Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins
Updated March 26, 2019
Blackberries have always been my favorite berry. I used to pick gallons and gallons of blackberries every summer when I was in grade school. We were lucky that our property was surrounded by wild blackberries. I miss the days of blackberry picking. We had fun and our kitchen was overflowing with blackberries during the summer months. I still love blackberries, but hate paying an arm and leg for them:) I recently splurged and bought blackberries at the store so I could make Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins.
I love baking with ricotta cheese. I have made cookies, pound cake, pancakes, and more cookies. I can’t stop myself, I am addicted to ricotta. It never lets me down. These muffins include ricotta cheese, fresh lemon juice, and zest. Plump, juicy blackberries are hidden inside to create a burst of berry flavor. The muffins are delicate, moist, and have a slight crunch from the sugary muffin tops.
We enjoyed the muffins as soon as they came out of the oven. Josh and I both declared these Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins as our all time favorite muffin recipe. They are perfect. I am going to have to splurge on blackberries more often, because these muffins are worth it!
Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup ricotta cheese whole or low-fat is fine
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh blackberries
- Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffin tops
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest and sugar together with your fingers. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar and lemon zest mixture together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Add three blackberries to each muffin cup. Top the muffins with remaining batter so blackberries are covered. Generously sprinkle turbinado sugar over each muffin top.
- Bake muffins for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. Let muffins cool for five minutes and serve.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like these Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins, you might also like:
Blackberry Lime Muffins from Two Peas and Their Pod
Meyer Lemon-Ricotta Muffins from Recipe Girl
Raspberry Topped Lemon Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins from Simply Recipes
Love how springy this sound. Can’t wait to get some delicious blackberries myself!
I love blackberries and they worked really well in a lemon cheesecake bar I made. The muffins look terrific, especially with ricotta!
These look perfect! I love the ricotta idea!
Blackberries are my Josh’s favorite berry. He would love these. I may have to make them when my in laws come into town next. We have a plantation down the road that has fresh berry picking all spring/summer. They just opened strawberry picking, but blackberry will be soon- I can’t wait! Hope you’re feeling well 🙂
i love fresh berries in muffins, but i have actually never tried blackberries OR ricotta in them! sounds so rich and delicious!
I lovvvve blackberries. These look wonderful!!
I love how big & beautiful the blackberries have been lately.
Those muffins look amazing 🙂
Lovely! And keep up the ricotta obsession…everything you make with ricotta is fantastic!
These look delicious! I have never tried adding ricotta to my baked goods, but now I think I am going to have to give it a try! Thanks for sharing. I love blackberries as well but am on the same page about their price.
Blackberries are one of my favorite things about summer! And I love any berries with ricotta – so good!
My favorite pancakes are lemon ricotta with blackberries sauce!! These look like my favorite pancakes in muffin form! I’m sure they are amazing 🙂
Lovely!!!
Those look delish — I’m game for anything with lemon and ricotta!
Oh wow those look delicious! I love blackberries, perfect spring muffins!
Mmmm, those look incredible! I can’t resist muffins with lemon in them. And the ricotta sounds awesome!
love blackberry muffins! your photos are beautiful!
These look great! I bet they would be yummy with blueberries too.
I love muffins with fruit!
I started to buy blackberries the other day but decided against because of the price, now I’m going to go back and pick some up to try these muffins!
I would love to take just the blackberries, but I would settle for the muffins too 🙂 gladly, even!
I’ve never picked wild blackberries! Sounds fun. These muffins look scrumptious 🙂
I am a ricotta cheese addict too in baked goods. These muffins look awesome!
I have never baked with ricotta before, but you’ve inspired me! These muffins look too good NOT to try! 🙂 Thanks for sharing another clever and delicious looking recipe, Maria!
I love blackberries! I will have to try this recipe for sure! 🙂
These are making me drool. I want. I want. I want.
Absolutely scrumptious looking! Love the ricotta-blackberry combo. Cannot wait to make these!
Blackberries are my favorite berry, too! I need to find a “you pick” place around here. Lovely muffins!
