These Cheese Muffins taste like cheesy garlic bread, in muffin form!! I’ll take these savoury muffins over sweet ones any day. Quick to make and sinfully more-ish with golden crusty tops and incredibly fluffy soft insides, keep a stash for snacking, pop them in lunch boxes or serve a basket of these with dinner!
Cheese Muffins – a great savoury muffin recipe!
So basically, these muffins are every cheese-lovin’-Carb-Monsters’ dream come true.
Inhale deeply, and you’ll get a waft of buttery garlicky goodness mingling with that unmistakable smell of melting cheese.
Look closely, and you’ll feel the warmth radiating from these muffins, fresh out of the oven.
That top one’s got your name written all over it. Go on. I saved it for you!
OK, technology hasn’t advanced quite far enough yet that I can deliver you fresh-out-of-the-oven Cheese Muffins through a screen.
But luckily, just 10 minutes of effort is all that stands between you and and a fresh batch of these!
Add-in options for these savoury muffins
These Cheese Muffins are absolutely terrific as is, and it’s how I make them most of the time.
Having said that though, it’s a sensational base for all sorts of add ins. Imagine the possibilities! I’ve used sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta in the photo below. Try mushrooms, spinach, zucchini (grated and excess liquid squeezed out), BACON, ham, chorizo, even cooked chicken. You could really turn these savoury muffins into a mini meal!
I’ve added some more suggestions in the recipe notes – basically, just add 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups of whatever add ins you want.
Give me any combination of cheese, garlic, butter and bread, and it’s all over. It’s almost worrying that I have not one, but FIVE versions of garlic bread in various forms on this blog:
Garlic Bread. (Skip the artisan bread. Gotta use cheap French stick!)
Cheese and Garlic Crack bread (there are no words…)
Cheese, Herb and Garlic Quick Bread (loaf form, no yeast)
These Cheese Muffins.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to grab one of these Cheese Muffins while they’re still warm. One of the most torturous photo shoots I’ve done in a while! – Nagi x
MORE SAVOURY MUFFIN RECIPES
Bacon and Egg Breakfast Muffins – with a whole egg inside!
Cornbread Muffins – personal favourite!
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Savoury Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Butter and Cheese:
- 3 tbsp / 50g unsalted butter
- 2 garlic cloves , crushed using a garlic press or grated finely
- 2 cups (200g) shredded cheddar cheese (Note 1)
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour /all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi-carb soda (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 egg (large, about 60g / 2 oz)
- 1 cup milk (full or low fat)
- 1/4 cup sour cream (or plain yoghurt)
- 1/3 cup vegetable or olive oil (or any plain flavoured oils)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley , optional (Note 3)
- 1 garlic clove , crusted using garlic press or finely grated using microplane
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Melt butter with garlic, brush 11 holes generously (reserve bit for tops). Whisk Dry and Wet ingredients in separate bowls. Pour Dry into Wet, mix just 8 times. Add cheese, mix as little as you can. Fill 11 holes of muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes at 180°C/350°F (160°C fan), brush tops with remaining butter.
FULL RECIPE:
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (160°C fan-forced)
- Garlic butter – Place butter and garlic in a microwave proof bowl and melt in 2 x 30 second bursts. Mix.
- Great muffin tin – Brush a 11 holes of a standard muffin tin generously with the butter, being sure to slather with some garlic. Use most – just reserve a bit for brushing the tops later)
- Make batter – Whisk Dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk Wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour Wet into the Dry ingredients bowl. Mix 8 times – some flour will remain not mixed in, that's ok.
- Add cheese, then mix as few times as possible just to incorporate remaining bits of flour – no more than 7 big stirs (secret to soft muffs). The batter can be lumpy, that's fine.
- Fill muffin tine – Divide between 11 holes in muffin in (I use an ice cream scooper). Batter should be thick and fill muffin tin to top (if in ball shape due to scooper, leave as is). See video.
- Bake for 25 – 27 minutes or until the muffins are domed, golden and crusty. A toothpick inserted should come out clean.
- Butter brush and cool – Brush remaining butter on the surface (re-melt again if needed). Let muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes then remove onto cooling rack. Cool for at least 5 minutes before getting stuck into them!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
He’s home! The first thing I thought when I saw his shaved leg was “Yessss!!!! 25% less fur droppage all over the house!” 😂
In all seriousness though, he is doing just fine. Zonked out for most of the day.
