Outrageous Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
Perfectly tender and incredibly addicting! These gluten-free blueberry muffins have a sparkly sugar crust on top and are moist on the inside, just bursting with fresh blueberries!

Not a dry crumb in sight!
These gluten-free blueberry muffins are now a go-to recipe around here. I’ve made these more times than I can count on one hand and, AND, AND I’ve made them with regular all-purpose flour too. Just to be sure that this recipe works for those of us that may not necessarily be on a gluten-free diet.
With our trip to Italy right around the corner, it seems like it’s getting harder and harder to fit everything we need to get done before leaving. Lately, I’ve had super packed days where I’m rushing from the time my alarm clock goes off in the morning to the time I rest my head back down on the pillow at night. For all the crazy mornings, I’m starting to put together things like these gluten-free blueberry muffins and my breakfast croissant boats that make breakfast a grab-and-go affair.
Husband calls these blueberry muffins his breakfast dessert. I call myself lucky if I can get something in my system before lunchtime.
The BEST homemade gluten-free blueberry muffins:

In the past, I’ve shared a variety of muffin recipes with you guys like my healthy carrot cake muffin. But to be honest, this is the first time I’ve dabbled in a gluten-free blueberry muffin recipe. Of course, you can easily swap out the blueberries for raspberries or even blackberries if you prefer those more. This recipe works well with a simple swap.
As a child, my favorite thing to pick out when we made a trip to Sam’s Club were those freakishly huge muffins from the bakery section. Have you ever had them? They’re so good! They came in a sampler pack with banana nut, blueberry, and chocolate with chocolate chip. Though I haven’t had them since I was a teenager, I distinctly remember always gravitating towards the chocolate variety. It wasn’t until the chocolate muffins ran out that I’d make my way over to the fruit kind.
Funny how things work out. It’s quite the opposite now. I’ll take a blueberry muffin over chocolate chip any day!

The baking mix we use in our gluten-free blueberry muffins
First off, you’ll need gluten-free flour. Sometimes it’s sold as a gluten-free all-purpose baking mix. For those that aren’t too familiar with this type of baking mix, it’s usually a combination of brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and white rice flour. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll contain all these ingredients, but most gluten-free baking mixes contain some or all of these ingredients in various proportions. The bag or box will also list it as a ‘1 to 1 baking mix.’ That means that you can directly replace the all-purpose flour with the gluten-free mix and achieve similar results. You can also find it online in case your grocery store doesn’t carry it.
Everything else you need to make gluten-free blueberry muffins:
- leavening agent
- softened butter
- sugar
- ground cinnamon/nutmeg
- vanilla/almond extract
- eggs
- buttermilk
- blueberries
Though this recipe is pretty similar to most gluten-free blueberry muffin recipes out there, I feel it has one thing that takes the muffins over the top. Almond extract is an ingredient I often use when making blueberry muffins. Up until recently, I wasn’t a fan of the stuff. To tell you the truth, I still reserve it to use in a few, select muffin recipes. But there’s just something about blueberry muffins, and almond extract works well together. It elevates the flavor and makes it more of a bakery-style muffin. If you aren’t a huge fan, I urge you to still give it a try as you may change your mind, it’s only a ¼ teaspoon!
One more thing I wanted to talk about, buttermilk. Buttermilk gives these gluten-free blueberry muffins the most distinctive, slightly tangy flavor. It tends to work well in recipes that contain berries. The acid in buttermilk also helps these muffins rise nice and high.


How to make the best gluten-free blueberry muffins:
The method is pretty simple. We’ll combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set that aside. Then, cream the butter and the sugar together and add the eggs one at a time before adding in the extracts and finally alternate the buttermilk and the flour until everything is combined. Just be sure not overmix the batter.
One thing I like to do before folding the blueberries into the batter is wash them, and toss them in a tablespoon of flour. This helps keep the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.
TIP: If you want your muffins to be more visually appealing, save a few of the blueberries and top the batter with them once you’ve portioned them out into a paper-lined muffin pan. They burst, and the juices run down the side, and the muffins are gaw-geous.
Then just sprinkle the remaining two tablespoons of sugar on your muffins and let them bake. Trying not to eat them while they’re hot out of the oven is the hardest thing! The sugar on top gives these muffins the most distinct crunch. These muffins are addicting!

How long will these last?
My experience with gluten-free muffins in the summer is that they don’t really hold up more than two days. Especially not in the Texas heat! So usually, I’ll bake a batch and send some to family or friends and keep a few for us. Or I’ll do option number two below.
Can you freeze gluten-free blueberry muffins?
The answer is, yes, you can! You can bake these muffins off, allow them to come to room temperature, then pop them into a zip-top bag and freeze them for up to 2 months. Just let them defrost in the refrigerator overnight, and they’re ready to go in the morning.
Smear them with a little butter while they’re still warm and eat them over the sink. It’s so much more satisfying this way. I hope these gluten-free blueberry muffins become a Sunday morning staple at your place too!

