Master Bakery-Style Muffin Recipe

This kitchen tested muffin batter creates extra large bakery-style muffins with big muffin tops and dense, moist centers. Create plenty of flavors using this as the base—1 muffin batter with endless options.

I love light, fluffy, cupcake-style muffins and you can find my base recipe for cakey muffins in this master muffin recipe post. But I (and maybe you!) also enjoy big muffins with a tight crumb, moist and dense center, and a tall crunchy muffin top. I call these “bakery style” and that’s what you’ll find today, my master bakery style muffin recipe.

These Bakery Style Muffins Are:

• Jumbo in size, but you can easily bake in a standard or mini muffin pan
• Sky-high with big muffin tops
• Moist and dense inside
• Topped with crunchy coarse sugar
• Adaptable to many different flavors

And I know you’ll appreciate this as much as I do: there’s no mixer required and the batter comes together in less than 10 minutes.

Behind the Recipe

Feel free to jump to the full written recipe and instructions below. If you’re interested in how and why this recipe works, let me explain. I’ve made a few notable changes from when I first published these bakery style muffins. The recipe, as originally written, produced wonderful muffins but they dried out quickly and tasted overly dense. In the past few years, I’ve worked to improve it by replacing some of the oil with melted butter, some baking powder with baking soda, and adding sour cream for moisture and lightness..)

A look at the ingredients:

• Flour: We use a lot of flour to keep the batter thick and sturdy, as well as to keep the add-ins (chocolate chips, berries, nuts, etc) elevated.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Significant rise requires a lot of leavener. I used to use all baking powder, but I recently began adding a touch of baking soda too. In addition to leavening, a little baking soda helps brown the exterior.
• Cinnamon: I usually use cinnamon in this master muffin mix, but leave it out if it doesn’t fit well with the other flavors. For example, I use it when I make banana or apple muffins but skip it when I make berry muffins. It’s an optional ingredient.
• Vanilla Extract & Salt: Use both for flavor.
• Eggs: Eggs add moisture and bind everything together.
• Sour Cream or Plain Yogurt: Sour cream helps keep the muffins extra moist. If needed, you can use plain yogurt instead.
• Sugar: Use granulated sugar to sweeten these muffins. I used to use some brown sugar and some white granulated sugar, but brown sugar weighed the muffins down. If desired, though, you can always use 1/2 cup (100g) white granulated sugar and 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar.
• Oil & Butter: Oil produces a moist, tender muffin. Combine with melted butter for extra fat, moisture, and a little flavor.
• Milk: Milk adds plenty of moisture and lightens up the crumb. I usually use whole milk or buttermilk.
• Coarse Sprinkling Sugar: I recommend a sprinkle of coarse sugar for crunchy, sparkly muffin tops. I like Sugar in the Raw or you can use white sparkling sugar sprinkles, usually found with the sprinkles in the baking aisle.

Several Bakery Style Muffin Recipes in 1

Let’s talk flavor options.. I also use this bakery style muffin recipe for my raspberry chocolate chip muffins, chocolate chip muffins, and jumbo blueberry muffins.

Or use any combination of berry, fruit, nut, chocolate chips, etc. As long as the total amount of add-ins is between 1-2 cups, you’re golden! You can also add vanilla icing to the warm muffins right before serving, or replace the coarse sugar with the same crumb topping I use for these apple cinnamon muffins.

• How to add the crumb topping: Fill the muffin cups only about 3/4 full and gently press the topping down into the batter so it sticks. You’ll have enough batter for more muffins since you’re only filling the cups 3/4 full.