Homemade Muffin Mix Recipe
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Homemade Muffin Mix can easily be made with simple ingredients like flour, baking powder, and salt. It can then be customized to whatever kind of muffin you want that day of baking!
The recipe below is inspired by the classic, old-fashioned muffins made half a century ago. They’re not loaded with sugar like most things are these days, but they still taste great.
This amount of muffin mix fits perfectly in a quart-sized mason jar, but if you have something bigger for storage, you can easily double or triple the homemade muffin mix recipe for a larger supply.
Homemade Muffin Mix
I recently inherited a ton of cookbooks from my Granny, and there were some gems in the collection. Perhaps my most exciting find was a 1963 copy of The Joy of Cooking. It’s well-worn, and my grandmother must have used it frequently. She was an amazing cook.
While thumbing through the book, I found an entire section on homemade muffins, with some classic old-fashioned tips to make the perfect basic muffin recipe. I decided to whip up a batch for breakfast with the help of my 3-year-old daughter!
I don’t have much time in the mornings to make breakfast, so I multiplied my recipe to make extra homemade muffin mix. That way, this mix is ready to go whenever I want muffins!
This amount of muffin mix fits perfectly in a quart-sized mason jar, but if you have something bigger for storage, you can easily double or triple the homemade muffin mix recipe for a larger supply.
Homemade Muffin Mix Printable Jar Label
You can print a label for your jar like the one pictured above by clicking here: Homemade Muffin Mix Label and then clicking the print button on your browser.
Homemade Muffin Mix Recipe
This Muffin Mix recipe will make 2 servings of 12 muffins when made into muffin. It stores well in a quart jar!
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/3 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp nutmeg optional
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon optional
Instructions
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In a large bowl, stir all ingredients together, until well mixed. Keep in air-tight container or clean mason jar until ready to use.
Recipe Notes
(Makes 2 servings of 12 muffins)
When you are ready to make muffins using the mix, here are the instructions. In addition, any of the variations below can also be added to the batter to make different kinds of muffins!
Homemade Muffins with Mix Recipe
Here’s how to make homemade muffins with your muffin mix!
Ingredients
- 2 cups muffin mix
- 2 eggs beaten
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Add muffin mix to a medium-sized bowl. In a small bowl, mix together beaten eggs, melted butter, and milk. Add wet ingredients to the muffin mix, and stir to combine. Don’t over-mix the batter, or it will toughen the dough. If you have a few lumps, that is fine. Pour into well-greased muffin pans, filling each cup about 2/3rds full.
-
If you don’t have enough batter to fill all of the muffin cups, add a few tablespoons of water in the empty muffin cups to keep the other muffins moist. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
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Let the muffins cool on a wire rack until ready to enjoy.
Muffin Mix Variations
To one batch of homemade muffins (12 muffins) try adding these different variations to make it different than basic muffins:
- Add 1/2 cup of fruit, such as blueberries, diced strawberries, raspberries, mashed bananas or crushed pineapple.
- Add 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
- Add 1/4 cup of nuts, figs, prunes, dried cranberries, or dates.
- Add six slices of crumbled bacon for a savory muffin.
- Add in 1/2 cup cranberries and replace the milk with orange juice for cranberry orange muffins.
- Add in 1 tablespoon of poppyseeds and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice for lemon poppy seed muffins.
- Use almond milk, coconut milk, oat milk, or any other milk alternative plus a dairy-free butter for a dairy-free version.
- Place the muffins in a mini muffin pan to make snack-sized mini muffins.
- Add in chopped walnuts, pecans, or other nuts for a hearty muffin.
- Use Vanilla Extract, Orange Zest, Lemon Zest, or other flavorings to boost the flavor in any of the muffin variations.
- Replace the milk with sour cream or greek yogurt to have muffins that will be moist for an extended amount of time (good if you are freezing them).
- Replace the flour with an equal amount of whole wheat flour to make whole grain muffins.
Tips for Baking Homemade Muffins
- Always add the fruit to the dry mix and incorporate it into the flour before mixing all of the ingredients. This helps coat the fruit with flour and allows it to be more evenly distributed in the muffin instead of clumped together.
- I LOVE these Baking Cups from Paper Chef. They are uncoated, undyed, and the best I’ve ever baked with. They are a must-have for gluten-free baking as well.
- If you are looking for a gluten-free muffin mix, try my recipe for Gluten Free Muffin Mix instead.
