This easy recipe for rhubarb muffins with sour cream is topped with a streusel topping before baking, yielding a moist muffin with a crunchy crumble topping. You can use fresh or frozen rhubarb for this rhubarb streusel muffin recipe.
If you ever wished that your strawberry rhubarb muffins had more rhubarb and less strawberry, this rhubarb muffin recipe is for you! I came up with this variation because I was tired of the strawberry-rhubarb pairing. I wanted a muffin where the rhubarb shines!
This recipe for these rhubarb sour cream muffins is almost identical to the honey blueberry muffins I mentioned earlier, but with a few key differences:
- I reduced the all-purpose flour by 60 grams (½ cup) in the batter and replaced it with the same portion of ground almonds, adding 50 grams (½ cup)
- I used sour cream instead of buttermilk. Both are acidic ingredients commonly used in baking, but remember that cultured buttermilk has virtually no fat, while sour cream has 14 %, so sour cream leads to a rich, more tender muffin. I added 125 mL (½ cup) of sour cream, but you can use 80 mL (⅓ cup) of buttermilk if you prefer
- I used slightly more fruit, by weight, to ensure there was enough rhubarb in almost every bite without making the batter too wet. If you want to make strawberry rhubarb muffins, replace half the weight of rhubarb with strawberries, and you can follow this recipe for strawberry rhubarb muffins with streusel topping
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What You Need To Make Muffins With Rhubarb
This recipe is based on my formula for the best fruit muffins. Here's what you need to make muffins with rhubarb:
- flour mixed with ground almond to reduce the gluten protein in the recipe making a slightly denser, but also more tender muffin
- large eggs—don't use small eggs as the muffins may end up dry
- sugar—sometimes I use a little less, and other times, I may substitute a portion of sugar for liquid sugar, like honey
- butter—I prefer baking with butter, but if you must make a baking substitution here, use 80 mL (⅓ cup) of canola oil, for example. You could use up to 125 mL (½ cup) oil, but this might lead to a more delicate muffin. It all depends on what you are going for!
- sour cream—you could use buttermilk, but sour cream adds so much flavour and richness to the muffin batter. I'm obsessed!
- leavening—both baking powder and baking soda are the chemical leaveners I add to this muffin recipe. You need the baking soda in this recipe because these muffins have sour cream, an acidic ingredient in the recipe. The baking soda helps neutralize the acid so that the baking powder can do its job
- rhubarb—we are working with chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen, but you can use a mix of strawberries and rhubarb to make these strawberry rhubarb muffins with streusel topping. Remember, too much fruit can lead to muffins that are wet, hard to eat, that may collapse when they cool, and that lack structure, falling apart easily.
- cinnamon—sometimes I add a little cinnamon to the streusel, sometimes I don't. It's optional and up to you, but I find the cinnamon is a nice touch!
Tip: Read about baking soda versus baking powder if you aren't sure what the difference is between them!
Please see the recipe card for the exact ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Rhubarb Streusel Muffins
For these sour cream muffins, we are using a two-bowl method, but with a twist: working the butter into the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients to create a tender muffin and prevent gluten from forming. Here's how you make these rhubarb streusel muffins:
Step 1—Make the streusel topping by first combining the flour, sugar, cinnamon (if using), and salt (image 1) until evenly mixed (image 2) before adding the melted butter (image 3). Stir until the mixture clumps and looks like wet sand (image 4)
Note: You can make the streusel without cinnamon or with a different spice (or blend of spices like pumpkin pie spices or apple pie spice blend). The colour of the streusel will be different depending on whether or not you add the spies to it.
Step 2—Set the streusel aside while you make the muffin batter, starting by whisking together the dry ingredients, including the sugar (image 5), before adding the chopped butter (image 6). Use your hands to work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles cornmeal (image 7).
Note: Not only have we reduced the all-purpose flour in the dry ingredients, but we also work the butter into the flour to reduce the gluten formation. Both these tricks create a lighter muffin.
Step 3—Whisk the eggs and wet ingredients separately (image 8) and then pour it over the bowl of dry ingredients and butter (image 9), then stir everything together with your whisk to make a thick batter (image 10).
Step 4—Toss the rhubarb pieces in a small amount of flour (less than a tablespoon is enough) to coat them all (image 11). The flour will anchor the pieces in the muffin batter (image 12).
Step 5—I prefer to bake my muffins in either paper or silicone liners in a regular muffin pan. Since this recipe only makes 8, I split the batter between two 6-cup pans using a large muffin scoop, topping each muffin with a generous amount of streusel, pressing it into the top gently to anchor it (image 13). Bake until puffed, golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean (image 14).
Making Muffins Less Tough
To bake cakes and muffins that are more tender:
- Use a flour (or blend of flours) with a lower protein content, like cake flour or a combination of all-purpose with cornstarch (a common baking substitution) or ground nuts. In this case, I opted for the latter combination with ground almonds to create a light, tasty muffin.
