How to Freeze Muffins (+ muffin storage tips & tricks!)

By Polly Conner

April 7, 2020

Muffins are my jam. I love them.

So much that I took time in photoshop to express my deep affection for them.

To save time and money, anytime you make muffins, just double the batch and cook up twice as many. I rarely make a single batch and almost always have muffins stored in my freezer.

Because, well, I love them.

Not only do they make the easiest breakfast ever but they can be a great afternoon snack or even be packed into a lunch box when sandwich options are scarce.

Since you’re likely not going to be eating an entire batch of muffins in one day, I’m here to provide two ways to store them for future munching.

How to Store and Freeze Muffins

Storing Method One: Room Temperature

Intuition might tell you to simply throw your muffins in a ziplock or some type of container to keep them fresh. Restrain yourself, I tell you, restrain! If you place muffins in an airtight situation, the moisture will migrate to the top, resulting into a squishy muffin top (must-not-make-joke-about-my-postpartum-body). This is especially true if you have a crumble topping of some sort. After a day or two, your delicious muffins will be soggy on top and highly disappointing.

Here’s a trick to know when storing muffins in an airtight container: surround them with paper towels!

Take these whole wheat banana chocolate chip muffins for instance. Place a paper towel in the container or bag.

Place the muffins on top of the paper towel and cover them with another one. Now, seal your container.

The paper towels will help absorb some of the moisture trying to escape so they should be good at room temperature for at least three days.

Storing Method Two: How to Freeze Muffins

While freezing muffins is pretty much second nature to some, it is worth mentioning for those who may not be enlightened on the subject. (I know I wasn’t until a few years ago).

If you’ve never done this, your world is about to explode.

To freeze muffins, all you have to do is place them in an airtight container of some type and, well, freeze them. The less air the better which is why I like plastic bags.

How long can I freeze muffins for?

While most say you can freeze them for up to three months, mine have been known to camp out in the freezer longer than that and they were just fine. But, for the sake of having a definite answer, I’ll say three months. (Just know that I often cheat and save them longer than that.)

To thaw the muffins, just set them out on the counter for about 30 minutes or wrap them in a moist paper towel and microwave them in 30 second increments until they are warmed all the way through.

They may lose a tad bit of moisture in the freezing process so the moist paper towel helps to keep the remaining moisture in while reheating. A dab of butter never killed anyone either. 😉

Just don’t be like my husband and chronically over-microwave them. Lets just say, they need more than a dab of butter when he’s in charge of the frozen muffins.