The BEST Vanilla Muffins
I said it…these are the BEST vanilla muffins. Perfectly fluffy and bouncy, a gorgeous, crispy muffin top and noticeable vanilla flavor. The perfect base muffin recipe to adapt into other flavors.
I really try not to call my recipes “the BEST” because there’s like a million out there that claim to be the best and aren’t so the term really lost its value lol. BUT I am actually obsessed with these easy vanilla muffins.
Long story short, I tested A LOT of recipes and I always struggled with getting that perfect muffin texture. Then one of my readers asked me for a vanilla butter muffin… which would have never crossed my mind to make.
I also normally used oil in my muffins so I got to work on this vanilla muffin made with butter. I think I got lucky or something because it only took two tries this time and OMG I think I’ve eaten more muffins in the last couple of weeks than I have in my whole life.
What makes these simple vanilla muffins so great:
- Uses melted butter so no mixer required!
- Super easy muffin recipe that takes 5 minutes to make (minus waiting time).
- HUGE crispy muffin top, because that’s the best part.
- The perfect base to add in chocolate chips, blueberries, lemon zest, all your favorite things.
This recipe was adapted into SO MANY variations, that’s how obsessed I am with it. I made carrot cake, blueberry, strawberry crumble, pumpkin, banana bread and more.
Ingredients
- Flour: I use all purpose flour in most of my recipes and I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as flour is so often over measured.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: We’re going to need both here and a lot of them to get that gorgeous muffin top.
- Sugar: please don’t cut the sugar… 🙂
- Butter: I like to use salted butter but unsalted also works, just add ½ tsp of salt.
- Eggs: I use room temperature, large eggs. Pop them in hot water for a few minutes if they’re cold.
- Greek Yogurt/Milk/Cream: I found my favorite combination to be half greek yogurt and half heavy whipping cream. I know it’s weird, most people don’t use cream in muffins but I promise it’s so good.
- If you don’t want to use cream and you want to use milk, I would sub the greek yogurt for sour cream. The higher fat content helps keep these muffins more tender and moist. That said, you can also do greek yogurt and milk for a slightly healthier option. They’ll be good, especially right away but they might dry out a little quicker.
- Vanilla: When I want a strong vanilla flavor, I usually combine two forms of vanilla. Here I did 1 tsp of artificial vanilla extract with ¼ tsp of vanilla powder (I make vanilla powder from dried out vanilla beans in a food processor).
- You can also do pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, I’ve used both of those in this recipe as well.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Whisk together the melted butter and sugar: let the butter cool a little before combining with the sugar.
- Whisk in the eggs: this is important; whisk in one egg at a time for about 30 seconds, until it’s completely combined, pale and fluffy. Then add another egg, etc.
- Add the dairy: whisk in the greek yogurt and vanilla until it’s smooth, then add the room temperature cream and whisk until it’s smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients: whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the wet ingredients until they’re completely combined.
- Rest the batter: another important step – Cover the bowl and let the batter rest at room temperature for 1 hour. This allows the gluten to relax and the leaveners to get a head start. (If you’re in a rush, 30 minutes is fine but definitely don’t go past 90 minutes or you’ll get a wonky bake).
- Fill the muffin tins: all the way to the top rim and top with ½-1 tsp of granulated sugar to make a crunchy muffin top.
- Bake: for five minutes at 425F and then reduce oven temperature to 375F and bake for another 10 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yup, you certainly can but I already did it for you and I’ll have the recipes up soon. I have a chocolate chip version, blueberry version and strawberry version. With the strawberries, I had to reduce the cream to ½ cup though.
I was torn between adding a glaze and not and clearly I went with the latter. I’ve already said it a million times but the crispy muffin tops are the best part of muffins soooo no glaze. LOL, but you can certainly still make one.
Just combine like ½ cup of powdered sugar with 1 Tbsp of milk and 1 tsp of vanilla extract/vanilla bean paste. Add more powdered sugar if it’s too runny.
You can use dairy free butter, milk, cream, yogurt or sour cream in any of my muffins but the flavor/texture will be a tiny bit changed 🙂
I have not tested this recipe specifically but all of my cake recipes work with a 1:1 substitute of gluten-free flour. This recipe is similar to those so I don’t see why this wouldn’t work. I recommend King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill.
