This One-bowl Lemon Blueberry Yellow Squash Muffins recipe is made with tangy lemons, juicy blueberries, and summer squash...yes, squash! Think "zucchini bread", but trade out yellow squash for zucchini. Shredded squash gives it that moist, tender, and melt-in-your-mouth appeal.
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Muffin mind games: The yellow squash shreds disappear in the baked squash muffin. Even if you see a few shreds, your brain tends to think they are pieces of lemon zest which is appealing.
This easy lemon-blueberry muffin recipe is the perfect solution to using the abundance of summer squash from your garden.
What's the shortcut?
Making the squash muffin batter with my one-bowl method saves you time washing extra dishes. In the step-by-step pics below I'll walk you through it. It's so easy!
Can I substitute zucchini for yellow squash?
Absolutely! The only difference is the green shreds will show up where the yellow summer squash tends to disappear when baked in the muffins.
What you need
- Large eggs
- Vegetable or canola oil or melted butterSugar
- 1 small yellow squash (also called summer squash)
- 1 lemon
- All-purpose or self-rising flour
- Baking powder and salt (if using all-purpose flour)
- Fresh or frozen blueberries
- Paper cupcake liners (optional)
How to make Lemon Blueberry Yellow Squash Muffins in one bowl
Start with lightly beating the eggs in a large bowl with a spoon or fork. Add the oil and stir.
Shred enough yellow squash to make 1 cup. Use paper towels to pat the squash dry or squeeze out any liquid with your hands over the sink. Add to the bowl and stir.
Add 1 cup of the sugar to the bowl. Using a zester or microplane hand grater, remove the zest (or yellow only portion of the peel/rind). Avoid the white part (pith) because it has a bitter flavor. Add the lemon zest (about 1 tablespoon) and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the bowl and stir.
Lemon Tip:
Grate the lemon peel/rind before juicing the lemon. It's much easier to zest a whole lemon than trying to grip half a lemon that is dripping lemon juice. You're welcome. 🙂
Measure the flour into a dry measuring cup by spooning it in gently with a spoon. Never scoop a measuring cup into the flour bin. It will pack in more flour than you need or want. Pour the flour over the squash mixture. Do not stir.
If using all-purpose flour, sprinkle the baking powder and salt evenly over the flour. Gently stir the baking powder and salt into just the dry ingredients on top-not the squash mixture, yet.
Add the blueberries, tossing them around gently in the flour mixture only. This will help them not sink to the bottom of the muffin when baking.
NOW, you can stir together the entire mixture using the quick bread stirring method. Be careful not to over-stir the batter. Stir just until the dry and liquid ingredients are combined. You aren't beating it like a pancake batter.
Spoon ½ cup of the muffin batter into muffin pans lined with paper cupcake liners. If you don't have paper liners, coat the pans with cooking spray, oil, or butter.
I like to use an ice cream scoop to disperse the batter in the muffin pans. It's quick, consistently measures the same amount each time, and no drips land on the pan... usually.
Substitutions and variations
- Orange Cranberry Muffins: Dried cranberries can be substituted for blueberries and trade out orange zest and juice for lemon.
- Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins: Omit blueberries and add 1 tablespoon poppyseeds.
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract can be substituted for lemon zest and juice.
- Sugar topping can be left off or traded out with cinnamon-sugar.
- ½ cup melted butter (not hot) can be substituted for vegetable oil.
- I also made these using self-rising flour and they were just as yummy and saves an ingredient! To use self-rising flour in place of all-purpose flour just omit the baking powder.
Can I double this squash muffin recipe?
Yes. Be sure to use a large bowl. Everything is easily doubled and two muffin pans that hold one dozen each should fit in most ovens. Four muffins pans that hold six each may not fit, so check first. Bake the same amount of time.
Leave a comment below the printable recipe if you have questions or want to tell me how you liked the recipe. Don't forget to give the recipe a rating of 5 stars if you love it!
Other baking recipes you will love
- Best-Ever One Bowl Banana Bread
- Nutella-Glazed Chocolate Zucchini Bread
- 2 Ingredient Biscuits From Scratch
- Pineapple Zucchini Bread
My friend over at Southern Made Simple has a delicious Lemon Poppy Seed Summer Squash Bread (loaf) recipe you might want to try, too! She has a special ingredient that adds extra lemon flavor. Tell her I sent you!
