Pear muffins are the perfect recipe for using up overripe pears! They have warm and cozy cinnamon spices and are topped with a crunchy oatmeal streusel topping! We love them for breakfast, snacks, and dessert!
Make extra muffins when pears are in season and freeze them for later. Or, use canned pears to enjoy fresh-baked muffins all throughout the year!
Every time I go to the fruit stand I get a little overly ambitious and buy way too much fresh fruit. Don’t get me wrong we love eating it straight from the fruit box. But, fresh pears always get away from us and I’m looking for a way to use them up.
Oh, and if you haven’t had a grilled cheese sandwich with pears tucked inside, you’ve gotta try it…it’s dreamy! If you need one more way to use ripe pears check out my Pear Jell-O Salad!
These muffins are the answer!
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Quick & Easy! These pear muffins are made with pear sauce which happens to be much faster to make than chopping pears.
- Fresh or canned pears are both great options.
- Freezable! These muffins can be frozen for up to 3 months. Although, we’ve left them in the freezer longer and they were still good!
INGREDIENTS:
The list is a little bit longer, but don’t worry! They’re all simple ingredients most bakers will already have on hand.
- Pears: I like fresh best, but canned will work too. I typically use Bartlett pears. It takes about 8 pears to make 4 cups of pear puree. The exact number of pears will vary depending on the size of the pears.
- Lemon Juice: Fresh squeezed or concentrate from a bottle
- Oil: Vegetable or canola
- Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- All-Purpose Flour: Use half whole wheat and half all-purpose for a healthy pear muffin. Or, you may use gluten-free flour.
- Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Salt
- Spices: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Allspice
- Oatmeal: Steel-cut, Old Fashioned, or Quick Cooking Oats are all great
- Butter: I always use real salted butter. You could use margarine too.
These muffins are delicious with add-ins like walnuts, pecans, white chocolate chips, or raisins.
HOW TO MAKE PEAR MUFFINS:
This is a super easy quick bread recipe! Let me walk you through the details!
STEP 1: Wash and core pears. You can peel them if you’d like, but it will be just fine if you don’t. Blend pears and lemon juice until smooth. If you want little bits of juicy pears in the muffins leave them a little bit chunky instead of blending them into pear sauce.
STEP 2: Mix eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil until smooth.
STEP 3: Add pear puree and stir.
STEP 4: Add dry ingredients to a separate mixing bowl and mix (or add to a sifter if you want).
STEP 5: Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix only until combined. It’s okay if there are still a few lumps.
STEP 6: To make the streusel topping, add cold butter, oats, brown sugar, and cinnamon to a separate mixing bowl. Using two butter knives, or a pastry cutter (I love this one), cut the mixture together until coarse crumbs form.
STEP 7: Line a muffin tin with paper muffin liners or spray with nonstick baking spray. Scoop batter into muffin prepared cupcake liners. Sprinkle streusel over the muffins.
STEP 8: Bake muffins.
Here are a few tips to make sure your muffins turn out perfectly!
- Only mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined. Over mixing will create tough muffins.
- Paper cupcake liners are the way to go for easy cleanup, but the muffins will stick to them a tiny bit. I love spraying the muffin tins with this baking spray with flour. It’s easy and works perfectly!
- Let muffins cool in the tins for about 5 minutes then move to a cooling rack to completely cool.
FAQ’s:
Yes! Freeze these muffins for up to 3 months. Freeze in a freezer-safe bag or container. To thaw muffins rest in the refrigerator overnight.
Of course! Muffins are best when they’re warm! Reheat in the microwave for about 10-20 seconds depending on the strength of the microwave. Or, heat in a toaster oven at 350 degrees for about 3-5 minutes.
Bosc, Anjou or Bartlett pears are both great options for baking. For this recipe, any kind of pears will work because they’re going to be blended into a pear sauce anyway. They are best if they are a little bit overripe!
OTHER MUFFIN RECIPES:
Muffins are great options when it comes to making quick bread. They’re delicious! They’re also really quick and easy to make. Plus, I love that they are already in individual servings and there’s no need to bother with cutting a loaf of bread!
Here are a few other muffin recipes you’ll love!
Pear Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
To Make the Pear Muffins:
- 4 cups pear puree See note below
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 3/4 cups oil
- 1 cups sugar
- 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 cup walnuts optional
Oatmeal Topping:
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup butter cold
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Puree pears. Add lemon juice to pears. Set aside.
- Mix oil, white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Stir in pureed pears.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix only until combined. Stir in walnuts if desired.
- Scoop into muffin tins.
- In a food processor mix topping ingredients together. If you don't have a food processor cut butter in using two knives or with a pastry cutter.
- Sprinkle topping mixture over muffins.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes. Muffins are done when they spring back when they're lightly touched. Cool in muffin tins for 5 minutes, then move to a wire cooling rack.
