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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
There’s something absolutely decadent about the taste of pistachios, especially in baking. You can make these delicious pistachio muffins in under half an hour, perfect for an easy afternoon snack.
Learn this tasty Basic Muffin recipe for a jumping off point into the wonderful world of muffins. If you’ve mastered the basics, try making some Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins or Cranberry Orange Muffins.
Reader Review
These are delicious!! I subbed Monk Fruit for the sugar. Soft, delicate, perfect!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a very easy recipe. Why not get your kids to help you make these?
- Total Time: This recipe will take you approximately 25 minutes from start to finish.
- Variations: Try adding some chopped almonds along with the chopped pistachios to complement the taste of the pistachios. Mix in some raspberries or cranberries to add a pop of colour and a burst of flavour. Dark chocolate chunks or chips would also be a tasty addition to these muffins.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need a large bowl, a muffin tin, paper liners, a toothpick or two, and a spoon. A hand mixer or stand mixer would make this even easier.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Pistachio Pudding: A packet of instant pistachio pudding is where you’ll get the vibrant colour and luxurious taste of pistachio in these muffins. Pudding mixes also tend to add moisture and richness to baked goods.
Almond Extract: Since pistachio extract isn’t commonly found in stores, most recipes use almond extract to provide a complimentary flavour boost. Almonds in general go well with pistachios and you’ll see them used together in a variety of cookies and sweets.
Sour Cream: Sour cream is a powerhouse in baked goods, especially muffins. It adds a lot of moisture and keeps the muffins from drying out quickly. You can also use plain yogurt for the same results.
Optional Topping: Coarse sanding sugar and chopped pistachios sprinkled over the muffins before they’re baked will make a delicious layer of crunch. This doesn’t affect the recipe as whole, so if you’d rather skip it that’s ok.
How To Make Pistachio Muffins
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a large bowl, mix the oil, sugar, eggs, and almond extract.
- Add pudding mix, baking powder, baking soda, sour cream, salt, and milk. Stir gently until combined.
- Add flour and fold in. Don’t overmix. Add pistachios.
- Fill muffin cups 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar and chopped pistachios.
- Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake for 9-10 more minutes.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Pistachio Muffins
Heat it Up: Don’t skip that first few minutes of higher heat! This helps the muffins rise as much as possible and gets the muffin tops well on their way to golden brown. You’ll notice this especially well with the crispy topping of chopped pistachios and coarse sugar on these muffins.
Pay Attention: Oven heats vary slightly, or dramatically in some cases, which is why recipes often provide a baking time range. So keep an eye on your muffins and test them with a toothpick when you’re getting close to the end of the time. The toothpick should have some moist crumbs, but no wet batter on it when you poke it through the middle of the muffin.
Storage Instructions
Fridge: While these muffins will be absolutely fine out at room temperature, you can put them in the fridge in a sealed container for several days.
Freezer: Muffins are amazing for freezing and reheating as needed. Just make sure you let them cool before you put them in the freezer, and put them in a sealed, freezer safe container.
More Delicious Muffin Recipes
Looking for more Muffin recipes?
Try The Best Cornbread Muffins with some chili or stew.
Mix up a batch of Strawberry Muffins or Raspberry Muffins for breakfast.
For a scrumptious dessert, try some Chocolate Raspberry Muffins.
There you go, everyone. A delicious and easy muffin recipe that will have your kitchen smelling like a bakery in no time at all. Try these muffins out and let me know how you like them.
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Pistachio Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons almond extract
- one 3.4 ounce package instant Pistachio pudding mix,
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios
- 2 cups all purpose flour
Topping
- ¼ cup coarse sanding sugar, for topping (optional)
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios, unsalted (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F
- In a large bowl add the oil and sugar. Stir.
- Add the eggs and almond extract. Beat lightly until evenly combined.
- Add the pudding mix, baking powder, baking soda, sour cream, salt and milk. Gently stir with a spoon until just combined.
- Add the flour and gently fold until just combined – do not over mix.
- Add in the chopped pistachios and gently fold in.
- Using a 12 cup muffin tin, add paper muffin liners. Fill 3/4 of the way full with the batter.
- Sprinkle tops of the muffins with coarse sanding sugar and chopped pistachios.
- Bake for 7 minutes at 425°F then reduce the heat to 350°F and continue to bake for 9-10 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. (Tip: insert a toothpick in the center of the muffins to check for doneness. If the toothpick comes out clean the muffins are done.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and transfer the muffins to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Jill Friesen says
Can I substitute almond flour in this recipe?
Kathleen K Perrelet says
These are delicious!! I subbed Monk Fruit for the sugar. Soft, delicate, perfect!
Ginsburg Lynne says
How do you convert a muffin recipe into a mini muffin recipe?
LARRY says
ABSOLUTELY AWESOMENESS
Rhonda says
can these be adapted for low carb diet?
C Anderson says
Just want to ask , the pistachio pudding mix, is that instant or cook , not stated
Karlynn Johnston says
Instant!
Ginsburg Lynne says
Karlynn, how do you convert a regular muffin recipe into a mini muffin recipe?
Thanks Lynne
Ginsburg Lynne says
How do you convert a muffin recipe into a mini muffin recipe?