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These strawberry muffins have been on repeat in our house ever since my son begged me to make them for breakfast before school. That is honestly the highest endorsement a recipe can get around here. They’re ready in 25 minutes, naturally sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar, and just as good tucked into a lunchbox as they are on the breakfast table.
Table of Contents
Fresh strawberries are incredible right now and this is one of my favorite ways to use them. If you are in full strawberry mode, my Fresh Strawberry Recipes roundup has 17 more ideas for peak season. And if muffins are your thing, my Chocolate Muffins and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins are both regulars in our kitchen too.
What makes this recipe different from most strawberry muffin recipes is the sweetener. I use honey instead of sugar and it makes such a difference. The sweetness is gentle and natural, and I genuinely feel good about handing these to my kids. They bake up moist and fluffy every time!
Why I Love This Recipe
- Naturally sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar.
- Ready in 25 minutes start to finish.
- Works as regular muffins or mini muffins, perfect for smaller hands and lunchboxes.
- Freezer friendly. Make a batch on Sunday and breakfast/snacks are sorted for the week.
- Kids love them, adults love them. Everyone wins.
The Ingredients
- All purpose flour: Spoon and level when you measure rather than scooping straight from the bag. Over-measuring flour is the most common reason muffins turn out dense.
- Baking powder: Two teaspoons gives the muffins their lift. Just make sure yours is fresh for the best rise.
- Kosher salt: Salt balances the sweetness and makes the strawberry flavor really sing.
- Milk: Whole milk gives the richest result but low fat, almond, rice, oat or soy milk all work great here.
- Vegetable or canola oil: This is what keeps the muffins moist and tender.
- Honey or agave nectar: Honey adds a gentle, natural sweetness with a subtle floral note that pairs so well with fresh strawberries. Agave works too if you prefer something more neutral.
- Fresh strawberries. Use the ripest, most fragrant berries you can find. If they smell amazing at the farmer’s market, they will taste amazing in these muffins!
Variations
Frozen strawberries. Fresh is always best but frozen totally works in this strawberry muffin recipe when strawberries are out of season. Thaw first, drain any extra liquid, pat dry with paper towels, then dice and use as directed.
Other berries. The same batter works beautifully with blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries. My Mixed Berry Muffins are a great place to start if you want to mix and match!
Crunchy sugar top. Sprinkle a little coarse turbinado sugar over the batter right before baking. It gives you that bakery-style crunchy top without any extra effort.
How to Make Strawberry Muffins
- Mix your dry ingredients. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Getting these evenly combined before the wet ingredients go in means the leavening is distributed throughout the batter, which gives you an even rise across all 12 muffins.
- Mix your wet ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk the egg, milk, oil, honey, and vanilla until smooth. Mixing wet and dry ingredients separately before combining is the key to not overmixing, which is the number one thing that makes muffins tough.
- Combine. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently with a spatula until just combined. Stop as soon as you stop seeing streaks of flour. A lumpy batter is a good batter here.
- Fold in the strawberries. Add the diced strawberries and fold gently into the batter. If you want pretty berries on top, hold a few pieces back now and press them onto each muffin cup after filling.
- Fill. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about three quarters full. A cookie scoop is the easiest way to do this cleanly and evenly. Press any reserved strawberry pieces on top.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
Tips and Tricks
Do not overmix. Once the wet and dry ingredients come together, put down the spoon. A few lumps in the batter are completely fine and they bake out. Overmixed batter gives you tough, dense muffins.
Fill the cups generously. About three quarters full gives you a nice domed top.
Use a cookie scoop. It is the easiest way to fill muffin cups evenly and cleanly. No drips, no mess, and every muffin comes out the same size.
Check with a toothpick. Start checking at 18 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.
Want pretty berries on top? Save a few strawberry pieces before folding the rest into the batter. Once you fill the muffin cups, press a few pieces right on top of each one. They stay visible, they look gorgeous coming out of the oven, and you never have to worry about berries sinking to the bottom.
Want mini muffins? Fill 36 mini muffin cups and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, checking with a toothpick at 12. Perfect for lunchboxes and little snackers!
