Here's the Only Gluten-Free Muffin Recipe You'll Ever Need

Last Updated: 12/10/2020

I've been looking at lots of gluten free blogs lately, wondering what folks are cooking these days, but I was pretty disappointed.

No matter where I went over the past month, I found recipes that were not very helpful. It seems like folks are trying to come up with the wackiest combinations of ingredients in order to be unique.

When I was new to gluten-free cooking, I didn't want unique. 

It's been 12 years since we went gluten free and I still do not want unique. 

I want to know how to make real food. 

Food my husband and I would want to eat. Food that won't make us sick. Food that isn't too complicated. Food that I can find the ingredients for at my local grocery or with reasonable shipping costs online. 

So I went back to my old gluten recipes and took a look.

Basic Muffin Template

I have a basic muffin recipe that I used to use all the time before we went gluten free. 

It was originally a banana-nut muffin, but it worked so well that I used the same recipe to make pumpkin muffins, carrot-pineapple muffins, zucchini-applesauce muffins and anything else I had a hankering for that day. 

As long as I adjusted the amount of sugar in the recipe to complement the sweetness of the fruit or vegetable I was using, it always came out well.

I couldn't see any reason why it wouldn't work gluten free.

And, I was right. 

This muffin recipe is wonderful! 

So far, it's worked for banana-nut muffins, pumpkin-chocolate chip, and applesauce chocolate chip. I don't see a reason why it won't work with other combinations. That makes it a go-to muffin recipe for me because I'd just as soon have to deal with fewer recipes overall.

I love the way you can just use whatever crushed, mashed or whipped fruit or veggie I have in the house. Canned or whipped pumpkin, mashed ripe bananas, applesauce, and crushed pineapple have all worked well. 

Being able to add extra grated carrot or zucchini if I want is also a plus. 

The "extras" are optional and can vary as wide as your own sensitivities will allow. All of that makes for one great, completely indispensable muffin recipe.

Basic Gluten-Free Muffins

Makes 9 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten-free flour mix (recipe below)
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, pumpkin spices, or apple spices
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/3 cup crushed, mashed, or whipped fruit or vegetable
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar, white or brown
2 tablespoon oil
1/4 cup milk or milk substitute
1 large egg
extras: chocolate chips, nuts, grated vegetables

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 9 cupcake liners in a muffin tin and set aside. 

In a small mixing bowl, combine gluten-free flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and xanthan gum; stir well and set aside. 

In a medium-sized bowl whip together your mashed fruit or vegetable, sugar, oil, milk, and egg. When well blended add flour mixture and stir until combined. Let the batter sit for a couple of minutes to thicken. 

Carefully spoon the batter into your lined muffin cups, filling them about 2/3's full. Bake for 20 minutes. 

My All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour Mix

Makes 5 cups of flour mix

Ingredients:

• 2-3/4 cups white rice flour
• 1 cup potato starch (not flour)
• 1 cup tapioca starch or flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

Method:

Mix together really well. A stand mixer works great for this, especially if you're making a double batch; but you can also do it by hand. If doubling the recipe, however, make up each batch in separate bowls and then combine once everything is mixed really, really well.

How to Use this Basic Gluten-Free Muffin Recipe

The nice thing about these gluten-free muffins is their versatility. The texture is good, the crumb is tender, and they taste like real, honest-to-goodness muffins! 

You can't find a better muffin recipe that will allow you to be as creative or basic as you want to be. 

What I like to do is to check out the gluten-free muffin recipes of other bakers for combination ideas, then use the above recipe instead of theirs.

For example, instead of using all milk, you could use a little maraschino cherry juice, chop up a few cherries for a nice punch, and then use applesauce for the muffin's fruit. 

You can use apple juice with applesauce and grated apple, or orange juice with bananas and raisins. Grated carrots with crushed pineapple tastes just like carrot cake! This would also make great gingerbread muffins! Just add your favorite gingerbread spices.

*If you try this recipe, I'd like to hear your own variations. Just drop me a note in the comments below and let us know how it went!