The Best Ever Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Crumb Topping

These are the best ever blueberry muffins with a streusel crumb topping that’s sweet, buttery, and irresistible. Packed with juicy blueberries and hints of orange, these bakery-style muffins are perfect for breakfast. Their large size, homemade flavor, and easy recipe make them a favorite breakfast muffin for any occasion. Whether you’re craving blueberry cobbler muffins or unique blueberry orange muffins, this recipe has it all!

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Why this is the best ever blueberry muffin recipe with crumb topping

It's simple and easy muffin recipe. Mix the dry ingredients, mix the wet ingredients, combine, and bake. You'll have to make the streusel topping, but that's also as easy as mixing a few ingredients together.

The ingredients are easy to find. You probably have most of the ingredients already in your pantry, and the remaining couple are available in every grocery I've ever visited.

The muffins taste great. The combination of the sweet blueberries and the sweet-tart orange is amazing, and the streusel topping gets a little crunchy giving a different texture to the soft, pillowy muffins.

This recipe is allergy friendly. As written, this recipe is soy-free and nut-free. One simple substitution can make it gluten-free. You may be able to use an egg substitute to make it egg-free, but I have not personally tested that. The batter recipe is dairy-free, though there is butter in the streusel topping. You can use a vegan butter in the crumble to make the muffins entirely dairy-free.

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What you'll need to make the ultimate blueberry cobbler muffins

Equipment

• Muffin tin - Obviously, if you're going to make muffins, you need a muffin tin. This recipe makes 10-12 muffins, so a standard pan will be good enough.
• Colored cupcake liners - Any kind of muffin cups will work here. I sometimes use tulip cupcake wrappers because they lend a bakery-style appearance to the muffins. In the photos below, I used multicolor cups. You could even use silicone cupcake wrappers if you felt like cleaning them.
• Scoop set - I always use a scoop to portion out batter, to ensure that all my muffins are the same size.
• Wire rack - You'll need a way to cool the muffins when they are first out of the oven.

Ingredients

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See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for all measurements and nutritional information.

For the blueberry orange muffins

• All purpose flour or a cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix - It doesn't matter whether you use wheat flour or a gfree baking mix as they bake exactly the same.
• Sugar - You need sugar or a sugar substitute in muffins. Feel free to use the sweetener of your choice. Refer to the instructions on the package for the appropriate ratio.
• Salt - It might sounds odd to put salt in sweet baked goods, but salt is a leavening agent that helps the batter form air bubbles and rise to make light, fluffy muffins.
• Baking powder - This also works to make the muffins rise.
• Egg - You should set the egg out on the counter an hour or two before making the muffins, as the batter works best with room temperature ingredients.
• Orange juice - This gives the muffins an orange flavor and also adds moisture. Freshly squeezed orange juice is nice, but most of the time, I use bottled orange juice from the grocery store. It doesn't matter whether the juice has pulp or no pulp. Measure the amount you need for the recipe, and set it out on the counter to warm up before mixing up the batter. Batter works best with room temperature ingredients.
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• Canola oil - This makes the muffins moist. You could use vegetable oil if you had to, but I do not recommend melted butter as that would alter the texture of the muffins.
• Vanilla bean paste - I prefer vanilla bean paste over plain vanilla extract for two reasons. The paste has a much more potent and robust vanilla flavor, so I think that's important, but also, vanilla bean paste has actual vanilla beans crushed up in it. Vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol and then removing the beans. Vanilla bean paste is made from concentrated vanilla extract that has had crushed up vanilla beans added to it. If you don't want to get vanilla bean paste, you can use an equal amount of pure vanilla extract.
• Orange - You'll only need the zest and the juice. Scrape the zest first, then get the juice second. It's nearly impossible to scrape the zest off of an orange that has been juiced already. Navel oranges are good for this recipe, but almost any orange will work. Actually, almost any citrus fruit will work. Blueberry lemon muffins are especially amazing.
• Fresh blueberries - You can use dried or frozen blueberries in this recipe, but fresh are the easiest. If you want to use frozen berries, you will need to drain them as completely as possible. If you add the liquid from the frozen berries to your batter, it will be runny, and the muffins won't set properly. If you want to use dried blueberries, you should soak them in warm water for 15 minutes prior to adding them to the batter. Drain the berries thoroughly before adding.
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For the crumb topping

