Bake a batch of these healthy Lemon Blueberry Muffins for a family breakfast that’s bursting with flavor. They’re packed with berries and are so simple to stir together!
It’s no secret that I make a lot of muffins for kids. As a busy mom who needs to feed both the kids and myself, muffins are in constant rotation in my house because they are so easy to make, they’re endlessly versatile, and they’re easy to eat for kids and us parents.
These Lemon Blueberry Muffins are packed with berries—which is how I love them!—and have a nice bright flavor from fresh lemon zest. They have extra protein from Greek yogurt and store nicely in the fridge.
We love these for breakfast, though including muffins in a no-cook lunch also makes my kids very happy. They’d be a great option for a holiday breakfast or Mother’s Day brunch, too!
(Find my full list of healthy muffins for kids and my favorite mixed Berry Muffin, too. And if you prefer mini muffin recipes, these Mini Blueberry Muffins are great, or my Blueberry Banana Muffins.)
Table of Contents
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Ingredients You Need
Here’s a look at what you’ll need to make this lemon blueberry muffin recipe so you know what to pick up at the store.
- All purpose flour and whole wheat flour: The combo of flours here helps the muffins be light and fluffy, but still have extra fiber and whole grains.
- Baking powder and baking soda: Using a mix of these ensures that the muffins bake through properly and rise nicely.
- Unsalted butter: I prefer to use unsalted butter in my baking recipes so I can control the salt.
- Plain Greek yogurt: This adds moisture and protein. You can also use regular yogurt if that’s what you have.
- Honey (or maple syrup): For sweetness. (Avoid honey for babies under age 1.)
- Eggs: Or an egg substitute such as the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
- Vanilla extract: You can use pure or artificial vanilla extract in this recipe.
- Blueberries: You can make these with fresh or frozen berries, regular ones or frozen wild ones which are smaller.
- Lemon: Fresh lemon adds a nice burst of flavor to this recipe.
TIP: See the Notes under the recipe at the bottom of the post for all of the allergy substitutions.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here’s a look at how to make these lemon blueberry muffins. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the full recipe, including the amounts and the timing.
- Add the dry ingredients to a bowl. Mix.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Add the lemon zest.
- Stir in the blueberries gently.
- Divide among a muffin tin and bake.
TIP: You can also bake these as mini muffins if you prefer. You’ll just bake them for a slightly shorter time period.
Frequently Asked Questions
These muffins are made with less added sugars than most regular muffins and they are loaded with fresh fruit and protein. Everyone seems to have their own definition of healthy, but they fit my definition.
You can store them, once fully cooled, in an airtight container at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for 3-5. You can warm them briefly before serving if you’d like in the microwave. Or slice in half and toast slightly in a toaster oven or regular oven.
They’re great with flavored milk or a kids green smoothie. Or as a side with quick scrambled eggs in the microwave. You can also top one with a little almond or cashew butter if you’d like.
Sure! Just reduce the baking time. See the Notes at the end of the recipe for the information.
How to Store
Once cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Freeze cooled muffins in a zip top storage bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or in 15 second increments in the microwave, or at room temperature.’
Best Tips for Success
- Use fresh or frozen berries. (If using frozen berries, know that the batter will be stiff!)
- Dairy-free: Use nondairy milk in place of the yogurt and neutral oil in place of the butter.
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free cup for cup flour in place of the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour.
- Egg-free: Omit the eggs. Add ½ cup milk and increase the baking soda to 1 teaspoon.
- Mini muffins: Use a 24-cup mini muffin pan and reduce the baking time to 12-14 minutes.
- My Lemon Yogurt Muffins are another yummy lemon muffin option!
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I’d love to hear your feedback on this recipe if you try it, so please comment below and rate the recipe!
Favorite Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup honey (or maple syrup)
- ¼ cup unsalted butter (melted and slightly cooled)
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 cups blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick spray (or parchment liners).
- Add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to a medium bowl. Stir.
- Stir in the yogurt, honey, butter, eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest. Gently stir in the blueberries. (The batter will be thick.)
- Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tin, using about ¼ cup batter in each cup.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out cleanly.
- Let cool in the pan for a minute or two, then run a paring knife around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool fully.
Video
Notes
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the fridge for 3-5 days.
- Freeze cooled muffins in a zip top storage bag with as much air removed as possible for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or in 15 second increments in the microwave, or at room temperature.’
- Use fresh or frozen berries. (If using frozen berries, know that the batter will be stiff!)
- Dairy-free: Use nondairy milk in place of the yogurt and neutral oil in place of the butter.
- Gluten-free: Use gluten-free cup for cup flour in place of the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour.
- Egg-free: Omit the eggs. Add ½ cup milk and increase the baking soda to 1 teaspoon.
- Mini muffins: Use a 24-cup mini muffin pan and reduce the baking time to 12-14 minutes.
