Bakery style streusel-topped Rhubarb Muffins are tender, studded with tangy rhubarb bits, and topped with a crunchy brown sugar streusel.
Rhubarb Muffins
These Bakery Style Rhubarb Streusel Muffins have a beautiful high dome covered in crisp brown sugar cinnamon streusel and are a perfect weekend treat!
Truthfully, they make a great treat any time at all, because this is a quick bread recipe that you can make in just a few minutes.
All the ingredients are simple items you probably already have in your pantry. The rhubarb is going to be your hardest-to-find ingredient.
I can usually find mine at several of the little farmstands in our area. Otherwise, a big supermarket should have it this time of year.
Muffin Making Tips
Here are a couple of muffin-making tips that will yield tall, tender rhubarb streusel muffins. (These apply to any type of muffin actually).
DO NOT over stir the batter. You should just barely combine the wet and dry ingredients. It’s okay, there still should be some streaks of flour. Over-stirring will result in tough muffins.
Start baking the muffins at a high temperature for several minutes. This activates the baking powder and creates that nice high dome on top of the muffin. Then turn the oven down to a moderate temperature (350°F) to finish baking them.
They are great to eat warm, but most muffins are best the next day and will be moister after sitting covered for at least several hours.
Can I Freeze Rhubarb?
YES! Go ahead and freeze some while it is in season, that way you can enjoy rhubarb treats year-round.
To use frozen rhubarb in recipes, thaw the rhubarb and drain it, but do not press out the excess liquid. Bake as directed in the recipe.
Rhubarb Muffin Recipe
- Make the streusel by melting the butter and stirring in the flour, brown sugar, and salt until crumbly. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners. Stir together the 3 tablespoons brown sugar and diced rhubarb in a small bowl, set aside. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt in a large bowl and set aside.
- Beat together the butter, sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir together. Do not over mix, there should still be streaks of flour. Gently stir in the rhubarb.
- Divide the batter between the muffin tins, (sometimes it makes enough for 13-14 muffins) and then top with the streusel. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, turn the heat down to 350°F and bake for 12-15 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Be sure to check out a few more rhubarb recipes, while it’s in season! Don’t miss Old fashioned Rhubarb Pie, Rhubarb Coffee Cake, Rhubarb Bars, and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.
And for a couple more quick bread recipes to try, I recommend the Blueberry Lemon Bread and the Cinnamon Roll Bread.
If you love strawberries paired with your rhubarb, check out these Strawberry Rhubarb Streusel Muffins from Self Proclaimed Foodie.
And if you want to double dose on your rhubarb, why not slather on some of this strawberry rhubarb jam from Flavor the Moments.
Rhubarb Streusel Muffins
Ingredients
For the Streusel topping
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the Muffins
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek Yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Make the streusel by melting the butter and stirring in the flour, brown sugar, and salt until crumbly. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin liners. Stir together the 3 tablespoons brown sugar and diced rhubarb in a small bowl, set aside. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt in a large bowl and set aside.
- Beat together the butter, sour cream, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently stir together. Do not over mix, there should still be streaks of flour. Gently stir in the rhubarb.
- Divide the batter between the muffin tins, (sometimes it makes enough for 13-14 muffins) and then top with the streusel. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, turn the heat down to 350°F and bake for 12-15 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (Depending on the size of your muffins, you may need a longer baking time – test for doneness and adjust as needed.)
Notes
Nutrition
{originally published 5/17/18 – recipe notes and photos updated 3/24/22}
Double Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake
Bethany says
I’m an experienced home-baker and I was not happy with this recipe. There seems to be too much dry ingredient compared to wet ingredient and it resulted in a batter that was thick and glue-like. It was difficult to get the batter into muffin tins and it needed a much longer baking time than the recipe suggested. Even the streusel topping didn’t seem right to me (not enough butter).
Kathy says
Exactly!!! Wish I had read your review first… my sentiments exactly!!! Then it made 24 normal sized muffins, not 12. I use an ice cream scoop usually to keep even, but the batter was very very thick, I thought I’d missed something., the topping too crumbly… needed more butter, needed more time. And honestly I thought it needed a little more sugar for a rhubarb recipe, for my taste anyway. Super disappointed.