I am loving that harness he got sent home with. And so is Dozer – just that little bit of help to get him on his feet and hobble outside to the toilet. That’s the most action he’s going to get for a while!!
Delicious. Buttery and cheesy and so good. We’ve just made a double batch so we have easy and tasty snacks ready to go.
These are so yummy. Popular with the crowd.
Love these! Could they be made ahead and frozen or what would you reccomend for a make ahead option?
10/10 I made up 22 of cheese muffins then 4 different add ons. 6 ea. Bacon, sundried tomato, mushroom & feta, spinach.
You know how you’re supposed to read a recipe all the way thru and gather all ingredients before you start? Yeah, well I didn’t do that! 😊
Halfway thru measuring and cracking eggs and pouring milk I noticed the bit about sour cream which sounded really good for this recipe but I didn’t have any. The best I had was cream cheese and with the stores closed and already committed to making these that’s what I wound up using and they still came out good!!
I can’t wait to try these again with the sour cream (and regular sharp cheddar cheese – I used Beecher cheese which is my favorite but I think a sharper cheese would be that much better!)..
What surprised me the most was that I haven’t been able to bake worth a darn in my current oven so I was thrilled these were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside just like they’re supposed to be!!
Thank you for this recipe! 🙂
I’ve been making these delicious muffins for a while but today I tried them in the air fryer. 180°C for 12 minutes. They were perfect.
Yum loaded up the garlic added chopped bacon, capsicum and springy on. Fabulous.
Excellent Recipe! Fluffy, yet moist cheesy muffins as promised! I mixed the grated cheese through the dry ingredients first, before adding the wet, to minimise over mixing
I’ve made these a few times now and they always turn out perfectly. I add crispy crumbled bacon and a large pinch of cayenne to the batter. And since this recipe only makes 11, I add a bit more of everything to yield an even dozen (3 Tbsp flour and cheese, 1.5 T milk and yogurt, 2 tsp. oil, a pinch each of baking powder and soda, etc).
They reheat well wrapped in foil, 10-15 minutes at 350*.
Couldn’t find my regular cheese muffin recipe so Nagi came to the rescue with this one.
So yummy! I brushed the muffin pan generously with some garlic butter I had. Then decided not to brush the tops, but added the rest of the butter into the mix, that gave the muffins a very subtle garlic flavour. The bottoms and sides were so crispy as well as the top but the insides were so soft and fluffy. I only added a few spring onions as that was all I had, but looking forward to adding different flavours next time.
Loved these muffins, so much that I’ve just taken another load out of the oven for tomorrow morning tea, I did add some home grown sun dried cherry tomatoes and diced eschlots and fresh sage…
So delicious and simple to make. I added chopped ham, spring onion and a pinch of cayenne. Will make again with chopped avocado. Yum.
Great muffins.
Best fresh, warm out of the oven.
Are they able to be frozen?
The fluffy, savory muffins I’d been looking for – thank you!
My local bakery makes some, but they’re often sold out. Yours taste the same with these additions:
1. A good pinch of chili/cayenne powder.
2. Bacon – Chop and fry 6 slices of thin bacon until crispy. Drain and pat with paper towel. Toss with a little flour – this keeps the bacon from sinking to the bottom of the muffin.
Nagi! OMG This is an incredible recipe! So cheesy, fluffy and moist! I added grated zucchini and carrots and it was super delicious. I used olive oil instead and it turned out great! I made this for my 4 year old’s school snack and even my 1 year old enjoyed it thoroughly for his brekkie.
Can you use buttermilk instead of milk?
I’m trying to write this review and I keep getting distracted because I can’t stop eating these! Light but moist and fluffy. Absolutely delicious. I didn’t have parsley so I omitted. I used a mix of sharp cheddar cheese and Colby jack. I added jalapeños and bacon. Spectacular just like all of your recipes!
This is the only recipe I ever use . I add capsicum, spring onions and feta. So moist and fluffy. Thank you Nagi x
Absolute fail proof recipe that is on high rotation in my house. We add a variation of ‘add ins’ but zucchini, bacon bits, feta, olives and Italian herbs is a fav. Delicious and moist every time. Thanks Nagi! 🩷
These are so delicious! I’m a celiac and weighted my gf flour. It was to dry and added one egg to moisten the dough. Also added on small jalapeño finely minced. Will make these again and again!