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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 are going to just barely combine the wet and dry ingredients. There should still be many streaks of flour. Over-stirring will result in tough muffins.
When you add the rubharb, it’s going to add a lot of moisture to the recipe. TRUST THE PROCESS, and again, do NOT overmix the batter. Overmixing will yield super dense, 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
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the Muffins
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2½ cups finely diced rhubarb approximately ¼-inch in size
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup melted butter
- 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek Yogurt
- ¼ cup milk
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1½ 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 paper 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 many streaks of flour. Gently stir in the rhubarb along with any juices in the bowl.
- Divide the batter between the muffin tins, and 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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
{originally published 5/17/18 – recipe notes and photos updated 3/24/22}
Double Crumb Rhubarb Coffee Cake
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!!
I’m so glad you loved the muffins, Franne! Everyone’s taste is slightly different (and sometimes people misread the recipe, too). Happy baking!
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! ?
I’m so glad you loved the muffins, Leanne!
yes very good. i had to bake for 5 more minutes at 350 with the toothpick test. Then they were perfect.
I’m so glad the muffins turned out well for you, Janet. I hope you love them. Happy baking!
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.
Yay! I’m so glad they worked perfectly for you, Susan! They’re a favorite here too.
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.
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!
I’m glad you’re enjoying the muffins, Bernice!
These baked ok, but were slightly bitter and not near as good as I hoped. Will most likely throw them out.
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.
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!
That’s awesome, Madeline! I’m thrilled that you love the muffins. Now I’m craving a batch for myself!