If you’re a fan of traditional, not-too-sweet muffins, you will love these just-sweet-enough blueberry corn muffins.
Made with all-purpose flour and fine cornmeal, they’re flavored with lemon and vanilla and filled with bursts of blueberry goodness and fresh, sweet corn kernels.
You may also want to take a look at my jumbo blackberry muffin recipe if you love muffins with fruit in them. And for ease of browsing, you can find all my muffins and quick bread recipes in one place. Thanks for being here. Now let’s get right to it.
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Blueberry Corn Muffins, At a Glance
✅Skill Level: Beginner
✅Skills: The Muffin Method
✅Type: Muffins
✅Number of Ingredients: 14
✅Prep Time: 15 minutes
✅Cook Time: 22 minutes
✅Batter Rest Time: 10 minutes
✅Yield: 12 muffins
Related Recipe: Buttermilk Muffins, Ritz Carlton Blueberry Muffins
Jump Straight to the Recipe
Tasting Notes
The muffin batter is made with buttermilk and flavored with lemon zest and vanilla. It bakes up moist and tender, and with less than a tablespoon of sugar per muffin, they’re not too sweet.
Corn freshly cut from its cob gives some textural interest and corny sweetness while blueberries also lend their juicy, mellow sweetness to the mix.
Served warm, and especially slathered with butter and some blueberry jam, they make a great breakfast or coffee break treat.
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How to Make Corn Muffins
Muffins are not hard to make at all. Remember to use a light hand when mixing the wet ingredients into the dry, and you’ll be rewarded with gorgeous, tender muffins.
If you’re ready to bake, feel free to jump straight to the recipe. If not, read on, and I’ll go over the ingredients and substitutions as well as some step-by-step collages for those of you who are visual learners.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- all-purpose flour: provides structure for the muffins and allows for a fine, even crumb with enough gluten to hold everything together
- fine cornmeal: contributes bulk but not structure to the batter. It also adds a subtle corniness and just a bit of texture for interest
- baking powder: leavening to make the muffins rise nice and light
- baking soda: provides leavening but is mostly here to balance the acidic buttermilk so the muffins don’t bake too quickly
- melted butter: carries flavor and contributes to tenderness. The flavor of butter also marries beautifully with the corn and berries
- neutral vegetable oil: contributes to tenderness and also allows the muffins to read as more moist since oil is a liquid fat
- vanilla extract: Adds sweetness, assists in browning, and acts as a gluten tenderizer
- salt: Snaps all the flavors into focus. It doesn’t matter too much what kind of salt you use, but I recommend you weigh it out at the 8 grams called for. Different salts take up different volumes, so you may inadvertently over- or under-season if using a salt other than what I use
- eggs: 2 eggs provide extra protein for structure, emulsifiers for an even batter consistency, a bit extra liquid, and assist with browning
- buttermilk: The main liquid in the muffins, buttermilk adds an irresistible tanginess to the batter. Acid is also a tenderizer, so buttermilk yields a tender, soft muffin
- sugar: Provides just enough sweetness without ending up with a cupcake. Sugar brings tenderness, moistness, and also assists in browning
- lemon zest: Provides natural lemon oil to brighten the flavor and is a natural pairing with blueberries. Consider using extra zest and reducing or eliminating the vanilla to really lean into the blueberry-lemon combo
- blueberries: Add color, mellow sweet berry flavor, and pops of juicy goodness
- corn kernels: Add texture and sweet corn flavor. for a more pronounced “corniness,” you could use roasted, grilled, or even sauteed corn kernels
Procedure
If you’re ready to bake, feel free to head to the recipe. Otherwise, let’s look at how to bring the batter together.
Overview
The muffin method is always performed the same way.
- Mix dry ingredients together
- Mix wet ingredients together
- Add wet to dry and mix gently
Here’s what that looks like in the case of blueberry corn muffins:
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- The dry ingredients: flour, fine cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda in a large glass bowl.
- The mix-ins, ready to go.
- The mix-ins dumped on top of the dry ingredients.
- The wet ingredients poured over the dry being folded together with a spatula.
- The finished batter resting in the bowl.
- Filled muffin tins. Note they are filled to the top, and each portion is topped with a few more fresh blueberries.
Jenni Says: It’s important that your mix-ins are nice and dry so the flour doesn’t start forming a dough with any water on the berries or corn.
Mixing Zest and Sugar
When working with lemon zest or any citrus zest, you can coax out the most citrus oil (and flavor) by rubbing the zest into the sugar with the tips of your fingers before adding it to the rest of the liquid ingredients.
You’ll know the zest is nicely incorporated when the sugar is damp, a little clumpy, and pale yellow.
Mixing the Wet Ingredients
For the purposes of this recipe, I consider sugar a “liquid” ingredient because it dissolves.
Dissolving the sugar in the rest of the liquid ingredients ensures even sweetness and a tighter, more velvety crumb.
Salt is added with the wet ingredients, because I like to add the salt with the fats that carry so much flavor. Plus the salt will dissolve right along with the sugar.
All the liquid ingredients go into the pitcher (or another bowl): melted butter, oil, vanilla, salt, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, and lemon zest.
It’s important to start with room temperature eggs and buttermilk so the melted butter doesn’t seize up when it hits the cold ingredients.
- Adding oil to the melted butter.
- In goes the vanilla (and salt)…
- …the eggs (and buttermilk)…
- …and finally the sugar/zest mixture.
Whisk everything well to combine.
