Irish Soda Bread Muffins
Jam-packed with tiny sweet currants, flecked with caraway seeds, and sprinkled with coarse sugar, these Irish soda bread muffins are unusual and addicting. Unlike traditional cakey muffins, they are not too sweet and have craggy tops, which makes them more of a cross between muffins and scones. (Scuffins?)
Serve these Irish soda bread muffins just as you would cornbread: warm out of the oven for breakfast, as a snack, or in a bread basket with your meal. They are especially delicious smeared with salted butter.
How To Make Irish Soda Bread Muffins
Begin by combining the dry ingredients — the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, and caraway seeds — in a medium bowl.
Whisk to combine and set aside.
In a separate large bowl, combine the the liquid ingredients: the egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
Whisk to combine. The mixture may look a little curdled; that’s okay and normal.
Add the dry ingredients and the currants to the liquid mixture.
Use a rubber spatula to mix until just combined; the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix or the muffins may be tough.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the turbinado (or sparkling white) sugar evenly over the muffins.
Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden and set and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool until you’re ready to serve.
Serve these Irish soda bread muffins warm out of the oven. They are delicious with softened salted butter. This recipe is modestly adapted from King Arthur Flour, one of my favorite baking resources (read the many rave reviews here).
My Recipe Videos
Irish Soda Bread Muffins
Ingredients
- 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled off
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1-1/3 cups currants
- 1-1/2 tablespoons turbinado or sparkling white sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease a standard muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, and caraway seeds.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
- Add the dry ingredients and the currants to the liquid mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix until just combined; the batter will be very thick. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the turbinado (or sparkling white) sugar evenly over the muffins.
- Bake the muffins for 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden and set and a cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool until ready to serve. Serve warm, preferably with salted butter.
- Make-Ahead Instructions:These muffins are best served fresh out of the oven but leftovers will keep for a few days in a sealed container at room temperature.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 – 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (12 servings)
- Serving size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 224
- Fat: 7 g
- Saturated fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 38 g
- Sugar: 19 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 5 g
- Sodium: 184 mg
- Cholesterol: 32 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Reviews & Comments
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I was tasked with making Irish Soda Bread for my sister-in-law. I was never interested in making it because I always thought it was dull and tasteless. These muffins were not! They actually were quite good, although not my favorites. So Jenn, you’ve done a great job with the medium. Thanks!
Jenn thank you for the amazing recipe. My niece and I made them for St. Patrick’s Day. We had to used dried blueberries in place of the currants and they turned out great.
Jenn,
These muffins are soooo good!! Even my picky eaters enjoyed them. They are still good when kept sealed in the refrigerator after several days. We like to wrap them in tin foil, warm them in the oven, and slather them with butter…yummy!
Thank you for another great recipe!
I made these for St. Paddy’s Day…not only were they easy, but they are so delicious! my husband says they are now his favorite muffin! They did harden quickly but easily softened when reheated in microwave. I will be making these all year round!
Delicious!
I made these muffins today to go with my corned beef and cabbage dinner.
My husband can’t stop raving about them!!! NO EXAGGERATION He likes Irish soda bread but not this much! I agree with him that these are excellent, but his reaction was precious!!Thanks, Jen-
What an amazing recipe! I made these tonight to go with Dublin Coddle and they did NOT disappoint. Warm with a bit of Irish butter was an amazing way to enjoy these. They were extremely tender and the balance of sweet and salt was perfect. Thank you so much for sharing. We will be eating these for years to come.
I have made these several times and if possible they get better each time. Substituted yogurt with a little 2%milk to equal the amount of buttermilk. They are moist and served warm with butter it doesn’t get any better than this.
I just doubled the recipe to bring to a St. Paddy’s party tonight and wound up with 34 small muffins – good thing, because we can’t stop eating them!! I have no experience with Irish Soda Bread so can’t attest to their authenticity, but these, right out of the oven, are DELICIOUS.
A perfect recipe as always; this is why Once Upon is always my first stop for a recipe/how-to. (Btw, didn’t have any caraway seeds so I substituted 3 tsp of Trader Joe’s Dukkah Nut And Spice Blend and left out the extra salt… works great.) Thanks!
I baked these this morning for breakfast, though I left out the currants to make them more diabetic friendly. Delicious! Will definitely bake these again.
12 perfectly wonderful muffins just came out of the oven!!!!!!! Kitchen smells heavenly….having them with clam chowder and salad for dinner…Thank you….once again, you hit it out of the ball park…….Elaine
Hey Jenny
The Scuffins look great … do you think the recipe would work with keto flour which is made mainly of nuts and seeds flour?
M
Hi Mahesh, I don’t have any experience baking with keto flour, so it’s hard to say – I’m sorry! Please report back if you try them this way – I’d love to hear how they turn out. 🙂
Jenn,
I love your recipes! How would you adapt this recipe for a loaf instead of muffins?
Thanks so much!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipes, Jacqline! If you’d like to make this as a loaf, I’d follow the method used here.
Hello many thanks for your wonderful recipe which I am yet to try. Just wondering what makes it Irish Soda ? I have seen Irish Soda bread at the market and keen to start making my own
Regards Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth, Soda bread is just a bread in which baking soda is used as a leavening agent instead of yeast. Hope you enjoy if you make it! 🙂
Are any adjustments necessary for high altitude baking? I’m at almost 5000 ft.
Hi Christy, I don’t have experience baking at high altitudes so, unfortunately, I don’t have any wisdom to share – I’m sorry! You may find these tips helpful though. Hope you enjoy the muffins if you make them!
Use high altitude hungarian flour
Christy, I’ve made these at 5420′ without any adjustments and they turned out beautifully.
These muffins come together quickly and are delicious. I served them for brunch with two crustless quiches and fruit. My guests and I agreed we’d much rather get our carbs in these yummy muffins than in crust!