Kay says
Perhaps you are not as experienced as you think you are. I just made these as directed and they were perfect and delicious!!!
Karie Gregory says
Kay- did you follow the recipe exactly? I was thinking I’d make these tomorrow- but want them to turn out great!
Thanks 😊
Mary says
Karie – If you follow the directions as written you should not have any issues. I hope you enjoy the muffins!
Mary Peters says
OMG yes, I agree Bethany!!! My batter is more like a dough than a batter & I’ve looked the recipe over 3 times & had my husband AND daughter look it over to see if I missed or overlooked something & I didn’t!! I added more milk to make it thin enough to at least spoon into my muffin tins!!! Batter tastes good but the dry ingredients definitely need adjustments!!!
Mary says
It is a thicker batter but remember the rhubarb has quite a bit of moisture that gets absorbed while baking.
Melissa says
Thanks for sharing, Mallory! I’ve never had rhubarb before making this recipe so I really dont have anything to conpare it to, but I did enjoy these muffins and so did my husband. To me, the rhubarb tastes similar to apple in the muffin. I do agree with the previous comment that the batter was very thick with a glue-like texture which I was not expecting and they did take about 30 mins total to bake trough. I was also able to get 18 miffins which is a plus in my book! Thanks for giving me my first taste of Rhubarb!
Jill Rager says
Hey, Mallory!
Holly is going to try your rhubarb muffin recipe for supper tonight!
Mallory says
That’s exciting to hear! I’ve had some trouble with them being dry. let me know how they are and I may rework the recipe.
Colleen says
I was glad to read that other people had issue with the batter that was better described as dough. The topping was probably the easiest but not what I was expecting I thought it usually had oats in it as well but presentation is okay. Cooking time was much longer. Maybe next time I will try 1 cup less flour. The jury is out on these as they are still in the oven.
Joan says
I’m waiting for these to come out of the oven right now. I have a tried and true apple cinnamon muffin recipe, which in retrospect, I wish I’d used and just traded in the apples for the rhubarb (they take an hour to bake) and there’s no way this recipe is ready in the 5 minutes at 400 degrees/then 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I put them on for an extra 10 minutes and they still aren’t ready. Now I’m waiting to see what happens after another 15. Fingers crossed! I will be disappointed if I burn them.
Joan says
The recommended baking time is not long enough. They actually took about 50 minutes in my oven. However, we all LOVED these muffins and I will definitely make them again. It’s a YES from my crew!
LaRee says
I had a few concerns but it wasn’t the baking time. Mine were done putting them 5 minutes on 400 and about 15 on the 35O.
Did you make standard size muffins? That is what I did and I got 18 out of it.
Anna says
Does everyone else have concerns about the batter being much too thick? I ended up having to bake much longer than instructed in recipe…anyone made any adjustments for future try’s?
Mallory says
Can I ask how you measured your flour? It should be spooned and leveled, not scooped.
Jenna says
Think the 3 cups flour should be 2. Mine are in the oven but I’m not holding out much hope for them. Terrible consistency. Waste of my time and ingredients
Mallory says
Can I ask how you measured your flour? It should be spooned and leveled, not scooped.
Emily says
Hey Jenna, when baking you almost have to treat the recipe like a science project and measuring the flour is essential to the perfect consistency! I find that if I sift the flour, then scoop gently with a spoon into my measuring cup there is much less flour than if you just scoop packed flour from the container in the the measuring cup. Also, I have made the mistake of using expired baking powder and that made a big difference haha! Hope this helps! Try them again! I’ve been making this recipe for a long time now and it is now a household staple and every time I bring them somewhere, they are gobbled up immediately! I also use 3 cups of rhubarb because…well, its the best! Good luck!
Suzanne says
These look so good! What a great breakfast meal prep for the week!
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep freeze well?
Brenda Keena says
Hey Mallory-I first want to say “shame on you” to the people complaining about your recipe before they even get them out of the oven!! Second I want to thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!! I have made these many times with both fresh n frozen rhubarb n they always turn out awesome, everyone that I’ve made these for have either asked for the recipe or asked me to make them for them again🤷🏼♀️Yes this batter is thick & sticky but the end result is so worth it!! Also I bake these as the recipe says in regular muffin tins with regular paper muffin cups 5 min @ 400• then 15@350• perfect every time!! My only complaint is I wind up with 24 instead of 12 muffins😂I wish all my complaints were like this, I guess it’s more like pleasantly surprised!! Thanks again Mallory, keep up the good work!! Brenda❤️
Nancy Thoman says
I added more rhubarb, based on other’s comments. The streusel topping is good, but the muffins seemed to lack much flavor. They were ok but won’t make again.