More Homemade Mixes
- The Perfect Scone Mix Recipe [Bonus Gift Ideas]
- Sugar Doughnuts Muffin Mix
- Homemade Pancake Mix + Pancake Recipe From Scratch
- The Best Chocolate Muffin Mix Recipe
- Gluten-Free Onion Soup Mix Recipe
- Homemade Oatmeal Cookie Mix Recipe
What kind of add-ins would you put in your homemade muffin mix?
Merissa Alink
Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple and frugal life on Little House Living since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to freedom on the About Page. You can send her a message any time from the Contact Page.
This Homemade Muffin Mix recipe was originally posted on Little House Living in August 2014. It has been updated as of October 2023.
This is so fabulous, I love the idea of making the mix ahead and just adding the wet ingredients when you want to make them!! I do that with pancakes, and I think I need to try this, too! I really like how they don’t have a ton of sugar, and adding fruit helps make them sweeter, too. Thanks for sharing the recipe, I’m pinning for future reference!! Visiting from Creative Exchange link party. 🙂
This makes it so convenient and I am more likely to use it on a whim, whether for breakfast or afternoon tea. Yummy delicious. Thank you.
I love this idea!
To clarify, in your directions you say to add a few tablespoons to the empty muffin cups — is this tablespoons of batter, or maybe water?
She means water. By adding water to the empty muffin openings you will keep the empty muffin tin openings from getting too hot and smoking and/or causing the other muffins to dry out.
Yes, I did mean water! Nice catch 🙂 I have adjusted the recipe to include that information.
Adding water to empty cups not only helps to keep the muffins more moist, it also help them bake more evenly if all of the cups are filled.
I love making dry mixes ahead of time. It makes baking so much quicker to have that extra ready to go. Thanks for linking up at Gingerly Made. I’m pinning this recipe to try out later.
This muffin mix looks perfect! I don’t bake very often, but if I had this on hand I would definitely bake more. Thanks for sharing! Pinning 🙂
I have been using this recipe for years, and it’s wonderful! I found it in the Square Meals Cookbook by Jane and Michael Stern, given to me years back by my mother-in-law. It’s a great little cookbook with “old fashioned recipes” and I love it. The Sterns pulled their recipes from many sources, and said this dates back to the 1920’s, originally. That would make sense because as you so rightly point out, food was not made with heaps of surgar or even fats back then. Thanks for putting this out there. I hope people use it as it’s better for them than most muffin recipes.
What do you put in yours? I think raspberries sound yummy! 😃
Is this mix really thick and hard to stir?
What a great way to start the day, a warm muffin and a cup of coffee.
I was wondering if you came across an “old” recipe for Bran Muffins
with Molasses in them. I have looked all over the net and nothing
seems to use Molasses anymore. I love your blog and the wisdom
you have for living simply.
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m defintely going to try this recipe.
Shirley I hope this is ok to post? This is my Grandmas recipe for bran muffins with molasses :
2 cups bran
2 cups flour
2 cups sour milk
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 TBSp molasses
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
Add bran to milk. Add soda and let stand. Sift flour and BP. Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs and beat. Combine with bran. Add flour and raisins ignore using
Bake 375 for 15-20 minutes.
Yield 24
Thanks so much for offering this molasses recipe. I love molasses. When I was a child my father took me to watch molasses made in a huge outdoor vat. Lots of hard work.
Thank you for this additional recipe yummy!!
Always looking for premade mixes to make baking easier. I just checked out a book at the library about healthy mixes – it has everything from breads to salad dressings and sauces and beverages that sounds very interesting. I did notice though there was not a muffin mix only a quick bread mix (which I guess is kind of the same) so now I will be able to try this one. Thanks – pinning.
Oh My goodness, I was just thinking yesterday that I wished I had a simple muffin mix that I could take camping with us. Well it’s to late for that now as we leave tonight, but I’ll whip up a batch or two for another trip. thank you
My 10 yr old grand daughter loves to bake so I send her mixes so her & my daughter can bake together quick & easy for mom to,cookie mixes etc,thanks for one more to add to my list of mixes
This is such a great idea, and would make a sweet housewarming gift! I think I’d put zucchini in mine, for an add-in. (So nice to find you on Say G’day Saturday!)
When I was a kid growing up in the 60’s the Joy of Cooking was THE book to have on your shelf! It had old fashioned ways of cooking because the author wrote this during The Great Depression and sold it out of her apartment. There is an official Joy of Cooking web sight that has the complete history along with recipes that are very good!
Hi enjoyed all your comments. Will try the muffin mix and I must say I learned something new today. It was the water in the empty muffin cups, never thought of that.
Thank you for this recipe. I had one years ago from my cooking class in junior high school in the late 50’s. I eventually lost it and am so happy to have this one now.
