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Strawberry Caramel Muffins. Cute, sweet, and fresh strawberry muffins made from scratch with juicy strawberries, honey, vanilla, and lemon. Mix in strawberry caramel to really make each muffin extra special. Serve these strawberry muffins warm or at room temperature. There’s no need for anything extra here, they’re perfect just as is. And so much better than the bakery! You really can’t beat these cute strawberry muffins.
Can you all believe I’ve never made strawberry muffins with fresh strawberries until now? I recently saw a fresh strawberry muffin from a bakery in the Hamptons and knew right then that I needed to develop my own version. These muffins are the perfect treat for you all to enjoy this summer.
I wanted the muffins to feel special and, more importantly, taste like the most deliciously sweet strawberry muffin. I tried a few variations until landing on the muffin I’m sharing with you all today.
Soft, sweet, moist, and just a little crumbly, these muffins are swirled with just the right amount of strawberries and caramel! They’re truly delicious and smell like summer in a muffin—so enticing!!
These are the details
Step 1: Ingredients
- Fresh strawberries
- Sugar
- Coconut oil
- Honey
- Eggs
- Sour cream or Greek yogurt
- Vanilla
- Lemon zest
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
Step 2: make the strawberry caramel
Toss the strawberries with sugar, then let them sit for 15 minutes until all of the juices are released from the berries.
Next, strain the juices into a pot. Add a little more sugar and bring the sauce to a boil. You want to cook the sauce until it thickens into a heavy syrup and the sugar melts.
Pour the sauce onto a piece of parchment. Let the mix cool. You should then be able to smash the caramel into shards—kind of like candy. Set these aside.
Step 3: make the muffins
Mix the coconut oil with the eggs, honey, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest.
Now add the dry ingredients: the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Now, mix in the chopped strawberries and the caramel pieces.
Step 4: bake the muffins
Divide the batter between the muffin pan tins. I like to line the tins with parchment paper liners.
Sprinkle the top of the batter with coarse sugar and bake the tray of muffins until they’re just setting up on top. It’s going to smell wonderful, like a sweet strawberry summer!!
As the muffins bake, the topping begins to caramelize, becoming just the slightest bit crunchy.
When the muffins come out of the oven, if you can, enjoy them warm if when they’re the most delicious! The caramel mixed into the muffins really makes them so special and even yummier!
Looking for other homemade recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Homemade Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Bars
Healthier Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts
Lastly, if you make these Strawberry Caramel Muffins, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Strawberry Caramel Muffins
Servings: 16 muffins
Calories Per Serving: 186 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh chopped strawberries
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup melted coconut oil
- ½ cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 cups all-purpose or white whole wheat flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- coarse sugar, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss together the strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl. Let the fruit sit for 15-30 minutes to release some of its juices. 2. Strain the juice/syrup from the strawberries into a medium pot. Set the chopped strawberries aside. 3. To the strawberry syrup, add 1/4 cup sugar. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook 5-6 minutes until the sugar melts into a caramel-like sauce. Remove from the heat and pour the caramel onto the parchment paper. Spread in a thin, even layer. Let sit 5 minutes. Once hardened, crush the caramel into small pieces/shards with the back of a spoon.4. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 16-17 muffin tins with paper liners.5. In a bowl, stir together the coconut oil, honey, vanilla, eggs, sour cream, and lemon zest. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Fold in the chopped strawberries and shards of strawberry caramel. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared pan. Sprinkle with coarse sugar.6. Bake for 22-25 minutes until the tops are just set. Enjoy warm!
Hey! I just made these.
I think the issues people are having with the caramel are because 1) they aren’t letting it get up to the temperature for hard caramel (250°-260°F) which I checked using a meat thermometer because I don’t have a candy one 🤣, and 2) they need to spread it thinner than they think. It needs to be sooooo paper thin.
I normally struggle with baking and these turned out very well! Thank you!
Hey Sarah,
Fantastic! Love to hear that this recipe turned out nicely for you, I appreciate you making it! Thanks so much for sharing your feedback regarding the caramel and what worked well for you! Have a great weekend:)
Love these muffins! My husband is my taste tester and gave it 2 thumbs up! I had problems with the strawberry caramel as well. I scraped it off the parchment paper, boiled it longer and spread the caramel thinner on round 2. It still didn’t harden to be able to break it into shards so I just cut it up. The caramel melts once it is baked in the muffin mix and tasted delicious!
