These strawberry muffins are soft and tender with a brown sugar streusel on top. Fresh strawberries go right on top of the batter so every bite has a juicy, jammy pocket of fruit.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
This is a brief summary of the recipe. Jump to the recipe to get the full details.
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
18 minutes
Total Time
38 minutes
Servings
16 muffins
Difficulty
Easy
Calories *
183 kcal per serving
Technique
Baked, one-bowl
Flavor Profile
Sweet, fruity, buttery, lightly caramelized
* Based on nutrition panel
“I made these on a slow Sunday morning and my whole family demolished them before they had even fully cooled. The streusel topping is the perfect touch — it stays crisp even the next day!”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Renata
Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Ready in under 40 minutes. From mixing bowl to cooling rack, this strawberry muffin recipe takes just 40 minutes total. That’s a full batch of 16 muffins on the table before the morning gets away from you.
- The streusel topping is the best part! A buttery brown sugar and flour crumble bakes up golden and slightly crisp on top of each muffin. It adds texture and sweetness without any extra effort.
- Fresh strawberries stay juicy, not mushy. The chopped strawberries go on top of the batter rather than folded in, so they hold their shape and release their juice right where you want it. Every bite has a pocket of soft, jammy fruit just like when making this strawberry bread!
The first weekend I spot fresh strawberries at the farmers market, I am making these strawberry muffins! There’s nothing complicated about them, and that’s one of the many reasons why I love them.
They work just as well on a slow weekend morning as they do packed into a lunchbox or set out for a gathering. I love making these alongside these banana bread muffins to keep in the freezer for an easy grab-and-go breakfast! Or you can make these sourdough crepes if you’re craving a more hands-on breakfast!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Vanilla: A small amount of vanilla rounds out the flavor of the batter without competing with the strawberries.
- Milk: Milk adds hydration and keeps the crumb soft and moist. Whole milk gives the richest result, but 2% or your favorite milk substitute works just fine too.
- Fresh Strawberries: Chopped fresh strawberries are scattered over the batter before the crumble goes on top, so they bake directly into each muffin rather than being mixed into the batter. This keeps the crumb from getting soggy. If you love baking with strawberries, my strawberry cinnamon rolls should be your next bake!
- Unsalted Butter (crumble topping): Cold butter is the key to a true crumble texture. Work it in with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse, clumpy meal. If the butter softens too much while you’re working, pop the bowl in the fridge for five minutes before sprinkling the topping on the muffins.
Variations for Strawberry Crumble Muffins
- Mixed Berry: Swap the strawberries for an equal amount of blueberries, raspberries, or a mix of both. The crumble topping works beautifully with any summer berry, and the bake time stays the same.
- Lemon Strawberry: Add a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest to the sugar and let it sit while you scale everything else. The citrus sharpens the flavor of the strawberries without changing the texture of the crumb at all.
- Mini Muffins: Divide the batter into mini muffin cups and reduce the bake time to 12 to 14 minutes, checking for golden edges as your visual cue. Everything else, including the crumble topping, stays exactly the same. If you love this kind of crumble-topped bake, my coffee cake muffins follow the same format and are worth keeping in your back pocket.
- Chocolate Chip Strawberry: Fold a small handful of mini chocolate chips into the batter before dividing it among the cups. The chocolate melts into the crumb and pairs surprisingly well with the jammy baked strawberries on top.
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Professional Tips for Perfect Strawberry Muffins
- Don’t overfill the cups. The instructions call for just 2 tablespoons of batter per cup, which looks like far too little, but it’s not. The strawberries and crumble go on top of the batter, and the muffins rise to fill the cup as they bake, so trust the amount even when it seems stingy.
- Keep the crumble butter cold. If the butter warms up while you’re working it into the flour and sugar mixture, the crumble will bake into a greasy paste rather than the sandy, coarse topping you’re after.
- Layer in the right order. Batter goes in first, then the chopped strawberries, then the crumble. This order matters because it keeps the strawberry pieces suspended near the top of each muffin where they bake and soften without making the crumb underneath wet and heavy.
How to Make Strawberry Muffins
Use these step-by-step instructions to make soft, tender muffins topped with jammy fresh strawberries and a buttery crumble. Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Prep the oven and pan. Heat your oven to 350 degrees F conventional and line 16 standard-size muffin cups with paper baking liners.
Make the batter
Step 2: Beat the butter and sugar. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together for about 1 minute. You’re looking for a pale, smooth, fluffy mixture, not grainy or separated. If it still looks a little dense after 30 seconds, keep going. (photo 1)
Step 3: Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just combined. The mixture should look smooth and cohesive. (photo 2)
Step 4: Alternate the flour mixture and milk. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture in alternating additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring after each addition until just combined. The batter will be thick and look a little rough between additions, which is fine! By the time the last of the flour goes in, it should be smooth, soft, and scoopable.(photos 3 & 4)
Divide the batter
Step 5: Spoon about 2 tablespoons of batter into each lined cup. The strawberries and crumble topping both go on top of the batter, and the muffins rise to fill the cup as they bake, so resist the urge to add more. (photo 5)
Step 6: Top with the chopped strawberries. Scatter the chopped fresh strawberries evenly over the batter in each cup. They sit right on the surface rather than being folded into the batter, which is what keeps the crumb from getting wet and heavy during baking. (photo 6)
Make the crumble topping
Step 7: In a small bowl, stir together the flour and both sugars until combined. Add the cold, cubed butter and use a pastry blender or your fingertips to work it into the flour and sugar mixture until the whole thing looks like coarse, clumpy meal. You want some pea-sized bits of butter throughout. If the butter starts to feel soft and warm while you’re working, pop the bowl in the refrigerator for five minutes before continuing. (photos 7 & 8)
Step 8: Add the crumble topping. Sprinkle the crumble mixture evenly over the strawberries in each muffin cup. Don’t worry about making it look perfectly even — a little uneven coverage is fine and just means more texture on top. Press it down very gently so it has something to grip.(photo 9)
Bake
Step 9: Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. The crumble will look lightly set and toasty, the strawberries will have softened and turned jammy, and the muffin edges will just be pulling away from the liners. (photos 10 & 11)
Recipe FAQs
Store cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, freeze them in a single layer on a baking sheet, then transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat frozen muffins in a 325ºF oven for about 10 minutes, or in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.