How long would the dry mix store for? Thx!
I can’t wait to try this. I prepare a dry mix for corn crumb muffins and it makes life so much easier. I love pumpkin and apple spice in the fall. Do you think I could use canned pumpkin in this recipe, or maybe applesauce? Any ideas how much? Thank you so much!
Julie, I just made these yesterday and replaced the eggs with mashed banana, applesauce or pumpkin should work about the same in the recipe or you could still add the eggs but lessen the amount of milk added. 🙂
You should be able to use the applesauce or pumpkin in place of the butter. We usually add oil now and those are good substitutes for the oil. It will add flavor and make the muffins moist. I’d add some spice like cinnamon w these. Try a small batch and let us know. You might be able to add between 1/4-1/2c. (To account for the butter and add in.)
Oh what a wonderful idea! I will be pinning this and mixing some up soon!
What a lovely post – and a lovely blog! How lucky you are to have a vintage copy of The Joy of Cooking!
My first thought was, what a great title and concept for a blog! I like the idea of being content with using what we have! Then it dawned on me that perhaps I like the title for another reason: both our blog titles both involve the concept of “making the most …”!
I’m following you now on Facebook, Pinterest and google+ – and I pinned this muffin recipe.
I’m glad I found this at Motivational Monday today! I hope you will stop by my blog, “the most – – of every moment” some time soon, and say hello!
Thanks for such a simple basic (but hopefully good) recipe. I can’t wait to try it out. 🙂
What a fantastic find! How cool!
Pinning it!
Thanks for sharing!
I love the convenience of mixes, but I know that it’s much better to make things from scratch. Thanks for sharing this homemade muffin mix, so I can have the best of everything! I’ll be pinning list so I can make it when I have time.
bacon muffins!! Why haven’t I thought of that! This mix sounds spot on and I will be making a jar or two and a batch or two! Thanks for sharing with us at Snickerdoodle Sunday!
Thank YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR RECIPE, I LOVE TO BAKE FOR MY FAMILY, EVEN THOUGH THEY ALL GROWN UP ,AND MOVED OUT,I HAVE MY GROWN UPGRANDSONS NOW.
I love this recipe and would like to know if it can be vacuum sealed in a jar for to use later. My granddaughter loves to bake also and I know she would love doing this with me. Thanks!
Thank you for sharing those recipes
Thanks for posting this simple revipe. My imagination is running wild with different additions. I would try savoury muffins with the inclusion of grated parmesan cheese and a whole cherry tomato ( prick the tomato once with a toothpick, and be cautious eating the muffins hot at the tomatoes can really hold the heat). Maybe even a little chilli flakes or sliced chilli.
As a fan of spicy food I think I will try adding some ginger and pumpkin and maybe ginger and grapes…. Chocolate and ginger…spinach and cheese…hmmmm now I am hungry.
Thank you
I agree 100% with you on all of the things you would put in a muffin, especially the pumpkin and ginger. Wow, anything goes!
I am so glad you posted this recipe! Also, reading through the comments has given me so many delicious ideas! Thanks!
Hi, Merissa ~ How fun to have your grandmother’s much-loved cookbook! I love homemade muffins! And I like the idea of doubling the recipe to have the mix ready to go. This would make a great gift, too! Thanks for sharing at the Merry Monday Link Party!
Is there a way I can turn these into “pumpkin spice” muffins without adding all the pumpkin puree? Do they make like a dried pumpkin “flake”?
I’m very grateful for the recipe! I’m also super excited to try it. The only problem I’ve come across is that there is just no way for this mix to fit in a quart sized mason jar. I’d be very thankful if you could share how you made that happen as I have about a dozen of them and was hoping to make a few mixes to store.
Thanks again!
These were nice. Added mashed banana and they came out moist! Thanks for sharing.
Hello Andrea,
Thank you for sharing this with all of us.
I just did a Blog post myself about Homemade Muffin Recipes if you would like to check it out?
Let me know what you think.
I just made these and added chocolate chips. My batter was kind of thick. Seemed like it could have had more of a wet ingredient or something. They came out dry and bland. Left a bad taste in my mouth. What did I do wrong? I followed the directions exactly. I know I didn’t over mix it either…suggestions?
What about rhubarb and zuchinni
This sounds just like what i was looking for today;)). Made some prepackaged ones thought.. these r so simple, id rather the kids eat fresh ones… so here i am and heres the perfecr recipe! Tkx:)))
I recently received my mom’s cookbook that was passed down to her from my grandma. I can’t wait to pass it down to my daughter one day. She and I absolutely love muffins; so this will definitely be our weekend breakfast.