Outrageous Gluten-Free Blueberry Muffins
Perfectly tender and incredibly addicting! These gluten-free blueberry muffins have a sparkly sugar crust on top and are moist on the inside, just bursting with fresh blueberries!

Ingredients
- 2 cups gluten-free baking mix or all-purpose flour (plus more)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon EACH: almond extract (optional) AND ground nutmeg (optional)
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup and 4 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 heaping cup blueberries
Instructions
- PREP: Preheat the oven to 425F; line muffin pan with paper baking liners and set aside.
- DRY INGREDIENTS: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; set aside. In another bowl, toss the washed berries with 1 tablespoon of flour.
- MAKE: In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter for 1 minute. Then, add 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of sugar and cream together for roughly 1-2 minutes or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides. With the mixer on the stir setting, add the eggs one at a time and waiting until each is mixed in well before adding the next. Add the vanilla and almond extract. Add half of the prepared flour mixture, followed by all the buttermilk, and then finally the remaining flour until it is well blended, but make sure you don’t overmix. Fold the floured berries into the batter until *just combined* Overmixing will result is a blue/green muffin once they’re baked.
- BAKE: Divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the muffins with the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the muffin pan in the oven and immediately drop the oven temperature to 375ºF. Bake the muffins for 26-32 minutes or until the muffins are cooked through. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If you have unsalted butter, just up the salt to ½ teaspoon total.
- Leftover muffins can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days and kept at room temperature. You can also pop these into a zip top bag and freeze them for later.

