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A close-up of freshly baked oatmeal strawberry muffins with sourdough discard, featuring golden-brown tops and vibrant red strawberry pieces.
Sourdough Discard Muffins

Low-Sugar Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins With Sourdough Discard

If you love fruit-filled, nourishing muffins with bursts of berry flavor, these sourdough oatmeal strawberry muffins are for you!

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Total: 40 minutes
Jump to Recipe Rate Recipe
Recipe Index | Ferment | Sourdough Discard | Sourdough Discard Muffins

Low-Sugar Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins With Sourdough Discard

If you love fruit-filled, nourishing muffins with bursts of berry flavor, these sourdough oatmeal strawberry muffins are for you!

A close-up of freshly baked oatmeal strawberry muffins with sourdough discard, featuring golden-brown tops and vibrant red strawberry pieces.

Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins

These sourdough oatmeal strawberry muffins are the perfect balance of wholesome and fruity. Made with fresh strawberries, hearty oats, and sourdough discard (or active starter), they offer a delicious way to reduce starter waste while creating a tender, flavorful muffin perfect for spring.

Whether you’re a seasoned sourdough baker or just looking for a nutritious breakfast treat, these muffins will quickly become a favorite in your kitchen.

A ceramic mixing bowl filled with dry ingredients for oatmeal strawberry muffins, including flour, rolled oats, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
A person wearing a floral blouse pours a bowl of wet ingredients—melted butter, sourdough starter, lemon juice, whole milk, and eggs—into a larger mixing bowl.

Strawberry Muffins with Sourdough Discard

Why use sourdough in muffins? Sourdough isn’t just for bread! Incorporating sourdough starter or discard into muffins enhances flavor and texture while making them easier to digest.

Sourdough naturally contains lactic acid bacteria, which break down gluten, fructans, and phytic acid, making baked goods easier to digest. This can be especially beneficial for those with gluten or FODMAP sensitivities.

Unlike traditional sourdough bread, muffins aren’t typically long-fermented, but you can ferment the batter overnight in the fridge for even better digestibility. Mix the batter, cover it, and refrigerate it overnight before baking.

A mixing bowl filled with thick, textured oatmeal strawberry muffin batter, speckled with vibrant red strawberry pieces.
A person spoons oatmeal strawberry muffin batter into parchment-lined muffin cups.

The Key to Fluffy, Moist Muffins: Don’t Overmix!

One of the most important muffin-making tips? Avoid overmixing the batter.

When you overmix, you develop the gluten strands in the flour too much, leading to dense, chewy muffins instead of light, tender ones.

How to Mix Muffin Batter Properly:

  • Add the fresh strawberries in with the dry ingredients (trust me).
  • Gently fold the wet and dry ingredients together.
  • Stop mixing when you see some streaks of flour. A few lumps and dry spots is ideal!

My other muffin baking tip is always to use a thin metal aluminum muffin tin with paper liners. A metal muffin tin works way better than a silicone muffin pan.

Why Fresh Strawberries Work Best in Muffins

Using fresh strawberries instead of freeze-dried or dehydrated ones gives these muffins a juicy, naturally sweet burst of flavor. Frozen strawberries can also work great in this recipe!

  • Fresh strawberries add moisture and a soft, jammy texture to each bite.
  • Chop them into small pieces so they distribute evenly throughout the batter.
  • Toss them with the dry ingredients before mixing the batter to prevent them from sinking to the bottom.

Sourdough Strawberry Muffins

This strawberry muffin recipe comes together in less than 10 minutes and only takes 30 minutes to bake. While I call for strawberries in the recipe, you can totally use any berry you want in this recipe! Just evenly sub for the strawberries in the recipe. Here are some of my favorite berries and berry combos. Let me know in the comments if you try any of these!

