There’s something about roasted sweet potatoes that feels instantly cozy, right? In Japan, they’re a beloved autumn and winter snack, often sold straight from little trucks. Called yaki imo, these piping hot treats are simple, comforting, and naturally sweet. At home, I love making Slow read more
When the weather is hot and sticky, I crave cool, crunchy, and refreshing flavors. Enter Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Sobaegi)—a summertime staple in Korea that’s as vibrant as it is addictive. Think crisp cucumbers bursting with a garlicky, spicy filling of chives, carrots, and gochugaru. read more
The mountains of end of season blueberries have been calling my name at the grocery store and I’m trying to gobble them down as quickly as possible. And what better way to answer than to make blueberry muffins? I wanted the perfect recipe — tender but not too cakey, buttery with a light crumb, and absolutely loaded with blueberries. Not so sweet that it could be mistaken for a cupcake, but sweet enough so that it felt special and indulgent.
So, there may have been… several rounds of “research” blueberry muffins in our kitchen before I finally landed on this version. (Let’s just say no one in this house was complaining.) The secret turned out to be a blend of butter and oil for flavor and moisture, buttermilk for tenderness, and a high-heat start so they bake up with bakery-style crowns for those that think a glorious muffin top is the best part. And that’s most of us, right?
Make them for brunch, school lunches, picnics, or just because it’s Tuesday and blueberry season, like summer, will soon be done. Once you try them, you’ll understand why I finally stopped tweaking — they’re perfect just as they are so let’s get into it.
I admit that I’m really picky about blueberry muffins because they are ubiquitous. Every bakery has one, grocery stores have them, and the web has a ton of recipes. But it’s hard to find one that has soft and not dense structure, because that’s how you get the firm very tall shape, which is amazing. But generally they are also kind of dry, especially the second day. Plus, you want the batter to be fragrant and delicious, not just overly sweet crumb that binds the berries. And let’s make sure we have a ton of berries. Am I right? That’s the whole point! Finally, a crackly top never hurts, it’s literally the icing on the top. Just know that the crackly top is less crispy, the second and third day-if they last that long.
So my wish is that everything about a mediocre blueberry muffin has been addressed and you will be free of bad blueberry muffins for life.
I start making my blueberry muffins by whisking together the dry ingredients. I always measure my flour by weight rather than volume — it’s the easiest way to get consistent results every time. If I can use my experience to help anyone who struggles with baking, the scale is your friend, it never lies. And for people who do not bake often, you need some experience and repetition to develop a sense of how the batter for cake should look or is the dough too dry or wet? A scale will give you the confidence to start baking like a pro. It’s really life changing-at least in the kitchen.
A cup of flour can vary by as much as 30% depending on how it’s scooped, which can make your muffins dense or dry. For this recipe, 2 cups of flour = 9 ounces on the scale, so you can measure it quickly and know you’ve nailed it. (No kitchen scale? No problem! Just use the scoop and level method: gently spoon the flour into your measuring cup without packing it down, then level it off with the back of a knife. This helps keep your flour measurement more accurate—key for tender muffins every time.)
Add the sugar to the flour:
Add the baking powder and baking soda:
Give it all a good whisk:
Once the dry ingredients are whisked together, it’s time to mix the wet ones. In a separate bowl add the melted butter to the eggs:
Pour in the oil:
Add the buttermilk. (If you don’t have buttermilk see my note below on how to substitute)
Add the vanilla. And yes it’s pricey, but nothing beats a real vanilla extract.
Whisk the wet ingredients together:
Now it’s time to combine the wet and dry ingredients for the blueberry muffins batter:
Gently mix until just combined, you don’t want to overmix.
It’s ok if small lumps or streaks of flour remain:
Then it’s time for the part we’ve all been waiting for- the blueberries! Add the star of the show, reserving some to top the blueberry muffins:
Then add the lemon zest:
Gently stir:
Now all that’s left to do is portion out the batter and bake the most glorious blueberry muffins of all time!
Top the muffins with the reserved blueberries:
Now the recipe says that topping the muffins with sugar is “optional”. I hope you realize though that it’s actually not optional at all-that bakery style crackly lid is the very best part!
Now they are ready to bake. You’ll start them off hot so they rise high, then finish low and slow for a perfectly baked interior.
Let them cool for 10 minutes, if you can wait that long, and then take them out of the pan.
