The Fluffiest Muffins Rely On This Simple Batter Rule

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You probably already bake a great batch of muffins, infused with your own special kind of magic. Maybe you have a trick for making them super moist, or you've figured out the best way to get them out of the tin in one perfect piece. It's great to have a muffin hack or two up your sleeve, and if resting your batter isn't one of them, it should be. It's among the tricks for creating bulkier muffin tops and an overall better batch. 

For more detailed info on how to rest muffin batter, we asked Jerrelle Guy, author of the James Beard Award-nominated cookbook "Black Girl Baking," and the creator of the newsletter The Dinner Ritual," which explores the connection between cooking and spirituality. She confirmed that resting muffin batter makes a world of difference for perfect-looking and great-tasting muffins.

Guy has a smattering of muffin recipes in her cookbook, among them a kombucha muffin recipe that's gotten a bit of attention. She recommends resting the batter for 15 to 30 minutes before putting those muffins in the oven to bake. She says that resting the batter "will create taller domes on the muffin tops and a softer crumb because it hydrates the flour and strengthens the structure just enough to hold more air." Guy adds, "That means a prettier rise without toughness."

The perfect muffin is moist, tender, and crumbly — but it doesn't fall apart. It's denser than cake but lighter than bread, with a signature dome top pillowing out from its wrapping. It's a masterpiece that comes out of the oven, a perfect balance of wet and dry ingredients baked at just the right temperature. 

Letting muffin batter rest is a crucial step in allowing the ingredients to mingle before they go into the oven. It improves everything from the taste to the texture. Flavors become more even, the wet ingredients really saturate the dry ingredients, and the leavening agents work their way through the entire batter. There's actually a word for it: When you rest muffin batter, or any kind of batter or dough, you autolyse it. And there's a strategy for how to autolyse muffin batter.

You can let muffin batter rest for a little longer than 30 minutes to really let flavors meld, but don't let it go for more than two hours. Over-resting muffin batter can lead to muffins that are too dense or flat-topped. Muffin batter should be covered when it's resting and set in a cool environment, like the fridge. Aim for a temperature below 40 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid the potential for fermentation while the batter is resting.