Adapted from this blueberry muffins recipe, this blueberry muffin bread is soft, moist, and loaded with blueberries. Since there’s no individual muffins, this muffin batter goes from the mixing bowl to the oven in minutes. Though this quick bread is outstanding on its own, a swirl of blueberry jam and sprinkle of crumble topping create an outstanding crust.
I’m always on the lookout for quick and easy recipes that double as breakfast and snack. Banana bread, morning glory muffins, and zucchini bread are my usual defaults, but in an effort to break out of routine, blueberry muffin bread is now in the line-up.
What is Blueberry Muffin Bread?
Glad you asked. Blueberry muffin bread is exactly what it sounds like… blueberry muffins baked as bread. This is a quick bread recipe, so there’s no yeast required. Blueberry muffin bread is soft, moist, and completely overloaded with blueberries. Enjoy it warm from the oven or straight out of the refrigerator. It also freezes beautifully!
Blueberry Muffins in a Loaf Pan
Any muffin recipe yielding around 12 standard size muffins doubles as a quick bread recipe. Today we’re using my blueberry muffins, which is actually my master muffin recipe. This particular muffin batter creates 1,000s of muffin varieties including cranberry orange muffins, peach muffins, and apple cinnamon muffins. For the muffin bread, I added a little more flour to ensure this was a nice big loaf.
Now we can create plenty of quick bread recipes too! For example, swap blueberries for chocolate chips and you have an easy chocolate chip quick bread.
Blueberry Muffin Bread Ingredients
Like pound cake and biscuits, blueberry muffin bread is another example of how extremely basic ingredients easily transform into an absolutely delicious recipe.
- Butter: Butter is the base and produces a soft cakey crumb. If desired, swap with solid coconut oil.
- Sugar: Use a mix of granulated and brown sugar for flavor. A dry unrefined sugar, such as coconut sugar, works too. I don’t recommend a liquid sweetener.
- Eggs: 2 eggs work their magic providing structure and overall richness.
- Sour Cream or Yogurt: Plain low fat or full fat sour cream or yogurt add exceptional moisture, as well as the necessary acid for the baking soda.
- Vanilla & Salt: Flavor flavor flavor.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the workhorse of quick breads like apple cinnamon bread and zucchini bread. I don’t typically bake with gluten free flours, but let me know if you try any that work.
- Leaveners: Both baking soda and baking powder add necessary lift. Remember the differences in baking powder vs baking soda and why we use both in some recipes?
- Milk: The blueberry muffin bread would be flat and heavy without milk.
2 Optional Extras!
The blueberry muffin bread is completely awesome on its own. But if you want to take things up a notch, add one or both:
- Blueberry Jam: Swirl 2 Tablespoons of blueberry jam into the batter.
- Crumble Topping: Simply combine all-purpose flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter. Sprinkle on top before baking.
The pictured bread includes both. See my recipe notes for detailed instructions.
Enjoying your slices with a swipe of homemade honey butter is fantastic here, too!
Blueberry Muffin Bread
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 60 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Adapted from my favorite Blueberry Muffins, this blueberry muffin bread is soft, moist, and loaded with blueberries. Since there’s no individual muffins, this muffin batter goes from the mixing bowl to the oven in minutes. Though this quick bread is outstanding on its own, a swirl of blueberry jam and sprinkle of crumble topping create an outstanding crust.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup (80ml) milk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (210g) fresh blueberries*
- optional: 2 Tablespoons blueberry jam and/or crumb topping (see recipe note)
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan or coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the sour cream and vanilla extract on medium speed until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Fold in the blueberries.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan. See note if adding streusel or blueberry jam swirl. Bake for 60-65 minutes, loosely covering the bread with aluminum foil at the 30 minute mark to help prevent the top and sides from getting too brown. A toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf will come out clean when the bread is done. Remove from the oven and allow the bread to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
- Cover and store bread at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Cool baked muffin bread completely. Tightly wrap the loaf or slices (individually or grouped) in 2 layers of plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Place wrapped bread in a large freezer-friendly storage bag or reusable container. Freeze for up to 3-4 months. Thaw wrapped or unwrapped in the refrigerator or at room temperature.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | 9×5-inch Loaf Pan | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream: Plain yogurt is a great substitute for sour cream. Unsweetened applesauce or mashed banana may also be used.
- Blueberries: Fresh blueberries are best. I do not suggest frozen blueberries. If you need to use them, do not thaw, add another 2 Tablespoons of flour to the dry ingredients, and extend the bake time.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly. See my post on the importance of room temperature ingredients for more information.
