Rhubarb Muffins

This easy recipe for rhubarb muffins shows step-by-step photos so you can make these moist and buttery muffins for your family and friends! Made with orange zest, these tart rhubarb muffins are a nice change from your typical berry muffins!

One of my guilty pleasures is a muffin for breakfast. I usually have my healthiest meal at breakfast, whether its steel-cut oatmeal or a protein shake so I hardly ever indulge in a sweet treat for breakfast.

When I do though it has to be a muffin. Carbs for life baby!! While I love my strawberry-blueberry muffins, I adore the tartness of rhubarb.

Let's get to the recipe.

Jump to:

• What is Rhubarb
• What are the ingredients
• How do you make rhubarb muffins
• Can you make rhubarb muffins ahead of time?
• Recipe Card
• Recipe Ratings & Comments

What is Rhubarb

Rhubarb is technically a vegetable but most often used as a fruit. The flavor of rhubarb is super tart!

Let's get to the recipe.

What are the ingredients

• Unsalted Butter, melted and Vegetable Oil ( I like to use butter for taste and vegetable oil to seal in the moisture)
• Granulated Sugar
• Large Egg, at room temp.
• Orange Zest
• Pure Vanilla Extract
• All-Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Buttermilk
• Rhubarb, cut into ½ inch size pieces (fresh or frozen- if frozen not thawed)
• Demerara Sugar

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different from what someone else scoops!

How do you make rhubarb muffins

First things first preheat oven to 425F/218C and grease a 12 cup muffin tin. You could totally line the muffin tin with liners, I just prefer unlined muffins.

Next, we'll start on the wet ingredients. In a large bowl mix together the melted butter, vegetable oil, and granulated sugar.

Add the egg and orange zest whisking to combine.

In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients gently folding, then add half of the buttermilk whisking to combine. Add remaining flour mixture and finish with buttermilk, Do not over mix.

Gently fold the rhubarb into the batter.

Using a large scoop divide the batter between 8 cups. I like to separate the muffins creating more room for the hot air to help them rise in the oven.

I will sprinkle a little demerara or turbinado sugar on top for a nice sweet crunch.

Bake for eight minutes then reduce the temperature to 350F/180C and bake for an additional 7 to 11 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack. 

Can you make rhubarb muffins ahead of time?

Muffins freeze very well. These muffins are great and last at room temperature up to 3 days. You can also freeze the muffins for up to three months.

To freeze the muffins: Let them cool completely then place them in a freezer friendly Ziploc bag or wrap tightly in plastic wrap/ cling film. Let them freeze in a single layer then after a few hours feel free to shuffle the bag around so they take up less space or leave them in a single layer!

To thaw a frozen muffin: Let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so, place them in the fridge overnight, or microwave for 30 seconds when you want one!

Are you a rhubarb lover? If so you should totally check out this delicious rhubarb crumble recipe or my rhubarb custard pie recipe.

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★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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