These strawberry muffins are a simple quick-bread-style bake with a buttery crumble on top, while Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes are more of a dessert, finished with frosting and a shortcake-inspired presentation. The muffins are less sweet overall and feel completely at home at breakfast or brunch. If you want a showstopper for a celebration, go the cupcake route — for an everyday bake, these muffins are the one.
You can, though fresh strawberries will give you cleaner results. Frozen berries release more liquid as they bake, which can make the centers of the muffins slightly wetter and the crumble topping less crisp. If frozen is what you have, don’t thaw them first — fold them in straight from the freezer to minimize the extra moisture.
Recommended Strawberry Recipes
Brownies & Bars
Summer
Brownies & Bars
Cakes & Cupcakes
Strawberry Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
Muffins Batter
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- 1 ½ cups fresh strawberries, chopped
Crumble Topping
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350ºF. Line 16 standard-size muffin cups with paper baking liners.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, beat butter and sugar for 1 minute until smooth, light, and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and beat until just combined.
- In a separate medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, stirring after each addition until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, about 1 to 2 tablespoons per cup. Top each evenly with chopped strawberries.
- To make the crumble topping, stir together flour and both sugars in a small bowl. Use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut in the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle evenly over the muffin cups.
- Bake 18 to 20 minutes until the tops are golden.
Notes
Technique: Stir the batter only until you no longer see dry streaks after each flour and milk addition. Overmixing once the flour goes in overdevelops the gluten and is the primary reason muffins turn out dense.
Measuring: For the crumble topping, the butter must be cold when you cut it in. Softened or melted butter will clump instead of forming the coarse, sandy texture you want.
Storage: Store cooled muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. To freeze, place in a single layer on a baking sheet first, then transfer to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat frozen muffins in a 325ºF oven for about 10 minutes, or in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Before You Go
I hope this strawberry muffin recipe earns a regular spot in your spring baking rotation. Browse our Breakfast & Brunch Recipes or make these lemon poppy seed muffins next!
I love this recipe and the muffins where sooo moist
Oh thank you, Ginger! You made my day! ~Lindsey
These muffins are delicious. The strawberries turn jammy and yummy under the streusel…mmm. I made them this morning and waited about 10 minutes before tasting. I followed the recipe exactly..no changes except as follows. I didnt have paper muffin liners so I buttered the tin. They def would’ve been easier to remove with liners. I also made them into only 12 muffins since I didn’t want to make a second tin dirty. The batter and strawberries and streusel all fit fine into 12 cups, but did overflow onto top of pan a bit which also made them more difficult, but not impossible, to remove. One comment about butter/sugar: my butter was pretty soft but I still had a difficult time creaming 3/4 c. sugar into 1/4 c. butter. Took way more than a minute and never got smooth all the way. Might try melting butter next time and doing a more traditional muffin mixing technique: combine dry, combine wet, stir wet into dry until just combined. Overall 5 stars.
Hi Cynthia! They sound wonderful! Let us know how the traditional technique goes for next time, and happy baking!
I made these for my sweet little nephew while he visited us and he ADORED them! Between the 4 of us, we devoured every one of the muffins. Next time, I’ll be making a double batch! Thank you for a wonderful recipe that needed absolutely NO tweaking. It’s perfection as is!
Didn’t want to bother with muffins so I baked as a cake in 8×8 inch pan and it came out great I cut into 16 squares
i was wondering if you need to dry the strawberries at all? I’ve made a strawberry bread before and it was ridiculously dense due to the water.
Sonia, great question! Because you’re placing the strawberries on top of the batter, they don’t make the muffins overly moist/dense. That being said, it’s always best practice to wash and thoroughly dry strawberries before using them in a baking recipe. Hope that helps!
This recipe is a hit my family loves these muffins. Since we are lucky enough to get fresh local strawberries in June I bake up a bunch and they never last friends request them anytime they know we have strawberries, I’ve even taken them to the growers and they loved them!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe I absolutely love it!!
Shannon, that’s SO great! Thank you! I’m so glad everyone loves them (we feel the same way :)).
I know this post is a little older, but I just have to tell you I baked these muffins this morning with strawberries my kids and I picked and oh my goodness! These muffins are my new favorite. I ate 3 straight out of the oven and I’m ashamed to admit I could have eaten much more! I have the pickiest 8 year old on the planet. Half the time she says she likes something and only eats a nibble. She ate TWO of these muffins and asked where they’ve been all her life!
They were a little messy- probably because they were still hot, so we used forks to eat the muffins and they took a bit longer to cook in my oven, but they were moist and delicious when they were finally ready.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Yep…I’m about a year late today is July 30th 2017!! But I’d certainly be there for you if I could. I’m a home baker. I love to bake have you ever had a banana nut butter pecan cake? It’s one of my favorite cakes. Let me know if you want the Oh so easy recipe. It’s Fabulous!!! I hope your house is sold and all is well. No more mice in the car engine what a bummer. I can relate. I had a situation almost the same. Thanks For the great recipes!!