Lemons and balckberrys….looks so good! Check this out.
http://homebakedsweetness.blogspot.com/2011/04/different-kind-of-breakfast-for-me.html
Those DO look perfect, Maria. I’ll have to try ricotta in baked goods.
I loooveee baking with ricotta as well. Partially because it means I have ricotta on hand to eat out of the container. And partially because it makes for such fluffy baked goods! This lemon blackberry combo sounds divine!
I’ve never baked with ricotta before, but do love ricotta cake and these muffins look absolutely amazing. So happy for blackberry season 🙂
These look great! I never think to try blackberries. I’ll have to do that soon. 🙂
The muffins look delicious. I’m thinking I have never cooked with blackberries. Not sure why not because I do like them!
These are gorgeous, love the combination of flavors!
Oh yum, that crunchy, sugary muffin top is absolutely gorgeous!
those look divine! This is going to be my next muffin batch!
As a kid i’d go pick blackberries with my mom for tons of pies. I hope to make a berry picking trip this summer again. These muffins look perfect and your photos look amazing like always too!
These look amazing!!
We used to pick dewberries during my childhood. I miss those days too! Love the lemon and blackberry combo.
I’m with you, I LOVE baking with ricotta. Just recently whipped up Vanilla Cupcakes with Honey Ricotta Frosting…so good! Will have to try these out, they look divine!
I can’t believe I’ve never baked with ricotta OR had blackberries! Bookmarking this one.
I share you love for ricotta and lemon! I have tried a couple of your recipes with the combination and they never disappoint! This one looks great too!
I love to bake with fruits and these muffins looking super delicious! 🙂
I love ricotta! It usually upsets my stomach but when it’s baked into something it doesn’t seem to bother me as much :). Which mean its okay if you want to send me a dozen of these so I can eat them all.
These look and sound absolutely delightful. 🙂
I made Lemon Blackberry muffins a few weeks ago….love that combination!! I’ll have to try it next time with some ricotta. The blackberries look scrumptious!
YUMMY!
These look yummy! I remember picking blackberries also – however, the year I saw a big old snake on the rock where I was going to a bush I decided I didn’t want to be there anymore! I’m such a wuss when it comes to reptiles!
I think blackberries are also my favorite berries. Those muffins look amazing!
I love berries! The muffins look delicious 🙂
They look amaazzing! I love that you use ricotta so much. Mmm.
Sounds wonderful, I love using ricotta in my baked goods and blackberries are one of my favorite berries.
so good Maria – huge fan of Ricotta anyway and adding to baked goods just puts them over the top!!
These looked so good I had to make them, but I didn’t have blackberries, so I tossed in mango instead! The flavor of the muffin is just divine with the lemon, and so moist! Definitely the best muffin i’ve ever had, and I can’t wait to ty them with blackberries (and maybe raspberries too!)
I’ve done ricotta in pancakes, but never muffins. These sound divine! My parents forage for little wild blackberries on their forested property north of Seattle and they always give me a precious bag or two. I’ll have to wait until this summer to give the recipe a try, but I have a hunch it’ll be worth it!
I can see why these are your favorite – looks SO good!
I love the white-on-white photo of the blackberries. These sound wonderful, Maria.
I haven’t baked with ricotta. I’ll have to give it a try. How fun to grow up feasting on blackberries.
Blackberries are my favourite berry too! Combining them with lemon & ricotta sounds delicious and your photos are gorgeous!
The ricotta and lemon together are one of my favorites, and those blackberries look and sound divine.
This really is a perfect muffin, Maria, and the combination of blackberries, ricotta, and lemon is such an inspired flavor choice. Blackberries are few and far between where I am now, but, come summer when I’m in North Carolina blackberry country, this will be a go-to recipe for sure!
Blackberries grow wild here and I love them. My second favorite berry, right up there with the raspberry. These muffins sound terrific! Love the sugar topping. It gives it such nice texture.
Wow those do look good! I can see why they are your new fav.
These are beautiful. And I love your photograph of the bowl of blackberries.
i kinda feel like these would be tasty with a bit of cornmeal. they’re very pretty, maria!