I can’t wait for you to bake these up so you can experience Blueberry Muffin Nirvana too! Let me know what you think, and show off you muffins by tagging us @funkyasiankitchen.
Looking for more well-tested baking recipes? Check out my Lemon Pound Cake or Chocolate Zucchini Cake-they are sure to become favorites with your family too!
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DRY INGREDIENTS:
WET INGREDIENTS:
FILLINGS AND TOPPINGS:
Preheat oven to 425°F and move the oven rack to the middle.
Line a 12-muffin tin with paper liners.
Make the Batter: First combine the dry ingredients by whisking the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Then in a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Pour egg mixture into the dry mixture. Mix gently with a spatula or wooden spoon until just combined. Some small lumps or streaks of flour in the batter are fine. Try not to overmix.
Add blueberries (saving a small handful) and lemon zest and stir through gently.
Fill the muffin tin by dividing the batter evenly into the paper liners. Top with remaining blueberries and a sprinkling of sugar.
Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350°F and continue baking for another 12-14 minutes until a toothpick test comes out clean or barely a couple of crumbs. Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes in the tin and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
*If you don’t have buttermilk, you can make some sour milk or use a substitute. For sour milk, combine 2 teaspoons of white vinegar to 1 cup of whole milk (do not use any other kind). Wait 10 minutes until it looks curdled. Continue using it as required in the recipe. You can also substitute plain yogurt or sour cream. Use ½ cup of either yogurt or sour cream and add ¼ cup of milk to thin it out a bit. Whisk together and it’s ready to use.
*You can substitute frozen blueberries for fresh. Use the frozen berries straight from the freezer (leave them in the freezer until the last minute) and do not defrost. The frozen berries have more moisture than fresh, so you will need to add a couple more minutes of cooking time.
Keywords: muffins, blueberries, summer, breakfast, snack, back to school
I used to think my mom made this up. When I was little, she’d serve us bowls of strawberries and let us mash them up, drizzle in a little honey or a sprinkling of sugar, and pour cold milk over the whole thing. The strawberries read more
Let’s be real: California rolls are the gateway drug of sushi. They’re where a lot of people take their first bite into the world of raw fish… except, of course, there’s no raw fish involved. Just creamy avocado, sweet crab (or “krab,” depending on your read more
I love a good dumpling as much as the next girl, but let’s be honest—wrapping them can be a bit of a chore. If you’ve ever found dumplings intimidating—fancy pleats, sticky dough, a million steps—these Crispy Shrimp Dumplings are here to change your mind. They’re made with rice paper instead of traditional wrappers, so there’s no fiddling with dough or flour. Just juicy, flavorful shrimp filling, wrapped up and pan-fried (or air-fried!) to golden perfection. They’re crispy on the outside, tender inside, and so packed with flavor they don’t even need a dipping sauce.
Whether you pan-fry them for maximum crisp or toss them in the air fryer for convenience, these little rolls of joy are perfect for a snack, appetizer, or even a light meal so let’s get into it!
My sister Mimi is always on the prowl for fun tasty food. She cooks a ton and looks through social media a ton. So when she comes across something that she thinks will interest me, she’ll forward it. This started with a clip of a super cute Asian girl making this snack. I’m not sure what’s in hers except that it was a shrimp filling. I thought it was creative, especially the rolled up little packages and so I went about creating my own version. My favorite dim sum are the ones with shrimp and cilantro, sometimes called parsley in Chinese restaurants. There’s a magical synergy between the shrimp and cilantro that’s just amazing. And this dumpling is chock full of fabulous filling. If you’re one of those, looking at you dad, who’s not a fan of thick wrappers, then you’ll love these.
It all starts with the filling, which is packed with flavor bombs like garlic, ginger, scallions, and fresh cilantro. Oyster sauce lends depth, toasted sesame oil brings nutty goodness, and a little white pepper for funk rounds it out. First I quickly chop the aromatics. You need to chop them fine because they don’t spend enough time in the food processor to get thoroughly chopped.
Pop everything except the rice paper and oil into a food processor. Pulse 8–10 times until the shrimp are very roughly chopped. You want texture, not paste. Scoop the mixture into a bowl and give it a good stir to make sure everything is evenly combined.
Then, I transfer the filling into a quart-sized zip top bag and squeeze out all the air. You could certainly skip this step and try and spoon the filling onto the rice papers, but I find this to be the quickest, most consistent way.
