Our family loves this easy strawberry muffin recipe. We swirl juicy fresh strawberries into a delicious vanilla batter and finish with a vanilla sugar top.
This quick and easy recipe bursts with sweet, fresh strawberries. It’s one of my all-time favorite muffins, and I can’t wait for you to try it!
For more delicious muffin recipes, see these chocolate strawberry muffins with a chocolate batter, fresh strawberries, and a chocolate drizzle. I also love these yogurt muffins (especially when made with strawberry yogurt).
Key Ingredients
- Strawberries: Use sweet, flavorful, fresh strawberries for the best muffins. If you only have frozen strawberries, thaw and drain them first. Their texture will be softer, so they may break apart slightly when mixed into the batter.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour in this recipe, but you can easily substitute whole wheat flour, spelt flour, or even an all-purpose gluten-free blend.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar keeps these muffins light and airy. I also create a vanilla sugar topping by mixing sugar with vanilla extract (it’s so good). This bakes into a delightful crinkly, almost crunchy crust. I also add a sugar topping to these peach muffins.
- Baking powder: The secret for light and airy muffins. Use recently purchased double-acting baking powder (it lasts about 3 months), and use aluminum-free if you are sensitive to the taste.
- Spices: This recipe has incredible flavor thanks to a combination of vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, and a touch of black pepper. Although the black pepper might seem unexpected, it complements the strawberries beautifully! Feel free to leave it out.
- Oil: This is the secret to creating moist and tender muffins. While you can use melted butter, oil produces a more light and airy texture (a trick we also use for our favorite blueberry muffins).
- Milk: Use regular milk or your preferred non-dairy milk in this recipe.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Strawberry Muffins
Tip 1: Whisk wet and dry ingredients separately. The method is very similar to our popular blueberry muffins. Whisk together your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then combine the wet ingredients in another, then combine the two mixtures and then fold in lots of fresh strawberries.
Tip 2: Make our vanilla sugar topping. My favorite part of this recipe is the sweet and crunchy sugar top. To make it, you’ll use your fingers to rub a little vanilla extract into some granulated sugar, and then sprinkle it over the batter before baking.
Tip 3: Bake the muffins at the right temperature. We bake these muffins at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. This high oven temperature encourages the baking powder to do its job and guarantees light and fluffy muffins.
More Strawberry Desserts
Perfect Strawberry Muffins
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
Our family loves these light and airy muffins. The recipe is easy and quick to make. We love the spice from cinnamon and black pepper. The pepper is unusual, but the black pepper and strawberries are lovely. If you are not convinced, feel free to leave it out. The muffins will still be delicious!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Muffins1 ½ cups (195g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/3 cup (80ml) vegetable oil
1 large egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup (80ml – 120ml) milk, reduced fat or whole milk are best
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces (226g) fresh strawberries, hulled and diced, 1 ¼ cup diced
Topping1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line 12 standard-size muffin cups with paper liners.
2Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and black pepper in a large bowl.
3Choose a measuring jug that holds at least 1 cup. Add the oil to the jug, and then crack in the egg. Pour in enough milk to reach the 1-cup line on the jug (this should be about 1/3 cup of milk). Add the vanilla extract and whisk until everything is combined.
4Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir gently until the batter comes together. Be careful not to overmix! The batter will be thick.
5Gently fold in the strawberries.
6Make the sugar topping by stirring one tablespoon of sugar with a 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
7Divide the batter between muffin cups. Sprinkle a little vanilla sugar on top of each muffin.
8Bake muffins for 15 to 20 minutes or until the tops are no longer wet and a toothpick inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out with crumbs, not wet batter. Transfer to a cooling rack.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Measuring your flour: Fluff the flour in its container, then gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded. Level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring. For even more accuracy, use a scale and measure the flour by weight (in grams).
- Frozen strawberries: Thaw, drain excess liquid, then dice. The thawed frozen strawberries might break apart when mixed into the batter, but they taste great.
- Batter thickness: The batter should be thick and “scoopable” — not runny and not dry or extra thick like dough. If the batter is too runny, add flour, a tablespoon at a time until correct consistency. If the batter is dry or too thick, add milk, a tablespoon at a time until the proper consistency.
- Storing: Store these at room temperature for up to 3 days. Line an airtight container with paper towels to absorb extra moisture and prevent your muffins from getting soggy. Avoid the refrigerator, as it dries them out. Freeze muffins for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or reheat from frozen in a 300°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates, assuming reduced-fat milk.
I made these and got rave reviews. Could these be made as mini muffins? If so what oven temp and how long? ❤️
Hi Shirley, You might want to reduce the oven temp (to 350-375F), and expect they take 9 to 15 minutes.
The black pepper is KEY! I absolutely love these muffins. It’s my go to recipe.
SO happy you love them, Clare.
Super easy and really tasty! I don’t exactly know what the pepper did, but I wouldn’t be afraid of it because these muffins are delicious! I added more sugar topping and used both vanilla and lemon extracts, like a previous comment.
Pepper is an inspired ingredient! According to my husband, these are the best muffins he has ever had. I accidentally made these vegan. I used soy milk and forgot the egg. Added milk until I got a batter consistency and they turned out amazing.
