Savoury Muffins are cheesy muffins studded with Mediterranean flavours – olives, sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers and feta! Because these stay fresh for several days, they’re ideal as a food gift, a school fete, lunchbox idea, and making ahead for afternoon tea with friends or to serve in place of bread rolls at dinner.
Brilliant base recipe to make your own – just add 2 1/2 cups of whatever you want into the batter!
Savoury Muffins
When I need to make something quickly, whether it be friends dropping by on short notice, to take somewhere or a last minute food gift, I turn to these muffins more than any other sweet treat recipe I’ve shared. Ever.
And why it’s taken this long for me to share this remains a mystery – to both you and me. 😂
The beauty of these muffins are that:
Super quick and easy to make – you probably have everything you need to make them right now;
They stay moist and fresh for 3 to 4 days (which you can’t say about most muffins which tend to be quite dry the next day, unless warmed up);
Highly versatile – put in any bits and bobs in your fridge, or things you find in cans and jars in your pantry. Think: ham, bacon, fresh and canned vegetables, pickles, olives, canned corn, roasted peppers, capers, sun dried tomatoes, pickled onions;
Everyone loves them. I’ve had friends give my Choc Chip Muffins a miss. Nobody passes on these savoury muffins!
That moment when you break open the warm cheesy muffin and bite into an olive mixed in with some feta…. SO GOOD!
What you need for savoury muffins
Here’s what you need to make savoury muffins.
A few notes on some of the items:
Baking soda (aka bi-carb) can be substituted with more baking powder (baking soda is basically baking powder on steroids);
Flour can be white or wholemeal;
Add ins – use 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups of whatever you want. I’ve used feta, olives, sun dried tomatoes and roasted peppers because I have all those in my fridge, always! Think: diced vegetables (mmmm, garlic mushroom muffins anyone??), canned and jarred vegetables, antipasto type foods, and anything from the deli!
Yogurt / sour cream – the sour element in these helps to activate the baking soda to give it a kick start so the muffins are lovely and soft with a tender crumb.
No butter – butter adds flavour but oil makes baked goods moist. With all the flavour from the Add ins plus cheese, just using oil in the batter is fine!
How to make savoury muffins
No different to your favourite Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Muffins!
Whisk dry ingredients
Whisk wet ingredients
Add wet into dry ingredients
Mix 8 times or less (excess mixing = tough cannonballs instead of soft fluffy muffins)
Fold through 2 1/2 cups Add Ins of choice – I’ve used olives, sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers (capsicum), feta and green onions.
Plonk into muffin tin then bake!
More ideas for add ins
The beauty of this recipe is that you can literally add almost anything (savoury!) into the muffins. Here’s a few ideas:
diced, sautéed vegetables – zucchini, corn, carrot, onion, potato. Cook them in a little butter, garlic, salt and pepper until softened;
roasted vegetables – pumpkin, sweet potato!
grilled vegetables – leftover homemade Marinated Grilled Vegetables would be 100% amazing!
cauliflower or broccoli, cooked then roughly diced;
ham or cooked bacon, diced;
other deli and cooked meats (diced or shredded);
canned corn, asparagus, mushrooms or other vegetables;
any antipasto type deli goods – canned, jarred, in oil or brine;
flaked salmon, trout, tuna (fresh cooked or canned drained); and
leftover cooked meats.
I’m sure I’m missing some other obvious suggestions – if I am, leave them in the comments section below and I’ll update the recipe!
When to make these savoury muffins
Thinking back over the past 3 months, here are all the occasions for which I have made these muffins – and it’s a fair few times because they’re really handy being they are quick to make and stay fresh!
Impromptu gathering with friends – whether at mine, at a friends’ place, in a park, anywhere!
Gift for personal and work purposes – ideal because they are almost as good as freshly made 3 days later;
For a fundraiser – everybody makes sweet things, but I swear, savoury ones are more popular;
As an alternative to a basket of warm bread rolls at dinner;
And the most frequent reason I make them? Speaking really frankly – when I’m trying to get or stay in someone’s good graces. 😂 I find these Savoury Muffins are highly effective for this purpose!