Andrea says
Way too dense, dry and heavy. It has way too much flour in ratio to the wet ingredients.
Mary says
Hi, Andrea! Is there a chance you might have over stirred the batter? The ingredients should just barely be mixed before you start baking; otherwise, the muffins will be tough. Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out the way you’d anticipated it would; I hope you have better results next time!
Laura says
I wish I had of read the comments before starting these. The batter was literally like a dough, I had to knead in the rhubarb by hand. Hoping the rhubarb adds enough liquid while baking to turn these around. Yikes!
Susie says
Boy, how I wish I had read the comments before. I kept reading the ingredients to make sure it wasn’t me. Way too stiff batter. They are in the oven now. Hope we like them! Made 18. I think 2 cups flour would be better.??
Mary says
I hope you enjoyed them, Suzie!
Fran Ota says
The wet to dry ratio is wrong. I ended up adding more milk to make the batter not bread dough. If I were to try again, I’d increase milk to 1/2 cup at least, may be another egg. OR decrease the flour to 2 1/4 cups. They are in the oven now, so will see.
Margie Sharick says
These are absolutely the best muffins I’ve ever had!!!
Little changes I made were…
1. I added 1Tablespoon of buttermilk powder to the dry ingredients and 1/4 cup of water to the wet ingredients. ( I was out of milk)
2. I did use frozen rhubarb that I thawed out and chopped into smaller pieces. But they were still larger than what was used in the recipe. I wanted to really taste the rhubarb.
3. When I added the brown sugar to the rhubarb I let it set for over an hour to allow juice to form. When I added the rhubarb mixture to the batter I also added the juice. Not really that much and the batter is extremely thick.
4. I filled a 1/4 measuring cup with batter and used a spoon to scoop it out into the baking cups.
5. The recipe says it makes 12 cupcakes. It made 12 reg size cupcakes and 6 large ones.
6. Cooking time was spot on. I read all the comments and no idea why some people had issues.
I would recommend this recipe 100%!!! These are so delicious!!!!
Mary says
I’m thrilled that you love the muffins!
Marjorie R Sharick says
I’m making these again and of course reading the comments. I was thinking … dang I wish I’d written down how I made these!! Was so happy to find my comment with everything I did!!!
I have fresh rhubarb so I’ll let it set even longer in the brown sugar!! LOVE THIS RECIPE!! Thank you!!!
ann says
Like everything else I do….I went big and doubled the recipe. I added the 21/2 cups of rhubarb plus 2 cups of chopped pineapple. So I followed this recipe except I tried to use the recipe from the strawberry/rhubarb combination. In the end…I added 1 cup of sour cream and 1 cup of buttermilk. Everything else was the same from this recipe only doubled. I thought they were very good…not overly sweet or tart. They will be good for a sweet treat. I got 40 muffins plus 3 mini loaf pans. They took almost 1/2 hour more of cooking at 350 but like to have them to give as gifts for single people. Thanks for the recipe. I liked it.
Mary says
I’m so glad you like the muffins, Ann!
LaRee says
Not the best that I’ve ever made. Too much flour in the streusel and could use a little more cinnamon. The dough was quite dry and hard to mix. The taste and flavor was okay but, I think could have used a little more moisture. I will tweak the recipe if I make it again. Not all bad though. Still a good muffin.
Theresa says
Like many others, I wish I would have read the comments. The batter was more like cookie dough. I made to loaves of bread instead of muffins because it looked like it would be too hard to get the dough/batter into the muffin tins. They’re in the oven now – I hope it works!
And yes I spooned and leveled the flour.
Mary says
Theresa – It is a thick batter but does spoon into the tins nicely. I hope you enjoyed it as a bread.
