Rhubarb Streusel Muffins are tender, studded with tangy rhubarb bits and topped with a crunchy brown sugar streusel.
Last month, I did a sweet roll dough week where I shared 4 recipes using the same yeast dough. This month I’m going to do a rhubarb week. Starting today, I have 3 new rhubarb recipes I’m excited to share with you. (Yes, I know it’s a random Thursday, but I have the posts ready, and want to start sharing them now!)
We are going to start off with these Bakery Style Rhubarb Streusel Muffins. They have a beautiful high dome covered in crisp brown sugar cinnamon streusal and are a perfect weekend treat. Or any day for that matter because they are quick to make.
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 get mine at several of the little farmstands in our area. Otherwise a big supermarket should have it this time of year. 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.
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 overstir 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.
Be sure to check out my my other favorite rhubarb recipes. Old fashioned Rhubarb Pie, Rhubarb Coffee Cake, Rhubarb Bars and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.
And for a couple more quick breads to try, I recommend the Blueberry Lemon Bread and Cinnamon Roll Bread.
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 fold together. Do not over mix, there should still be streaks of flour. Then 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 for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven, turn the heat down to 350 and bake for 12-15 more minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Nutrition
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.
Here are some of my favorite rhubarb recipes on my site.
The most popular are these rhubarb bars.
This double crumb rhubarb coffee cake also makes a great breakfast treat.
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.
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!
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.
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 [email protected]• 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.
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!