- Blueberry Jam or Crumble Topping: If desired, swirl 2 Tablespoons blueberry jam (or any flavor) into the top of the loaf before baking. A crumble topping adds a lovely crunch. Simply combine 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour, 2 Tablespoons brown sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, then using a fork, mix in 2 Tablespoons melted unsalted butter until crumbles form. Sprinkle over loaf before baking.
- Adapted from Blueberry Muffins with a *little* extra flour and milk to produce a nice large loaf.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Wow! This is a fabulous recipe. Easy to make and so delicious. Will make this again.
I’d like to make the blueberry bread and banana bread in small, single serving loaf pans to give away.
How can I adjust cooking time? Have not baked in years and am excited to try these recipes.
Hi Robin, We’re unsure of the exact bake time, as mini loaf pan sizes can greatly vary. It will be shorter, but keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness. Hope they’re a hit!
I think I’m going to love it, because I love your blueberry muffin recipe, but at the moment, my kitchen is full of smoke, because batter WAY overflowed the loaf pan within just a few minutes. I can’t do anything until it’s done, but it just keeps slopping over the pan, and I’ve had to put a cookie sheet under it. But enough hit the bottom that it’s smoking.
I followed the directions to the letter, and I used a standard loaf pan, but it’s an ugly mess. I’ll see if it’s servable for my guests. Otherwise, I’m sure my husband and I will LOVE eating it all ourselves.
(You mentioned you just added a little extra flour so it would be a big loaf. You weren’t kidding! I’ll just make it a cake next time.)
Hi Laura, We are sorry this happened to you! Are you using a 9×5 inch (and not an 8×4 inch) loaf pan? The batter should only fill half to 2/3 of the pan so it has plenty of room to rise.
I used a standard Pyrex loaf pan, which is 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5, like all of my loaf pans. I’ve never had a 9×5 loaf pan, but I guess I need to get one!
Does elevation affect this at all? I’m at 4100 feet.
The surface was also very sticky. What might have caused that? Too much sugar? I added the crumb topping.
The bread, by the way, was so tasty, and everyone loved it! When it’s all cut into pieces and arranged on a tray, you don’t know how it looked in the pan. I can’t wait to try this again with the correct pan.
Thanks for the advice. I will definitely try again.
Hi Laura, the smaller loaf pan is likely the key culprit here, but the elevation could also be contributing. We wish we could help troubleshoot that part, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html The stickiness is likely just that the bread wasn’t able to finish baking through completely in the smaller pan. We’re glad it was still a hit!
Hello! I was curious, what if I wanted to add in strawberries, jumbo blueberries, and white chocolate chips instead of just blueberries? How would it work in the recipe?
Hi Ariel, we imagine that should work as long as you keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 1/2 cups. We would toss the strawberry pieces in a little flour since they’re extra moist.
Hi there, how would I make this a lemon blueberry bread, as opposed to just blueberry? Would grating in 1 tbs of lemon zest and substituting 3 tbs of milk for fresh lemon juice do the trick?
Hi Sonia, We recommend adding the zest from 1 lemon and 2 Tablespoons lemon juice. Make sure you remove 2 Tablespoons of milk to make up for the lemon juice. Enjoy!
Excellent bread. The texture was perfect. I cut one inch slices in half and it was enough for 20 people. Perfect size for our ladies brunch where one wants more than a nibble but not be filled with a full size. Although I would prefer less sugar, I received plenty of compliments on this bread.
I have made this recipe twice now with frozen blueberries, and it tastes amazing. However, both times the crumble sank to the bottom during baking. I have no clue why. I think I will try adding the crumble half way through baking next time, to see if that fixes the issue for me.
Hey, if I added chopped pecans into the batter, what be the best amount for this recipe?
Hi Nanette, up to a cup of nuts would be a great addition here. Hope you enjoy the bread!
Everyone raves about this bread!
I can’t stop eating this, which is a huge negative!! But lately my appetite has been very poor, so it’s a good thing I found something I want to eat. This is something I will always feel good about gifting to friends and family. I did make the optional jam and crumble topping and wouldn’t have it any other way, not that I’ve been spoiled. Thanks again for another great recipe!
I make so many of your recipes, so I have to ask about this bread. I baked it as is, as far as I know, I don’t think I made a mistake. My blueberries sunk to the bottom 1/3 of the pan, which seemed so uncharacteristic of your recipes. I’ve made the regular blueberry muffins and the jumbo blueberry muffins without any issues. What can cause this? They were fresh, and any large ones I cut in half. Thanks, Donna
Hi Donna, how strange! Did your batter seem thin? Next time, tossing the blueberries in a little flour helps prevent them from sinking.