- Work the fat into the flour before adding the liquids. This way, you reduce the likelihood that gluten will form when the flour is combined with the wet ingredients. Remember, gluten is a network of proteins that assembles into a structure with water that is elastic and strong, and gluten is what makes baked goods tougher.
These two tricks contribute to making these muffins light, moist, and slightly dense (in a good way!).
Muffin Baking Tips For Big Muffins
The secret to bigger muffins is simple: scoop more batter per muffin cup! So while you could easily make 10 or even 12 regular or small-sized muffins with the recipe below, this time, I opted to divide the batter between 8 muffin cups to yield big, bakery-style muffins with impressive muffin tops.
I tested if the muffins would bake more evenly, leaving a few empty muffin cups in each pan. I baked a batch of 8 big muffins split between two pans. One may assume less muffins per pan would allow for more air circulation and for the pan to heat up more evenly underneath and faster, I noticed no difference whether I filled a 6-cup pan with the batter for six muffins or 4, except that with less muffins in the pan, they were easier to unmould because it was less likely for the tops to bake into each other, fusing the edges of the tops.
Some fill empty muffin cups with water, but I don't think this is necessary either. The water would slow the heating of the muffin cups and perhaps even out the heat, but I haven't noticed any significant difference with water. That being said, if you have a preferred method for evenly baking muffins, I'm all ears! Let me know in the comments!
These big rhubarb muffins with sour cream and streusel are perfect, if you ask me: super moist, super flavourful, with a lovely texture that isn't too heavy, nor too light. This recipe yields hefty bakery-style muffins, but feel free to divide the batter to make more "smaller" muffins and just reduce the baking time accordingly. A smaller rhubarb muffin would take about 20 minutes to bake through at such a high temperature, so you'll need to keep an eye on them.
Remember, regardless of the size of the muffins you are baking, make sure to check that they are done baking before taking the pan out of the oven. Nobody likes a gummy, under-baked muffin.
More Rhubarb Recipes
You have to take advantage of the local rhubarb when it's in season. Here are some of my favourite rhubarb recipes:
If you tried this recipe for the best rhubarb muffins (or any other recipe on my website), please leave a ⭐ star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
📖 Recipe
Rhubarb Muffins with Sour Cream and Streusel Topping
Ingredients
For the streusel topping
- 20 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 20 grams ground almonds
- 20 grams granulated sugar or brown sugar
- 5 mL ground cinnamon optional
- 1 pinch Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 20 grams unsalted butter melted
For the muffin batter
- 200 grams granulated sugar
- 190 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 50 grams ground almonds
- 2.5 mL baking soda
- 2.5 mL baking powder
- 2.5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature, cut into small pieces
- 125 mL sour cream (14% fat)
- 2 large egg(s)
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
- 225 grams fresh rhubarb washed and trimmed, and cut into ½-inch pieces, or you can use frozen! OR use half rhubarb, half chopped strawberries
- 8 grams bleached all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 ºF (220 °C). Line two muffin pans with 8 to 10 muffin paper liners being sure to space them out between the two pans to allow better air flow.
Make the streusel topping
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, ground almond, sugar, salt, and cinnamon (if using).
- Add the melted butter and stir it in with a fork until the mixture forms a crumble.
- Cover and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Make the muffin batter
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, ground almond, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the softened butter and work it in with your hands, rubbing it in until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and stir it in (takes about 20 stirs to get the batter mixed).
- When the batter is ready, in a medium bowl, toss the rhubarb with the 8 grams (1 tbsp) of flour. Stir so that the the fruit pieces are evenly coated with flour.
- Fold them into the batter gently with a wooden spoon or spatula to evenly distribute them.
- Divide the batter between 8 to 10 paper-lined wells of two muffin pans. If you want big muffins, you'll need 8, if you want regular-sized muffins, you'll need 10. Sprinkle with streusel.
- Bake at 425°F (220 °C) for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) to continue baking the muffins until the edges are golden brown and the texture is set. Use a cake tester inserted into the middle of a muffin to check if the muffins are baked. If you are baking 8 muffins, it will take an additional 10–15 minutes to bake them completely, if not more.
Notes
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
- The cinnamon in the streusel is optional. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. You can also replace it with pumpkin pie spices, apple pie spice blend, or any warm spices. Cardamom could also work really nicely!
- Sour cream can be replaced with Greek yogurt (preferably with 9 or 10 % fat to mimic the fat content of full-fat sour cream).
- Take time to pile on the streusel and press it gently into the batter to cover the surface of the muffin
- Different baking methods yield different muffin tops:
- For a “regular” muffin top: bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes.
- For a “domed” muffin top: bake at 425°F for 10 minutes, then drop the temperature setting to 350°F for the last 10 to 15 minutes.
- For a “puffy” muffin top: refrigerate the batter overnight, then scoop it into 8 to 10 muffin paper-lined wells of a muffin pan, sprinkle with streusel topping, and bake them at 350°F for about 30 minutes.
Edie says
Do you have a recipe for rhubarb loaf also called rhubarb bread I believe. Would your rhubarb muffins work being baked in a loaf pan?