December 4, 2014
updated
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Looking for a yummy strawberry muffin recipe to use up your frozen strawberries? This is the perfect one!
Who can resist perfectly moist muffins with golden brown tops and jam-packed with strawberries? Not me! Whether you serve them for breakfast, snack, or dessert- this healthy muffin recipe is perfect at any time of day.
Strawberry Muffins
These strawberry muffins are a delicious change from the usual blueberry and banana option, and they take no time to whip up!
My kids love strawberry anything so I usually keep fresh or frozen ones on hand for things like smoothies, overnights oats, and this recipe. Just fold diced strawberries into the muffin batter, pop them into the oven, and voila, a new favorite baked good.
Whether you make these for a quick breakfast on-the-go or a sweet addition to school lunches, strawberry muffins will be a family favorite.
It’s simple recipes and tips like this one that helps parents pull off kid-favorite lunches without a glitch. You’ll find more ideas and new recipes to try inside the MOMables Classic Meal Plan. Download a sample meal plan here.
Strawberry Muffin Ingredients
It doesn’t take much to pull these delicious muffins off! Feel free to use fresh or frozen strawberries- whatever you have on hand, be sure to allow the frozen berries to thaw before dicing and stirring them into the batter.
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Unsweetened applesauce
- White sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Fresh strawberries
- Turbinado sugar
The turbinado sugar adds just a little bit of sweetness and crunch to the top of the muffin, which I particularly enjoy, but it is completely optional and can be omitted.
Healthy Strawberry Muffins
Thanks to the unsweetened applesauce, this muffin recipe is moist without the need for copious amounts of butter. Applesauce also helps to sweeten the batter, so less sugar is required without sacrificing any flavor.
Each muffin is under 200 calories, with 8.7 grams of fat and 10 grams of sugar. Compared to the grocery store’s version, which includes 340 calories, 17 grams of fat, and 24 grams of sugar per serving, I’d say these homemade muffins are a solid win!
If you like where this recipe is going, I also share my Strawberry Yogurt Oat Muffins recipe in the video below. They are just as healthy and out-of-this-world good!
How to Make Strawberry Muffins
Are you ready to make the best strawberry muffin recipe? Grab your mixing bowls, ingredients, and let’s get to it!
- Preheat
Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease a muffin with cooking spray or line with paper liners. - Combine the Dry Ingredients
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. - Combine the Wet Ingredients
In the bowl of a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds or until light and fluffy.
Add the applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir to combine, making sure not to overmix the batter. - Fold in the Berries
Make sure to dice the strawberries into even shapes and sizes before folding them into the batter. This will help them bake at the same rate as the muffin batter. - Bake
Divide the batter into the muffin cups and top with the turbinado sugar, if using. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center. - Enjoy
Grab a muffin, a cup of coffee, and enjoy one of these fresh out the oven or packed into the lunchbox for a special treat.
Don’t have time to whip these up from scratch in the morning? Bake them ahead of time and freeze the muffins for future breakfasts and treats.
How to Make Muffins Moist & Fluffy
The secret to moist and fluffy muffins has a lot to do with how you treat the batter and for how long you bake. Here are 3 simple tips to making muffins that are soft and tender on the inside with golden-brown tops:
Butter or oil
Butter makes everything better, not just in flavor but texture. If you need this recipe dairy-free, canola and vegetable oil are great substitutes and are known for making super moist muffins.
Don’t overmix the batter
Stir and fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a little lumpy.
Keep oven time under 20 minutes
Baking too long will cause the muffins to dry out. Fill the muffin cups ¾th of the way, and after 15 minutes, they will be just right and ready to remove from the oven.
More Easy Muffin Recipes
Looking for more healthy muffin recipes to try out? Below you’ll find more recipes for muffins that are highly nutritious, lower in sugar, and kid-approved.
- Banana Oat Muffins
- Pear Crumble Muffins
- Cinnamon Coffee Cake Swirls Muffins
- Lemon Zucchini Poppyseed Muffins
The Best Strawberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup applesauce, unsweetened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups strawberries, washed and diced
- Turbinado sugar, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Lightly grease a muffin pan with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds, until light and fluffy.