I love this! What a fun gift!
Thanks for sharing this classic muffin mix recipe inspiration. I’m not a fan of overly sweet muffins myself (and it’s one of the reasons why I prefer a muffin over a cupcake, any day of the week!). Love that this recipe isn’t loaded down with sugar. Can’t wait to give this one a try!
That’s so crazy the old recipe doesn’t have as much sugar. You would think they would. I guess adding the berries would add more. Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday! Hope to see ya next week!
Kim
Could I use frozen berries?
Yes you can! The only difference will be that you will have red/blue/purple/pink muffins but they all taste the same. 🙂
Please help!!! I made a huge batch double the recipe an then thought wow! Your getting ahead of yourself ( again) so give them a try make a batch! I made them exact to the recipe followed every step in not a novice either! The only difference i put in was two tbsp raspberry preserves and then baked them ? they came out very dense and sticking to the liners what happend? As of now I have a huge container of muffin mix…..
Hmm, I’m not sure? I’ve made this recipe many times and not had that issue. Perhaps the dough was too wet or didn’t bake long enough?
This happened to me one one batch (of four I’ve made so far). It was either: you forgot to put water in any empty cups, you baked slightly too long, you didn’t use quite enough butter, or you didn’t move them to a cooling rack fast enough. Solution: water in empty cups, add a tiny amount of olive or canola oil to the batter (I now add about 1/2-1 tsp) and blast your liners with a quick shot of non stick spray. After the failed batch I made I stopped using liners and the next batches have popped out like a dream (nonstick pan with cooking spray). To keep fresh, store in an airtight container with a handful of uncooked rice to absorb moisture.
Time is always at a premium in our house but we do like to make from scratch. Thanks for this recipe!
I just mixed this up and agree its to much to fit in a quart mason jar. 1/2 of the recipe had it about 2/3 full. I had at 3/4 of a cup left over after dividing into 2 cups each for my containers.
The ones that are too dry probably had too much of the mix. I noticed this when I was looking at the recipe. The recipe says to mix up the dry ingredients and store. THEN use 2 cups (which will probably be 1/2 the mix) to add to the 2 eggs, etc. if you used the entire mix and only 2 eggs etc. then your dough would be too thick resulting in a dry and bland muffin.
Oh Merissa!
This is amazing !! 🙂 Okay, I have some questions… Can I add vanilla or some other essence to make it vanilla flavored or something else ? And is there any other thing that I can add to make different types of cup cakes ? By the way, thanks for the amazing recipe !!
Absolutely! You can add anything you want, try experimenting with different flavors and combinations! I like to make a banana/cinnamon/vanilla muffin for my boys and sometimes we just do a single fruit or berry to make it easy. I’ve also done chocolate chips or even pumpkin too 🙂
We grew up on the Betty Crocker muffin recipe. It’s fun to put half the batter into the greased muffin tins, then a half teaspoon or so of your favorite jam, then top with the other half of the batter in each muffin cup.
I want to try a cinnamon sugar mixture swirled in a batch, too. I love cinnamon 😋
Thank you❣️
I just found your dry master mix for muffins. I really like almond poppy seed and
lemon poppy seed. Should I use liquid lemon or can I use extract for both flavors?
It will work just fine either way. The extract will give a stronger taste.
I have made a similar mix and stored in ziploc bags as single bake quantities for 6 or 12 muffins with the directions written on the outside of the bag. Another great add in, especially for Christmas morning, is to add 1/2 cup of mincemeat instead of fruit. Fills the kitchen with the smell of Christmas and makes for very moist flavourful muffins.
I think i stuffed these up. I made mix with 2 cups flours. Then used the whole thing (because all the rest didnt add much volume) but then I thought since I halved the recipe id get half the muffins but I didnt. instead of 6 i got like 10 so i put this on top to make BIG muffins but they just came out dense and floury, I added small apple cubes to make apple muffins. The mix tasted so good so I am sure if i had of ust grabbed another muffin tray they would have been great. Mine are edible at least. Well mostly. I tend to eat the part with the apple and leave the flour packed part to the chickens. Hoping to try this again soon. Thank you
I have used browned, well drained sausage or mild Italian sausage along with finely shredded cheese to make for a nice breakfast muffin
Yum!
This looks terrific. I love having things in bulk already mixed together and just add a couple wet ingredients when the time comes. However, I wish you had a Pin button on your recipes for my Pinterest boards. You have so many fantastic recipes.
