It’s incredibly easy (and fun!) to make homemade English Muffins, using basic pantry ingredients, and cooking them in a skillet or griddle.
If you love easy bread recipes don’t miss my Artisan No Knead Bread, or homemade white bread or wheat bread.
Why I love this recipe:
Better than Store-Bought: You can’t beat the amazing freshness of these soft and chewy homemade English Muffins. They’re wonderful served toasted and slathered with homemade jam, in a delicious Breakfast Sandwich, or get extra fancy and make Eggs Benedict.
No Oven Required: There’s no baking required–the English muffins are cooked in a skillet on the stove, or use an electric griddle to cook many at once.
Freezer-Friendly: Make a big batch and store them in the freezer for months, to have some on hand all the time!
Did you know that English Muffins originated in the United States? They were made popular by an English emigrant –Samuel Bath Thomas– who called them “English” muffins to distinguish them from other sweet, cake-like American muffins. They’re not a traditional “muffin” at all, but a type of bread that’s split open (like a biscuit) and served toasted, with butter or jam.
How to make English Muffins:
Make Dough: Add yeast, milk, honey, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour to a mixing bowl and mix well.
Rest: Add remaining flour and stir everything until very well combined, to form a soft, sticky dough. Cover bowl and set aside to rest for 20 minutes.
Shape English Muffins: Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and sprinkle cornmeal between the two. Use a greased ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop batter into equal portioned “blobs” onto the pan. Press and shape each batter blob into a flat, round disk, around 3 inches in diameter, then flip to the other side, to coat both flat sides lightly in cornmeal. The cornmeal helps make them easier to shape and handle.
Rise: Space the dough discs at least an inch apart along both baking sheets to give them room to rise. Cover the pans with a light kitchen towel or greased plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 ½ hours. It’s important to let them rise, so that bubbles can develop in the dough, resulting in those nook and crannies in the center of the muffin that English muffins are known for.
Cook on a hot griddle or skillet for 7-10 minutes on each side, until cooked through.
Serve: To split open, poke the tines of a fork all around the outside center of each muffin, then split apart. Serve the best English Muffins toasted, with butter, jam, marmalade, or peanut butter. Use them to make Eggs Benedict, Crab Cake Benedict, or in a breakfast sandwich.
Storing and Freezing Instructions:
Store at room temperature for 3-4 days.
To Freeze: Place them in a freezer-safe bag or container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Re-warm in the toaster, or for a few seconds in the microwave.
Use these English Muffins in:
- Crab Cake Benedict
- Eggs Benedict
- Freezer Breakfast Sandwiches
- Eggs Florentine
- Cheesy Egg, Avocado, and Ham Breakfast Sandwiches
- Best and Easiest Strawberry Jam
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Recipe
English Muffins
Equipment
- Griddle optional
- Instant-read digital thermometer. optional
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant yeast * (1 packet)
- 1 3/4 cups buttermilk , warm, or regular milk
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 egg , lightly beaten
- 3 Tablespoons butter , melted
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup cornmeal , for coating on the outside of the muffins
Instructions
- Mix dough: Add yeast, milk, honey, egg, butter, salt, and 1 cup flour to a mixing bowl and mix well. Add remaining flour and stir everything until very well combined, to form a soft, sticky dough. Cover bowl and rest for 20 minutes.
- Scoop onto baking sheets: Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and sprinkle cornmeal between the two. Grease a ¼ cup measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray and scoop batter into equal portioned “blobs” onto the cornmeal on the sheet pans.
- Press and shape each batter blob into a flat, round disk, around 3 inches in diameter, then flip to the other side, to coat both flat sides lightly in cornmeal. Space the dough discs at least an inch apart along both baking sheets to give them room to rise.
- Rise: Cover the pans with a light kitchen towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 ½ hours.
- Cook: Heat a griddle to about 325 degrees (or a cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium/medium low heat). Use a spatula to gently pick up the English muffin disks and place them on the hot pan. Cook for 7-10 minutes. They will puff up, and the bottom will get golden. Flip to the other side (they will deflate a little) and cook for another 7-12 minutes, until golden on the bottom and when you touch the sides and gently press, it no longer feels doughy. (Or until the center of a muffin registers about 200°F on an instant-read thermometer). You can always take one off and gently test it. Cook longer if still doughy.