One-Bowl Lemon Blueberry Yellow Squash Muffins
SAVE THIS RECIPE
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil (or melted butter-not hot)
- 1 cup shredded yellow squash (also called summer squash) (about 1 small squash)
- 1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons for topping
- 1 lemon
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (If using self-rising flour, omit baking powder)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (If frozen, do not thaw)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Start with lightly beating the eggs in a large bowl with a spoon or fork. Add the oil and stir.
- Shred enough yellow squash to make 1 cup. Use paper towels to pat the squash dry or squeeze out any liquid with your hands over the sink. Add to the bowl and stir.
- Add 1 cup of the sugar to the bowl. Using a zester or microplane hand grater, remove the zest (or yellow only portion of the peel/rind). Avoid the white part (pith) because it has a bitter flavor. Add the lemon zest (about 1 tablespoon) and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to the bowl and stir.
- Measure the flour into a dry measuring cup by spooning it in gently with a spoon. Never scoop a measuring cup into the flour bin. It will pack in more flour than you need or want. Pour the flour over the squash mixture. Do not stir.
- If using all-purpose flour, sprinkle the baking powder and salt evenly over the flour. Gently stir the baking powder and salt into just the dry ingredients on top-not the squash mixture, yet.
- Add the blueberries, tossing them around gently in the flour mixture only. This will help them not sink to the bottom of the muffin when baking.
- NOW, you can stir together the entire mixture. Be careful not to over-stir the batter. Stir just until the dry and liquid ingredients are combined. You aren't beating it like a pancake batter.
- Spoon ½ cup of the muffin batter into muffin pans lined with paper cupcake liners. If you don't have paper liners, coat the pans with cooking spray, oil, or butter.
- I like to use an ice cream scoop to disperse the batter. It's quick, consistently measures the same amount each time, and no drips land on the pan... usually.
- Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly (about ½ teaspoon each) over each muffin.
- Bake at 350° for 20minutes or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or the tops spring back when touched. The muffins will be ever so slightly browned around edges.Let the muffins cool on a wire rack 5 minutes before turning them out to cool completely...if you can wait that long to eat them!
Sandy
What do you think the amount of frozen shredded squash would be?
Kathleen
I would think it would be the about the same amount of shredded squash because you would squeeze out the water on both fresh and frozen. If you frozen 2 cups of fresh, shredded squash, it will end up about 1 1/2 cups (guessing on amount) after freezing and squeezing out the liquid, so you might have to add a little more squash. BUT! I would still try it with the slightly less amount and see if it works so you don't have to open another package, depending on how much is in your package. I'd love to know what you end up doing. It might be a tip I can add to the recipe on using frozen, shredded squash!
Cheryl
Made this recipe exactly as written using fresh blueberries. Delicious and moist. I used an ice cream scoop and got 15 muffins. A great way to use yellow squash. Thanks for the recipe. I’m going to try your lemon poppyseed bread next.
Kathleen
So glad you loved the muffin recipe! Love the tip about using an ice cream scoop. It does so much more than scoop ice cream!
Karen S Locke
These came out great! Nice and moist and fluffy! Even my husband who does not like veggies loved them (and he knew there was squash in them!) Easy and delicious.
Kathleen
Fantastic! Squash is like a secret ingredient to make muffins moist but also get in those veggies! Thank you for sharing this with me. So glad y'all loved them.
Cheryl
I don’t see lemon extract in this recipe. Am I missing it?
Kathleen
There isn't any lemon extract in this muffin recipe but I do mention it as a substitution for lemon zest and juice under Substitutions and Variations section.
Deanna
OMG, these are the bomb. Outstanding. I grated the seeds right along with the squash; never knew they were there. Thanks for the excellent recipe!
Kathleen
So glad you loved them! I make them all summer long and even in the winter with frozen blueberries!
Liza
Excited to try these as I was just gifted an over load of both squash and zucchini. Wondering how do they hold up to freezing?
Kathleen
They do freeze well except the sugar on top doesn't stay crunchy after freezing. I would just sprinkle on a little more sugar when reheating them in the oven or air fryer. If you reheat them after thawing in the microwave, the sugar will not crisp up but the muffins will still taste good!