My dad eats gluten-free…he would love these! Can’t wait to bake them for him 🙂
Yea gluten free! Yum.
These muffins were great- amazing actually! They were moist (even a day or two later- that’s all the longer they lasted!) and dense and sweet and you couldn’t tell they were GF. I used Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 flour and I used whole milk vanilla yogurt (the organic kind from Aldi- if your lucky enough to have an Aldi nearby) instead of the buttermilk. I also omitted the cinnamon, almond extract and nutmeg. I used a little more than a cup of frozen tiny wild blueberries and baked them in the jumbo size Wilton muffin tins- so they came out looking and tasting like something from a fancy bakery. The recipe made 7 big muffins. The muffin batter was extremely thick when I filled the tins and I was sceptical but they shaped up beautifully. Thanks for a delicious recipe- I will be making these again!
Hello,
I made these for Sunday supper and my daughter and son in-laws family ate them up and were calling dibs on who got the last two for breakfast Monday morning.
My granddaughter who says she doesn’t like muffins with fruit in them decide to try one because others were enjoying them. She loved the muffin.
We said it had a great crumb more like a pound cake, I used sour cream in my recipe because I had only a little milk. The gluten free flour I used was brought at Costco.
Grammie in Woodridge
What about frozen blueberries
Yes, frozen berries should work just fine, I just wouldn’t defrost them before adding them to the mix!
This recipe is so delicious it’s hard to believe it’s gluten free !!
Could you use 2% milk instead of buttermilk?
Excited to try this recipe out!!
This is a great recipe -I had to modify it for missing items in my kitchen and dairy free. It was still light and fluffy.
Delicious! People have raved about them, including non-Gluten Free people. I substitute 1/4 cup almond flour for an equal amount of the gluten free measure for measure flour, and I let the batter sit for 30 minutes before baking. This technique works great, and reduces the gritty texture I wrestle with with gluten free baking.
Great tip about reducing grittiness, thank you!
I agree woh you 100% about the almond extract. You nailed it when you said there’s something about adding it to your blueberry muffins.
Like you, I jut couldn’t stand it, and avoided t, until one day I thought “what the heck”. I’ve never looked back! Since you verbalized my thoughts exactly about the almond extract, I decided to give your recipe a shot this morning ! We have recently gone wheat free, so searching the Internet for modified recipes has become my daily routine …
I’m excited to try these this opening. I have a house full of sleeping kids and here in Ontario, blueberries are in season !
Thanks for posting, can’t wait to try more of your recipes !!
Siana
I hope you love the muffins!
Delish, make it and you will jump for these muffins.
The muffins were quite considering they were gluten free. I halved the recipe and had 7 smallish muffins. I didn’t bake them for as long as the recipe calls for. Muffins were moist and tasty. I used frozen blueberries which worked out fine.
amazingly versatile recipe, thanks for sharing!! I could even make it vegan!!!
I made it so many times – my gf daughter wants no other sweet, so I had no choice 🙂
I use my own GF mix, with no starches – I’m also diabetic, I used both fresh, frozen and dried berries: blueberries, cherries, cranberries, a mix of all. It also works with nuts, chocolate chips, PB chips, dried citrus peel, turkish delight and no additions at all (only added coffee powder to the buttermilk, or a few drops of ortange or lime oil)!! I even tried it with a small cube of chocolate in the middle: anything and everything works!!!
next stop: try them with pie filling!!
for the vegan version (my other daughter is vegan and eats gluten, but sometimes I don’t have the time to make 2 different deserts) I substituted coconut margarine for the butter, flax eggs for the eggs and almond milk for the buttermilk. I used 150 ml almond milk, mixed with 1 tsp apple vinegar. both daughters ate them up!! there was nothing left for the week – had to make another batch!!
it even works when you have kids like mine with totally different tastes, and one wants them with chocolate chips and the other with nuts: just add them to some of the muffin cups, after pouring the batter!!
this one goes to the “inheritance “book of recipes!!
Wow, so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for sharing your other topping suggestions and how you made them vegan-friendly! 🙂
WOW! These really are outrageous. I think this may be the best muffin I’ve ever had. Certainly the best muffin I’ve ever made myself. They were such a hit, I made them twice this weekend.
So happy to hear you enjoyed the muffins x 2, Larissa! These are a hit every time We share them with friends and family ?
Did you use regular size muffin pans or mini muffin pans? Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Hi Karen! I a used regular cupcake/muffin sized pan similar to this one.
I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how great these turned out. Very moist and the almond extract really added the extra zing as you mention. I give them an A plus as did my family!!
So happy to hear they were enjoyed by everyone you shared them with, Kathleen! Thank you for taking the time to comment 🙂
Look good an smell wonderful. I add some ground flax seed, for just a wee more fiber.
Great idea, Susan! Hope you enjoy them to the fullest 🙂
I just made these, and they were fabulous. In addtiton to the gluten free baking mix, I used monkfruit sweetener in place of the sugar. AMAZING!
Hi Erika! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed the blueberry muffins and thank you for sharing your sugar substitute! I’m sure others have had the same question 🙂
If you you Red Mill All Purpose Flour for the Blueberry Muffins then do you need to add Xanthan Gum to the flour.
Hi Claire! If you’re using all purpose flour, you won’t need to add anything else to the batter. It’s a 1:1 swap from the gluten-free flour.
The reason I was wondering is because 1to1 flour has xanthan Gum in it and the all purpose flour does not have xanthan gum. What are your thoughts on this. I made them with the 1to1 and left out the nutmeg and they were excellent.
Xantham gum is added in gluten-free flour to give it elasticity since it naturally doesn’t contain gluten. Since AP flour contains gluten, you really don’t need to add xantham gum as it does the job naturally. I tested the recipe with AP flour and found it didn’t need anything else, however you’re welcome to experiment if you’d like to use some 🙂
Can I use coconut flour?
The. Best. GF muffin. EVER. Subbed almond extract for lemon because that’s what I had.
So happy to hear you enjoyed them, Leslie! Lemon sounds like a delicious addition!
I have never left a review of a recipe before, but this recipe blew my mind away. I have NEVER had a gluten free home baked good taste SO GOOD. I ate them warm out of the oven and they were amazing. The muffin tasted like a fresh cinnamon doughnut, and then you get the blueberries and the whole combination is perfect. Thank you so much!
Hi Kira! Appreciate you taking the time to leave a review! So happy to hear you enjoyed the muffins – you’re so right, they do taste like a cinnamon donut!
This muffin recipe is absolutely incredible from texture to taste. I would 100% recommend it. The muffins are neither dry nor dull and can easily be whipped up for relatively last-minute plans. I have made it 3 times now and it’s always been a huge success amongst guests – both children and adults. Thank you so much for sharing it – it is fast becoming a family favourite.
Hi Amelie! I’m so glad to hear you’ve made these a few times! Really appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment 🙂
I have missed gluten for so long! GF breads,cakes,pizza and muffins are tough and dense but, these are soft and fluffy. First batch was on our Sunday morning brunch and poof they were gone side note there’s only 3 of us and 18 muffins. I have more in the oven now and the house smells wonderful I’m sure they will disappear quickly.
Hi Sammy! I totally get it, we’ve polished off quite a few of these muffins and there are only two of us here! Appreciate you taking the time to come back and leave a comment 🙂
So yummy!!
The fluffiest gluten free muffinns I’ve ever made.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hi Dora! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the muffins! Thank you for taking the time to come back and leave a comment 🙂
What is the nutritional Information /facts on one muffin?
I’ve made this recipe twice and each time I get delicious muffins … that sink in the middle. What am I doing wrong ?
Hi Pamela! Sorry to hear the muffins didn’t turn out for you. Since I haven’t heard this happening to anyone else, I wonder if it’s something as simple as the baking powder you used. If you’ve had it in the pantry for a while, maybe it just needs to be replaced? Or it could be the oven temperature (if your oven runs hot) the muffins will rise rapidly but then sink. If you have an oven thermometer, and it’s reading 425ºF, then chances are it’s the baking powder or the muffin batter may have been overmixed. I hope that helps!
These are so very delicious. I used olive oil instead of butter. Thankyou.
This is a great recipe! I replaced buttermilk with plain yogurt and it turned out pretty good.
Made these and my hand beater broke while creaming the butter and sugar so I used a whisk and did my best and this is by far the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever had, gluten free or not. SO GOOD even though I messed it up lol. Used measure for measure gluten free flour and almond milk in place of buttercream. They rose pretty well are nice and soft and moist inside and have a nice crust from the sugar on top. Deff making these again!!!
Love these muffins! So easy to make!