“banana”
10 recipes vs 158Recipes with “banana” in the title: less dairy (21% vs 65%).
“banana” (10)the rest (158)middle half of all
Dairyrecipes with banana in the title 21% vs the rest 65%
Blueberry Muffins Lab
Blueberry Muffins: what 272 recipes agree on
Tall-domed or tender: berries, sugar, fat and dairy per 100 g of flour.
272 recipes from 119 sites, each reduced to grams and written as baker's percentages: grams of each ingredient per 100 g of flour, so a small recipe and a double batch line up. Below: the typical batch, how far recipes stray from it, and a page for every recipe with a link to the original.
Recipes
272
from 119 sites
Typical flour
250 g
about 2 cups
Oven
375°F
190°C · median of 242
Bake time
22 min
most 18 to 25 min
The typical batch of blueberry muffins
The median of all 272 recipes for each ingredient, scaled to 250 g of flour. No single recipe is exactly this: each line is the middle of its own distribution. “Most recipes” means the middle half, from the 25th to the 75th percentile.
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| FlourThe scale for everything else | 250 gabout 2 cups |
| BlueberriesMost recipes use 150 to 250 g | 200 gabout 1 1/3 cups |
| SugarMost recipes use 135 to 200 g | 170 gabout 3/4 cup |
| FatMost recipes use 75 to 120 g | 100 gabout 1/2 cup |
| EggMost recipes use 65 to 100 g | 85 gabout 1 1/2 large eggs |
| DairyMost recipes use 120 to 230 g | 165 gabout 2/3 cup |
| LeaveningMost recipes use 8 to 13 g | 10 g |
| SaltMost recipes use 0.5 to 3 g | 2 g |
Bake375°F (190°C) for about 22 minutes.
Volumes are approximate: flour at 125 g a cup, sugar 200 g, butter or oil 225 g, milk and other liquids 240 g, blueberries 150 g, a large egg 50 g.
Every recipe, ingredient by ingredient
Each dot is a recipe, placed by grams of the ingredient per 100 g of flour (100% would be as much as the flour). The shaded band is the middle half of recipes and the line is the median.
Blueberries
median 80% · most 60 to 100%
More berries means more moisture and a heavier muffin; tossing them in flour keeps them from sinking.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 29 to 178%
Sugar
median 68% · most 54 to 80%
Sugar keeps the crumb tender and moist; bakery-style muffins sit at the top of the range.
Each dot is up to 5 recipes. range 23 to 160%
Fat
median 40% · most 30 to 47%
Oil gives a softer muffin that keeps; butter gives more flavor and a slightly drier crumb.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 7.6 to 100%
Egg
median 33% · most 26 to 40%
Eggs set the crumb and help the dome hold its shape.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 0 to 107% · 6% use none
Dairy
median 65% · most 48 to 92%
Milk, buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream thin the batter; the acidic ones give a more tender crumb.
Each dot is up to 4 recipes. range 0 to 217% · 4% use none
Leavening
median 4.2% · most 3.4 to 5.2%
Muffins carry more leavening than a cake, which, with a hot oven start, pushes up the dome.
Each dot is up to 6 recipes. range 1.5 to 11%
Salt
median 0.8% · most 0.2 to 1.2%
Salt balances the sugar and the tart berries.
Each dot is up to 7 recipes. range 0 to 3.2% · 19% use none
Where recipes disagree
Measured by how far apart the 25th and 75th percentile recipes are. The widest gaps are where the choice of recipe matters most.
- Salt. The middle half of recipes use 0.2 to 1.2% of the flour weight in salt, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 6.0 times as much as one at the 25th.
- Dairy. The middle half of recipes use 48 to 92% of the flour weight in dairy, so a recipe at the 75th percentile has 1.9 times as much as one at the 25th.
Recipes agree most on sugar and leavening: sugar 54 to 80%, leavening 3.4 to 5.2% for the middle half.
Around the world
260 of the recipes come in 4 languages with enough of each to compare: English 168, French 46, German 35, Italian 11.
- French recipes use 22% less sugar than English ones (58% against 75% of the flour weight); most use no salt (52%, against 3% of English recipes).
- German recipes use 20% less sugar than English ones (60% against 75% of the flour weight); most use no salt (51%, against 3% of English recipes).
What the words in titles mean
English recipes whose titles use a word, against the ones that do not. What recipe writers do when they pick the word, not proof that it makes the texture.
Recipes called “best” (14) or “easy” (10) use about the same amounts as the rest on every ingredient measured here.
The most-reviewed recipes
65 blueberry muffin recipes have 50 or more reader ratings. A rating count says how many people rated a page, which follows its traffic more than its quality. Against the other 207, medians per 100 g of flour, compared within each language:
On no ingredient do the most-reviewed recipes differ from the rest by more than chance would explain.
