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
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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!!
Hi Nagi. Tried them today as planned. They were amazing. So easy and so tasty. I am using them as an entree for a special meal I’m making tomorrow.
Hi Nagi,
Did you say that Australia was imperial measurements? I thought they were metric?
🙃 DUH 🙂 Thanks Erica! N x PS Fixed, yes we are metric along with most of the rest of the world, it is mainly the US and CAN who are the outliers! 😂
Thanks, Nagi. I’ve never really paid attention to what we were. To me a cup was a cup – I didn’t think it made a difference. But someone just recently told me that with baking you actually are meant to be quite precise. And I thought the person telling me said we were metric. But then I saw you’d written imperial and I just wanted to double check. I want to try these muffins tomorrow. They look SO good. 🙂
Hi Nagi,
Did you say that Australia is imperial measurements? I thought they were metric?
the method was really simple and easy to do with the things we had in the kitchen an Das soon as me an dry boys took our first bite it was. a bodacious flavour in our face.
Glad you enjoyed this one Bec!! N x
Man oh man these are incredible. I subbed out half the flour for almond meal (so had 1 cup flour, 1 cup almond meal) to try and lower the carb content a bit, and they were still a-mazing. I’m addicted. I might even push my luck next time to 1.5 cups almond meal with 0.5 cups flour and see how I get on!
Thanks for sharing so many delicious recipes!
Oh my goodness ,I made these with a gluten free flour blend and added a little extra baking powder and baking soda, delicious, thanks for the recipe definitely will make again
That’s SO GREAT to hear Gail! I’m so glad you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N xx
Just wondering if you changed this recipe. I’ve made it before and I thought that you filled the muffin cup half full, drizzled some melted garlic butter over, had the option to put some mozzarella cheese in and then topped with more batter and drizzled more garlic butter over top. This recipe is still very good it’s just different than I remember it.
Hi Joan! I did, I thought it was an improvement!!!
Love love your recipes and my fav is the furry Dozer extra at the end!! I’ve had Golden’s all my life and would have 10 if my spouse would let me !
Hello there, would you know if we could sub the plain flour for say almond flour or oat fiber to make it low carb? Anything that I have to change along with it? Thanks a ton!
Waited about 5 minutes before removing from pan, as I do with all muffins, and they would not come out. Had to cut around the edges with a sharp knife and scoop out with a large spoon…not pretty looking, but good. Should they be turned out of the pan immediately after removing from oven?
Hi Carol! The muffin tin is so well buttered they should turn out easily, how strange! I’m sorry to hear that Carol!
Hi Nagi! Just wondering about your advice not to use olive oil. Would light olive oil be ok? I can’t use peanut oil if I want to send these in a lunchbox and I’m a bit sus about other veg oils. Thanks!
Light olive oil is fine! I only say that because extra virgin can be very strong in flavour and overwhelm this 🙂 N x
I cannot eat garlic, do you think I could use garlic-infused oil somehow??
Hi Nagi,
From Northern California, where mother nature can’d decide if it’s winter or spring, I wanted to make these muffins as part of a warming dinner. But I’ve been gleaning and purging my kitchenware for an upcoming relocation across the country back home to Florida. Gone was the 12 portion baking tin. Make-do is a big fave for me, so I just picked up an inexpensive pair of 6 portion trays at a local dollar store. NOT a good choice. I studied your recipe carefully, measured everything just right and added diced scallions, bacon bits, sweet basil, and rosemary. Had exactly the 11 portion dough so into the oven they went. 25 minutes later, gorgeous results: fluffy, puffy domes, golden brown and fragrant. Perfect! Not quite. As soon as I tried to remove them from the tins, they stuck, glued snugly to the bottoms and sides!! I’d inadvertently used corrugated-side aluminum tins and forgot to use baking paper liners. Annoyed doesn’t describe my mood just at that moment. But, using a spoon, fork and a few minutes to cool I still had my muffins. Your presentation is lovely, but I can live with less-than-perfect just once, so I served them anyway. Soooo good, I’m happy not to have wasted the ingredients and time. Next time, I’ll use the right equipment! But now I have a definite keeper for future efforts and adventures in baking. I hope Dozer is mending well. Very impressed with his post-op harness, but I hope he doesn’t have it for long. I’m grateful for the wonderful recipes. I’m retired from medicine, but an absolute novice cook! This was a learning curve for sure! 🙂
I made these with Mozzarella and dry thyme/basil because I didn’t have anything else at home, and they still came out AMAZING. Your recipes are really top notch!!
Hi Nagi, tried this today with bacon & spring onion – made 11 only 4 left! (and yeah… I was home alone :P).
Hope Dozer is not feeling too poorly… xx
Nagi, I’m a big fan of yours. Been trying a few recipes of yours & it’s come out so perfectly even for a novice like me – chicken chopsuey, Salisbury steak, loaded hamburger. I have a clarification though in measurements – I see 2 cups of all purpose flour as 250 gms in cheese muffins while 2 cups in carrot cake is mentioned as 300 gms. Do let me know if I’m missing something.
Hi, again, Nagi: Yes, his right hip (the worst at the time of surgery) is doing very well. But, he knew he would need future surgery as his (now “bad” hip) is in pretty much the same shape and is actually giving him a LOT of trouble now. So, with that in mind away we go………again. I am really looking to find a pup and think that I have. The lady I have been conversing with has raised Goldens since 1980 and dearly loves the breed. I cannot wait to go see her and her many animals (horses, cattle, the dogs and pups and many more on her big farm) and am so delighted that she is only about 35-40 miles away from me. Can I let you know if I am lucky enough to be able to get one? Hope Dozer is being a good boy and leaving those stitches alone. Did you have to take him back to the vet for another “nip and tuck”? What a little monkey. Lol.
Hi nagi. This.is so delicious. In the note you.wrote we can add up.to 1 1/2 cups of add ons…would it dries up the muffins? Thank you.
Not at all! Just use things that don’t dissolve 🙂 Olives etc! N x
These looked so great I made them right away. Since it’s asparagus season here in Ontario Canada I added a cup of finely chopped asparagus. So I ended up with 12 muffins. So so so good!!! Thank you for an excellent and super tasty recipe!
That’s great Marci! So pleased you enjoyed this, thanks for letting me know! N x
These were yummy! I added ‘Tex Mex’ ingredients to mine (Jalepeno, Red Bell pepper, Corn, Cilantro instead of parsley, Taco Cheese, Cumin, Chipotle powder). Very tasty! Thank you!
Oooh! Tasty! Did you save one for me?? 😂
Yes! They were popular so only 4 left, but come on over and we can dunk them in some Chicken Tortilla Soup! ;P