These are delicious! My husband said they were bakery quality. Mine baked for 25 minutes buti may have over-filled the liners. I’m already looking forward to making them again. Thanks for the recipe.
You are welcome! Glad you liked the muffins.
I just made these….they are AMAZING! Thanks for such a great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed the muffins!
These are so gorgeous. I’ve been craving lemons and berries lately – will have to give these a try with the ricotta.
I am SO making these tomorrow morning (if I wake up soon enough – if not, Saturday morning!) These look and sound totally delicious!
These are gorgeous, gorgeous muffins. I love the combination of flavors and can’t wait to make them this summer!
I just made these…they’re in the oven. I’m afraid I left something out. The batter was very thick. Is that the way it’s supposed to be?
The batter is pretty thick because of the ricotta cheese. I hope you enjoyed the muffins.
These are fabulous! I’ve made them twice, once with frozen blueberries and once with frozen raspberries. Both turned out great, and such an easy substitute when you dont’ have fresh berries.
Glad you enjoyed the muffins. Using frozen berries is a great alternative.
I made them last night with what I had on hand – orange instead of lemon and blueberries instead of blackberries. I also cut the sugar to 2/3 cup. They turned out amazingly! I liked working with the thicker batter, and I can’t wait to make these with blackberries.
Glad you enjoyed the muffins! I will have to try orange and blueberry next time.
Beutiful muffins! Can’t wait for the blueberry season 🙂
I made these last night and OH MY. Instead of dinner, I ate three. Love these. I love so many varieties of muffins that I may have to have a favorite muffin recipe for each month, but these have rocketed right to the top for now!
Muffins make a great dinner:) Glad you enjoyed them!
I made these a few weeks ago and they just rocked our world. I loved the delicate texture (although they held up well when transporting them to the office!) and I’m always a sucker for lemon plus any fresh fruit. We will definitely be making these all summer – hopefully our blackberry plant livens up soon!
We love these muffins too! So glad you enjoyed them!
I posted these on my blog yesterday, with a link back here. I think they may be my new favorite muffin!
I went blackberry picking this weekend and this was the recipe I decided to go with to use up my blackberries. They are hands down the best muffins I have ever made! (and I made your blueberry sauce to go over pancakes last night….YUM!)
Just made these with my 9 month old =) She played with measuring cups more than helped, but we both loved the end result. These are absolutely delicious.
Just wanted you to know I just made your Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins and they are DELICIOUS!!! Trying to make alot of noise down here in the kitchen to my boys will wake up and come get them while they are warm. We have lots of Blackberries on our bushes this year and I will be taking full advantage of them with this recipe. Going to visit my parents this weekend in Richmond, Va. and I will be sure to bake a batch to take to them. Thanks for this super yummy treat:)
I am jealous you have blackberry bushes:) Glad you liked the muffins!
I just took my first bite out of these and wow! I will definitely be making them again. I made mine with raspberries instead of blackberries because that’s what we have right now and I love them. Thanks for a great recipe!
these look amazing!! i think i’ll try making them today!
I made these with raspeberries instead of blackberries and they were delish!! I was surprised at how thick the batter was but was so pleasantly surprised by the yummy texture of the muffins. A new favorite of mine.
I can’t wait to make these muffins. I love blackberries!
I was wondering what I wanted to do with some ricotta left over from a pasta dish, and then I spotted this (from StumbleUpon). I’d never tried ricotta in muffins. These turned out wonderfully – thanks!
I just tried this recipe(I found it in the Summer- where women cook) And loved it so much. Super yummy.
I have bookmarked your site to come back and try more of your recipes. Thanks so much for sharing .
Glad you enjoyed the muffins! Come back anytime:)
I tried these, and my mom said it were the best muffins I ever baked, and I bake a lot of muffins/cupcakes :).
They are one of my favorites too:)
Delicious!
oh yumyum. I just made these but with a few changes. We didnt have lemons so I used limes instead. Also added a few TBS’s of yogurt because I ran out of ricotta and left out the sugar at the top because I completely forgot about that.