  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Frozen cranberries
  • Blackberry and blueberry mix
  • Raspberry
  • Raspberry and strawberry mix

Things You May Need:

12-Well Muffin Pan

12-Well Muffin Pan

A product image of a counter top oven showing the front face

Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro

French Sourdough Starter

French Sourdough Starter

three sourdough spurtles made of wood

Teakwood Stirring Spatula for Sourdough

Handmade Mixing Bowls

Handmade Mixing Bowls

Storing Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins

Storing baked muffins properly ensures they remain fresh and delicious. Here are some tips on how to store them effectively:

  • Room Temperature Storage:
    • Allow muffins to cool completely.
    • Place them in an airtight container lined with paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
    • Store at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
  • Refrigeration:
    • If the weather is hot or humid, consider refrigerating the strawberry muffins.
    • Wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap to prevent drying out.
    • Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to one week.
  • Freezing Muffins:
    • Cool muffins completely before freezing.
    • Wrap each muffin tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
    • Place wrapped muffins in a freezer-safe bag or container.
    • Label it with the date and freeze it for up to 3 months.
  • Reheating Frozen Muffins:
    • Remove the desired number of strawberry muffins from the freezer.
    • Unwrap and place on a microwave-safe plate.
    • Microwave on high for 20-30 seconds or until warm.
    • Alternatively, preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and heat muffins for 10-15 minutes until warmed.
A sliced oatmeal strawberry muffin showcasing its tender, moist interior with chunks of fresh strawberries nestled in the fluffy crumb.

More Sourdough Discard Muffins

  • Double Chocolate Cherry Muffins with Sourdough Discard
  • Sourdough Peach Cobbler Muffins with Brown Sugar Crumble
  • How to Bake Sourdough Discard Banana Nut Muffins
  • Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins with Sourdough Discard
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A close-up of freshly baked oatmeal strawberry muffins with sourdough discard, featuring golden-brown tops and vibrant red strawberry pieces.
Sourdough Discard Muffins

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Low-Sugar Oatmeal Strawberry Muffins With Sourdough Discard

If you love fruit-filled, nourishing muffins with bursts of berry flavor, these sourdough oatmeal strawberry muffins are for you! Whether you immediately bake or enjoy them after a long fermentation in the fridge, they’re moist, flavorful, and packed with gut-healthy ingredients.

  • Prep: 10 minutes
  • Cook: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
  • 1/2 cup grass-fed butter, room temperature soft
  • 1/2 cup sourdough starter, room temperature*
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp lemon extract
  • 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • Extra fresh strawberries for topping

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350° F.
  2. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
  3. In a medium-large mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and strawberries.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the butter, sourdough starter, lemon juice, lemon extract, whole milk, and two eggs. Whisk until combined.
  5. Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until everything is just combined. Do not over-mix. The batter should be thick, and it’s okay if there are clumps.
  6. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins. Optional— top with fresh strawberry slices.
  7. Bake for about 30 minutes total. Rotate the pan halfway through.
  8. Allow cooling for about 15 minutes.

Notes

  • You can use active starter or discard from the fridge. Either way it is “discarded” into the recipe since it is not used for rise. Make sure it’s room temp before mixing into the wet ingredients for best results.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a 5-star review below if you loved it! Tag @cultured.guru on Instagram

 

Nutrition information is auto-calculated and estimated as close as possible. We are not responsible for any errors. We have tested the recipe for accuracy, but your results may vary.

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Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist
Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.
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hey i’m kaitlynn, i’m a microbiologist and together with my husband jon we are cultured guru.

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A lot of people think vinegar kills all microbes b A lot of people think vinegar kills all microbes because shelf stable pickles do not contain microbes. But with shelf stable pickles, it’s the pasteurization/sterilization via hot water bath or pressure canning that makes shelf stable pickles free of microbes.

Hot hot hot acid in a pressurized environment does kill, well…most microbes. 

Think about “refrigerator pickle” recipes, though. They need to be stored in the refrigerator because vinegar alone doesn’t stop fermentation.

Fridge pickles are made without pasteurization/sterilization (canning) so they will wild ferment without refrigeration, and not necessarily in a good way because there’s not enough salt. 