A Little Muffin Q & A
Nope. You can use frozen, but add them frozen and mix quickly before either can thaw and get mushy. For the corn, it’s fine to use canned, but just be sure to drain it well and dry it off with paper towels before adding it.
I wouldn’t. If you overload the muffins with berries, there may not be enough batter to ensure the muffins stay together, especially when you’re trying to “depan” them. Stick with the amount called for. Plus a few for the tops. As written, this recipe makes the perfect amount of batter to completely fill each cavity with no waste.
Keep them in a closed container at room temperature for a couple of days. Reheat to serve. For longer storage, freeze them in zip-top freezer bags, pressing as much air out as possible before sealing. Then grab a muffin or two when you need them and thaw at room temperature or in the microwave if you just can’t wait.
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
A Note About Measurements
My recipes are almost all written by weight, including liquids, unless otherwise specified.
For accuracy and consistency of results, I encourage you to buy–and use–a kitchen scale.
I promise that baking and cleanup will be so much quicker and easier.
This is the scale that I recommend for home use. I have owned and used one for years.
Don't let its small price and small size fool you. The Escali Primo is an accurate and easy-to-use food scale that I have used for years. It's easy to store, easy to use, has a tare function, and easily switches between grams and ounces/pounds for accurate measurements.
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Blueberry Corn Muffins
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Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 6 oz all-purpose flour 170 grams or a scant 1 1/2 cups
- 5 oz fine cornmeal white or yellow, 142 grams or a scant 1 1/4 cups
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder 12 grams or 3 teaspoons
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda 1.5 grams
Wet Ingredients
- 5 oz granulated sugar 142 grams or a scant 3/4 cup
- zest of 2 lemons
- 4 oz butter melted and cooled to warm, 113 grams, 1 stick, or 8 Tablespoons
- 2 oz neutral vegetable oil 57 grams or about 1/4 cup
- 8.5 oz buttermilk room temperature, 241 grams or 1 cup and 1 Tablespoon
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 8 grams salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Mix-Ins
- 6 oz blueberries plus a couple of handfuls for pressing into the tops of the muffins before baking. Fresh preferred, but frozen will work as well, 170 grams or 1 slightly generous cup
- 6 oz sweet corn white or yellow, 170 grams or 1 cup
Instructions
- Place a rack in the bottom third of the oven and heat to 450F/232C. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the rack. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin–the cavities and the "top"–with oil or pan spray.
For the Dry Ingredients
- In a large bowl, thoroughly whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
For the Wet Ingredients
- Add the sugar and lemon zest to a medium bowl and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the sugar gets a bit clumpy and is pale yellow.
- Melt the butter and whisk it into the sugar along with the oil.
- Whisk in the buttermilk, eggs, salt, and vanilla.
For the Mix-Ins
- Shuck and remove the silk from a large ear of sweet corn. Cut the ear in half through the middle, and use a chef's knife to shave off the corn kernels. Cutting the ear in half keeps the kernels from bouncing all over the world when cutting. (See NOTES, below)
- Wash and gently dry the blueberries.
Making the Batter
- Put the corn and blueberries in the bowl with the dry ingredients.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together one more time and pour them into the bowl of dry ingredients.
- Fold the batter together gently but thoroughly until evenly combined and no loose flour/cornmeal remains.
- Let the batter sit for 10 minutes.
Panning and Baking
- Using a scoop or 1/2 cup measure, fill the muffin tins all the way to the top. During the rest time, the batter will thicken and have lots of little bubbles in it. Fill the cavities gently so you don't deflate your batter. You should have just enough batter to completely fill each cavity.
- Press 4-6 blueberries on top of each muffin, and slide into the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to 375F/190C, rotate the pan 180°, and bake an additional 10-12 minutes, until the muffins are golden brown on top, nicely risen, and read at least 195F/90C on an instant-read thermometer.
- Remove the muffins from the oven. Let rest for 15 minutes, and then use a small icing spatula or similar to gently lever out each muffin, placing them on a cooling rack to cool to warm. Enjoy warm or toasted with butter and jam or honey. Allow extras to cool completely and eat within a couple of days. For longer storage, store in the freezer in zip-top freezer bags for up to 3 months. Grab as needed and thaw at room temp or in the microwave.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Half-Batch (6 muffins)
- 3 oz all-purpose flour (85 grams)
- 2.5 oz fine cornmeal (71 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (6 grams)
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda (>1 gram)
- 2.5 oz granulated sugar (71 grams)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 oz melted butter (57 grams)
- 1 oz neutral vegetable oil (28 grams)
- 4.25 oz buttermilk (120 grams)
- 1 egg
- 4 grams salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 oz EACH blueberries and sweet corn kernels (85 grams)
Note on the Amount of Corn
You may get 6 oz of kernels from one large, plump ear of corn. If you don’t get quite enough, you can either shrug and carry on, or you can cut additional from another ear and use the extra for another purpose.Storing
Muffins are best on the day they’re made, but they’ll reheat beautifully when stored, covered, at room temp for a couple of days. For longer storage, freeze in zip-top freezer bags, pressing out as much air as possible before sealing. Grab as desired and thaw at room temperature or in the microwave.Nutrition
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And there you have it, friends.
Enjoy the blueberry corn muffins–I am having a hard time quitting them, to be honest!
Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, y’all.
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Pretty easy to make and everyone loved them. I have some pretty picky co workers that loved them
I’m so happy they passed the picky coworker test! Glad you enjoyed them!