I make a batch of these every week. They are tangy from the sourdough, interesting because of the lemon zest, soft because they are and so delicious because baking with berries is my way of being fancy. Growing up, my mom made a variation of these muffins, and I knew I had to recreate them with the magic of sourdough. These sourdough berry lemon muffins are good for your gut and medicine for your soul (a bit of a stretch, but they truly are delish!).
Muffins are a go to food for us. They fill up our breakfasts and lunches when a plate of eggs just won’t cut it OR make the best on the go snacks. My favorite way to enjoy a muffin is lathered in butter with a cup of hot black coffee on the side.
Using an active starter with these muffins will help with flavour development and create bubbles and air in the batter itself. Storebought muffins are not only a disappointment when it comes to flavour and texture, but they are also expensive and full of artificial flavours, colours, glucose, corn syrup and even fake blueberries! My recipe for sourdough berry lemon muffins is full of wholesome ingredients and taste 10x better than anything from the store.
Why Sourdough?
I was gluten free for years after experiencing migraines and headaches anytime I touched gluten. A friend told me that they found they were able to enjoy ALL glutenous goodness as long as it was made with a fermented sourdough starter. This intrigued me because GF bread was just not doing it for me.
Within 24 hours, I got myself a sourdough starter and began to figure this out. Within a week of eating sourdough fermented breads, I boasted of zero migraines/headaches AND even saw my skin clearing up.
Fast forward to now, I bake all our own bread and baked goods by use of an active sourdough starter or with the discard. Either way, my body (and my family’s body!) loves it!
Here are some sourdough facts for you:
- Sourdough is easy to digest: It contains a natural bacteria and germ in the fermentation process that will break down the starches in the grains before they even hit your stomach. Basically, very gentle on your gut!
- Blood sugar friendly: With sourdough being fermented, it works against any bad starches and ingredients that can cause your blood sugar levels to rise and spike.
- Full of good acid: The acid in sourdough breads can help your body process foods easier and absorb more minerals, yielding a stronger immune system and better health overall.
- Good for GF sensitivities: In the creation of sourdough bread, gluten is broken down overtime and has changed into amino acids before you enjoy it. This aids in easier digestion and gut health.
- Less preservatives: Sourdough preserves itself naturally using acetic acid, nothing fake here!
- The flavour: Sourdough has a tang and flavour like no other bread. It is hearty, satisfying and extremely delicious.
Sourdough Berry Lemon Muffins Ingredients
- Active Sourdough Starter: This is what will work to ferment our dough, create an amazing flavour and help the dough to form air bubbles and tenderness.
- Salted Butter: If you want this recipe to be dairy free, use any vegan butter OR even better, coconut oil. The butter in here will act as a softener for the batter itself and give us a “buttery” texture. If using coconut oil as a substitute, add a teaspoon of salt into the mix.
- Vanilla: To bring some warm flavour and yummy aroma.
- Milk: I do not like milk nor can my belly handle it well, so I make almond milk for this recipe. Any normal cows milk or plant based milk works well for this recipe! I recommend using an unsweetened milk.
- Eggs: We get our eggs from a local farm. They are free run, pasture raised and organic.
- Sugar: This is used to sweeten and soften our batter. I use an organic cane sugar.
- Lemon Peel: Use a fine grater to get that perfect lemon zest flavour in these muffins. Orange zest is a great option too!
- Flour: The flour I use is sourced from an organic mill in my area, but any all purpose flour will do!
- Baking Powder/Soda: To help our muffins be fluffy and work alongside the sourdough for a beautiful texture.
The berries in these muffins can easily be changed out for small cherries, chopped strawberries or dried cranberries too!
How To Make Sourdough Berry Lemon Muffins From Scratch
First, make sure you start the night before you plan on eating these muffins. If I want to enjoy this Wednesday, I will make the batter Tuesday evening. It needs that overnight rest in the fridge to properly ferment and kick up the flavour. It will also help with a more moist muffin!