To get that gorgeous muffin top I increased the leavening agents a little more than usual. Allowing the batter to rest for an hour gives you the perfect bake but if you wait longer, the muffins will bake with a wonky, lop sided muffin top.
I haven’t tested this yet, but if you want to make the batter ahead of time, I would try skipping the baking soda.
How to store vanilla muffins
I LOVE the crispy muffin top but if you store these in an airtight container, you lose that crispiness. So I leave them out overnight and then after the first night, I store them in an airtight container or bag at room temperature for 2-3 days.
You can also refrigerate them for up to a week or freeze them and bring them back to room temperature before serving but again, you’ll lose that crisp muffin top.
How to freeze muffins
Bakes stay more fresh when they’re frozen. Place muffins in an airtight container and then place the container in a freezer bag. Freeze for up to a couple of months. Bring back to room temperature before serving.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below. Make sure to leave it in the comment section because I can’t answer in the rating section :).
If you make this vanilla muffin recipe I would love to see it so make sure to tag me @baranbakery on instagram!
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
Tried baking these again and made the mistake of filling them too much as the top domed by spread on the pan. They are fluffy and have good flavor.
This is by far the best vanilla muffin recipe I’ve tried! The muffins were deliciously soft and fluffy. I will be making these again. Keen to try out your other recipes.
I used half of a TBS of cake batter extract and half TBS of vanilla extract
How come I’m just chancing upon this recipe, and it’s 2025!! Thank you for sharing this! I NEEDED to make some muffins so bad..it is midnight here in Ghana.. (and they literally just got out of the oven ?)and I don’t have any Greek yoghurt or cream right now. I used butter milk and the muffins turned out amazing! Still got the dome shape, still came out tall, soft and moist (ah..I didn’t have butter either so I used oil) and they all cooked perfectly! I topped with crushed chocolate wafers. Moist on the inside, crunchy on the edges of the dome shell .. can’t wait to try out other flavors and toppings as well. Thank you!!
The taste of the batter is exceptionally good. I made a rookie mistake with my first batch, filling the batter to the top of the muffin tin. It resulted in some overflow while baking. I corrected it when I put in the second batch, only filling the tins about three quarters. Overall it is a good recipe yielding tasty, vanilla muffins that you can eat or send as a gift.
I have 6 kids and bake a lot. This is by far the best muffin recipe I have ever come across. I like that it uses butter, the muffins stay fresh did days and rise beautifully. The flavour is amazing and I look forward to experimenting with some added fruits when in season.
Thank you so much. It is the best recipe I have come across so far. I’ll for sure check your other recipes.
These are the best muffins I’ve ever had. I followed the recipe exactly EXCEPT I let the batter rest in the fridge overnight because I didn’t have time to bake after the hour rest the night before.
I cooked these an extra 3 1/2 minutes and even then a couple did not cook all the way, They were ok. There used to be a bagel shop in Tallahassee, FL that had the best vanilla muffins.
Added mini chocolate chips to recipe and it is delicious!!! It would definitely be yummy without chocolate chips though.
These are fluffy, moist yet a little crispy on outer shell which is divine.
Follow instructions and they will turn out amazing !!! Thank you for recipe to add to our sweet treats as a family
Wonderful. I appreciate greatly
Great ! thank you, everyone really loved it. The best recipe I came across so far!!!Thank you
Eva thank you so much for the review! So glad you liked them 🙂
The best vanilla muffins I’ve made.
I baked these muffins yesterday. They were delicious. Soft and moist. Balanced in taste. I used milk and regular yogurt because I didn’t have heavy cream and Greek yogurt and substituted half the butter with oil for extra moistness. It was heavenly. Will be making this recipe for a long time to come.
hi, i have a question on the greek yogurt, do you use regular greek yogurt for non-fat yogurt.
Your dessert are great!
thank you have a nice day
Hi! I’ve used both and haven’t noticed any difference so either is fine 🙂
If I use a flavored yogurt, how much do I reduce the amount of sugar?
I baked these with regular whipping cream (not heavy) and they still came out moist, flavorful, and tall! The recipe also adapts well to different flavors. I made matcha raspberry swirl muffins and almond poppyseed muffins. I would highly recommend.
those sound amazing!!
Hi there,
So excited to make this recipe! If I decide to add mix-ins, do they go in before or after the batter rests? Thanks!
Hi Grace! I add the mix ins before resting 🙂 I have some different versions of this recipe with the mix ins coming out this month as well!