Kelly says
These are delicious! I used fresh diced rhubarb from my garden. I did not have enough butter since I did not account for the butter in the topping, so in the muffins I used half melted butter and half vegetable oil to get to the correct amount of fat. I think the extra juice from the rhubarb and sugar helped make the batter less thick. I did not think it was that difficult to work with and the muffins rose so nicely. I did get 18 standard sized muffins from the recipe and had extra streusel topping. I had to bake them a little longer as other have said. I did 6 – 7 minutes at 400 degrees and then a total of 22 – 23 minutes at 350 degrees. I’m glad to have found another good recipe for my rhubarb, but the recipe for rhubarb bars on this site is our favorite!
Mary says
Kelly – Thank you for sharing your experiences, I am glad the muffin recipe is a good one for you. The bars are a favorite in my house as well.
Madeline says
I made these muffins exactly as the recipe instructed, although instead of using 2.5 cups rhubarb, I used 1.25 cups of rhubarb and 1.25 cups of blueberries. I rinsed these before adding them to the brown sugar, which helped the brown sugar stick better.
I made one batch of muffins according to the cook time here (@ 400 for 5 mins, 350 for 20 minutes). The second batch I started at 350 then finished at 400. The crumble on the second batch had a more golden color to them, which I prefer.
I also added a glaze (1 cup powdered sugar + 2 tbsp lemon juice). Such a yummy idea!
I loved these muffins. They turned out perfectly sweet and a little bitter thanks to the rhubarb and lemon.
I made these first, then looked at the comments and was worried. However, my worry was all for not, as these muffins turned out perfectly!
Mary says
That’s awesome, Madeline! I’m thrilled that you love the muffins. Now I’m craving a batch for myself!
Melissa says
These baked ok, but were slightly bitter and not near as good as I hoped. Will most likely throw them out.
Mary says
I can’t imagine why they were bitter, Melissa. Have you had Rhubarb before? It’s a sour vegetable on its own, however that tang is balanced by the sugar in most recipes.
Bernice says
I made this recipe exactly as written. The muffins turned out wonderful! My muffins were done almost 5 minutes before you stated. Was hesitant after reading comments but glad I ignored them. I always share with my neighbors and they loved them too. Thank you for the recipe!
Mary says
I’m glad you’re enjoying the muffins, Bernice!
Tracy says
I am a very experienced baker and had similar problems to others with this recipe. The “muffins” tasted great, not too sweet with a nice rhubarb tartness, but were more like biscuits than muffins. I would recommend the following changes:
1. Skip the muffin tins and just spoon the dough onto a greased baking sheet. This recipe makes a thick dough, not a cake/muffin batter.
2. The topping is WAY too dry and does not hold together at all. I doubled the butter and it was still too dry. I would use a 1:1 ratio of butter to flour.
3. The baking time was not enough. Even though the toothpick came out clean, the muffins/biscuits were still raw and sticky. I ended up doubling the baking time.
Overall nice flavour, but the recipe needs a bit of tweaking.
Susan Slawinski says
Not sure why all the negative comments. DO NOT over mix and batter will look like a thick cake batter. Used my biggest cookie scooper and was very easy to scoop batter in muffin tin. Got 18 muffins and baked at 400 D for 5m and then 350 D for 20m. They are delicious and will make again.
Mary says
Yay! I’m so glad they worked perfectly for you, Susan! They’re a favorite here too.
Janet says
yes very good. i had to bake for 5 more minutes at 350 with the toothpick test. Then they were perfect.
Mary says
I’m so glad the muffins turned out well for you, Janet. I hope you love them. Happy baking!
Leanne says
I made these today, exactly as the recipe read. And yes, the batter was thick. But yes, I scooped my flour instead of spooning it. Didn’t know that was a thing. 😅 I wasn’t sure how much to fill each muffin cup, but since there was so much batter, I went nearly to the top. I had to increase the 350 degree baking time to 22 minutes. All said and done I have 19 delicious muffins. I am very happy how they turned out and will definitely make them again. May try spooning instead of scooping though! 😉
Mary says
I’m so glad you loved the muffins, Leanne!
Franne says
I can’t believe these muffins don’t have a five star rating. I just baked exactly according to the directions and have to force myself to only eat one right out of the oven. They are so good!! This made 12 regular sized plus 4 mini loaves. Thank you for this great recipe!!