The batter comes together using just 1 bowl making for an easier clean up. Plus, our mixing tool is just a whisk. No loud sounds of a stand mixer or hand beater for that evening batter prep!
STEP 1: MAKE THE BATTER
Combine your wet ingredients and whisk well in a medium sized bowl. Place a sieve on top of the bowl and add in your dry ingredients. Sift the dry into the wet and whisk the batter well to combine. Cover and place in the fridge overnight. The batter will develop in flavour and texture during this time.
STEP 2: ADD BERRIES
Next day, add in your blueberries and raspberries and fold into batter gently with a spatula.
STEP 3: BAKE
Take about 1/4 cup of batter and pour into your muffin tin, either greased or lined with muffin cups.
Bake for 20-25 minutes.
STEP 4: ENJOY
Let your muffins cool a bit before enjoying. These berries can remain quite hot even after being out of the oven for a while.
Stay In The Loop!
Sign up and get my posts sent right to your inbox!
How To Store
Store on a plate, covered (I use a cake cover) on the counter for 3 days or keep in the fridge for 7-10 days in an airtight container. To enjoy again, reheat in the microwave or eat cool!
If you enjoyed this recipe, be sure to share and tag me @sarahthereseco on Instagram and come back here to rate and leave a comment!
Sourdough Berry Lemon Muffins
Ingredients
- 200 Grams Bubbly Sourdough Starter or Discard
- ½ Cup Salted Butter Melted and cooled
- 1½ Teaspoons Vanilla
- 1 Cup Milk
- 2 Eggs
- 1 Cup Cane Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Finely Grated Lemon Peel
- 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1½ Teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Cup Frozen Raspberries
- ½ Cup Frozen Blueberries
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine your wet ingredients including the lemon peel and sugar. Mix until just combined. Lay a sieve overtop of the bowl and put in the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly stir the flour mixture in the sieve to combine the dry ingredients while sifting it down into the bowl. Remove the sieve and fold in the ingredients until combined.
- Cover the bowl and place in the fridge overnight or for at least 4 hours to cool the batter. This will help with fluffiness and moisture content!
- When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Add in your blueberries and raspberries and fold into batter gently with a spatula.
- Take about 1/4 cup of batter and pour into your muffin tin, either greased or lined with muffin cups. I like to take my muffin tin that holds 12 muffins and only use six of the muffin molds at a time, spacing out my muffins. This helps with heat and a better cooked, fluffy muffin. But feel free to cook 12 at a time!
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until passes the knife test.
- Enjoy after cooled down and store in the fridge for 7-10 days.
- Reheat and spread butter over them to enjoy to their fullest!
I highly advise you not to try this recipe.. it will ruin your diet and you won’t stop eating/thinking of them! My kids want these on repeat. Thanks Sarah for making me feel like a super mummy 🥰
Monica, you are the best heehee!!
very fluffy and yummy
Thanks Veronika!
Wow! So tasty and so easy to make. Thank you for a new staple in our home.
So happy you enjoy them Amy!
Delicious, and beautiful texture!
Would double zest next time.
Upped fat for babe with coconut milk, and used coconut oil because i had no butter.
Definitely will be a staple!
I use LOTS of zest too and sometimes use orange zest instead of lemon to switch things up a bit! Sounds delish with the coconut milk and coconut oil!
These are absolutely fantastic. So light and fluffy, and not sickly sweet. Will be serving these when we are hosting tomorrow! Thank you Sarah!
Amazing Vicky, thank you for sharing!
These are delightful as well, My husband is a big fan! These will be a staple as well as your quick sourdough burger buns. Already made 3 batches of those!
