If you have sourdough discard sitting in your fridge, you are about twenty minutes away from the best blueberry muffins you have ever made. These sourdough discard blueberry muffins are fluffy, tender, and packed with blueberries in every single bite — and that crispy sugar top is ridiculous! Sooooo good.
New to sourdough? Start Here! How To Feed Sourdough Starter Beginners Guide Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe for Beginners (Artisan Loaf)
I have made a lot of blueberry muffins over the years, and I never landed on a recipe that I truly loved. Some were too difficult for a quick muffin fix, some of them made sad muffins. But THIS is finally the recipe I’ve been looking for! I thought I was just partial to them but then I took them to a brunch and watched 20 people fall in love with a simple blueberry muffin. Yep – it’s a winner!
The sourdough discard adds a subtle depth that you just can’t get from a standard muffin recipe, and the tiny blueberries help you get excellent texture throughout each muffin! Once you make these, regular blueberry muffins are going to feel like a step down.
Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins — Tips, Tricks, and the Wild Blueberry Secret
Why You’ll Love This Sourdough Blueberry Muffin Recipe
- Uses up sourdough discard — no waste, no guilt
- Ready in about 30 minutes start to finish
- A satisfying crispy sugar crust
- Freezer-friendly and just as good reheated
- frozen blueberries preferred – save money!
- my kids fight over them – they are that good (I don’t know if three fighting kids is a pro but…)
Ingredients For Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
You likely have most of what you need already. Here are a few key ingredients worth talking about:
Sourdough discard — This recipe uses about half a cup of unfed sourdough discard. It doesn’t need to be active or recently fed, which makes this a perfect recipe for that discard you’ve been accumulating all week. It adds a subtle tang and tenderness that takes these muffins to another level. (If you happen to be working with recently fed discard that’s totally ok too!)
Yogurt — Whole milk plain yogurt is my go-to here, but full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream work beautifully too. The fat content matters — don’t swap in low-fat or you’ll lose some of that tender crumb.
Frozen wild blueberries — More on these below, but this is the ingredient I feel most strongly about. Don’t skip the wild blueberries if you can help it. SUCH a game changer!
Sugar for topping — Technically optional, but I think we both know you’re going to do it. A generous sprinkle of granulated sugar before baking gives you that irresistible crispy top. (I use a “dusting.” My 7 year old is GENEROUS!)
How to Make Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins
This sourdough blueberry muffin recipe comes together quickly and the method is straightforward. The most important thing to remember is to not overmix your batter — that’s the number one cause of tough, dense muffins.
Whisk your dry ingredients together in one bowl and your wet ingredients in another, then bring them together with a spatula just until combined. Add your blueberries and fold gently. That’s really it.
The two-stage bake is the other key step. Starting at 425°F gives the muffins a burst of heat that helps them rise quickly and develop that domed top. Dropping the temperature to 350°F finishes them through without drying them out. Don’t be tempted to open the oven door between the two stages — that initial heat needs to stay in.
How To Make Muffins: My Best Tips!
Whether this is your first time making muffins or your hundredth, these tips will make sure yours come out perfectly every time:
Use a Quality Muffin Tin. For my entire childhood I used cheap bakeware, got poor results, and assumed I was a mediocre cook. When I started buying good quality baking pans it was night and day different. I’m using USA muffin tins now. You get wonderfully even cooking and the price is more reasonable than you would expect!
Don’t overmix. This is the golden rule of muffin making. Overmixing develops gluten and leads to tough, chewy muffins. Stop folding as soon as the batter just comes together — a few streaks of flour are fine when you add the blueberries, they’ll incorporate on their own.
Use a scoop to fill the tin. A size 24 cookie scoop (about 3 tablespoons) takes the guesswork out of portioning and gives you evenly sized muffins that bake at the same rate. Two level scoops per cup is just right.
Weigh your ingredients. Especially the flour and discard!!! Too much flour is the other common culprit for dry, dense muffins. A kitchen scale takes all the guesswork out of it.
Let them rest in the tin. Give your muffins 5–10 minutes in the tin before moving them to a rack. These are tender muffins and the tops rip right off if you try to pull them out right away.
Don’t skip the sugar top. A light sprinkle of granulated sugar before baking creates a thin, crackly crust on top that makes these muffins feel truly special. It takes two seconds and makes a big difference.
Fresh vs. Frozen Blueberries — Why I Always Choose Wild
You can absolutely make this sourdough discard blueberry muffin recipe with fresh blueberries, and they’ll be delicious. But my strong preference — and my honest recommendation — is frozen wild blueberries.
Here’s why: wild blueberries are significantly smaller than the large cultivated blueberries you’ll find in the produce section. That smaller size means they distribute more evenly through the batter, so you get blueberry in every single bite instead of a few big pockets. They also tend to have a more concentrated blueberry flavor.
These days commercial blueberries are being bread for HUGE size and they are getting harder to bake with because they are just so crazy big!
The other bonus is convenience. Frozen wild blueberries are available year-round in the freezer section of most grocery stores, and you add them straight from the freezer — no thawing needed. I buy mine at Costco where the price is hard to beat. (I was curious so I looked and in my area you can even buy wild blueberries on Amazon! Though I have never ordered frozen food from Amazon so I don’t know if you want to experiment!)
If you do use fresh blueberries, just note that the baking time is shorter — about 12 minutes in the second stage instead of 20–23 minutes. All the details are in the recipe card below.
More Muffin Recipes You Can’t Live Without
- My Mom’s Oatmeal Muffins. These are the ones I grew up with in the 80s and they are SO good!
- Sourdough Discard Zucchini Carrot Muffins (Apple Cider Glaze!) – My kids know these are full of veggies but they still beg for them!
Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins with Crispy Sugar Tops
Ingredients
- 187 g all-purpose flour about 1 ½ cups
- 200 g granulated sugar 1 cup
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 105 g sourdough discard about ½ cup
- ½ cup salted butter melted
- ¾ cup whole milk plain yogurt can sub full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups frozen wild blueberries fresh works too — see notes
- Additional Granulated sugar for topping optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners, or grease with butter or your preferred fat. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a separate large bowl, weigh the sourdough discard. Add the melted butter, yogurt, egg, and vanilla extract. Whisk until fully combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and use a spatula to gently fold the batter together until about three-quarters mixed.
- Add the blueberries and continue folding until they are incorporated and the batter is just combined. Do not overmix.
- Use a size 24 scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to portion the batter into the prepared muffin tin — two level scoops per cup works perfectly.
- If you’d like crunchy sugar tops, sprinkle with granulated sugar now.
- Bake on the center rack at 425°F for 8 minutes. Then lower the oven temperature to 350°F — do not open the door.
- Continue baking for an additional 20–23 minutes (frozen blueberries) or 12 minutes (fresh blueberries). Muffins are done when the tops are just turning light golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with moist crumbs.
- Let the muffins rest in the tin for 5–10 minutes before moving — this makes them easier to handle and helps the tops stay intact on these tender muffins. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or enjoy warm straight from the tin!
- Storing: Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To freeze, wrap muffins tightly once fully cooled and freeze for up to 3 months — they thaw out perfectly.
Helpful Recipe Notes
Your Rating Matters
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Nutrition Estimate
A Note on Nutrition
Nutritional info is an imperfect estimate. Please take it with a grain of salt.
New to sourdough? Start Here! How To Feed Sourdough Starter Beginners Guide Easy Sourdough Bread Recipe for Beginners (Artisan Loaf)
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