Muffins are amazing because they go well with so many different dishes. Many people make them to accompany certain meals, but some make them as desserts.
No matter what, you want your muffins to turn out perfectly. You want them to be tasty and fluffy.
They should be easy to eat if you did everything right, but sometimes mistakes will be made. If your muffins turned out chewy, that’s a sign that something is amiss.
In this post, we’ll take a look several potential reasons why they sometimes turn out chewier than you’d like.
1 – Mixing the Muffins Too Much
One of the most common reasons why muffins turn out chewy has to do with mixing them too much. If you mix the batter far too much, the muffins will turn out rather dense.
Dense muffins will be incredibly chewy and difficult to eat. You won’t be able to enjoy the light, airy kind that you want if you go overboard while mixing.
To get better results, you’ll want to approach making the batter in a specific way. Keep your dry and wet ingredients separate at the start.
Sift the dry ingredients together and then combine them with the wet ingredients. Use a hand whisk to combine the ingredients.
To avoid mixing the batter too much, you’ll want to mix only until everything is combined. You want the batter to be just mixed instead of overly mixed.
2 – Use the Right Type of Flour
Using the right type of flour will help your muffins to be lighter. If you use a dense type, the muffins have a much greater chance of turning out to be chewy.
When you use whole-grain flour, everything is going to turn out rather dense. Heavy types of flour such as this won’t be great when you’d rather have light, fluffy muffins.
To enjoy the lightest muffins possible, it’s going to be wise to use three parts unbleached flour and one part whole-grain flour. This mixture should allow you to enjoy fluffy muffins that will taste delicious.
Of course, there are many types of flour that will work fine. To enjoy lighter and fluffier muffins that are easier to eat, try to stick to using lighter types of flour.
Many people choose to use cake flour or pastry flour. Both options will work out swimmingly if you choose to try them.
3 – Not Using the Right Amount of Leavening
Getting the leavening process wrong will cause your muffins to turn out bad. You have to use a leavening agent such as baking soda to make them rise.
If you use too little, the muffins won’t rise properly. Using too much makes them rise too fast before deflating.
Ensure that you’re using the right amount of baking soda or baking powder for the recipe. Perhaps you made a mistake somewhere that led to the muffins turning out wrong.
It’s also worth noting that you’ll get better results if you cream the butter and sugar together before adding the eggs. Then you add the remaining ingredients.
Doing things this way will create air pockets that make the muffins rise up nicely. You should have muffins that are lighter and you won’t have to worry about them being chewy.
4 – Baking Mistakes
Baking mistakes can potentially cause the muffins to turn out too chewy.
You simply might not be baking them at the right temperature. It’s important for the leavening agent to react and make the muffins rise during the first 10 to 15 minutes of the baking process.
Some choose to preheat the oven to a temperature that is a bit higher than necessary. For example, you could set the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit when the recipe calls for 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once putting the muffins in, you lower the temperature to the recommended number. The extra heat at the beginning helps the leavening process to go well.
It’s also important not to open the oven during the first 10 to 15 minutes of the baking process. If you do, it could ruin things and cause the muffins to deflate.
Of course, this all assumes you used an oven, which isn’t your only option for baking muffins.
5 – Measuring the Ingredients Wrong
Measuring the ingredients wrong could easily cause your muffins to turn out too dense. Dense muffins are going to be far chewier than they need to be.
It’s a good idea to take things slowly to ensure that you measure the ingredients properly. Sometimes people get distracted when making muffins and wind up measuring things out wrong.
You might have added too much flour or not enough of some other key ingredient. Do your best to slow down when mixing up the batter to ensure that you get everything right.
Avoid distractions such as your smartphone when you’re measuring things. This will make it less likely that you’ll count things wrong and cause the muffins to turn out weird.
6 – Take the Muffins Out of the Pan to Cool
When you’re done baking, it’s best to take the muffins out of the pan to allow them to cool. Leaving them in the pan to cool is a mistake.
If you leave them in the hot muffin tin, it might cause them to dry out. Dry muffins will feel a bit chewy and less satisfying to eat.
Take the time to remove the muffins from the tin so that they can cool properly. This won’t take a lot of time and it’ll ensure that you get better results.
Ideally, you should transfer them to a cooling rack a few minutes after removing them from the tin.
Final Thoughts
Knowing how to make muffins turn out light and fluffy will help you out. You’ve learned about things that will cause them to turn out chewy.
Avoid making the mistakes mentioned above and you’ll have a much better experience. Whether you’re making muffins as a snack or if they’re part of a larger meal, it’ll be good to have them turn out perfectly.
You should be able to enjoy moist, fluffy, and scrumptious muffins whenever you want to now. Be sure to measure out the ingredients right and take care to bake them properly to get the results that you desire.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.