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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.
I make them with raspberries and like so much better than strawberries. This recipe actually came out good.
My boys (3 and 1) gobbled these up this morning. I had a little trouble with the bottom firming up, but it may be because I used frozen strawberries. Next time I will try with fresh strawberries and see if that helps! Thanks for another great recipe!!
Just made these muffins! i subsituted the lemon zest with lemon oil! sooo delicious! now making a second batch with blueberries!
These are so good! I made them for a 4th of July party and everyone loved them! I think my 10 month old liked them the best!! I also added about 1/2 cup more strawberries.
Love your site. I wanted to make strawberry muffins for my son’s friends that are coming over tomorrow. I went on google and found a recipe on allrecipes, but just wasn’t happy with the ingredient list. Then I thought, I’ll try Weelicious! OF COURSE you had a recipe! They are almost done, I just peeked through my oven door. They look amazing! We will get the verdict from the playdate pals tomorrow!
These were really good! I didn’t have a lemon so I used orange zest. I used the agave nectar and half wheat flour, half white. They were good after being defrosted to. Thanks!
really good, and simple too. great recipe!
just made these, they’re perfect for the whole family. not too sweet so I feel good feeding them to my 9 month old! another recipe added to my book! 😉
These are unbelievably delicious! I seriously can not deal with how good they are! And I feel so good knowing all the ingredients. I put a smidge more fruit and made them regular sized and got 17! I actually consider these almost cupcakes and am going to add some whipped cream frosting to these one day!
When baking with Agave in general, how would you replace the sugar with it in a regular recipe? If it was 1/2 cup sugar, would you put 1/2 cup agave?
Thanks for the recipe 🙂 I made two batches of these today! I used whole wheat flour, coconut oil, and dark raw agave. The slight caramel-y, molasses-y flavor of the agave was great! I also made an oat streusel topping which looked and tasted AMAZING. The second batch I used fresh organic peaches and a pecan oat streusel topping, and both batches came out super delicious. I should also add that the first batch PERFECTLY made 12 regular muffins, and the second batch made 6 extra-large muffins… This was my first Weelicious recipe, but I don’t think it will be my last 🙂 Thank you!
I just made these muffins and my husband only ate one bite and said it was either the honey or the lemon but they did not taste good. I didn’t like them much either. I will try to give them to my 1 year old daughter and see what she thinks. I do thank you for the great recipes!
Can we slip wheat germ in there?? How would you do it?
I made these with organic frozen blueberries, honey, and 1/4 cup organic bananas. They had a slight gritty taste to them and were not very sweet. Any suggestions. My 18mth old was not to crazy about them either.
Triplets!! WOW!! I store them in the fridge because it is made with fresh strawberries for up to a week. You could toss in blueberries or raspberries. I haven’t tried any other fruits yet though. They would be great to freeze as well!
My 3 year old triplets are obsessed with these muffins! I like to double recipes due to limited free time to bake so I was wondering what is the shelf life of these muffins and should they be refrigerated? I’m sure we will be freezing them too.
I like to give homemade fruit muffins for lunches in nut-free classrooms. Can you recommend other fruits that would work well in this recipe as a substitute for the strawberries? Thanks!
I haven’t had the chance to freeze them since they get eaten up so fast! But I’m sure they will freeze wonderfully! Just heat them up or let them thaw when you take them out of the freezer.