Mary says
I’m so glad you loved the muffins, Franne! Everyone’s taste is slightly different (and sometimes people misread the recipe, too). Happy baking!
Rene Sebens says
There is to much flour in this recipe, so it takes away from the rhubarb flavor.DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY MAKING THIS RECIPE.
Mary says
Hi, Rene! How much flour did you add to your batch? The amount required shouldn’t be enough to affect the flavor. Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out well for you.
Emily says
Hey Rene! Baking is definitely a science! Did you sift and scoop your flour into the measuring cup or just scoop and level out of the container? It really makes a huge difference in the amount of flour when you sift and scoop verses just taking it right out of the container and leveling it off. You end up with about 15%- 20% more flour then intended. Try 3 cups of rhubarb next time! I’m a rhubarb lover so enjoy a piece in every bite! Good luck!
Liz says
Not impressed with these muffins. I should have read the reviews. The dough was so sticky and thick and the topping had way too much flour. It also makes 24 not 12. They did end up still edible but had no flavor except biting into the rhubarb. My son was upset that these weren’t good. He grew the rhubarb himself and this was the first bake with them.
Mary says
I’m so sorry to hear the muffins weren’t a hit with your family, Liz. Did you change anything in the recipe? What size are your muffin cups? I measure 12 muffins with a 1/4 cup scoop and that’s all the recipe makes. I can’t fathom how you wound up with 24 unless you added a lot of additional ingredients.
Trish says
I agree with the others that have commented. At first I thought I had measured wrong or misread the recipe, but after reading the other comments I see I am not alone. This recipe dry to wet is off. I would think that two cups of flour would be plenty. I had to had more milk just so I could get the batter to come together. The streusel was also too dry. Ended up with 22 muffins. Very dense and flavor was just okay. And for me personally dirtied to many dishes. Will not make again.
Mary says
Hey Trish, adding milk to the provided recipe clearly affected your results. If there is too much liquid in the batter, baked goods will turn out very dense. The batter will appear to be dry, but it does work as written. When you changed the ingredients, you changed the outcome. I’m sorry it wasn’t a hit for you.
May says
Worst muffins ever !! I followed this recipe to the letter and they didn’t turn out. Too dry and not enough wet ingredients
Mary says
Hi, May! Is there any chance you may have added more wet ingredients than the recipe called for? That will actually result in drier muffins. Sorry the recipe didn’t turn out well for you.
Shannon says
I agree with the other comments.my batter was very thick and glue like .made 24 regular sized muffins. I did not over stir and I feel they are heavy also took longer to cook then stated. I would not make this recipe again.
Mary says
Thanks for letting me know, Shannon. It sounds like this recipe needs to be re-tested. I’ve had good luck with it in the past, but too many people have left comments lately for me to ignore that. I don’t know if there’s an error in the recipe card or if it’s an ingredient issue, but I’ll look into it. Sorry for the hassle!
Shelley says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. My batter was thick but the muffins turned out perfect. The cooking time did take a little bit longer like you said it might. My hubby and I enjoyed them very much!
Mary says
I’m so happy to hear that, Shelley!
Kristen Peterson says
I wanted some nice rhubarb muffins for my family. I have used other rhubarb recipes and they come out perfectly. These are by far the worst muffins I have ever made! I followed the recipe perfectly & this recipe is absolutely disgusting. They were dry, heavy, bitter & nasty. They took quite a bit of time to make them & then to have such an huge disappointment was unbelievably frustrating. All muffins went straight to the garbage! I have never written a bad review in my life but I don’t want others to make the same mistake. Don’t waste your time!
Mary says
I’m sorry to hear that, Kristen! Did you stir all of the ingredients until the wet and dry were completely mixed? There should still be streaks of flour in your batter when you’re ready to portion it into muffin tins. In any case, I hope your next baking project turns out better.
Liliane Boudreau says
I just made these muffins and they are really delicious. Will make again for sure.
Mary says
I’m thrilled you like them, Liliane!
Gail says
I didn’t read the comments until the muffins were out of the oven. I too was concerned about the texture of the mixture but they turned out perfect. SO delicious!!! The rhubarb added moisture especially since it had been in brown sugar and produced a little liquid. Absolutely perfect.
Mary says
I’m thrilled to hear that the muffins were a hit, Gail!