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Cheese Muffins Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 25 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 30 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 muffins
- ⚡ Calories: 216kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Savory, cheesy, and buttery with a gentle pepper jack kick
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our pumpkin cornbread
Quick Answer
Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, then toss in shredded pepper jack cheese so every shred is coated. In a second bowl, beat an egg with milk and half the melted butter. Stir the wet into the dry just until combined, divide the batter into a 12 cup muffin tin, and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Brush the warm muffins with garlic butter and serve.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Coating the cheese in flour is the anti-sink trick. Tossing the shreds through the dry ingredients keeps the cheese suspended through the batter instead of clumping at the bottom of each muffin.
- Minimal mixing means tender muffins. Stirring just until no dry patches remain keeps gluten development low, which is the whole difference between a tender muffin and a rubbery one. Lumps are fine.
- A tablespoon of baking powder does the lifting. Savory batters are heavy with cheese, so this recipe uses a full tablespoon of leavener to push a tall dome anyway.
- Split butter, double duty. Butter inside the batter tenderizes the crumb, while the garlic butter brushed on after baking soaks into the warm tops for a garlic bread finish.
- Block cheese melts into pockets. Hand shredded pepper jack melts into little molten pockets, pre-shredded cheese is coated with cellulose and bakes up grainy.
- 375 degrees is the sweet spot. Hot enough to dome and brown the tops in 25 minutes, gentle enough that the cheese inside does not scorch before the center bakes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- One bowl, five minutes of mixing, and no mixer, this is as easy as baking gets.
- They are the perfect sidekick for soup and chili night, sturdy enough for serious dunking.
- The garlic butter finish makes them taste like the muffin cousin of our cheese stuffed breadsticks.
Key Ingredients
This is a one bowl, pantry staple situation. Here is what makes these muffins work:
- Pepper Jack Cheese: Shred it yourself from a block. The gentle pepper heat bakes into every bite, and block cheese melts far better than pre-shredded bags coated in anti-caking starch.
- All Purpose Flour and Baking Powder: A full tablespoon of baking powder gives these their tall, tender rise, this is a quick bread, not a yeast project.
- Milk and Egg: The wet team that brings the batter together. Whole milk makes the richest muffin, but any milk works.
- Melted Butter, Divided: Half goes into the batter for tenderness, and half becomes the garlic butter brushed on top after baking.
- Garlic Powder: Whisked into the finishing butter with a pinch of salt, it turns a simple muffin into something that tastes like a cheesy garlic knot.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Consider this your base recipe for any savory muffin mood:
- Milder cheese: Sharp cheddar, colby jack, or gouda all swap one for one if pepper jack is too much for the kids.
- Add mix-ins: Crumbled cooked bacon, diced jalapenos, sliced scallions, or a handful of corn kernels all fold in beautifully.
- Herb it up: A teaspoon of dried chives or rosemary in the dry ingredients changes the whole personality.
- Everything topping: Sprinkle everything bagel seasoning on top before baking for crunch.
- Mini muffins: Bake in a mini tin for 12 to 14 minutes for party sized bites, this makes about 30.
- Sweet and savory: A drizzle of honey over the warm garlic butter tops is shockingly good, trust us on this one.
How to Make Cheese Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the shredded pepper jack and stir so the cheese is coated in the flour mixture.
- In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the milk and 1/4 cup of the melted butter until combined.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir with a large spoon until just mixed, small lumps are fine, you just do not want dry patches.
- Divide the batter evenly among 12 lined or greased muffin cups. Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top. Cool the tin on a wire rack.
- Mix the remaining 1/4 cup melted butter with the pinch of salt and garlic powder. Brush over the warm muffin tops evenly. Serve warm and enjoy!
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Shred the cheese yourself, a block of pepper jack takes 60 seconds on a box grater and melts infinitely better than bagged shreds.
- Do not overmix. Stop stirring the moment the last streak of flour disappears, a lumpy batter is a tender muffin.
- Use an ice cream scoop to portion the batter evenly so every muffin bakes at the same rate.
- Brush the garlic butter while warm, the tops drink it in best in the first few minutes out of the oven.
- Test at 20 minutes with a toothpick in a center muffin, it should come out clean with maybe a streak of melted cheese.
- Rewarm before serving leftovers, 10 seconds in the microwave brings the cheese pockets back to melty.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
These cheese muffins were born for soup season. We serve them alongside a big pot of chili or a creamy soup, and they out-dunk any cracker, think of them as the fast alternative to a from scratch loaf like our ciabatta rolls.
For breakfast, split one warm with scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon tucked inside, an instant sandwich that beats any drive-through, especially next to a slice of breakfast casserole on a holiday morning.
They also earn a spot on an appetizer table next to a cheese ball and crackers, bake them mini and watch them vanish.
And for potlucks, they travel perfectly at room temperature, no slicing, no serving utensils, no drama.
Cheese Muffins FAQs
Pepper jack is our favorite because it melts smoothly and adds a gentle heat, but any good melting cheese works, sharp cheddar, colby jack, gouda, or gruyere. Whatever you choose, shred it from a block yourself, pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch and melts grainy.
Almost always overmixing. Once the wet and dry ingredients meet, stir only until no dry patches remain, the batter should look lumpy. Overworking develops gluten and knocks out air, which gives you dense, rubbery muffins. Old baking powder is the other culprit, replace it every 6 months.
Yes. Bake and cool them fully, then store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days or refrigerate up to 4 days. Hold the garlic butter until serving day if you can, rewarm the muffins in a 300 degree oven for 5 to 8 minutes, then brush with freshly made garlic butter.
They freeze beautifully. Cool completely, freeze in a single layer, then transfer to a freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or microwave a frozen muffin for 30 to 45 seconds. Brush with the garlic butter after reheating for that fresh baked finish.
Soup and chili are the classic partners, these muffins are built for dunking. They are also great with scrambled eggs at breakfast, alongside a big salad at lunch, or as the bread basket stand-in at dinner. Mini versions make an easy party appetizer with a bowl of warm marinara for dipping.
Only gently. Pepper jack carries a mild pepper warmth that most kids handle happily, closer to flavorful than hot. For zero heat, swap in colby jack or mild cheddar. To push the heat up, add a finely diced jalapeno to the batter or use habanero jack cheese.
More savory baking? Our homemade english muffins are the weekend project worth doing once.
Easy Cheese Muffins (Pepper Jack)
Ingredients
- 8 oz block Cabot Pepper Jack Cheese or any brand you like, shredded
- 1 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 tbls granulated sugar
- 1 Tbls baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1/2 Cup unsalted butter melted, divided
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt into a large bowl. Mix together. Add in the cheese and stir together so cheese is coated. In a separate bowl, add in the egg and lightly beat it, add in the milk and 1/4 Cup of the melted butter, whisk until combined.
- Add wet mixture to the dry mixture and stir with a large spoon until just mixed. There might be some small lumps and that is okay, we just don’t want any dry patches.
- Evenly divide batter into 12 servings in a muffin tin that is lined or that has been sprayed with baking spray. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top. Place tin on wired rack to cool.
- Take the additional 1/4 Cup of melted butter and mix in the pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp garlic powder. Brush mixture on top of each muffin evenly. Serve warm, enjoy!
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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I really like muffins and I enjoy making them.I hope I ‘ll find time to try the doubl chocolate chip ones!
These look delicious- I love pepper jack cheese!There are not enough savory muffin recipes out there, so I’m really happy to find this!
I stopped by from Totally Talented Tuesdays.
Dana – your muffins look delicious! I wish I lived at your house with all these wonderful recipes you share! Thanks again for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop! Hope to see you next week again!