Made this recipe minus the black pepper because I have commitment issues. I also wanted to go for a summer twist, so I added 1 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp of lemon extract. I baked it in a loaf pan and watched my family devour this recipe. I loved this recipe and I recommend it to anyone looking for a fresh strawberry muffin.
Love the personal touches. We are so happy that you loved your muffins 🙂
Best strawberry muffins ever! Just made a batch for family visit, they always go down a treat 🙂
Just perfect! The taste of summer. Thank you for sharing a great recipe!!! 🙂
I swapped the vanilla extract for almond extract and baked the mixture in a loaf tin. It took just over an hour to cook and it’s delicious!
Was so eager to leave a comment that I forgot to rate the recipe! Easily five stars!
I’m OBSESSED with these omg, my husband now gets one for breakfast and one in his lunch everyday he loves them so much!!
Yay! This made our day 🙂
I am not gonna add the black pepper. I’m sorry I have not made it yet, but that sounds kinda gross. No offense meant though, this recipe actually looks a lot like the one my great grandmother used to make. Mostly just minus the black pepper.
These are the very best muffins! Have made the strawberry and blueberry several times. Love them!
Yay! Glad you love them 🙂
Just made the strawberry muffins, however I put them in a mini loaf pan. Came out great
This recipe looks wonderful. Everyday ingredients most people have on hand. I’m gathering the ingredients right now to make. Do you know if I can bake this in a round cake pan as I do not have cupcake papers? Or should I bake directly in an oiled muffin pan?
Thank you, Julie
Hi there, I’d oil or butter the cupcake pan (you can also butter and then lightly dust them with flour, which is an extra fail-safe for sticking).
Hi trying this recipe tonight! but how would it be if you added strawberry protein powder? Just curious.
Hi Raven, we have never tried this. It will likely affect the texture but if you try it let us know 🙂
I really enjoyed these – I didn’t use the pepper as I don’t like it – but next time I’d probably reduce the sweetness slightly and add more strawberries. The only concern I had is around oven temp: I didn’t know whether this was normal oven temp or for fan forced which is normally listed on recipes, so I put it at 190C just in case and they came out fine 🙂
Hi Patricia, Unless noted, all of our oven temperatures assume a traditional oven (not convection or fan forced). If you have a convection oven, you are correct to reduce the oven temperature slightly.
Hi, I will tag you in my ig once I post a video of me making these muffins using a strawberry topping I made.
I didnt want to waste the remaining topping I kept in the fridge, so I googled and found this recipe. I agree with the 5 star. Because it is easy to make. Spices was scary at first but it does its job. Not sweet at all but still SAVOURY! Soft, moist and stays that way and the sugar vanilla topping made the top crunchy. Thank you for sharing. I also like that she indicate milk 80ml to 120ml cause it gave me room to ‘modify’ recipe to the ingredients on hand. I add 100ml of milk and since my puree has 20ml liquid, it balanced the batter and muffin can hold its shape when baked.
These muffins were yummy! The only modifications I made were I used 1/3 c packed brown sugar and 2/3 c white sugar and a whole clamshell of strawberries (1 3/4 cup).
Can I give 25 stars? These are OUTSTANDING!!!!!! I usually tweak here or add extra something there but these are fantastic as-is. THANK YOU!
Can you not put in cinnamon in the strawberry muffins?
Hi there, we do add cinnamon to these muffins.
These muffins are delicious. Next time I’ll prob cut the strawberry into smaller pieces so that’s there’s a more even distribution.
I was curious about the fourth of a teaspoon of black pepper. Does that affect the taste and is it necessary?
Hi Cheryl, It makes the muffins a little more interesting. Some of our readers love it, while others prefer the muffins without it. It’s completely up to you as to whether you add it.
Wow! These muffins are amazing! I love the vanilla topping. These are the third muffin recipe I have tried from your library and I just gotta say, your recipes are simple and outstanding! The instructions in your recipes are also so easy to follow, which is another reason I return so much to find new ones to try!
These muffins were outstanding! So moist and delicious. I added a few chopped pecans to the sugar mixture on top. Will certainly make these again.
Omg this recipe is lit! It turned out so yum, not dry not stick just perfect! And bonus points for the extra crusty top cuz of the sugar and vanilla extract topping!
We love the top, too! Thanks for coming back!
Made jumbo muffins cooking at 350 for 30 min.
WOW!!!! What can I say??? My 13 year old granddaughter made these strawberry muffins and we are still ooohing. THEY are soooo good. Thank you. We will never buy box muffins again.
Great recipe as written. Great muffins. One friend thought it was a little sweet, so I reduced the sugar to 110 grams, used just a teaspoon of vanilla, and doubled the pepper. Sweetness was perfect, strawberry taste was more in the front. The extra pepper had the pepper going from not really noticeable to adding hint of warmth to the muffin. While I liked it, others may not. The topping is fantastic. I never put toppings on my muffins before your recipes. Now I will never make a muffin without a topping. Thanks for all your recipes.
I read a review that lessened the amount of sugar to just 110g which I did as well. Left off the top sprinkled vanilla sugar as well. Just right.
Followed the recipe exactly, but added a little more of the vanilla/sugar crumble on the top the second time – delicious!! Thank you 😀