Cathy
These are outstanding. You would never guess it had yellow squash in it. I made these this morning and got 15. I sprayed the pan instead of using papers. Can’t wait to try again with other variations. This recipe is a keeper. Thanks.
Kathleen
So glad you love them! They are a favorite at our house, too!
Marsha
I used a mixture of half oil and half butter and added a little vanilla. I also doubled the recipe and topped it with a crumb topping. I definitely overfilled the muffin cups, causing them to spread out vs up! They were still yummy, but a little sweet for my taste. I took them all to the staff at our local bank.
Kathleen
I love how you experimented with them and made them your own! The streusel topping sounds delish!
Linda
These are delicious. Stuck to the recipe and doubled it. Will definitely make again and again.
Kathleen
So glad you loved them! Good to know they double easily!
Lisa
These turned out great! Even with the alterations I made to make them a little healthier. I used 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, reduced sugar to 3/4 cup, and substituted half the oil for applesauce. And I just had all-purpose flour and they did just fine. I had freeze-dried blueberries on hand so I used those instead of frozen but they turned out great too. Used a little bottled lemon juice and some lemon extract since I didn't have lemon. I hate it when people change everything and still leave a review, but in this case at least, hopefully it helps in case someone is looking for substitutions that will still work. And, since it turned out awesome even with my changes, sticking to the original recipe will probably give you something even more amazing!
gritsandgouda
Wow! I love all those suggestions to make it healthier and use what you have on hand! Yes, I appreciate the information because just using what you already have is a shortcut in itself because you don't have to run to the store. Thank you for sharing!
Stephanie
I just made these for the 2nd time. They turned out awesome the first time. Loved them! Wish I could add a picture but haven’t figured that out yet 😊. Thanks for the recipe!
gritsandgouda
Squash muffins for the win! I'm so glad you love them. It's crazy how the squash makes them so moist. Thank you for sharing this sweet comment.
Tammy
We r trying to eat more veggies and trying to save money (just retired). I planted lots of yellow squash so I’ll make these as soon as it’s started to produce..They look beyond delicious! I was trying to find more ways to use yellow squash besides egg quiche or grilled/sautéed. Thanks so much for sharing!!!
gritsandgouda
You are so welcome! I know what you mean about needing new ways to use up all the squash when it comes on strong in the garden! I tell myself these are "healthy" because they have a vegetable in them. I guess I could leave off the sugar on top but I love that crunch! Thank you for commenting. I hope you will follow me for more recipes!
Lenore
So easy and delicious! When I made rhe recipe for the second time, I topped with sliced almonds. They toasted lightly, and the muffins were even more delicious. This recipe is a keeper!
gritsandgouda
I love the idea of adding sliced almonds! I'll have to try that. Thanks for sharing!
Stephanie
This recipe turned out perfectly. What a tasty summer treat and a great way to use my excess summer squash!
gritsandgouda
These are some of the most moist muffins I've ever had and it's all due to the squash! I'm so glad you loved them and thank you for commenting!
Julia Wisdom
Made these. Although I used lemon essential oil instead of extract. Just a personal preference. I added a little extra baking powder and apple cider vinegar to keep they fluffy. I used crook neck squash instead of “regular” summer squash, I left the skin on and seeds in. Next time I will remember to take the seeds out before I shred them. I didn’t ring out my squash as crook neck is a little drier than normal summer squash. So I added extra vanilla soy milk.
Very tender, moist and flavorful.
gritsandgouda
I love the idea of using lemon essential oil! Did you use the whole teaspoon? I may add that option to the recipe. Those seeds in the larger squash do tend to show up more than the smaller squash. So glad you liked the muffins!
Jodie
Greatly anticipating these - they are in the oven now!!!!! I had so much squash shared with me this year- I grated and froze it. They only took a moment to whip up this morning!!!
Laura Tucker
These look divine, Kathleen! I'm not sure why I never thought to use an ice cream scoop to fill my muffin tins before. Wonderful idea!
gritsandgouda
Thank you so much!I have those scoops in all sizes. They are perfect for all kinds of batters. I actually use a different kind of ice cream scoop to actually scoop ice cream!