We can’t resist those beautiful green pistachio muffins when we pass by them at the grocery store bakery. These home-baked pistachio muffins are just as good and full of that nutty, slightly sweet pistachio flavor we all love Pistachio pudding mix adds amazing taste, but it also keeps the muffins perfectly moist.
Why Our Recipe
- Pistachio pudding mix makes these muffins extra moist and gives the perfect pistachio flavor.
- That bakery-style dome? We’ve got the trick to make it happen at home.
- Super simple ingredients and no fancy tools or special skills required!
If you’ve ever wondered how bakeries get their muffins to rise tall and fluffy, we’ve got the trick for you. You don’t need any special equipment or hard-to-find ingredients. Just mix, bake, and enjoy!
Ingredient Notes
- Salted Butter: If using unsalted butter, add an extra pinch of salt to the batter.
- Pistachio Instant Pudding Mix: The key ingredient for flavor and moisture. Be sure to use instant pudding mix, not the cook-and-serve kind.
- Baking Powder: Make sure yours is fresh (not expired) because this is what makes the muffins rise.
- Milk: Whole, 2%, and 1% are our preferences for the fat content, but technically skim milk and plant-based milk also works.
- All-Purpose Flour: Be sure to use all-purpose or bread flour here. They both work.
- Extra Sugar for Topping: Creates a lightly crunchy, bakery-style top. You can also swap this for coarse sugar if you want a nice crunch.
Pistachio Pudding Mix
When developing this recipe, we tested so many different ways to get that perfect pistachio flavor—including using real pistachios and even pistachio paste. But no matter how much we used, the flavor just wasn’t strong enough. Using a pudding mix intensifies the pistachio flavor while also adding a little bit of moisture that makes these muffins extra soft.
You can still add chopped pistachios to the batter for some extra crunch, but the pudding mix is what makes these muffins truly shine.
High Heat: The Secret to the Perfect Dome
The secret to that perfectly domed muffin top is to blast the muffin batter with super high heat when you first place it into the oven, and then let it finish baking at a slightly lower temperature. The high heat causes the steam in the muffins to release quickly, making the muffins puff up and create that perfect dome on top.
We start our muffins at 425 degrees F. After about 7 minutes, reduce the heat in the oven to 350 degrees F. Watch your muffins closely as they finish baking. Ovens vary slightly so your cooking time may vary as some ovens will brown the muffins more than others. Pull your muffins out of the oven as soon as they are golden brown on top.
Keep Muffins From Sticking
You can bake muffins directly in a muffin tin, or use paper liners. To keep the muffins from sticking, use a nonstick pan and lightly grease the pan with nonstick cooking spray. If using liners, spray the liners themselves with a light coating of nonstick cooking spray to keep the muffins from sticking to the wrapper.
Thick Batter Ahead
If you’re used to thinner muffin batters, you might be surprised by how thick this one is—but don’t worry, that’s exactly how it should be! It’s a dense batter that bakes up into soft, moist muffins with a perfect crumb.
Because the batter is thick, resist the urge to overmix. Stir just until everything is combined—overmixing can make the muffins dense instead of light and fluffy. When scooping the batter into the muffin tin, a cookie scoop or two spoons will help make it easier to divide evenly.
Storage & Freezing Instructions
Store at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days. If your kitchen is warm or humid, they’ll stay fresher longer in the fridge.
Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Warm them up in the microwave for 10–15 seconds before serving for that fresh-baked feel.
To freeze, let them cool completely, then place them in a freezer-safe bag or container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or pop one in the microwave for 20–30 seconds until warm.
More delicious muffin flavors…
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
First time I made these they were way to heavy and dense, but had good flavor, that’s why 3 stars. The second time, I cut the flour down to 1 1/3 cups and they came out way better and had a stronger pistachio flavor! So for that I give 5 stars.
These muffins turned out beautiful! My batter was not as thick as was suggested in the recipe, which I think may be due to how the flour is measured. It can make a difference if you spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then swipe versus scooping your measuring cup into the flour and then swiping so this could lead to a thicker batter or a thinner batter. Also, I made sure that my milk and my eggs were room temperature. If any of the ingredients are cold it can make it take longer to bake through. I only had to add a minute to the suggested bake time and mine were perfectly baked. My batter only filled the cups about 3/4 full but the rose beautifully. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
They came out great and I don’t even know how to spell “Baking”!
Really good! I added some glaze to the top of them and they were delicious!
Tasty! Made a double batch. Used 1/2 almond flavoring and 1/2 vanilla. Increased the milk by 1/4 cup and the batter was still VERY thick. Muffins turned out fine, though, similar in taste to bakery muffins. Did not add the sugar on top. Baking time was longer than recommended. An extra three minutes for regular muffins and sixteen minutes for jumbo muffins. Will make again
Easy and delicious!!!
These were pretty good. The flavor was there but a bit dense. Not light and fluffy at all. I had to increase the cook time to 16 minutes at 350 and even then they could’ve used a minute or two more. I have a brand new oven and I know temperature times vary but they were raw at 10 minutes even at the initial blast of 425 for 7 minutes. I would probably increase the milk to make it less dense And skip the blast of heat. My other muffins get better high domed tops without the blast. Good flavor though.
The flavor in these is excellent. My family gobbled them up. I am curious though, mine did not rise. I put them in the oven for 7 min at 425 and then they seemed to take about 30 more minutes to bake. These were normal sized muffins. Any suggestions on what I could have done wrong?
You may want to check your oven with an oven thermometer that you can hang inside. It might be that you had the oven door open for too long while putting them in and your oven didn’t maintain its temperature. Or your oven may simply be in need of being calibrated (which is generally super easy).
My family loved them I didn’t add or subtract I made 6 jumbo sized muffins..
These were okay, but did not taste like bakery pistachio muffins. The flavor was extremely muted and not very sweet.