Mediterranean Savoury Muffins

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

Author: Nagi

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 25 mins

Total: 40 mins

Baking, Snack

Western

4.98 from 42 votes

Servings12

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Recipe video above. Savoury Muffins are cheesy muffins studded with Mediterranean flavours! These stay moist and fresh for several days, making them ideal for gift, make ahead for for afternoon tea , a school fete, or a lunchbox filler idea.

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:

* These ingredients can be substituted with any add-ins of choice, 2 1/4 to 1/2 cups in total. I recommend using 1/4 to 1/2 cup of something oniony or fresh herbs eg onion, leeks, eschallots, green onion (scallions / shallots) or fresh parsley or chives.

1. Sour cream / yogurt - sub with 1 tsp lemon juice plus 1/4 cup milk. Let it stand for 10 minutes then use in place of sour cream in this recipe (you've just made buttermilk sub!)

2. Storage - allow to cool then keep in an airtight container for 3 to 4 days. If you're in a very hot humid climate place (eg South East Asian), keep them in the fridge (because they are so moist, it can make things grow after a couple of days, sorry to gross you out!)

Unlike most muffins, these don't dry out the day after so you can eat them at room temperature and they are delish. But if you can pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds, they are even more amazing! (Also, I would never say no to a little smear of butter but it doesn't need it 🙂 )

They can also be frozen for 3 months.

3. Nutrition per muffin.

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 260cal (13%)Carbohydrates: 25g (8%)Protein: 10g (20%)Fat: 14g (22%)Saturated Fat: 5g (31%)Cholesterol: 38mg (13%)Sodium: 522mg (23%)Potassium: 325mg (9%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 4g (4%)Vitamin A: 392IU (8%)Vitamin C: 5mg (6%)Calcium: 231mg (23%)Iron: 2mg (11%)

Keywords: Cheese muffins, Savoury Muffins

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