Notes
- It takes about 8 pears to make 4 cups of puree. The exact number will vary depending on the size of the pears.
- Fresh – wash and core (peel if you want) and puree in a blender until smooth.
- Canned – drain, puree in a blender.
- This recipe makes 2 loaves.
- Bake for 50-55 minutes. Cool for about 5 minutes in the bread pan then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Nutrition
Colleen says
I made loaves from your recipe, but question the 350 degree oven. You said 50-55 minutes, but it easily took 65-70 minutes. Are you baking the loaves at 350 or 375? I had also lessened the purée by a quarter cup and will go down to a half cup when I remake. Mostly because the bread stayed so wet, resulting in the long baking time. We really enjoyed the bread, but want to get it right if I’m to continue making it.
Amy Engberson says
Since pears have so much liquid they do make the batter pretty “wet”. Some pears are juicier than others too which will affect the baking time. Depending on the size of the bread pan it might take a little longer to bake the bread.
Elchik says
I use pear sauce from the pears I grow in my yard. I pick them at their ripest, so they are pretty sweat.
I don’t add any sugars to this recipe and the muffins come out perfect. Without sugars they are perfect for older babies too). My entire family enjoys them a lot. I’ve made them to the recipe, as well as with reduced sugar and oil or no sugar and oil, and they are good no matter what.
Amy Engberson says
I wish I had a pear tree! How fun! I’m glad you figured out how to make this recipe healthy for you!
Kate says
I only put the one half cup of brown sugar in the muffins and they were plenty sweet. I also left off the topping.
Amy Engberson says
That’s a great way to make them a little bit healthier! Thanks for sharing!
Kevin says
Fantastic. I used GF flour and left out the 1c white sugar. It seems like a lot, but it’s so good it disappears fast!
Amy Engberson says
That’s good to know this recipe works with gluten-free flour! I’m glad you loved it!
Catherine says
Great recipe. I made a half recipe and got 15 muffins. I cut the sugar and oil by 1/2. Added a 4oz by weight mashed banana. Seemed to work. Skipped the nuts. Added 2oz raisins. Great taste and texture.
Amy Engberson says
I love that you were able to make the recipe work with your own preferences!
busyinoc says
Approximately how many pears does it take to make 4 cups of puree?
Amy Engberson says
Good question! Of course, it will vary depending on the size of the pears. It takes about 8 pears to make 4 cups of puree. Good luck!
Norma Fleming says
It was good and very moist. I found that my yield was much greater than reported. I halved the recipe; made 12 muffins and had enough batter for a small loaf.
Amy Engberson says
I’m glad you liked the muffins! I suppose there the number of muffins will vary depending on their size! We’re always happy to have extras!
Jessica says
Love this recipe. Halved and used coconut yoghurt instead of eggs to make it vegan and they came out delicious. I had a glut of Pears this season so thank you for the delicious recipe.
Amy Engberson says
Having a glut of pears is a wonderful problem! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Melissa says
Loved this. I am a terrible cook. My bread usually sticks to the pan or comes out gooey in the middle. This was so easy. Done perfectly, and delicious! Great way to get rid of some mushy pears. (I made bread-easier/faster).
Amy Engberson says
Haha! It sounds like you are a better cook than you think! I’m glad you loved them!
Saro says
Hello thank you for the recipe. However is it actually 350 degre for the oven?
Amy Engberson says
Yes. I bake the muffins at 350 degrees.
Sarah says
I had a bunch of pears and thought that this recipe would be perfect for how many I had. I used my left over pear puree for baby food as well.
The recipe was super easy to make and a double batch made so many that I am super happy with that. We use muffins as our morning breakfast during the week and having a lot makes (hopefully) the following week covered as well.
The only suggested I would have is to add a bit more cinnamon or spices. But overall it was lovely and super moist.
Amy Engberson says
Waking up in the morning knowing you already have breakfast ready is so nice! Feel free to adjust the spices to your own taste!
Elaine Duckett says
I love any recipe that has almost 4 cups of flour, 4 eggs, and I cup of oil, because you know it is going to make two loaves and the bread is going to be super moist.
I am going to try splitting the batter and bake one loaf of bread while I make the rest in muffins. Will let you know how that works out.
Glad you got the box of pears
Mom
Amy Engberson says
I’m excited for you to try it! It’s an easy recipe to split in half so it should work perfectly!
Akesia says
Delicious recipe! I used Bob’s Redmill GF flour (blue bag) and halved the recipe. It yielded 13 very full, tender, fluffy muffins. I increased the amount of oats in the topping to 1/3 for a half recipe with perfect results. This recipe is fantastic for using up very ripe pears. I think the addition of pecans to the topping and additional nutmeg will be wonderful next time.
Amy Engberson says
Nutmeg and pecans sound like a delicious addition! I’m glad you have been able to successfully make this recipe using gluten free flour!