Storage and Freezing
Counter. Store cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Fridge. Up to 5 days. Let them come to room temperature before eating or give them a quick warm in the microwave.
Freezer. Cool completely, place on a baking sheet, and freeze for one hour. Transfer to a zip-top bag and store for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on the counter or microwave for 30 to 60 seconds straight from frozen.
FAQs
Yes! Thaw them first, drain any excess liquid, and pat dry before dicing and folding into the batter.
Absolutely. Agave nectar is a direct swap in equal amounts. Maple syrup works too for a slightly different flavor. For granulated sugar, use half a cup and add one extra tablespoon of milk to make up for the lost liquid.
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Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup milk (whole, low fat, almond, rice, oat or soy)
- 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and diced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease well.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the egg, milk, oil, honey, and vanilla until smooth.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir gently until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Fold the diced strawberries gently into the batter.
- Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups, filling each about three quarters full.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.
Notes
- Mini muffins: Fill 36 mini muffin cups and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Pretty berry tops: Reserve a few strawberry pieces before mixing and press onto each filled muffin cup before baking.
- Frozen strawberries: Thaw, drain, and pat dry before using.
- Honey substitute: Agave nectar or maple syrup work as direct swaps. For granulated sugar use half a cup plus one tablespoon of extra milk.
- Do not overmix: Stir until just combined. A few lumps in the batter are totally fine.
- Storage: Airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days, fridge up to 5 days, freezer up to 3 months.
- Freezing: Cool completely, freeze on a baking sheet for one hour, then transfer to a zip-top bag.
No you can’t, sorry. You might want to hold off on this one, but there are other recipes you can give her. How old is your daughter?
My daughter is not yet 1 and if I use honey in this recipe can I still feed them to her?
To fill the mini muffin pans I use the medium scoop from Pampered Chef. The medium scoop is about the size of 2Tbs. Do 2 scoops in each cup and it will be the perfect amount every time. Also if you have the old school style ice cream scoop, one scoop is the right amount to fill the standard size cupcake cups. That way all your muffins will come out the same size and bake evenly.
made these this afternoon. Didn’t have lemon on hand, but hand lemon juice so I used a squirt of that 🙂 the batter was so light and fluffy and smelled like a cake while baking, but was not as sweet, very nice :). It gave me way more than 24 mini muffins though. I filled them to the top (I have a hard time filling on 2/3 in mini’s hehee) and still had enough leftover for 4 large muffins. I think the heat was to high for my oven, and the bottoms are a bit burnt, but it does not effect the taste.
Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Yes, this batter is a lot but that’s ok, more for everyone!
I made them w/ white whole wheat flour. They tasted very earthy to me (and I kept putting honey on mine when no one else was looking)but my son loved it! Next time I may not deviate from the recipe though. My only question is why did I end up w/ so much batter? I used the 24 mini-muffin tin. I also used 6 regular-sized muffin tins. I seem to have this happen whenever I bake just about anything! I even overfill so I know it’s not from not putting enough batter in… Thanks to anyone w/ any feedback!!
I think that would be fine, but you might want to use low-fat buttermilk if you do sub applesauce to help make them more tender because the muffins will probably be a bit tough without the fat of the oil.
I have used applesauce as a substitute for oil in some brownie and muffin recipes, Would i be able to do that with this recipe?
love it!
I also just made these with 1/2 white flour and 1/2 white whole wheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill organic). I used honey for my sweetener. They are really light, fluffy and very tasty!
Just made these with 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white flour. Also used buttermilk instead of milk. So yummy! the lemon really adds a great touch. My kid gobbled one up right away.
Thats good to hear! How were your measurements? Whole Wheat Flour is really dense, so you would need to put in white flour to make them a little light.
Just took my strawberry muffins out of the oven, made with whole wheat flour instead of white flour, and they are YUMMMMMY!!! Thank you for a great recipe!!
Just put them in the oven with whole wheat flour! Will let you know!! 🙂
Could you use whole wheat flour? or 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white?
I just found this site and this will be my first recipe I’m making! thanks!
I love your site. I have learnt so much from here before my sugar pie was born. Now I have my own baby recipes blog, inspired by yours. But I still keep coming back here to see what’s new. 🙂 keep up the good work.