- Add the applesauce, sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the butter and stir to combine.
- Add the flour mixture, and mix until just combined. The batter should have little lumps.
- Fold in the diced strawberries.
- Divide the batter among the baking cups, and sprinkle the tops with turbinado sugar, if using.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Cindi
Cannot wait to try these if you’re using oil how would you incorporate the oil in the recipe and would it be half a cup? Thank you again so much for all your wonderful recipes
MOMables-Laura
Hey Cindi, you can swap the butter for 1/2 cup coconut or other neutral oil. Just add it to the rest of the wet ingredients and proceed with the recipe.
Leticia
Hi! I made these recently using fresh raspberries – I just chopped them a bit (they were large raspberries!!). I also subbed flax eggs – turned out great!
Karen
Just baked these with my 3.5 year old boy and they’re great!! He ate two as soon as they were cool enough to eat. Love momables.com
tanya
Found this recipe on a google search … delicious … added a bit of lemon zest and used ww flour … great recipe!
Jessica
These look so good! Would I be able to substitute honey for the sugar and would it be the same ratio? Thanks
MOMables
Absolutely! you can even reduce it a bit.
Jessica
Ok thank you!
Christine
These sound delicious! I’m on a muffin kick lately and really appreciated your post on how to freeze them. Would these work with whole wheat flour? If so, do I need to add more liquid to make up for how grainy whole wheat flour can be? Thank you!
MOMables
I would make these 50/50 whole wheat / white or 100% whole wheat pastry flour (it’s much finer).
Christine
Thank you!
janet
made today-delicious! made with gluten free flour-need to double batch next time and freeze! just as good as the blueberry muffin recipe!!
Caroline Bowman
Would almond flour work to make these grain free?
MOMables
It will not Caroline. Almond flour is not a 1:1 substitute for all purpose flour and it won’t work in this recipe.
Sherri
I’m going to make these for my daughter’s preschool class on Friday, am going to use frozen strawberries, see from the comments above, that there is no issue with that as long as you thaw and chop them. Can you confirm? Also, was thinking of going mini szed, any thoughts on how much I should reduce the cooking time by? Thanks!
MOMables
if you chop them into small pieces you don’t even need to thaw them. I remade some the other day after the thaw-and chop comment. the mini ones should be checked for doneness around minute 12 :)
MicheleF
Made these today for my kids’ afternoon snack. They were very tasty. Some of the cupcake liners seemed a bit “greasier” than usual for muffins. Just curious if the amount of butter is correct in the recipe. I was thinking that applesauce replaced some of the fat in recipes and if so maybe I could reduce the butter next time? I almost pureed the strawberries rather than chop just so my picky 5 year old wouldn’t get a chunk of fruit and refuse to eat them. They went over very well with him because you know eating a chunk of fruit would just be the worst thing ever, right? Thanks for helping with snack time!
Michelle
Hi Michele! So glad you enjoyed them for snack time! And so glad your 5 year old ate them :) When I made them they never came out greasy, but you could always try to reduce the butter if you prefer! I also sometimes puree the strawberries with other fruits and add them in and it works great that way too.
Kristina
Can these be made with gluten free all purpose flour?
MOMables
I have made these successfully with cup4cup brand and King arthur flour
Amy
I made these and they were super yummy. I used frozen strawberries and got them out while I was mixing up the batter. When it was time to add the strawberries, they were thawed enough that they were easy to chop up. The only problem was that I used coconut oil instead of the butter to make them dairy free. My batter got so cold that half of the coconut oil hardened to the bottom of my bowl. They cooked up just fine though. Make sure to make a double batch!
MOMables
so glad you liked them Amy! the coconut oil hardening is very common but of course, as you see… it’s normal and they come out fine :)
Muffin recipe collector
I have tried multiple berry muffin recipes and this is the first one that didn’t turn out like cupcakes. This recipe is a keeper. The texture is moist and crumbly and there is just enough sweetness to compliment the strawberry.
I actually halved the recipe as that was the amount of (not quite fresh) strawberries available and used 9 silicone mini muffin molds and they turned out perfectly.