Gordon Ramsay’s muffins recipe uses self-raising flour, melted butter, eggs, milk, and light muscovado sugar, mixed by hand and baked at 180°C for 25 minutes. The base works with any fruit you like because the technique stays the same and only the filling changes.
In his YouTube video, Ramsay says “muffins are delicate dainty little beasts, don’t overwork your muffin mixture.” His UHC cookbook backs this up: “a couple of stirs with a spoon will be plenty, or better still, use your hands.” That’s the whole secret, because most people beat muffin batter like cake batter and kill the rise.
He also points out something worth knowing: “generally muffins contain around half of fat and sugar of cupcakes.” So if yours taste heavy and sweet, you’re probably following a cupcake recipe by mistake.
Gordon Ramsay Blueberry Muffins
Course: Breakfast, DessertCuisine: British, AmericanDifficulty: Easy12
muffins10
minutes25
minutes220
kcal35
minutesFrom Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Home Cooking and his official YouTube video. Muffins mixed entirely by hand with light muscovado for warmth and a pinch of salt to cut the sweetness. The overnight batter trick means you can mix tonight and bake fresh in the morning.
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of sea salt
125g light muscovado sugar
250ml whole milk
2 large eggs, beaten
100g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
200g fresh blueberries (or see variations below)
Directions
- Preheat: Set the oven to 180°C (350°F)/160°C fan/Gas 4. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
- Mix the dry: Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a large bowl, then stir in the muscovado sugar. Ramsay says the salt is really important for the overall flavour, you don’t want the muffin to be too sweet.
- Mix the wet: Whisk the milk, beaten eggs, and melted butter together in a jug.
- Combine by hand: Pour the wet into the dry and fold together with your hands or a spoon. Stop the moment the flour disappears. Ramsay says to always do it by hand because overmixing makes them heavy. Lumpy batter is fine.
- Add the fruit: Fold in the blueberries gently so they don’t burst and stain the batter.
- Fill and tap: Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling each two-thirds full. Tap the tray on the worktop at both ends so the batter settles evenly.
- Bake: Cook for 25 minutes until risen, golden on top, and a skewer comes out clean.
- Cool: Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay say to always mix muffins by hand?
An electric mixer develops gluten in seconds, which is what you want in bread but the opposite of what you want here. Gluten makes the crumb tight and chewy instead of open and fluffy.
Ramsay says in the video to fold until the mixture “becomes nice and relaxed.” You should still see small streaks of flour when you stop. They vanish in the oven.
If your batter looks smooth and uniform, you’ve already gone too far.
Why light muscovado instead of white sugar?
Ramsay calls it “refined brown sugar, really rich and somewhat spicy.” The molasses adds depth that white sugar can’t, so the muffin tastes warm and slightly toffee-like without needing more sugar.
White caster sugar works but tastes flatter. If that’s all you have, stir in a teaspoon of treacle to get closer.
What other fruits work with this base?
The technique is identical, you just swap what goes in at the end.
Blueberries are the simplest swap: 200g folded in fresh, or frozen but don’t thaw them first because they bleed juice and turn the batter purple. For a nuttier version, swap half the flour for wholemeal and add an extra half teaspoon of baking powder.
Banana and oats make a chewier, more filling muffin: 2 ripe bananas mashed with 80g rolled oats, and drop the milk to 200ml because banana adds moisture on its own.
Chocolate takes it in a dessert direction: swap 50g of flour for cocoa powder and fold in 150g of dark chocolate chunks instead of fruit.
If you want the one Ramsay actually demonstrates on camera, his pear and granola muffins from Ultimate Home Cooking use the same base with cinnamon, fresh pear, and a crunchy granola topping that he splits between batter and surface.
Can you make the batter the night before?
Ramsay specifically recommends it in UHC: “you can make the batter, refrigerate it the night before, then mix it again in the morning and bake.”
Give it a gentle stir before spooning into the cases, don’t re-whisk. The batter actually improves overnight because the flour hydrates fully, so the crumb comes out slightly more tender than same-day baking.
Why tap the tray before baking?
Ramsay taps both ends on the worktop in the video and says it “gets the mix all the way down so they cook nice and evenly.”
Air pockets trapped in the batter expand unevenly in the oven, so one side rises higher than the other and you get lopsided tops. Two firm taps is enough. More than that and you knock out the air you deliberately left in by not overmixing.