We just finished our batch today and I am already planning to make another! Cheers, Hannah 🙂
FOR EUROPEANS:
200 grams Bubbly Sourdough Starter or Discard
113 grams Salted Butter, melted and cooled
7.5 grams Vanilla (approximately 1.5 teaspoons)
240 grams Milk
100 grams Eggs (approximately 2 large eggs)
200 grams Cane Sugar
1.25 grams Finely Grated Lemon Peel (approximately 1/2 teaspoon)
250 grams All Purpose Flour
7.5 grams Baking Powder
5 grams Baking Soda
80 grams Frozen Raspberries
80 grams Frozen Blueberries
(I added half of recommended sugar and it was still good)
Thank you! I’m in the US, but always prefer measurments in grams. It makes SO much more sense than the way we do it here. I know that Sarah had a lot of people asking her for US measurements and that in her earlier videos she would list everything in grams. It must have been a ton of work to convert everything!
Yes, I usually paste it to chatgpt for the conversion! 🙂
Thank you!!
These are soooo good! Fluffy fresh and easy to follow the recipe. 10/10
just made them and they’re delicious! I didn’t have enough starter, I keep mine pretty low so think I only used about 70g and still overflowed the muffin tray! So fluffy and yum!
These were delicious and so convenient to throw together in the morning for hungry toddlers. I love that the recipie used frozen fruit too! I didn’t have lemon or frozen raspberries on hand but they still turned out delicious. Definitely will be making these again and again!
So great, thank you Abbie!
Just started the sourdough journey, and these muffins are delicious and a great way to use the discard.
So yummy and moist!
Hi Sarah,
Can I use avocado oil / coconut oil instead of butter? If so, how much should I use.
Thanks!
Hi Rayla! I have substituted the butter for coconut oil when serving DF people and it turns out great!
Made these to have on hand for those mornings my husband and I sleep in and the kids need to have something before getting hangry. So delicious!! I added more zest than on the recipe. Next time I’ll try orange zest and maybe even some orange juice!
I love adding extra zest too!
I love this recipe. We have been using it since you posted it on your old site with your original YouTube channel. I have made it so many times, and used this recipe as a base for inventing other flavors of muffins for my family as well! They particularly like it when I replace the lemons and berries with banana and chocolate chips (and a splash of milk to make up for the lost moisture of no lemon juice 😉)
It was easy to make and tasted delicious. But, next time I make it I will not add the lemon or raspberries. I will just put in a cup of blueberries instead of half a cup of blueberries and raspberries. It’s just a preference thing. The raspberries were just a little too sour for my taste.
I feel like I have hit a goldmine of amazing sourdough recipes. These muffins turned out AMAZING. I can’t wait to try different add-ins! (I’m thinking dark chocolate chunks with course sugar on top…yum!!) Thank you Sarah!!
These are so delicious!! the lemon flavor is perfection. I didn’t do as she recommendeded by spacing out the muffins, so they took longer. next time I will do as she says and space them out for better baking. amazing flavor and texture!
Obsessed is an understatement for this recipe! Baby also absolutely loves them too! We’ve tried them with frozen blueberries and fresh strawberries in separate batches. Tomorrow I’ll be trying fresh strawberry and raspberry! 💕🎉
Yummmm! These muffins are so delicious! I ran out of sugar so could only add half the amount and they were still perfect. Thank you for a beautiful recipe and inspiring me to expand my sourdough obsession!
never used sourdough discard before, whoa these are so good. I used pear raspberry and white choc. delicious. thank you.
Just made these and they are SOOOO tasty!!
Am I able to make this recipe in a loaf pan?
These are PHENOMENAL!! they taste like Tim Hortons fruit explosion muffins but way more healthy.
only adjustment for my oven I would bake at 375 so they get a bit more golden and rise higher
I make these at the start of every week for easy snacks. They always turn out and are so delicious! The recipe is also so versatile, our favourite flavour in the winter months is orange cranberry walnut. By far the best way to use up sourdough discard!
I really enjoyed these! I will be adding salt next time to balance the flavor a little more but I love how well they come out of the tin and they look so beautiful out of the oven! I did all frozen raspberries chopped up into small bits and will be making them again!
Huge hit in our household! they’re delicious!
I’ve been trying so many of your recipes and they have all been fantastic. Thanks Sarah!