Hey Sasha,
Amazing!! Thank you so much for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear that the muffins were a hit! Sorry about the caramel, I wondering if popping it in the freezer would help at all! Happy 4th! xT
Amazing! I had a strawberry muffin at a bakery today and it was average. I got home and made these. I highly recommend making these! The caramel didn’t turn out for me. But that’s a bad on my end. I didn’t boil it long enough. I added the sugar on top as well. Honestly, one of my favorite muffins yet.
Hey Caitlynn,
Happy Monday!! Thanks a lot for trying this recipe and your comment, I am so glad to hear that it turned out well for you! x
I was so excited for these! I read the comments beforehand and made note to boil the syrup well. I even put it in the freezer for over an hour, but mine is also just a sticky blob. I used cane sugar, not sure if that’s the culprit? I decided to just leave it out of the mix all together. The muffins are delicious, not a typical muffin texture I’d say. It’s very light. They are very tasty.
Hey there,
Thanks so much for trying these muffins and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear you had some issues with the caramel. I wonder if the layer wasn’t thin enough, it needs to be super thin to harden nicely. Glad you enjoyed the muffins:) xx
Caramel did not work for me either. Followed directions and it came out sticky like fruit roll up. I even waited 15 mins then tried to put it in freezer to see if it would harden and it was still sticky. Waste of time and effort so I didn’t end up using it in the batter. But, muffins were decent without the fruit roll up.
Hi Holly,
Thanks for trying this recipe and sharing your feedback, sorry to hear the caramel didn’t work for you. My guess is that it needed to boil longer. Again, my apologies. x
The plain muffin batter is delicious just as it is! Recipe had WAY too many strawberries, and turned out pretty wet and fell apart. ‘strawberry caramel’ didn’t work the first (or second) time attempting to get it to a hard crack ‘shardy’ consistency. Ended up more like thick gooey candy/taffy. Tried to stretch/drizzle it into batter and fold ribbons into mixture. There was an nice crispy caramelized muffin top, but the rest was soggy and runny. Still eatable 🤷🏻♀️
Hey Hailey,
Thanks so much for trying these muffins and sharing your feedback! Sorry to hear they weren’t enjoyed. It sounds like your caramel needed to be boiled longer and the muffins needed to possibly be baked longer. Again, my apologies! xx
In your stories, it looks like there’s something on top of the caramel, like crystallized ginger or something? Is the recipe missing an ingredient?
Hey Amber,
Thanks so much for your comment, you can follow the recipe as written, you can ignore what I had on stories! Let me know if you give these a try! xT
Came out kind of wet with the strawberries – nothing special. Would not make again. The carmel I made and came out like fruit roll-ups so I had to put back into pot to cook longer. I don’t think it added anything to the muffin for the amount of stress.
Hi Colleen,
Thanks for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, so sorry to hear it was not enjoyed! xx
I made these this morning and the entire family loved them! Another wonderful and easy to make recipe Tieghan, thank you for sharing!
Hey Curt,
Happy Sunday!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe and your comment! Love to hear that it turned out nicely for you:)
What do you mean you’ve never used fresh strawberries in muffins before?? This recipe has a link for Honey Strawberry Muffins. I remember how awful they were. I would not recommend anyone try them.
Hmmm sounds like you’re having a rough day!
Yet here you are, still lurking on this page, and showing up in another similar recipe just to be rude? I call BS. You never made the previous strawberry muffin recipe and you sure as hell aren’t here to discuss recipes in any kind of genuine manner. I call BS. Scram, tr@ll-hole.
I would love to make these, but have a coconut allergy. What could I use to sub coconut oil?
I’d use butter instead.
Could this be made with oat flour? (need to be gluten free)
Hi Urszula,
For best results, I would use an all purpose gluten free flour. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Hi Laura,
You can use another neutral oil that you enjoy. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xT
You’ve never made fresh strawberry muffins before? What about these, which you link to: https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/honey-strawberry-muffins/
How does the caramel taste in these? Is it crunchy or does it melt?
Hey Barbara,
Forgot about those!!! Good call out (:
The caramel melts. It’s not crunchy. Hope you love them!!!