Now it’s time to shape the dumplings. First fill a large bowl with water. Dip a rice paper sheet in until fully submerged, then lay it flat on a cutting board. Repeat with another piece and lay it next to the first. Give them a minute to soften.
Snip off one corner of the filling bag so the opening is about ½ inch wide. Voilà: makeshift piping bag. This will make filling the dumplings really easy and virtually mess free. Pipe a line of shrimp filling across the bottom third of each sheet, leaving a little space at the sides.
Fold the bottom of the rice paper up over the shrimp filling, then continue rolling it up like a cigar.
Curl one end in and roll again to form a little spiral—kind of like a mini cinnamon roll. The rice paper is sticky, so it’ll hold its shape.
Place them on a plate lined with plastic wrap or a silicone mat so they don’t stick. Aren’t they so cute?!
Repeat until all your filling is used—you’ll get about a dozen dumplings. It’s important to leave space between each dumpling so they don’t stick together. Remember the rice paper is very sticky.
Now it’s time to cook these babies up! You have two options, you can either pan fry in air-fry them. I prefer pan frying because that really puts the crispy in my Crispy Shrimp Dumplings and the dumplings have better color, plus it helps them stay intact better. Most importantly, they are ready for devouring quite a bit faster. I give instructions for both though on the recipe card below.
To pan fry, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat with a tablespoon of neutral oil. Add dumplings in a single layer, making sure there’s space between them.
Cook for 3 minutes until golden, then flip gently.
Cover the pan and cook for another 3 minutes to steam the filling through.
Uncover, flip one more time, and cook for an extra minute to crisp the other side.
These delectable little snacks are meant to be eaten right away, they don’t hold well and lose their crispiness. I mentioned how flavorful the filling is and how they don’t need a dipping sauce. Of course, we won’t judge you if you still want to dip. The classic dipping sauce in our Pork Gyoza will go beautifully with these. Or the nuoc cham dipping sauce from our noodle bowl would perfectly at home here as well.
If you’ve been craving dumplings but dreading the folding, give these a go. They’re the perfect shortcut with zero compromise on flavor. Let me know if you try them—tag me @funkyasiankitchen so I can cheer you on!
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Make the filling- Put all of the ingredients except for the rice paper and oil spray into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 8-10 times until the shrimp is very roughly chopped. Scrape the shrimp mixture into a bowl and give it a good stir so everything is well mixed. Place the shrimp filling into a quart size zip top bag, squeezing out all of the air. Cut a corner tip off so that the hole is about ½ inch long.
Make the dumplings- Fill a large bowl with water. Slide the rice paper into the water and submerge it gently. Put the rice paper onto the cutting board. Repeat with another piece of rice paper and put it next to the first one. Let it sit for a minute to rehydrate and soften. Squeeze the shrimp filling across the paper at the bottom third of the rice paper, leaving a small gap at the edges.
Fold the rice paper over the shrimp filling and then continue to roll it up like a cigar. Next curl one edge in and start rolling it up so it looks like a mini cinnamon roll. Place the rolls on a plate (I covered my plate first with plastic wrap so the rolls wouldn’t stick.) and continue making dumplings until you use up all of the filling.
It is very important that you leave enough space between the dumplings so they do not stick together.
You will yield about a dozen pieces.
Cook the dumplings– You can either cook the dumplings in a non-stick pan or air fry them. I prefer pan-fried, which gives the dumplings better color, texture, and the skins break apart less too.
Pan Fry– Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat with a Tablespoon of oil. Place the dumplings in the pan so that there is space between them. Cook them for 3 minutes and then flip them over gently. Place a lid over the pan and continue to cook for 3 minutes. Take the lid off and flip the dumplings one more time, cooking for another minute or so to give them a little more crispiness. Transfer the dumplings to a plate and serve immediately.
Airfry- Spray the baking sheet with oil and then place the dumplings on the sheet, leaving space between them. Spray the dumplings with the oil spray and cook for 12 minutes on 350 degrees. Transfer the dumplings to a plate and serve immediately.
*These dumplings are highly seasoned and do not need any sauce.
*Eat these dumplings right away as they do not reheat well. If 12 dumplings are too many to finish, either make half the recipe or only make half of the dumplings, reserving the rest of the filling. Cover and refrigerate the leftovers. Use up the rest of the filling within 2 days.
Keywords: dumplings, crispy, rice paper, shrimp
Hi there!
I’m Kazu, a restaurateur in Miami who wants to show you all of the best tricks for creating restaurant quality Asian meals at home.
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