- Cool and Serve: Remove English muffins to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before splitting open and eating. To spit open, poke the tines of a fork all around the outside center of each muffin, then split apart.
- Toast them and serve with butter, jam, marmalade, or peanut butter, or use them to make Eggs Benedict, or a breakfast sandwich.
- Store English muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe February 2021. Updated August 2023.
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Hiya! Wanting to try this but wondering if I could sub honey for maple syrup? thank you!
Yes, that’s fine–the flavor will just slightly change.
I was searching for an English Muffin recipe because there are so many chemicals in ready made food. That’s how I landed on your page.
Awesome recipe can’t wait to make them 😍 Patti from Newark Delaware ❤️
I never knew how easy it is to make homemade English muffins. They were delicious.Thank you so much for the recipe & video. I don’t think I will be buying commercial English Muffins any time soon, if ever again.
My first time trying this recipe. It was way too wet. Didn’t realize I had to add more flour until reading the first comment with the same problem. I measured all my ingredients using a scale. No idea where it went wrong, but I am trying to salvage what I could after scooping out that thick doughy mess
I’ve made English Muffins successfully before, but this is a total fail for me. Twice. There’s no “scooping” the dough. It’s a sticky, liquid mess. Help!
Needs more flour! You want it somewhat sticky but not overly so.
Hi! Excited to try these. What do you mean by “buttermilk, warm”? Room temp or heated in the microwave?
I would measure it, and place the measuring up in a bowl of hot water to warm it up a little
Thank you for this amazing recipe! I followed your instructions to the letter and they came out perfect. I will never buy these from a store again. My husband loves them too. Worth the effort. So yummy.
Wow! What an amazing and easy English muffin recipe. First time making English muffins and they are so much better than store bought!
I’m on a low sodium diet and would like to try these, substituting 1/2 whole wheat flour along with bread flour. Also decreasing salt to around 1/4 tsp. My question is would it be better to weigh the flour, as I understand the WW weighs less than AP flour.
For variety in english muffins can you add other ingredients eg) raisins, cranberries or cinnamon, etc?
Absolutely love this recipe!! So easy and they turn out even better than store bought! I know every kitchen is different in regards to temp and depending on the age of your flour so play around with the recipe…..I have to add about an extra cup of flour to get the dough workable to shape……but Absolutely love how these turn out!
Great recipe! Easy to follow and very delicious! It’s true, tastes better from scratch! Just don’t skimp on the cornmeal to prevent the English muffins from sticking to the parchment during their rise.
So delicious, I only had bread flour…so I “Jenn’d” it a little. I allowed the dough to rise overnight in the fridge and the next morning (after an hour – let it come to room temperature) rolled out the dough and used a biscuit cutter. Placed them on a cookie sheet to rise again and cooked them on a warm cast iron skillet. Oh man… they’re delicious! Thank you for the recipe and video.
Ugh I could not get this recipe to work at all. I’m not rating it because I’m sure I miss measured SOMETHING. After reading how much success everyone else had, I will try it again soon.
We would love to help trouble shoot!
Delicious! I followed recipe exactly and the English muffins came out amazing! All of your recipes have been great!
So delicious and so much better than store-bought!
Hi, do you think I could make the batter in the evening, keep it in the fridge after rising and then cook them in the morning? Thank you in advance!
Best regards
This was a delicious and easy to make recipe. Next time I will use about half of the honey, but that is a personal preference.
This recipe does not work!! I ended up with enormous pancake shapes that stuck to everything! They spread sideways and it made a huge mess. There is way too much liquid. After watching them rise, I tried to get them off the non stick paper they were on on the baking tray. They stuck and it was a huge gooey mess! Everything got binned. A huge disappointment because of the effort that goes into working with yeast not to mention the cost.
It sounds like your measurements were a little off. They will be sticky and soft but not liquidy. Hope you get to try it again.
Why don’t you use muffin rings? I bought some for this purpose? Nancy
Yes, yes, yes!! These were SO good! Seriously, these for sure taste better from scratch. Will definitely be making again (and again, and again)! 🙂
Made the english muffins. So easy and delish. Will make again. Have made other recipes that were more complicated
Thanks for recipe
I love your recipes! I have used several since I found your site last year especially at holidays and your spaghetti sauce is soooo good. I am definitely going to try this.