Nutrition
This post was first published March 2021.
Can I use frozen blueberries?
Sure
Awesome muffins with lots of feel good ingredients. I subbed coconut oil for the butter and they came out great.
Holy WOW these are delicious, and this is coming from someone who is usually not a muffin fan! My 2-year-old and 1-year-old have devoured four of the twelve already, and I only pulled them out of the oven about half an hour ago! I substituted oat flour for the whole wheat flour since that’s what I had on hand, and the texture is just dreamy. 10/10 all around and next time we will definitely be doing a bigger batch to freeze some!
These taste so good! I pulled them out of the oven, ate one, and went back for another. The flavor of these is amazing. I will be making these again soon.
AMAZING! I did half plain half spelt flour and they came out so so good!
Can I substitute rye flour for the whole wheat flour?
Unfortunately they did not go well for me, they didn’t cook in the middle, I think there was far too many blueberries and that’s why. A real shame as the flavour is lovely
I would also check that your baking soda is active as that could have been the cause.
Can I make this without baking Soda?
They won’t bake through properly unless you adjust the baking powder so you might be able to just use a little more baking powder.
These are AMAZING. Easy to make, great to pop in the freezer! Had to double the recipe because the adults loved them as much as the baby.
My toddler has a mild egg allergy and making muffins is part of the Rx, so we’ve tried many YTF recipes. This is our favorite so far, I’ve made several batches and they’re always a hit. Rarely do we have enough left to freeze, but they do freeze great. We tend to make them mini muffins, and find that the amount of blueberries added can be anything from 1-2 cups and they’re still great. If you use frozen, they will turn your batter purple! I always intend to add a full 2 lemons’ worth of zest, but end up zesting them toward other YTF recipes… I love that there’s so much mix and match with the ingredients on this site.
I’m so glad to hear that!
We’re working through an egg allergy and making muffins is part of the Rx! These are so easy and delicious, the whole family loves them. We tend to make them into mini-muffins and often use less blueberries than the recipe calls for. If you’re using frozen like us, stir them sparingly or you’ll get purple muffins! (Which isn’t bad, just facts.)
These look great!
If I were to use lemon juice instead of lemon zest (I dont have any lemons), how much would you suggest to use?
Thanks!
About 1 tablespoon. Enjoy!
would I be able to use vanilla Greek yogurt instead of plain and do less honey?
thanks!
I haven’t tried that but probably. If you omit the honey, I’d add 2 tbsp milk to make sure the batter has the same liquid ratio.
Love your muffin recipes so far. Just the right amount of sweetness. Given that I’m making them fairly often, I find I go through a lot of maple syrup or honey, which is pricey. If I wanted to substitute sugar and have a similar amount of sweetness, would I use a similar amount or less?
Side note: there are ads and other things loading on the site that make it tough to use. The pages reload a lot while you’re trying to read them, and also crash my browser or make my phone feel like it’s on fire. I would happily pay a small subscription fee to avoid all the ads!
You can use the same amount of granulated sugar as honey or maple syrup and add 2 tablespoons milk. Enjoy!
These were probably the best muffins I’ve ever made and I make a lot of muffins. Tried making it without eggs and they were super moist. They are the bomb.com thanks for recipe!
Easy to make, rose nicely, turned a fun light green color (frozen blueberries) that my kids tripped out on. Thank you!
First time commenting but I Just had to, this recipe is fantastic. I make it nondairy and it’s so delicious!!
I’m so glad!
Delicious! I used regular plain yogurt in place of Greek bc that’s what we had. They were quite moist, so I baked for about 23-25 minutes to try to dry them out a bit. The blueberry lemon flavor reminded me of Trix cereal I used to eat as a kid. Would make these again.
Not impressed. Filtered your website to “no eggs.” This recipe came up, I was excited, glanced at ingredients started baking, had dry stuff measured out, realized it needs eggs. One of my twins can’t have eggs. Used chia seed as substitute. Dealt with having to keep scrolling on the stupid website as it keeps loading more content, even while writing this comment. They came out mediocre, needed much longer to cook. Overall, not worth my time while they nap.
Hi- Thanks for commenting. They’re filed under egg-free as there’s a tested egg-free option in the Notes at the end of the recipe. I am sorry that you didn’t see that.
I made an orange cranberry version of these, so good!
Ps. I find they don’t turn out as well when doubling the recipe.
I would prefer these to be more sweet or have had some lemon juice in them. They rose nicely though. I did a mix of honey and syrup since we didn’t have much of either.