50+ ratings (65)the rest (207)middle half of all
Blueberriesthe most-reviewed recipes 89% vs the rest 79%
Sugarthe most-reviewed recipes 69% vs the rest 66%
Fatthe most-reviewed recipes 44% vs the rest 40%
Eggthe most-reviewed recipes 37% vs the rest 33%
Dairythe most-reviewed recipes 56% vs the rest 68%
Leaveningthe most-reviewed recipes 4.1% vs the rest 4.2%
Saltthe most-reviewed recipes 0.8% vs the rest 0.8%
Most reviewed
- Blaubeer-Muffins · gutekueche.at · German4.5 from 2,624 ratings
- Heidelbeermuffins · gutekueche.at · German4.2 from 1,969 ratings
- Blueberry Muffins · onceuponachef.com4.8 from 1,260 ratings
- My Best Blueberry Muffins · sallysbakingaddiction.com4.8 from 908 ratings
- Famous Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins · kingarthurbaking.com4.8 from 684 ratings
Oven temperature and time
242 of 272 recipes state an oven temperature, and 33% of those bake at 350°F (175°C). The middle half bake at 350 to 400°F. The other 30 do not say.
- 350°F81 recipes
- 400°F60 recipes
- 375°F51 recipes
- 425°F36 recipes
- 325°F8 recipes
- 300°F3 recipes
264 recipes state a bake time. Taking the middle of any stated range (“55 to 65 minutes” counts as 60), the median is 22 minutes and the middle half bake 18 to 25 minutes.
Temperature and time together
The single most common pairing is 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes, with 34 of the 240 recipes that state both.
≥425°F 220400°F 205375°F 190350°F 175325°F 165300°F 15051015202530
Recipes to start with
Closest to the typical batch
Nearest the median on every ingredient at once.
- Blueberry Muffins · thebakingexplorer.comblueberries 77% · sugar 77%
- BEST Blueberry Muffins · butternutbakeryblog.comblueberries 88% · sugar 78%
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins · savingdessert.comblueberries 70% · sugar 54%
- Easy Lemon Blueberry Muffins · pipingpotcurry.comblueberries 99% · sugar 71%
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins · feelgoodfoodie.netblueberries 89% · sugar 60%
Most blueberries
- Blueberry Muffin Tops · 12tomatoes.comblueberries 178% · sugar 80%
- Muffin au thé vert matcha et aux myrtilles · ptitchef.comblueberries 160% · sugar 160%
- Sourdough Discard Blueberry Muffins · fifteenspatulas.comblueberries 159% · sugar 96%
Least blueberries
- Ultra moist blueberry muffins recipe · amourdecuisine.frblueberries 29% · sugar 38%
- Recette de muffins extra moelleux aux myrtilles · amourdecuisine.frblueberries 29% · sugar 45%
- Muffins aux myrtilles extra moelleux : la recette facile · cuisine.journaldesfemmes.frblueberries 31% · sugar 62%
Go deeper
- DiscoverEvery recipe plotted on any two ratios.
- CalculatorStart from the typical recipe, move the ratios, get grams.
- IngredientsWhich ingredients recipes use, and the choices they make.
- RatiosWhich ingredients rise and fall together.
- TimelineRecipes by publication year and how the typical one shifted.
- Around the WorldThe typical recipe in each language, and where French, German or Italian recipes part from English ones.
- All RecipesEvery recipe, sortable, with a page each.
- ClustersThe styles the numbers fall into.
- Decision TreeA few questions that narrow the recipes to the ones you want.
Top sources
- 12foodnetwork.com
- 12kuechengoetter.de
- 12marmiton.org
- 10cuisineaz.com
- 9tasteofhome.com
- 7bettycrocker.com
- 7cuisine.journaldesfemmes.fr
- 7kingarthurbaking.com
- 6chefsimon.com
- 6gutekueche.at
- 6ichkoche.at
- 5jamiegeller.com
In 7 languages: English 168, French 46, German 35, Italian 11, Portuguese 5, Dutch 4, Spanish 3. Lines in other languages are read in their own units and words, and each recipe page links to the original. 119 sites in all. No site contributes more than 12 recipes.
How the numbers are made
Every ingredient line is converted to grams and grouped (butter and oil count as fat; white, brown and liquid sweeteners as sugar), then divided by the flour weight. That baker's percentage is the only comparison that holds across recipes of different sizes.
97% of the 2,942 ingredient lines got a weight. 29% of those weights were printed by the source; the rest were converted from cups and spoons with standard densities, so treat single recipes as close, not exact. Frosting, glaze, streusel and other toppings are listed on each recipe page but left out of the percentages.
A recipe outside the plausible range for any ingredient is left out rather than allowed to stretch every chart; it is usually a different dish with the same name or a misread line. Of the pages fetched, 150 were left out: 74 outside the plausible range on some ingredient (blueberries 34, fat 17, sugar 12, leavening 7, dairy 2, salt 1, egg 1), 29 duplicates of other pages, 21 with no flour, or none that could be weighed, 9 with a title that names a different dish, 7 with an ingredient in amounts that could not be weighed, 5 over the 12-per-site cap, 3 made from a boxed mix, and 2 too many lines without an amount.
Every recipe page links to the original, which is where the method is. Recipe Lab does not republish instructions or photos.