Cheese and Vegetable Muffins

Cheese and Vegetable Muffins are full of cheesy flavour and packed with courgette, carrot, red onion, and chives. If you want a crunchy element, there’s optional nuts and seeds too. With a wonderfully fluffy texture, these delicious savoury muffins are so easy to put together and bake in 20 minutes. Perfect for snacks, lunchboxes, picnics, or to eat alongside soups and salads.

Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links. If you buy via my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Jump to Recipe

I was genuinely surprised to find that I don’t have any savoury muffin recipes on my blog. I have half a dozen sweet ones, including Cherry & Coconut Muffins and Genoa Cake Muffins, even though I’ll most often choose a savoury snack over a sweet one. But I’m changing that today with these wonderfully tasty, light and fluffy Cheese and Vegetable Muffins.

MUFFINS: QUICK & EASY

The great thing about muffins, sweet or savoury, is that they’re so quick and easy to make. It’s simply a case of mixing together the wet ingredients (usually eggs, melted butter or oil, and a liquid such as yogurt or buttermilk) then folding in the dry ones (largely flour) plus your chosen add-ins and flavourings. Muffins need very little time in the oven, usually no more than 20 minutes.

For the very best, light and fluffy muffins, there’s just a few tips worth knowing.

• Prepping the muffin mix is quick, so gather and weigh all your ingredients first and preheat your oven.
• Don’t over-mix. To get a light muffin, fold the mixture just enough to combine the ingredients, even if it looks a bit lumpy.
• Use a skewer or cocktail stick to check if fully cooked: it should come out clean when they’re done. If not, bake for two more minutes then check again. Try not to overcook, or they won’t be as light.

SAVOURY CHEESE & VEGETABLE MUFFINS

You’ll find full instructions and ingredient amounts for making 12 of these delightful savoury muffins in the recipe card at the end. But I recommend you read the whole of this post for tips and step-by-step images.

EQUIPMENT & INGREDIENTS

For accuracy when baking, I always recommend you use digital scales (paid link) and metric measurements. This is the way I create and test my recipes, so can’t vouch for the results if you attempt to convert them e.g. to American cups.

To bake the savoury Cheese and Vegetable Muffins you see in this post, I used a 12-hole muffin tin lined with paper cases. I find that savoury muffins are more prone to sticking than sweet ones, so recommend you brush the cases with melted butter. If you have silicone cases or a silicone muffin tray they may not need greasing, but brands do vary.

CHEESE, VEGETABLES & FLAVOURINGS

Along with plenty of mature Cheddar cheese, I like a good proportion of vegetables in my savoury muffins. Ideally, for speed, I prefer to use ones that don’t require any pre-cooking. So I select vegetables, cut small or grated, that will become tender in the short time it takes the muffins to bake.

For an attractive range of colours, here I’ve used courgette, carrot, and red onion. But almost any vegetables can be used e.g. roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes (fresh tomatoes are a bit too wet), tinned or defrosted peas and corn. Because vegetables can contain a lot of water, I recommend first grating the courgette and carrot and finely chopping the onion before setting them aside while you prep the rest of the ingredients. When you come back to them, you’ll find it easier to squeeze out excess liquid.

Along with salt and pepper, I’ve flavoured these muffins with fresh chives. For extra nutrition and a bit of crunch, there’s mixed nuts and seeds: toasted hazelnuts and almonds plus pumpkin and sunflower seeds. You could swap in your own favourites or leave out altogether.

HOW TO MAKE CHEESE & VEGETABLE MUFFINS

To make my savoury muffins, you start by sifting together the dry ingredients. That’s self-raising flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. If you only have plain or all-purpose flour, add an additional 3 teaspoons of baking powder.

In a separate bowl large enough to contain all the ingredients you put plain yogurt, crack in eggs, plus melted butter. Although you could replace the yogurt with buttermilk, I find yogurt gives the fluffiest muffins (and scones too). It’s also much more widely available. Whisk the yogurt, eggs, and butter together, ideally using electric beaters, until thoroughly combined.

Next, tip the sifted dry ingredients into the beaten wet ingredients along with most of the grated cheese, the nuts and seeds, and chives. Use a silicone spatula (paid link) to start folding together until nearly all the flour is mixed in. Now take handfuls of the prepared vegetables, squeeze out and discard as much liquid as possible, then add them to the bowl.

