Olive Oil Muffins: The Recipe and Why the Oil Keeps Them Moist
Olive oil muffins are the easiest way to see what olive oil does in baking. You whisk the wet ingredients, fold them into the dry, spoon the batter into tins and have warm muffins in about half an hour. They have no butter to soften and no creaming. Because the fat stays liquid after baking, they are still soft on day three. Below is our own olive oil muffin recipe, written for this article with metric and US measures side by side: lemon and blueberry, with a crunchy sugar top. After the method we explain why the oil keeps muffins moist and which kind of olive oil suits them. We also cover the variations people ask for most: orange and almond, chocolate chip, apple and cinnamon, dairy-free and wholemeal.
For our own oil, see our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml).
The Short Answer
- Olive oil makes excellent muffins. Muffins are raised by baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, not by creamed butter, so swapping to oil loses nothing and gains a softer crumb that stays moist for days.
- Our recipe makes 12 muffins. You need 280g (2¼ cups) plain flour, 150g (¾ cup) sugar, 120ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil, 2 eggs, 180ml (¾ cup) milk, lemon and 150g (1 cup) blueberries. Bake at 190°C / 170°C fan / 375°F for 20–24 minutes.
- The method is the classic "muffin method": whisk the dry ingredients, whisk the wet ingredients, then fold the two together briefly. Lumpy batter is correct, because overmixing makes tough, tunnelled muffins.
- Oil keeps muffins moist because it is 100% fat and stays liquid at room temperature. Butter is only about 80% fat and firms up again as the muffins cool.
- For lemon and blueberry, choose a mild or medium-fruity extra virgin olive oil. Save robust, peppery oils for chocolate or spiced muffins.
Olive Oil Muffins Recipe: Ingredients (Metric and US)
This makes 12 standard muffins in a 12-hole muffin tin lined with paper cases. Weighing is more reliable than cups for flour. If you use cups, spoon the flour in and level it off rather than scooping.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Plain (all-purpose) flour | 280g | 2¼ cups |
| Caster or fine granulated sugar | 150g | ¾ cup |
| Baking powder | 2 tsp | 2 tsp |
| Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) | ½ tsp | ½ tsp |
| Fine salt | ½ tsp | ½ tsp |
| Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon | 1 lemon | 1 lemon |
| Large eggs, room temperature | 2 | 2 |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 120ml | ½ cup |
| Milk (dairy or oat), room temperature | 180ml | ¾ cup |
| Freshly squeezed lemon juice | 2 tbsp (30ml) | 2 tbsp |
| Blueberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed) | 150g | 1 cup |
| Flour, to toss the berries | 1 tbsp | 1 tbsp |
| For the top: demerara (turbinado) sugar | 2 tbsp | 2 tbsp |
Oven: 190°C conventional, 170°C fan, 375°F or gas mark 5, with a shelf in the middle.
We keep our recipes alcohol-free, so there is no vanilla extract here. The lemon zest carries the flavour instead. If you like vanilla, use about ½ tsp of alcohol-free vanilla powder or paste.
Method: How to Make Olive Oil Muffins, Step by Step
- Prepare. Heat the oven and line the tin with 12 paper cases.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and lemon zest. Rubbing the zest into the sugar with your fingertips first releases more of its oil and aroma.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In a jug or second bowl, whisk the eggs, then whisk in the olive oil, milk and lemon juice until smooth and evenly blended. The lemon will slightly thicken the milk. That is expected, and the acid reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to help the rise.
- Combine briefly. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and fold with a spatula, about 10 to 12 turns, just until no dry flour is visible. The batter should be thick and lumpy. Stop there.
- Add the berries. Toss the blueberries in the tablespoon of flour, which helps stop them sinking, and fold them in with two or three final turns.
- Fill and top. Divide the batter between the cases; they will be full to the top, which gives domed muffins. Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the tops.
- Bake. Bake for 20–24 minutes, until risen and golden. They are done when a skewer pushed into the centre of a muffin comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter, and the tops spring back when pressed lightly.
- Cool. Leave them in the tin for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. They are good warm but easier to peel from the cases once cool.
If you want to adapt a butter-based muffin recipe of your own, the working conversion is about three-quarters of the butter amount in oil. That means roughly 75ml of olive oil for every 100g of butter, or ¾ cup of oil for 1 cup of butter. Our guide to baking with olive oil sets out the swap in full.
Why Olive Oil Keeps Muffins Moist
The difference starts with what each fat is. Under US federal law, butter must contain at least 80% milk fat by weight; the rest is mostly water and milk solids. Olive oil is 100% fat, and it stays liquid at room temperature. Butter does not. Once a butter muffin cools, the fat in its crumb firms up again, so it feels firmer and drier by the next day. An olive oil muffin keeps its soft, tender texture far longer.
Liquid fat also coats the flour more thoroughly as you fold, which limits how much gluten forms. Muffins are meant to be tender rather than chewy, so this works in their favour. The muffin method adds a second safeguard: brief mixing means little gluten development. Overmix and you get a peaked top and long holes running up through the crumb, the "tunnels" bakers warn about.
There is one honest trade-off. Creamed butter traps air, which helps some cakes rise high and fine. Muffins do not rely on creaming. They are raised by baking powder and bicarbonate of soda, so the oil costs almost nothing in lift. For a fuller comparison of the two fats, see our article on olive oil vs butter.
Which Olive Oil Is Best for Muffins?
Muffins are a gentle bake, so the style of the oil matters more than it would in a dark chocolate cake. Extra virgin olive oil is the grade that keeps the flavour of the olives. "Light" or "extra light" olive oil is a refined oil sold on its mild taste, not on having fewer calories; our article on what "light" olive oil really means explains the difference.
| Oil | What it does to a muffin | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Mild or medium-fruity extra virgin olive oil | Soft, rounded richness with a faint green note that flatters lemon and berries | This lemon and blueberry recipe; orange and almond |
| Robust, peppery extra virgin olive oil | A noticeable grassy, slightly bitter finish | Chocolate chip, double chocolate or spiced muffins, where it blends in |
| "Light" / refined olive oil | Almost neutral; the same moist texture | When you want no olive character at all |
| Melted butter | Dairy flavour; firms as it cools and dries sooner | A butter muffin (a different recipe) |
Whatever you choose, taste the oil first. A stale or rancid olive oil smells of crayons, putty or old nuts, and the oven concentrates that rather than hiding it. Bake with an oil you would happily eat on bread.
Variations: Orange and Almond, Chocolate Chip, Apple, Dairy-Free and Wholemeal
The base batter adapts easily. These are starting points, so check the muffins a couple of minutes early the first time.
- Orange and almond: swap the lemon zest and juice for orange, replace 50g (½ cup) of the flour with ground almonds, and leave out the blueberries. Scatter flaked almonds over the tops with the demerara.
- Chocolate chip: leave out the lemon zest and blueberries, keep just 1 tbsp of the lemon juice to react with the bicarbonate of soda, and fold in 150g (1 cup) dark chocolate chips. A more robust olive oil suits this one.
- Apple and cinnamon: leave out the lemon zest and blueberries, add 1½ tsp ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients, and fold in 1 large apple, peeled and cut into small dice (about 150g or 1 cup).
- Dairy-free: the recipe already works with oat or soy milk, with no other change. The olive oil is what makes this easy, since there is no butter to replace.
- Wholemeal: swap up to half the plain flour for wholemeal (whole wheat) flour and add 1–2 tbsp extra milk, as wholemeal flour absorbs more liquid.
- Banana: for banana muffins, our olive oil banana bread batter bakes as 12 muffins in about 20–25 minutes.
If you are baking with olive oil more often, our olive oil cake, olive oil zucchini bread, olive oil pumpkin bread and olive oil pancakes all use the same pour-and-fold approach.
Storing and Freezing Olive Oil Muffins
Once completely cool, keep the muffins in an airtight tin or container at cool room temperature. They stay soft for about three days. The fridge dries baked goods out faster, so avoid it unless your kitchen is very warm. For longer keeping, freeze them in a sealed bag or box once cool, then thaw at room temperature or warm briefly in a low oven.
On health, the honest framing is simple: these are still sweet muffins made with sugar and white flour. Using extra virgin olive oil means the fat is mostly monounsaturated rather than the largely saturated fat of butter, which is a reasonable swap within a balanced diet. It does not turn a muffin into a health food.
Why Sidr & Stone
In a lemon and blueberry muffin, a fresh extra virgin oil is tasted, not hidden, and the oil is the part of this recipe we can speak for. Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from one place, our own farm on the plains outside Marrakech, and we control every step from tree to bottle.
- Single-estate: our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed: no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives.
- Organically grown: no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides (not yet certified organic; certification is in progress).
- Single-harvest batch: picked when the fruit is ready, in a small, limited batch.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest: to protect flavour and aroma.
- Unfiltered extra virgin: minimally processed, so a little natural sediment is normal.
- 100% natural: a single ingredient, in 500ml dark glass that protects the oil from light.
- 10% of profits to charity, with fulfilment in the UK, EU and US.
We will not tell you ours is the best olive oil for muffins; your own kitchen is the judge of that. What we will say is that it is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, and that a fresh oil with a clear origin is exactly what a simple bake like this rewards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you use olive oil in muffins?
Yes. Muffins are raised by baking powder and bicarbonate of soda rather than creamed butter, so olive oil works very well. Use a recipe written for oil, like the one above, and the muffins come out soft and stay moist for days.
Why does olive oil keep muffins moist?
Olive oil is 100% fat and stays liquid at room temperature, while butter is about 80% fat and firms up as it cools. The liquid fat keeps the crumb soft and limits gluten development, so the muffins stay tender longer.
How do I swap olive oil for butter in a muffin recipe?
Use about three-quarters of the butter amount: roughly 75ml of olive oil per 100g of butter, or ¾ cup of oil per 1 cup of butter. Whisk the oil in with the wet ingredients instead of creaming it with the sugar.
Will olive oil muffins taste of olive oil?
Only gently, with a mild or medium-fruity extra virgin oil. Most people notice a richer, rounder flavour that suits lemon and berries. A very robust, peppery oil comes through more, so save it for chocolate or spiced muffins.
Is Sidr & Stone's olive oil good for muffins?
Yes. It is a single-estate, cold-pressed, unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, so it adds real flavour to an oil-based bake like this one. It is at its best in bakes where the oil is meant to be tasted, such as lemon or orange muffins.
Why are my muffins tough or full of holes?
Almost always overmixing. Fold the wet and dry ingredients together only until no dry flour shows, about 10 to 12 turns; a lumpy batter bakes into a tender muffin.
Where can I buy single-estate extra virgin olive oil?
Our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml) is available to pre-order as a limited single-harvest batch from the Sidr & Stone website, with fulfilment in the UK, EU and US.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
Olive oil muffins are not a compromise on the butter version. They are quicker to make, they stay moist for longer, and with the right oil they taste brighter rather than different. Three things decide how good they are: a light hand when folding, a hot enough oven, and a fresh extra virgin olive oil you would happily eat on bread.
If you want an oil with a clear origin for this and every other bake, our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml) is available to pre-order as a limited single-harvest batch, with fulfilment in the UK, EU and US. It is single-estate, rain-fed and cold-pressed within hours of harvest.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
Sources
- 21 U.S.C. § 321a, Butter (definition: not less than 80 per cent milk fat by weight). law.cornell.edu. Accessed 17 October 2026.
Disclaimer: This article shares a home-baking recipe and general cooking information at the time of writing; ovens, ingredients and individual dietary needs vary, and the recipe contains wheat, eggs and milk (and nuts in the almond variation). Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.