All vinegar is made via fermentation too, and vinegar fermentation involves acetic acid bacteria, but also a ton of LAB, mainly Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, and Leuconostoc (the same genera you’d find in fermented veg.)  I linked a reference paper in my fermented mushroom recipe blog, so you all can read about the LAB involved in vinegar fermentation. 

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#mushrooms #fermentation
I will not ever wild lacto ferment just beets agai I will not ever wild lacto ferment just beets again lol. Mixing with cabbage for beet sauerkraut is the best though! 

“Lacto fermented beets” was the first ferment I tried to make after learning sauerkraut in college. My best friend Sidney came over and we used these gorgeous beets from the farmers market, with 2.5% salt, and some spices. Well, it ended up tasting like beet moonshine and it was just… not good.

But it was a conduit for learning. Those beets were my first lesson in how different sugars and growth in the rhizosphere vs the phyllosphere influences fermentation. 

Cabbage and the cabbage microbiome offer a lot to balance out beets in fermentation, and I think mixing into a sauerkraut is the only way to go for lacto fermenting beets! 

Try googlin’ “beet and red cabbage sauerkraut” and you’ll see my recipe, I’m Cultured Guru.
Squash is the secret ingredient! My Roasted Butte Squash is the secret ingredient!

My Roasted Butternut Squash Hot Sauce recipe is free on my website! I didn’t cook this one, so yes it’s still probiotic.

When lactic acid bacteria ferment the starches in winter squash, they naturally convert them into emulsifying compounds called exopolysaccharides. So when we blend our hot sauce after fermentation, there’s no watery separation in the bottle. Roasting the squash with the garlic for the recipes also adds such good flavor! 

Definitely make sure it’s fully fermented and not bubbling anymore before you blend and bottle. Otherwise, it’ll carbonate in the cute little hot sauce bottles.

#hotsauce
Myth Busting: Yes, the SCOBY IS the pellicle! Plee Myth Busting: Yes, the SCOBY IS the pellicle! Pleeeease stop saying it’s not. 😌



Watch till the end, I show you how to grow one!



This is a little tidbit from what I teach in the Kombucha lesson in our Fermented Drinks Semester online course!

I also share this recipe FOR FREE just ✨GOOGLE✨ “cultured guru SCOBY” and you’ll see my full recipe with the perfect sugar to tea ratios for growing, feeding and maintaining a kombucha SCOBY.

#kombucha
And the knife stays in the box. GOOGLE “sourdoug And the knife stays in the box. 

GOOGLE “sourdough king cake” my recipe is the first one! 👑☂️💚✨

If you’re like me and prefer from scratch, homemade everything, you’ll definitely want to try this king cake for Mardi Gras! I used organic naturally dyed sprinkles and all that jazz too. 

If you just search “sourdough king cake” on google you’ll see my recipe, it’s usually the first one. 

My main tips for making this:
✨use a very active starter or throw in some instant yeast with your starter
✨make sure the dough is actually proofed before shaping it. If it’s cold in your house it will take longer. 
✨please follow directions! You can cold ferment the dough in the fridge after it doubles in size and BEFORE filling and shaping.

🎵Song is Casanova by Rebirth Brass Band
Fermentation is a gift from the microbes of this e Fermentation is a gift from the microbes of this earth.

When we had a food business, I could never shake the feeling that fermentation is not meant to be sold to you from a fluorescently lit grocery shelf in an endless cycle of waste. Fermentation is meant to be cultivated in your home, with your hands, with intention and love in a sustainable, grateful practice of reciprocity and nourishment. 

This is the story of how we got here. 

After so many lessons learned, our small fermentation business is now value aligned, peaceful, fulfilling, and happy.  It often seems like the gut feelings (the microbes within us) guided us in the right direction. To teach. 

You can learn for free on our blog, or you can enroll in our online courses (we extended our new year sale!) Either way, with me as your teacher, you’ll learn to adopt a holistic perspective on the microbial ecosystems that influence our food, lives, and the planet.
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