Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins

Are you looking for a bright, tasty treat for breakfast that’s incredibly easy to make? These gluten free strawberry muffins are perfect! 

Soft, springy gluten free muffins stuffed with juicy, fruity strawberries. Top the whole thing with a bit of streusel topping, and you have perfection! Best breakfast or snack ever.

We love muffins! As a mom, they’re such a gift. It’s easy to make a quick batch in the morning, or, especially for Sunday mornings when we’re hustling to get out the door for church, I can make them the night before. They’re a perfect grab-and-go breakfast! 

What Kind of Gluten Free Flour To Use

You all know that Judee’s Ingredients is my favorite place to order gluten free flour. I like to custom mix my flours to not only the texture and flavor I prefer, but also to be able to incorporate the different micronutrient profiles in different grains. 

However, with that said, I’ve also been testing different recipes with different, more widely available flour mixes. For instance, if I forget to order flour in time and run out, I know I can buy King Arthur All-Purpose Gluten-Free Flour blend at the grocery store, so I wanted to make sure this recipe works with that mix. 

To be 100% honest, I didn’t like the texture as much as I did when making them with a mix of quinoa flour and arrowroot powder. But that’s not to say that they weren’t still good, and the flavor was great.

So what’s the best flour mix here? 

You can customize your blend to a large degree. The main guidelines are to stay away from coconut flour unless you have a recipe specifically formulated for it, such as these coconut flour blueberry muffins. Also, be cautious with almond flour. It’s okay to use a small amount, but not too much. 

Here’s my favorite mix: 1/2 cup quinoa flour, 1/2 cup ivory teff flour, 1/2 cup arrowroot powder, and 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum. 

Ingredients for gluten free strawberry muffins

Isn’t it funny how strawberries are one of the few fruits we don’t do a lot of baking with? Kind of sad to be honest – they have so much flavor to bring to the recipe! 

The classic gluten-free blueberry muffins will always be a favorite, but strawberry muffins during strawberry season are delightful and just make sense. 

The ingredients are very simple. 

I love to make a streusel topping for my muffins to add some crunch – and it just makes them a little more interesting. 

Here are super simple ingredients: 

• Butter
• Granulated Sugar
• Gluten free flour
• Cinnamon

My biggest note for the streusel is that you shouldn’t use a flour mix, as the starch in a mix tends to liquefy as it bakes and changes the texture of your streusel. 

Instead, use single-ingredient flour such as superfine brown rice flour, quinoa flour, or white sorghum flour. 

For the muffin itself, you have equally simple ingredients:

• Gluten free flour mix
• baking soda
• salt
• eggs
• oil (I use light-tasting olive oil or melted coconut oil)
• granulated sugar
• milk
• vanilla
• strawberries

Some gluten free muffin recipes include sour cream or Greek yogurt. This makes the batter richer and can help keep gluten free muffins, which tend to dry out, soft. 

However, I find that the strawberries themselves do a marvelous job of adding moisture to the baked muffin, and have loved the way these stay soft, even at two days old. 

And in terms of richness, I would say the buttery streusel topping more than replaces any sour cream. 

How to Make Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins

These instructions are super easy to follow, and before you know it, you’ll be pulling homemade strawberry muffins that are entirely gluten-free out of the oven. 

My best tip is to start by capping and dicing your strawberries. Since that’s the most time-consuming step, once you get that out of the way, you can have your batter in the pans in less than ten minutes. 

1. Next, make the streusel topping by combining flour, cinnamon, sugar, and butter. Set it aside. 
2. To make the muffin batter, combine your flour, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl. 
3. In another bowl, whisk eggs, vanilla, and oil together
4. Whisk in sugar until foamy
5. Whisk in half the milk
6. Then mix in half the flour mixture
7. Repeat with remaining milk and flour
8. Mix it all together until just combined, then stir in your diced strawberries
9. Divide the batter between 12 cup paper lined muffin tin, and top with streusel topping
10. Bake for 18 minutes, then remove from oven and let cool

That’s all there is to it! 

FAQs and Tips for Making Gluten Free Strawberry Muffins

These are super simple muffins, but I do have a few tips to ensure your success, as well as frequently asked questions. Gluten free baking should never be intimidating!

Can you make these muffins vegan? 

There are two things you need to do to make this recipe vegan: use dairy-free milk and an egg replacer. 

I haven’t tested either, so you need to use your best judgment. I do have a recipe for flax seed egg replacer, though you could use 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed mixed with 4 tablespoons of water. Let that sit for about 5 minutes before you add it to the batter. Again, I haven’t tested this in this particular recipe, but I do believe it would hold up. 

For the milk, I typically default to almond milk for non-dairy baking, but cashew milk is really good too. 

Can you use frozen strawberries? 

Yes! Fresh strawberries may be king, but frozen will absolutely work. I would thaw them just enough to be able to dice them, but not any more than that. This is because the extra juices from the berries can really water down your batter. 

Can I substitute a different fruit? 

Yes. My favorite substitute in this recipe is blackberries. Others that work well are diced bananas, blueberries, chopped cherries, and even rhubarb.

Why aren’t my muffins rising? 

This could be due to the classic out-of-date baking soda issue, or it could be that your batter doesn’t have the needed viscosity to trap air bubbles, forcing your muffins to rise. For gluten free batter, this is likely because you don’t have enough Binder. Most gluten free flour mixes contain xanthan or guar gum or something similar, but if you make your own, be sure to add a teaspoon of one of them. 

Why did my strawberries sink to the bottom? 

Sometimes fruit sinks while it bakes. This could be because your batter was thinner than expected and didn’t hold the strawberries in place, or it could be that your batter sat too long before baking, allowing gravity to do its part and sending your berries to the bottom of the muffin. 

One way to keep that from happening in the future is to toss your strawberries with a tablespoon of flour before adding them to the batter. This helps keep them more buoyant and less likely to sink. 

How to Store Gluten-Free Strawberry Muffins

• This strawberry muffin recipe is easy to make ahead and store for later. Here are some instructions for the best results: 
• At room temperature. As with many gluten free recipes, these are best not stored in the refrigerator, as that can work to make the gums and starches more gummy. Instead, place them in an airtight container in your kitchen center for 2-3 days, depending on the temperature of the room (i.e. 2 days max in the summer, but possibly 3 days in the winter)
• In the freezer. While storing in the fridge can ruin the texture, freezing is a different action, and they can be frozen for up to a month. To freeze these muffins, I recommend wrapping them in foil and then sealing them in a zip-lock bag. To thaw, place them on the countertop still in the packaging for 1-2 hours. 
• How to reheat. These muffins can be reheated individually in the microwave for 20-30 seconds or in the oven for several minutes until heated through. 

More Gluten Free Muffins to try

If you love muffins, check out these recipes! A few have already been mentioned above, but they’re worth repeating! 

• Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Gluten Free Cranberry Orange Muffins
• Gluten Free Pumpkin Muffins
• Gluten Free Carrot Muffins

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