Name: Sourdough Huckleberry Muffins
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Ingredients: 2 ½ cups (300) grams all purpose flour; 1 tablespoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; ¾ cup sugar; zest of 1 orange; ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt (or sour cream); 3 eggs; 2 ounces (4 Tbsp) unsalted butter (melted); ¼ cup neutral-flavored oil ((I like avocado oil)); ½ cup sourdough discard; 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice; 1 ¼ cups huckleberries (fresh or frozen); ¼ cup coarse sugar (for topping)

Delightfully soft, moist muffins scented with fresh orange zest, bursting with juicy berries, and topped with crunchy sugar. These bakery-style sourdough huckleberry muffins are full of flavor and texture contrasts, a delicious way to use up sourdough discard.

A sourdough huckleberry muffin split in half

Sourdough muffins have become one of my favorite ways to make sure I don’t waste a drop (a glob?) of leftover sourdough starter. The sourdough discard gives the muffins a much deeper flavor and leaves them impossibly soft and tender.

To make these muffins even more lovely, we’ll add in sweet-yet-tart wild huckleberries and plenty of fresh citrus. Then, we’ll sprinkle each muffin with coarse sugar before baking so they come out with a sweet and crunchy top crust. SO GOOD.

I baked these extra large, just like my Raspberry Lemon Sourdough Muffins, because who doesn’t love a big, fluffy muffin? However, you can also bake them in standard muffin liners. Either way, they’re super delicious and super easy, so let’s get baking.

👉 Want more sourdough muffins? Check out my Sourdough Corn Muffins and Sourdough Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Recipe highlights
Recipe overview
How to make sourdough huckleberry muffins
How to make your own muffin liners
Pro baking tips for the best sourdough muffins
Variations
Storing & freezing sourdough muffins
Sourdough Huckleberry Muffins Recipe

Recipe highlights

So soft, tender, & moist thanks to sourdough discard + yogurt + butter and oil
Delightfully crunchy sugar topping gives textural contrast
Bright flavors from juicy huckleberries and fresh orange zest + juice
Baked extra large for those bakery vibes

Recipe overview

⏱️ Prep: ~10 mins • Rest: 1 hr • Bake: 20-25 mins

🍴 Yield: 12 large muffins

💪 Skill level: Beginner

😋 Flavor notes: Tart & juicy huckleberry, sweet orange, sourdough tang. Pairs well with: Soft butter, honey, tea, coffee, whipped cream cheese, fresh berries, blackberry jam.

How to make sourdough huckleberry muffins

Find the full ingredients list and detailed recipe instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here’s a quick step-by-step overview of how to make this recipe:

Prepare the muffin liners (if using). Cut 6×6-inch squares of parchment paper, then cut a slit partway down the center on all four sides. Press into muffin tins.
Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Make orange sugar. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and orange zest until sugar becomes orange and very fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
Mix the wet ingredients. To the orange sugar, add the yogurt, eggs, melted butter, oil, orange juice, and sourdough discard, whisking to combine.
Fold everything together. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until a few streaks of flour remain.
Rest batter. Let the batter sit for 30-60 mins, then add huckleberries and fold in gently.
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Bake. Scoop muffin batter into prepared pans, filling a bit past the top of the muffin tin. Sprinkle coarse sugar on top and bake for 5 minutes, then turn heat down to 375° F. Continue baking until the tops spring back and are lightly golden.

Mixing orange zest with sugar in a bowl — mixing orange zest with sugar brings out more flavor

Folding huckleberries into sourdough muffin batter — fold the berries in **after** the batter rests

Muffin batter, topped with coarse sugar, in muffin tins before baking — fill muffin batter all the way to the tops of the tins!

Sourdough discard huckleberry muffins cooling on a cooling rack — bake just until set in the middle and lightly golden

How to make your own muffin liners

This step is optional, but it’s the key to making the biggest, tallest muffins possible. Here how to do it:

Cut parchment paper into 12 6×6-inch squares.
Make a slit down the center on all 4 sides (about 2 inches long, doesn’t have to be perfect) of each square. Alternatively, you can skip the slit and just fold each paper square around a drinking glass.
Press each square into a muffin tin. They’ll try to resist a little – this is ok. Hold the liner in place while you scoop muffin batter into it, and it’ll settle right in.

Folding parchment paper around a drinking glass

A homemade paper muffin liner going into a muffin tin

Pro baking tips for the best sourdough muffins

Fill to the top. Whether or not you make your own muffin liners, fill them right to the top. This is how you get tall, proud-looking muffins.

Mix the batter gently. It’s important not to over-mix your muffin batter. A few small streaks of flour and some lumpiness is totally ok here. This keeps the muffins tender and light, rather than dense, tough, or heavy.

Let the batter rest. Resting the muffin batter for 30-60 minutes before baking gives the flour more time to absorb the liquid ingredients. The result is taller, moister muffins. This is my favorite muffin trick!!

I recommend you add the berries after this resting period, so their colors don’t bleed into the batter. This is especially important if you’re using frozen berries, which will add extra moisture to the batter if they sit and thaw in it.

Start with a high oven temp. Starting hot helps give the muffins a quick rise, plus helps with browning. Just don’t forget to turn your oven back down to 350° F after a few minutes!

Use a digital thermometer. This is the best way to tell when your muffins are perfectly done and prevents over-baking (aka dry, sad muffins). Remove muffins from the oven when their internal temperature is around 200° F.

A sourdough huckleberry muffin with crunchy sugar topping on a plate

Variations

Make them any size. Bake them as written in this recipe (extra large), bake them regular size, or bake them mini. Just be sure to adjust the baking time accordingly.

Switch up the topping. Top them with streusel instead of the crunchy sugar topping. For some ideas, check out the spiced streusel on my Elderberry Coffee Cake or the lemon streusel on my Huckleberry Loaf Cake.

Switch up the berries. Instead of huckleberries, try any other berry – blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry would all be delicious.

👉 Want to try a different muffin recipe? Check out Banana Chocolate Chip Sourdough Muffins, Raspberry Lemon Sourdough Muffins, or Blueberry Corn Muffins.

Storing & freezing sourdough muffins

Store cooled sourdough huckleberry muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. You can also store them in the refrigerator for up to a week, but they’ll dry out a little more.

To reheat muffins: Wrap them loosely in foil and place in a 300° F oven for 5–10 minutes. You can also slice them in half and place under the broiler until lightly toasted, 2-4 minutes.

To make ahead: You can rest the muffin batter in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, but I recommend using double-acting baking powder if you choose this option. That way, it will still be active when you’re ready to bake the muffins.

To freeze baked muffins: