These tender apple rhubarb muffins combine tart rhubarb with sweet, crunchy apples. They're good for a quick breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up and will keep fresh for days.
These rhubarb and apple muffins are ideal for spring when rhubarb is fresh from the garden and readily available at your local farmers market. Rhubarb pairs well with most other fruits (though technically, rhubarb is a vegetable). But when it comes to fresh and seasonal ingredients, foods like berries are not yet available for most of us so early in the season.
Luckily, apples, which store well through winter and spring, are an excellent fruit to pair with rhubarb.
Here are a few other reasons to love these muffins:
- Combining rhubarb and apple creates a tasty balance of tart and sweet.
- With a decent amount of fruit, these muffins keep moist for days after baking.
- This recipe makes decent-sized muffins. While they're not jumbo, they're as big as you can get for a standard-sized muffin tin. Paired with some yogurt or fruit, they make a filling breakfast.
If you're into rhubarb, check out my other recipes for Cherry Rhubarb Pie, Rhubarb Breakfast Cake, and Ginger Rhubarb Gin Cocktail.
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🍎Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make these rhubarb apple muffins.
Key Ingredients
- Rhubarb - You'll need 2 or 3 stalks of fresh rhubarb to get about 1 ¼ cups chopped, but it'll depend on the size of your stalks.
- Apples - I recommend a sweet and crispy apple because the rhubarb already contributes the tart flavor. You'll need one large or two small apples.
- Lemon - We'll add the lemon juice to the milk to make an easy buttermilk substitute and the lemon zest to flavor the batter.
- Brown sugar - I like the deeper flavor of brown sugar, so we'll use a bit of brown and white granulated sugar. If brown sugar isn't handy, just replace it with additional granulated sugar.
- Milk - I use regular or 2 percent milk in this recipe.
- Butter - I know everyone loves salted butter these days, but I don't care. I always bake with unsalted butter and add my salt separately, so that's my recommendation to you.
- Flour - All-purpose flour is all you need here.
- Cinnamon and ginger - I enjoy the combination of ginger and rhubarb, which is why I created this cocktail recipe. And I like to add cinnamon wherever I can.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and quantities.
🍓Substitutions & Variations
- Other fruits - in place of apples, try substituting pears or your favorite berries
- Buttermilk instead of milk - if you already happen to have some buttermilk on hand, you can use that in place of the milk and lemon juice
- Add a crumble topping - For a crunchy and sweet topping, combine ¼ cup flour, ¼ cup oats, ½ cup brown sugar, and ½ cup melted butter. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the muffin batter before baking.
⏲️Instructions
Here's how to make these rhubarb and apple muffins.
- Step 1: Add the lemon juice to the milk and let sit. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or fill it with paper muffin liners.
- Step 2: Chop the rhubarb. Peel, core, and chop the apples. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Step 3: In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger until well mixed.
- Step 4: In a stand mixer or electric mixer, beat the butter with the granulated and brown sugars. When combined, add the eggs one at a time until incorporated. Then, add the lemon zest.
- Step 5: Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet with a spatula. Mix just enough to incorporate everything and avoid overmixing.
- Step 6: Stir the chopped rhubarb and chopped apple into the batter.
- Step 7: Divide the batter among the muffin tin. You want to fill the cups as close to the top as possible.
- Step 8: Top the muffins with reserved rhubarb pieces and coarse sugar. Bake in the 425-degree oven for 5 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 and continue baking for 10-15 minutes until cooked through.
🌡️Top Tip
Remember to lower the heat after the first five minutes of baking. The first minutes at the higher heat help the batter start to rise almost immediately, creating taller, fluffier muffins. But you don't want to bake them the whole time at 425, or they'll turn out too dry and overbaked.
📋Storage
Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. They may also be frozen, wrapped tightly in foil, and placed in a sealed bag for up to three months.
Whether fresh or frozen, leftover muffins often need a brief reheating. You can either pop them in the microwave and heat for 20-30 seconds or slice them in half and toast them in a pan with a little butter.
💭FAQ
You can use frozen rhubarb instead of fresh in these muffins and other baked goods. You do not need to defrost it first. However, you may need to increase the baking time by a few minutes.
You do not need to peel rhubarb before using it in baking recipes like these muffins.
One of the best ways to tame rhubarb's tartness is to pair it with sweet fruits, such as apples and berries.
🍵Pairing
Here are a few other recipes that would go well with these apple rhubarb muffins:
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📖 Recipe
Apple Rhubarb Muffins
- Total Time: 38 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These tender apple rhubarb muffins combine tart rhubarb with sweet, crunchy apples. They're good for a quick breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up, and they'll keep fresh for days.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 large sweet apple
- 3 stalks rhubarb
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ sticks butter, room temperature
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar
Instructions
- Prep the ingredients. Combine 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice with the milk and let sit to create a buttermilk-like consistency. Save the remaining juice for another use. Peel, core, and chop the apple. You should have about 1 cup. Chop the rhubarb into ¼-inch dice. You want about 1 ¼ cups. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and either line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease with cooking spray.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, lemon zest, and ginger in a large bowl.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Use a stand mixer or electric mixer to blend the sugars and butter. When smooth, add the eggs one at a time until blended, and then slowly pour in the milk.
- Make the batter. With the mixer running on low, add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet a little at a time. When fully combined, add the chopped apples and rhubarb. Stir to distribute through the batter.
- Fill the muffin tins and bake. Distribute the batter among the 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle with the coarse sugar, if using, and place on a rack in the middle of the oven. Bake for 5 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Start checking for doneness after 10 minutes by inserting a toothpick into the center of a muffin.
Notes
My favorite coarse sugar for topping baked goods like muffins, cakes, and cookies is this sparkling sugar from King Arthur.
You can use buttermilk instead of the milk and lemon juice if you already have some handy.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Category: Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
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Emily says
Good quick mix muffins ready for a trip away. I really like the ginger in it, next time I might even add some naked ginger to the mix
Steve says
Thanks, Emily! Glad you enjoyed them. Can't go wrong with more ginger!
Chanelle says
Is this 425 degrees celcuis of Fahrenheit cause I usually cook at Around 280. Seems really hot
Steve says
Hi Chanelle. It's 425 Fahrenheit. It is high to start, but it's only for the first 5 minutes then you lower to 350. This helps the muffins to rise and get a nice domed shape. I explain in step 5 of the recipe when to lower the heat.