I don’t know what I did wrong! I followed the directions precisely — mayyyybe used a couple of tablespoons more butter than was called for — but my muffins didn’t turn out at all! Even though it looked like the muffins were rising really nicely and a toothpick came out clean on top at 20 mins, the muffins seemed to fall flat when I took them out. And more than anything, they weren’t solid at the bottom — 8/12 of them were sort of soggy on the bottom and came apart when I tried fo take them out of the muffin tray. They just wouldn’t hold together. Also, the taste of the muffins is sort of sour and tart — I don’t get any sweetness at all, despite putting in honey. Overall, a fail in taste and texture and I can’t imagine why! None of the recipes on this page have ever steered me wrong; they always come out so good! I don’t know what I did wrong this time.
Hi- that does sound like an usual outcome. Maybe check that your baking soda is fresh and active? Were the berries very sour? That’s the only reason I could think that they would taste that way after (but even so, baking them would sweeten them).
Is it possible to bake these in the air fryer – possible to please advise on the temperature and duration?
Airfryers are so much faster for busy parents. Ta
Thank you! Love all your recipes!!
Hi- I haven’t tried these in the air fryer (the timing for baking muffins that way is similar to an oven so I’m not convinced it’s a better method yet!), but from what I am seeing online, 350 for about 15 minutes is a common timing. I hope they work out for you!
Thank you, Amy!!!!
Made these yesterday, they’re so delicious & not too much sugar, so I don’t feel guilty giving it to my son. The adults love them as well.
These are delicious! They are a weekly staple in our house.
I made these dairy free for my family using So Delicious brand plain vanilla coconut yogurt and a plant based butter and they came out perfect. Everyone loved them. So these will now be a part of my regular baking rotation. Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Would love to make these!! Could I premix the batter and store in fridge overnight to then bake in the morning for breakfast?
I think so! Just cover it tightly.
The whole family loves these muffins. I swap in equal parts whole milk for the yogurt, and it works perfectly. They freeze perfectly and are so easy to defrost overnight in the fridge (if I think ahead) or just in the microwave for a few seconds.
I find that using fresh blueberries makes the muffins higher, while frozen keeps them flat. Both are delicious — just a different look.
Can you substitute lemon juice? I have everything except fresh lemons!
Sure
Hi! Do you know where the trans fat is coming from in this recipe? I really was excited to make it but surprised to see trans fats included. Wondering if it’s an easy thing to replace in the recipe? Thanks!
Hi- I’m honestly not sure and I think it may be a mistake in the program that pulls in the calculation. I am going to look into it (there’s nothing in the ingredient list that should have any, so it’s odd to me.) I’ll let you know what I learn.
These turned out absolutely delicious! I used oat flour instead of whole wheat. So moist and flavorful, my 1 year old loved it
Delicious and easy to make gluten free! The soft texture and the sharpness of fresh lemon zest mixed with the sweetness of blueberries made for a delicious treat! Will definitely make again!
Amazing flavor! The hint of lemon was a wonderful addition and they were nice and fluffy! We used white whole wheat flour (it’s what we had on hand) and frozen blueberries. We lightly coated the blueberries in some flour before adding them to the batter and didn’t have any issues with the batter becoming to tough to mix. Highly recommend for kiddos and adults!
Hi Amy
Can oatmeal flour be substituted for white? If so, will that change baking time?
We love all your recipes!! Thanks for such a great website
Hi- I haven’t tried this one with oat flour but it might work okay (it may have a slightly different texture though). I would think the baking time would be similar, though it might be a smidge longer. Let me know if you try it!
Thx for the quick reply! Turned out great with oat flour. Probably a little denser than what I imagine the original recipe would make. I also added 1 tablespoon of hemp seed and baked for the same time as the recipe called for. Delicious!
Amazing! My little one loves them, but I think I love them more!
I just started back work after a year long maternity leave. These are SO delicious and make my morning routine so much easier. Thank you for sharing!
My 8 month old loves this! And me too! Very good recipe, I didn’t have accurate measurements, still turned out amazing! Thank you!
Delicious! I might use fewer blueberries if you’re making mini muffins, just because they’re hard to fit in, but overall a superb muffin! The perfect amount of sweetness and lemon zest. Thanks for another fabulous recipe!
Made for brunch with my husband, toddler, and parents. Everyone went back for sendings!
I’m so glad!
No lemons, but had oranges for zest, used combo of fresh and frozen blueberries bc I ran out of fresh, made egg-free, with maple and as mini-muffins. Served it with your banana yogurt recipe and 2.5yr old loved it! They are difficult for mom to resist! Only problem (is it really even a problem??) it was bursting with blueberries!! Love, love, love! Thank you for all your recipes and the egg-free options for son’s allergy. You have been my go-to site for many a meals!
Delicious! Very forgiving recipe too. I only had whole wheat flour and frozen berries and still turned out delicious.
I’m so glad!
Thanks Amy for very interesting and nice recipe, it was liked by my baby and family . I made a without egg option ..
This is my new favorite muffin recipe!!!! So good for adults and toddlers alike! I wish I made a double batch!
I’m so glad to hear that!