The secret of making muffins is in the details. You have to be careful about several steps in the process to get fluffy, moist, and delicious muffins.
One of the biggest missteps you can make with muffins is overmixing the muffin batter. This way, you destroy the air bubbles that give muffins their airy texture while causing gluten to build up. The result is tough and chewy muffins that don’t actually look or taste the way you imagined.
Now, there is no fix for overmixed muffin batter. But what you can do is take steps to avoid this from happening.
How to Avoid Overmixing Your Muffins
Quaker’s, the producer of famous Quaker’s Best Oatmeal Muffins, shared some instructions for making muffins on their website and included a step-by-step on how to avoid overmixing the muffin batter.
According to the brand, you should avoid using an electric mixer and do it by hand. They recommend first mixing well the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately.
Then, combine the ingredients and mix them with “15 to 20 light hand strokes with a spoon.” The batter should still have lumps in it when you’re done mixing.
There you go. Next time you’re making muffins, follow these tips and see how they work. You might be surprised.