– Nagi x
PS Other things that I make for similar reasons (again, because they stay fresh for ages and are made in individual portions) include: caramel popcorn (bag them separately), brownies (wrap each one with paper and twine) or gluten free brownies, cornbread muffins and apple muffins. ❤️
Watch how to make it
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Mediterranean Savoury Muffins
Ingredients
- Butter or oil spray , for greasing
Add Ins:
- 2 cups (200g) cheddar cheese , shredded (or other cheese)
- 75g / 2.5oz feta , crumbled*
- 1/2 cup green olives slices *
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes strips *
- 1/2 cup roasted peppers *, drained and chopped (capsicum)
- 1/2 cup green onions *, sliced
Dry Ingredients:
- 2 cups (300g) flour (plain / all purpose flour)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi-carb soda (sub 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1 egg (large, about 60g / 2 oz)
- 1 cup (250 ml) milk (full or low fat)
- 1/4 cup (60g) sour cream or plain yoghurt (Note 1)
- 1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil (or any plain flavoured oil)
- 1 garlic clove , minced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C/320°F fan).
- Brush a 12 hole standard muffin tin generously with butter
- Whisk Dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Whisk Wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Pour Wet into the Dry ingredients bowl. Mix 8 times.
- Add cheese, feta, sun dried tomato, capsicum, olives and green onion. Mix as few times as possible just to incorporate remaining bits of flour – no more than 7 big stirs (secret to soft muffs).
- Divide between 12 holes in muffin in (I use an ice cream scooper). Batter should be thick and fill muffin tin slightly mounded (see video)
- Bake for 25 minutes or until the muffins are golden and crusty and spring back when touched in the centre.
- Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack. Serve warm for optimum experience!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Today – Yakitori Team Lunch.
Dozer – in position.
Delicious, made them to share with family. Made them gluten free and they were yummy.
Thelma, would you mind sharing what brand of GF flour you use and if you used 1:1
Appreciate it.
White wings GF flour, they turned out beautfully.
Hi! These look delicious! I’m going to a big cocktail party – can I make these in a mini muffin tin? To feed more people.
I’ve made these in a mini muffin tin before, works like a charm!
Made regular size. Delicious & moist. How long should they cook for mini muffins? Same temp? Thanks!
A firm favourite in our household. My muffin pan was rusty so I poured the batter into a small bread tin and it made the most scrumptious loaf of bread. Thank you, Nagi.
can you please add more info about the muffins because i need it for my school project
Hi Nigina – what sort of info did you need for your project? Muffins are a great topic for school!! N x
Can these be made with gluten free flour? These look so darn good as all your recipes are….Thank you
I haven’t tried that Sherian – let me know how you go! N x
I am not sure what I did wrong, but the only change I made was to use cup for cup gluten free flour. The result after 25 minutes was the muffins weren’t cooked. I put them in another half an hour and they didn’t didn’t cook.
Hi Bev – g/f flour is completely different to regular flour and it also varies massively from brand to brand. It’s not just a simple one to one sub. I would suggest reading up on g/f baking on sites that are specific to that to learn more and then try modifying my recipes using what you learn. I just haven’t done much testing on g/f…sorry!! N x
I make these bi-weekly and it has been a favorite in the house! It’s a great to-go snack to the office, park, beach, hike or even to enjoy as a late night craving!
Thank you so much Nagi!
They are awesome when you want a savoury snack!! N x
OMG! What a great recipe! I used a Persian yogurt that has minced shallots in it! The unfortunate thing? I wanted to eat every single one! They went perfectly with your beef lentil soup!!
I am glad you liked them Pamela! N x
Hi, Nagi
Could i make 6 jumbo muffins from this recipe (or any of your other muffin recipes)? What would i need 2 change?
Hey Nagi can this be baked in a loaf pan ?
Nailed it yet again Nagi, saviour of the boring school lunch brigade!
Hiii, I’m so pleased and extremely satisfied with these wonderful muffins. I originally made them for my one year old because I ran out of ideas. To my surprise the entire family LOVES them, sooo incredibly delicious. 🙌🏻
At last something us veggies can love..Savoury muffins ..delicious..can be tweaked quite well .
Lots of compliments and recipe asked for.
I have just made these muffins for the second time this week! They are so simple yet so delicious!
I subbed out the sour cream for a home mix buttermilk and ran out of feta so just popped a bit more cheese in and they were still so delish!
Made them , used mayo as I had no sour cream, they were delicious.
Hey! Can we use wheat flour for this? Will it be too dry and dense?
Nagi, just made these, unbelievable! Will be a staple in our house. Thank you
Hey, can you freeze them? I am keen to put those in lunchboxes in the morning
Love this recipe. Have made it in so many ways. I often use up the weeks left over veggies but it is so versatile. Thank you , Nagi, you are my favourite food blogger and my first go to for ideas.
I made these with add-ins of canned corn, chopped pickled jalepenos, green onion and smoked cheddar. They won rave reviews all round. Next time I’ll be making a double batch.