Hi Melissa! I use to use mixes all the time before I discovered I was having issues with gluten. Do you know if gluten free flour would work the same in this? Not sure what you have experimented with but I thought I would ask! Thanks!!
Yes, it works great in this recipe, we use it in ours all of the time!
Thank you so much Merissa!
Oh my! I wish I could edit my original post as I see I addressed you as Melissa and not Merissa! I had just contacted my cousin by that name so my head was in the clouds. So sorry!
No worries! I have one of those fun names that’s often misspelled 🙂
I just made this mix, and a 1/4 recipe of the muffins since I only wanted to make 6 muffins instead of 12 (1 c of dry mix, 1 egg, 2 tbsp oil, 6 tbsp milk). I didn’t add anything additional to the muffin mixture so that I could get a feel for what they taste like plain. I used olive oil since I was too lazy to melt butter. Turned out great. The flavor is good and just sweet enough. I want something to give as a gift along with homemade jams for Christmas. This recipe will be perfect!
Thank you!
Oh, like everyone said, I could only pack 4 cups of the mix into each jar. No big deal though, since the recipe calls for 2 cups of the mix, the jar will still hold 2 batches of muffin mix. : )
Can’t wait to try try these muffins! For a single batch, if I add 2 mashed bananas (or should I only add 1 ?) – do I need to reduce the amount of milk or butter?
Thanks!
I still add the same amount of milk and butter and adding either 1 or 2 bananas is up to you, it just adds to the intensity of the flavor. I’ve done both depending on how many bananas I have and how big they are!
This is the best idea!! Thank you. In the past I’ve just used the muffin mixes from Kodiak Cakes, but this is so much easier (and cheaper) to prep in bulk. Have you played around with using different flours at all?? I’d love to try it with whole wheat, but I’m not sure how it’d turn out.
I think it would be fine it if was whole wheat, for sure half whole wheat and half regular flour. I use this recipe with gluten free flour all the time so I know It can stand to take some changes!
I live alone but still use this. I divide into 4 small ziploc bags and write the directions on the outside of the bag. Each bag makes 6 muffins so it is perfect for one or two people. I have also attached a bag to a jar of homemade mincemeat as a Christmas present with directions to add 1/4 cup of mincemeat to the mix for a great Christmas breakfast muffin.
I just wanted to comment some variations we have used to make these egg free for our allergic son!!
I add 4tbsp peanut butter and a “flax egg” (1tbsp ground flax and 3tbsp water) instead of the two eggs for a peanut butter muffin. (Used in place of the 2 eggs!)
1/4 cup apple sauce and one “flax egg” with 1tsp apple pie spice and a shredded apple for apple muffins (in place of the two eggs)
1/4 cup mashed banana and a flax egg in place of the eggs, plus chocolate chip addins!
I’m so excited and keep experimenting with all the egg free variations and they are all turning out amazing so far!!!
Hi! The recipe in your book is different from the one here. Why?
This is a guest post. My recipe is the one in my book.
Hi Merissa I am going to keep the recipe for the bulk muffin mix…want to make alot of “items” like this….bean soup mix in mason jar with recipe card, cookie mix etc and now muffins…GREAT….will use them for Christmas gifts…decorate a basket and also kitchen towels ETC …..to add to a handmade gift or two….also, I do need to follow and substitute the sugar for ” ” due to my husband’s diabetes….Thanks again….will use when I get home….
You should be able to sub this sugar pretty easily in this recipe since it’s such a small amount. 🙂
Hello everyone! I would like to address the issue of dry muffins. I’m a professional baker and have taught recipes to many in the bakery. I have found people measure ingredients differently. It’s important to not use the measuring cup to scoop the flour as it can pack several additional tablespoons of flour into each cup of flour. I use a spoon to scoop up the flour then shake it off the spoon over the measuring cup till over full, then gently scape excess off the top with a straight edge like a table knife. I hope you try it. Happy baking😍
This sounds amazing to do, great for camping.
Very easy recipe; I made these several weeks ago, used blueberries. A hugh hit with my family, I sprinkled sugar on the top of each muffin hoping it would crystallize but it did not. Will try something else when I make them next – thank you for sharing !!
I don’t see yeast in the above recipe, just baking powder. The comments reference yeast. Please clarify.
I’m not sure about the reference to yeast. This recipe only contains baking powder.
Could this be adapted to Almond or Coconut flour or a combination to make it Keto?
Coconut and almond flour behave very differently in baking so I’m not sure what the results would be.
I tried these muffins and I won’t make any other recipe. The most delicious and moist blueberry muffins I have tried. Also made cranberry orange. So many choices.