• Butter - This should be room temperature but not melty. Some people will tell you that you should only bake with unsalted butter (and some will say only bake with salted butter), but I have found that it doesn't really make much difference either way. An entire pound of salted butter contains less than a teaspoon of salt, and you aren't using anywhere near a pound of butter in this recipe. Use whatever butter you have.
• Sugar - I've used white sugar, but brown might be even better.
• All purpose flour - As above, you can substitute cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix for the flour.
• Vanilla bean paste - See vanilla note above.
• Old-fashioned rolled oats - These add bulk and give the crumble topping a little crunch.
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How to make the best bakery style blueberry orange muffin recipe

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Whisk dry muffin ingredients together in a large bowl.
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3. Combine egg, orange juice, and canola oil in a medium bowl. Pour wet ingredients into the flour mixture and stir only until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Do not over-mix or your muffins will be tough and dry.
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4. Fold in orange zest and blueberries using a rubber spatula.
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5. Line muffin tin with paper liners.
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6. Use a medium scoop to fill each prepared muffin cup no more than ¾ full.
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7. Mix all crumble topping ingredients together in a small bowl using a fork until they are crumbly.
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8. Use a small scoop or spoon to sprinkle streusel topping over each muffin.
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9. Bake 20-25 minutes until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
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10. Remove from muffin pan to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before serving.
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Variations and substitutions

I created the recipe using sugar to sweeten the muffins, but you can use whatever sweetener you like. Just follow the instructions on the label for the ratio of how to substitute it for plain granulated sugar.

Feel free to add a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts to the batter and/or the streusel topping.

You can add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the streusel topping.

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You can use either brown sugar or white sugar in the crumble topping.

You can use any fresh, frozen, or dried berry in these muffins. Raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, even cranberries. They're all about the same. I prefer fresh, but frozen or dried will also work. See above for tips on using frozen and dried fruit in the muffin batter.

You can add diced peaches to these muffins for a totally different flavor. (With the blueberries or in place of the blueberries.)

You can use any citrus fruit in place of the orange in these orange blueberry muffins. Lemon, lime, tangerine, or even grapefruit would work. They will have slightly different flavors but still be delicious. Lemon blueberry muffins are a whole thing on the internet.

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Baker's tips for the best blueberry muffins recipe ever

I personally think that these muffins taste the best the day after baking, so if you're able, make them a day ahead and store them in an airtight container or in a zippered plastic bag on the counter overnight.

This recipe makes a whole lot of streusel topping, so the muffins get pretty messy. If you don't want the muffins to be as messy, don't use all of the topping.

Do not over-mix the batter once the dry ingredients are added as this will cause the muffins to become too dry and rubbery.

Can I make bakery style blueberry muffins ahead?

Definitely. As I mentioned above, I think these muffins taste best the day after they're baked, so making them ahead is a great idea.

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How to store blueberry muffins

Store leftover homemade blueberry muffins in an airtight container or in a zippered plastic bag on the counter for up to 5 days. They will last a couple days longer if you store them in the refrigerator, but baked goods tend to get stale faster in the fridge.

Don't eat any muffins if they have mold on them or if they smell sour.

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You can also freeze blueberry orange muffins. Place them on a baking sheet in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until they are firm. Then transfer them to a zippered freezer bag or airtight container and store in the freezer up to a month. You can thaw them on the counter when you're ready to eat.

The reason you freeze them on a baking sheet is that it prevents them from forming one big muffin mass in the freezer. When you freeze them individually first, it will be easier to remove just one or two from the bag at a time. If you don't freeze them individually, you'll probably end up having to thaw the entire batch because you won't be able to get just one out of the mass.

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Try these other hand-held sweet breakfasts:

• Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast Muffins
• Raspberry Cream Cheese Cruffins with Crescent Rolls
• Cranberry Orange Muffins
• Blueberry Orange Muffins
• Coffee Cake Crumb Donuts
• Baked Vanilla Cake Donut Recipe
• Easy Baked or Fried Yeast Zebra Donuts
• Baked Double Chocolate Donut Recipe
• Air Fryer Donuts
• Baked Gluten Free Glazed Donut Recipe with Almond Flour
• Baked Vegan Double Chocolate Donuts
• Glazed Pumpkin Spice Donuts
• Mini Cinnamon Rolls
• Pancake Tacos

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