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Today’s easy bakery-style pistachio muffins rival any bakery. They are large with a crackly crunchy top but ridiculously moist inside, and they are bursting with buttery-ness and pistachio flavor. Check out this recipe to learn the secret to getting this high-dome top that gives your muffins a professional bakery look.
These pistachio muffins are perfectly oversized and fantastic to bring to a brunch gathering, as a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift, or any other occasion where muffins are appropriate (so, any occasion really :).
I wanted to have something homemade and inviting for my parents to enjoy when they came into town a few weeks ago. But, I was bombarded with housework, prepping for them + the housewarming party, trying to pull it all together down to last minute! I really didn’t have time to bake something…
Then these pistachio muffins came to mind. Everyone has a few minutes to spare to mix up the quick and easy batter – the oven does the rest! They don’t even need to be frosted after baking.
Room Temperature Ingredients & Avoid Over-mixing:
This bakery style pistachio muffin recipe couldn’t be easier. The batter comes together in minutes, so it’s a wonderful recipe for busy moments when you still want to add a personal, homemade touch. But keep these things in mind to ensure you end up with perfect muffins –
Make sure the eggs and milk are at room temperature, which incorporates them quicker and easier with other ingredients. I recommend taking these ingredients out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before starting.
Don’t worry if you didn’t plan ahead, I rarely do. My hack is to put the eggs in a bowl of super hot water and let them sit for 5-10 mins while you’re pulling everything together. The milk can be measured out and put into a bowl then microwaved for 20-secs to remove that sharp coldness.
Be Delicate – While muffins are more dense than cupcakes, you still want to treat them delicately and avoid over-mixing your muffin batter. Over-mixing will result in a brick-like dense texture that has no place in your life. You want these muffins to have a soft, spongy crumb. Only stir as much as necessary to break up any large flour clumps. The rest will get settled during the baking process.
Tools I Used for These Easy Bakery-Style Pistachio Muffins:
- Parchment Paper Muffin Liners – these are totally optional and cupcake liners work just as well, but, these allow for larger muffins that can expand a bit more as they bake.
- 12-Muffin Pan – I’ve owned some expensive muffin pans that I wasn’t in love with their baking quality. This Wilton pan is my go-to. The muffins are perfect every time.
- Hand Mixer – the little engine that could! I use this more than my fancy Viking stand mixer. It’s funny, I have pushed this thing to the limits (literally, I smelled a faint burning smell coming from the motor). But we are 5 years strong and hasn’t died on me yet!!
- Silicon spatulas – a classic necessity for all my baking needs.
More of my favorite baked goods:
Triple Oreo Chocolate Cupcakes
Entenmann’s Devil’s Food Cake Donuts Copycat Recipe
Brownie Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
The Best Hostess Cupcake Copycat Recipe
Four Layer Peanut Butter Brownie Bars
Soft-Batch Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
I look forward to your questions and feedback below. Please be sure to tag me @BadBatchBaking using hashtag #badbatchbaking if you made this recipe and I will feature you on my story! Plus, I LOVE to see your baking accomplishments.
Easy Bakery-Style Pistachio Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin tin
- Parchment muffin liners or standard cupcake liners
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter melted
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 box package instant pistachio pudding mix 3.4 oz box
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk room temp
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour spoon measured
Buttery Topping
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/4 cup pistachios chopped fine
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a muffin tin with parchment liners or cupcake liners. Or, generously grease with butter or nonstick spray.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, add sugar and melted butter and beat for 2 minutes until it's light in color and creamy. Add in eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until it's just combined.
- Sprinkle in the pistachio pudding and pour in milk. Mix until just combined. Add in all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until flour has been just barely incorporated. Be careful not to overmix. Divide batter amongst each liner, filling just short of the top, about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops with chopped pistachios (optional).
- Bake in the preheated 425 degree oven for 7 minutes. At the 7 min. mark, reduce the heat down to 350 degrees but do not open the open. Continute to bake for 8-10 minutes or until the muffin is cooked all the way through. Place on a wire rack for cooling.
- Prepare two small bowls, one with 1/2 cup melted butter and the other with 1/2 cup sugar. While the muffins have cooled enough to handle but still warm, dip the muffins top-down into the melted butter, enough to coat the top. Then dip them into the sugar, rolling enough to evenly coat the top. Place back onto wire rack to finish cooling.
- Cover leftover muffins and store at room temperature for 2 days or wrap them individually and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Muffins freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator or on the counter.
Notes
I absolutely love anything pistachio flavor! We love the pistachio muffins at Stater Bros markets, but they’re so expensive now. The flavor of these muffins are amazing and so easy to make! Definitely a keeper. Thanks for the recipe.
Simply brilliant muffins! Big hit at the party I took them too. I really only needed 1/4 cup of melted butter for the sugar topping bit. I also used a pastry brush vs dipping them into the butter. I did still roll them in the sugar.
I’ve made these muffins twice now. My grandsons love them. The second time I iced them with almond butter cream frosting. They were so good. Will keep this recipe and pass it on. Thank you so much for this
Hi Karen – that makes me so happy to hear! Almond butter frosting sounds out of this world!
Soooooo I must have done something terribly wrong. My mix was more of a cookie dough or biscuit dough. I was so excited to make these because I love pistachio, and I triple checked my ingredients and didn’t miss anything but I was short on liquid somewhere. My only change was using Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour (I can’t eat wheat) which supposedly can be a straight substitute for standard flour. Any pointers?
Oh no! I am so sorry to hear that. Nothing worse than wasted ingredients! Yes, the dough is very thick, which I will make sure to emphasize in my recipe. But the 2 cups of flour can be too much if it’s not spoon measured and it can also thicken if it’s over-mixed. I re-made them this weekend and recorded a video which I’ll post soon to help show the texture of the dough. I hope you get a chance to try these again!