry Muffins, Sourdough, Sourdough muffin
Servings: 18

Ingredients
 
 

Muffin batter

  • ½ cup sourdough starter discard
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp salt I use fine sea salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/3 cup oil – vegetable or canola
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar – I use dark but light is fine
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg – large egg
  • cup blueberries – fresh or frozen thawed and drained
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Streusel topping

  • 1/4 cup oats – old fashioned
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp butter – cold and diced

Instructions
 

Muffin batter

  • Preheat the oven to 375 F, and line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
  • In a large mixing bowl, on low speed with a hand or stand mixer, mix together sourdough starter, oil, water, vanilla extract, egg, and lemon juice. Muffins may be mixed by hand too.
  • Once mixed, slowly mix in the brown sugar, sea salt, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix until combined, do not over mix.
  • Add in your blueberries, fold in until combined, being careful not to squish them. If squished, your batter will turn purple!
  • In a separate bowl, combine the Oat topping ingredients, for the butter, roughly dice this into small pieces before adding to the rest and then cut it into the other ingredients using two forks or a pastry cutter.
  • Fill prepared cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter, and put 1 Tbsp of the oat topping mixture on each filled muffin.
  • Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the toothpick comes out mostly clean. (just a few crumbs)
  • Remove the muffins from the pan when slightly cooled. Finish cooling on a wire rack.

Nutrition

Calories: 171kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 92mgPotassium: 94mgFiber: 1gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 98IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 32mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer

This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!
Recipe Rating




Kathy Phillips

Friday 2nd of February 2024

I mill my own flour from wheat berries. Made the AP flour with 1/3 hard white, 1/3 soft white and 1/3 Kamut. Used 250g of this mixture in the muffins and 35g in the topping. They turned out GREAT!!

Julie Menghini

Saturday 3rd of February 2024

I've never done that Kathy but I bet it's amazing. Thank you for sharing!

Savannah

Friday 11th of February 2022

The recipe made 12 muffins…not 18. Also, they were not sweet enough…pretty bland. 1/3 cup of brown sugar is not enough…The recipe ingredients and ratios need some adjusting too. 3/4 cup of water!? Really? For example, adding ginger to a lemon and blueberry muffin is a little unnecessary. I am not quite impressed with this recipe and will be using another sourdough blueberry muffin recipe in the future.

Julie Menghini

Saturday 12th of February 2022

A muffin is not a cupcake. We vetted this recipe outside of our kitchen with great results. Sorry it wasn't successful for you.

Erin

Wednesday 12th of January 2022

Made and served these to my kids last week as a celebration for back to school, and they are so good. I love using my sourdough starter for more things than just bread. We'll definitely make this again.

Min

Tuesday 11th of January 2022

Yum! Love this so much. Big hit with the family. Will be making this again!

Julie Menghini

Friday 14th of January 2022

So glad you enjoyed them Min! Thank you!

Sheila Thigpen

Monday 10th of January 2022

I love that this blueberry muffin recipe uses sourdough discard and that they were so delicious! Now, it will never go to waste!

Julie Menghini

Tuesday 11th of January 2022

I'm glad that you enjoyed them, Sheila. It's one of my favorite ways to use discard.

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