Keep folding until everything is well distributed and you have a very thick batter that looks like the final image above. If yours seems a little dry, you can add a splash more yogurt. But don’t make it too wet as the vegetables may release more water during baking.

When you divide the mixture between the muffin cases, you may think there’s too much. But lightly press down and it will all fit. Finally, sprinkle over the remaining grated cheese and put into your preheated oven.

Cheese and Vegetable Muffins should take 18 – 20 minutes to bake. As mentioned above, insert a cocktail stick or skewer and check it comes out clean.

SERVING & STORING CHEESE AND VEGETABLE MUFFINS

When the muffins are done, remove them from the tin and place on a wire cooling rack. While they’re very good warm, I think these muffins are still lovely cold or at room temperature. Note that if you’ve used paper cases, you might find them easier to remove once completely cold.

To reheat, my preference is a few seconds in a microwave which brings back that fluffy texture. But a low oven or air fryer works too. Either way, remove the paper cases first.

Although they’re best eaten within two days the muffins freeze brilliantly, making them perfect for a quick savoury snack. Cheese and Vegetable Muffins are great in lunchboxes or for picnics too, and make a change from bread eaten as a side to salads and soups.

If you’ve made this recipe, please do let me know how it went by leaving a comment and rating.

5 from 1 vote

Print

Cheese and Vegetable Muffins

Full of cheesy flavour and packed with courgette, carrot, red onion, and chives, these wonderfully fluffy savoury muffins are so easy and perfect for snacks, lunchboxes, picnics, or to eat alongside soups and salads.

It's recommended you read the accompanying blog post before starting to cook. Use digital scales and metric measurements as these were used to test the recipe.

Course Side Dish, Snack, Cheese

Cuisine Vegetarian, World

Keyword easy

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Servings 12 muffins

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 280 g courgette, carrot, red onion (weight is total weight after peeling, tops removed etc.)
• 325 g self-raising flour (or plain/all purpose + 3 extra tsp baking powder)
• 1 level tsp baking powder
• 1 level tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 240 ml plain yogurt
• 2 large eggs
• 100 g butter (melted)
• 180 g grated mature Cheddar cheese (divided 140g/40 g)
• 50 g mixed chopped nuts and seeds (optional)
• 10 g chives (finely chopped)

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 200° C / 180° Fan /Gas 6 /400° F with a shelf in the middle.

   Put a paper or silicone case into each hole of a 12-hole deep muffin tin.

   Tip: if you don't have non-stick cases you may wish to grease them with extra melted butter or non-stick cooking spray. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin tin without paper cases.

2. Coarsely grate the courgette and carrot, finely chop the red onion, then set aside.

3. Sift together the self-raising flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. Set aside.

4. Put the yogurt into a large mixing bowl and crack in the eggs. Add the melted butter then whisk together, preferably using electric beaters until thoroughly combined.

5. To the bowl containing the yogurt mixture add the sifted flour, 140 g of the grated cheese, the nuts and seeds if using, and the chives.

   Start folding them together until nearly all the flour is mixed in.

   Take handfuls of the grated vegetables, squeeze out and discard as much liquid as possible, then add them to the bowl. Keep folding until everything is thoroughly combined into a very thick batter (see image in blog post for the texture you need).

   Tip: if the mixture looks dry you can add a little more yogurt or a splash of milk, but don't make it too wet as the vegetables may release more water during baking.

6. Divide the mixture equally between the 12 muffin cases. You will need to lightly press down to get all the mixture in.

   Sprinkle over the remaining 40 g of grated cheese.

7. Transfer to the preheated oven and bake until a cocktail stick or skewer comes out clean: approximately 18 - 20 minutes.

   Remove the muffins from the tin and place on a cooling rack.

8. Can be eaten just warm or cold.

   Tip: the muffins are more easily removed from the paper cases when cold.

   Best eaten within 2 days, stored in the fridge, or frozen (it's recommended to remove paper cases before freezing or reheating).

   To reheat: ping in a microwave for a few seconds for the best fluffy texture. Can also be reheated in a low oven or air fryer.

RELATED RECIPES