EASY Sourdough Discard Lemon Blackberry Muffins Recipe

If you are looking for a yummy way to use up extra sourdough discard, look no further! These sourdough discard, lemon blackberry muffins are soft and fluffy with the perfect amount of sweetness complimented with a subtle tang. These lemon blackberry muffins make for the perfect Saturday morning brunch or a quick and easy, on-the-go snack.

With spring on the rise, I have been eager to get in the kitchen and do some spring-inspired baking featuring sourdough discard. Because I make sourdough bread quite often, I am always looking for ways to use up sourdough discard and one of my favorite ways to do this is by adding it to my baked goods, specifically quick breads, muffins, and cookies.

One of my favorite muffins is a lemon poppy seed muffin. I love the tanginess of the lemon combined with the sweetness of the muffin. It makes for the perfect combination of sweet and tang in my opinion. Recently, I was gifted some fresh blackberries, which I have been absolutely loving, and thought they would go perfectly in my lemon muffins, and I have to say, these sourdough discard lemon blackberry muffins have quickly become one of my favorites. They are super easy to make, sweet, but not too sweet, and super flavorful with fresh blackberries and lemon zest.

Note: If you are not a blackberry person, you could always sub out the blackberries for blueberries as well and make lemon blueberry muffins instead.

Why Add Sourdough Discard?

Adding sourdough discard to your baked goods is a great way to not only ferment the grains, which aids in digestion, but also add another level of flavor to your muffins, cakes, quick breads, cookies, or whatever you may be adding it to. Adding sourdough discard to your baked goods is also a great way to eliminate waste. If you are a sourdough baker, you are probably always looking for sourdough discard recipes to eliminate waste and use up your sourdough discard.

Why You Will Love This Recipe:

• Sourdough Discard: This is a great way to use up some extra sourdough discard you may have on hand and a simple way to help break down the glutens in the flour and make the muffin easier to digest.
• Quick and Easy: This recipe is super quick and easy to make. It can either be made all at once for the quick version or long fermented for additional digestion benefits. If you are sensitive to gluten, I recommend long fermenting this recipe.
• Right Amount of Sweet: Nowadays, it seems like most grocery store and box-made muffins quickly turn into cupcakes. They are way too sweet in my opinion. I love this recipe, because it is sweet, but not too sweet, making for the perfect muffin.
• Fresh: These muffins are super fresh with hints of lemon zest and sweet blackberries.
  
  

Tips For Making Sourdough Discard Lemon Blackberry Muffins:

1. Do Not Over-Mix: Make sure to not over-mix the batter. Over-mixing can lead to a tougher consistency as the glutens become overworked. Mixing until the batter is just combined, makes for a light and fluffy consistency.
2. Lemon Zest: Adding both lemon juice and lemon zest is a great way to boost the overall lemon flavor in the muffins.
3. Fully Cool: Allow muffins to fully cool before eating them. This allows the muffin to rehydrate and will make for a lighter and fluffier muffin.
   
   

Ingredients for Sourdough Discard Lemon Blackberry Muffins

Wet Ingredients:

• Sourdough Discard: If you are looking for a good sourdough starter recipe so that you can easily have sourdough discard on hand, check out my recipe here, where I have outlined a step-by-step process for how to make sourdough starter.
• Fresh Lemons: Using both lemon juice and lemon zest adds a lot of fresh citrus flavor to the muffins.
• Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Paste: I love adding vanilla paste as it has a little bit stronger vanilla flavor, but both work great!
• Whole Milk
• Butter
• Eggs
  
  

Dry Ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Sugar
• Baking Powder: This is going to be the main leavening agent in the muffins, giving them their rise and fluffy texture.
• Baking Soda
• Salt
  
  

Note: This blog post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Materials Used:

• Muffin tin
• 2 Mixing bowls (large and medium)
• Small pan
• Whisk
• Silicone spatula
• Muffin tin liners
• Ice cream scooper
• Measuring cups
  
  

How To Make Sourdough Lemon Blackberry Muffins:

Preheat the oven to 400° F.

Prepare your muffin tins. You can either line them with parchment paper, paper muffin liners, or grease your muffin tin with coconut oil.

Add all of the dry ingredients, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda, into a large bowl and whisk until combined.

In a small saucepan, melt one stick of butter.

In a medium bowl, add the sourdough discard, milk, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest to a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients together and slowly add the melted butter to the mixture, while continually whisking. Continuing to whisk is super important in this step so that the hot butter does not cook the eggs or curdle the milk.

Once everything is combined, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix using a rubber spatula until everything is just combined. Do not over-mix.

Next, gently fold in 2 cups of fresh or frozen blackberries.

Using an ice cream scoop or dry measuring cup, scoop the lemon blackberry muffin batter into a lined or greased muffin tin.

Bake at 400° F. for 20-25 minutes or until they are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to fully cool on a wire cooling rack before eating. This will allow the muffins time to rehydrate and cool down, creating a lighter, fluffier texture.

How To Long Ferment Muffins:

If you want to long ferment your muffins for easier digestion I recommend starting them the night before 12 hours before baking.

1. Add sourdough discard, all-purpose flour, and milk to a large bowl and mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
2. Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a tight lid and leave it to ferment at room temperature in your kitchen overnight. Note: If you are hesitant to leave milk out overnight, you can always sub the milk out for water.
3. The next day, uncover your batter and add in your baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla, lemon juice and zest, and blackberries. Gently fold everything together until it is fully combined.
4. Preheat the oven to 400° F. and bake in a greased or lined muffin tin for 20-25 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Transfer the muffins to a wire cooling rack and allow them to fully cool before eating.
   
   

FAQ:

• How to store muffins? I recommend storing these muffins in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.
• How long do muffins last for? These sourdough lemon blackberry muffins will stay fresh for up to 5 days; however, I recommend eating them within the first few days of making them.
• Can I freeze muffins? Yes, you can 100% freeze these. This is a great option if you cannot eat a whole batch of muffins in a few days. I recommend cooking the muffins and allowing them to fully cool and placing them in an airtight freezer bag.
• Why bake with sourdough discard? Adding sourdough discard to your baked goods is a great way to ferment the grains in the baked goods, which makes for easier digestion. Discard will also add a pleasant tang to your baked goods without making them super sour like traditional sourdough bread.
  
  

My Favorite Sourdough Discard Recipes:

• Sourdough Cinnamon Roll Star Bread
• Sourdough Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Sourdough Pumpkin Muffin
• Healthy Sourdough Pumpkin Bread
• Sourdough Old Fashion Donuts
  
  

If you try this recipe and love it, I would love it if you would consider coming back to the site to give it a 5-star rating and tag me on Instagram or Facebook! Thanks so much 🙂