Still, they came out real good. But the limes take more center stage than the blackberries in this muffin. If I make this again I think I would fold about 1/4 of my blackberries into the batter. Sure it would be purple but better purple than the never-seen-the sun pale color mine were. xD Thanks for the recipe!
I made these yesterday for my office and again this morning for my hubby and picky daughter. They went over well. I have to say that my “batter” was more like dough but the end product was very nice. Also the batch I made today I ran out of blackberries so the last few had strawberries and they were good – not as good as the blackberry but still way above average for muffins.
I ran into a sale of blackberry. Just .99 a container, so I bought 4. My husband loves eating them but I had so many and had no idea what to do with them. When I saw you post this recipe I realized I had all the ingredients. I had to make them. They just came out of the oven and they are delicious! So pretty and perfect. Great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed the muffins!
These are baking away in my oven now. Used frozen berries. Smelling delish.
Thank you so much for this recipe, made it for a snack for a hiking-picnic lunch. Everyone thought they were delish! Ricotta really adds a wonderful texture to baked goods!! So glad to add this fantastic recipe to my collection!!
I just made these this afternoon. Devine!
So glad you liked the muffins!
These are the BEST muffins I have ever made! Amazing!
We love them too! Glad you enjoyed them!
my friend brought these to brunch today:
http://theactorsdiet.com/2012/06/18/buncha-muncha-brunch/
AMAZING!
These muffins were amazing! I served them to company last weekend, and they got rave reviews. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
You are welcome! They are one of my favorite muffins!
I ended up screwing these up a bit, but they were still super tasty!
I made these Tuesday morning. Very good!! I’m going to try them with blueberries next. Thanks for the great recipe!
Made these muffins. Brought them to work. Keep getting request to bring on more. Everybody loves them.
I’ve made ricotta cookies but never muffin I must try some soon. I have wild blueberries I need to use!
This is an excellent recipe. Only one problem. I have the blackberries in the bowl and they kept disappearing! I was only able to put two in six muffins and one in the rest. Delicious anyway. My husband said it’s a keeper. Thank you.
I made these once (so far!) and my husband keeps asking for them!! A+
So my daughter and I just tried these, using wild blackberries and mulberries we picked. The batter was incredibly thick… like cookie dough. We made 2 batches. The first I used the mixer to blend the flour in.. which I guess was a mistake. The muffins are tasty, but not attractive at all (Muscavido sugar doesn’t look as nice as turbinado when baked). They seem a bit dry after about 40 minute out of the oven. I folded in the flour on the second batch and put an egg white wash on top to try to make them less dry looking. The dough was still so thick I had to add a little milk. It, too, is tasty, and light when you bite into it, but kinda heavy when you start chewing. Did I do something wrong?
Thank you for this recipe. I make it all the time!
Have you tried making these with raspberries?
I’m making these right now, the batter is incredibly thick. Is this right?
The batter is thick!
I f I don’t like ricotta, can you taste it in there? or does it just add to the moistness of the muffin?
You can’t taste it. The ricotta makes the muffins moist and light!
Fabulous!
I made these this afternoon and am having one with my evening tea, so delicious!!!!!!! I will be sharing with my husband and delivering some to a friend tomorrow.
Glad you liked the muffins!
Made these today, and they are hands down my new favorite muffin! Neighbor kids, my mother, and my own persnickety son all loved them! My batter was so thick I added 4 or so Tablespoons of half n half and I didnt have turbinado sugar so I used coconut sugar on top. Thank you for the amazing recipe, Ive never baked w ricotta before, but Im gonna play w it now for sure!
Hi! This is a great recipe! Just had to share that I’ve nade it twice now – both times they turned out perfect. I’ve made them without the berries only because I didn’t have any on hand, and I usually reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup.
I’ll be making them again for sure!! Thanks for posting an awesome recipe.
My favorite muffin recipe of all time. The ricotta makes the most tender cake. I like to use meyer lemons from my yard. These freeze particularly well. Just pull one out of the freezer and warm it up and enjoy with a cup of tea. The best!!!
Will frozen blackberries work? They are always available.
Yes!