Western Muffins (or Denver Muffins)

These western muffins include the flavors of a western omelet to create a tasty and savory muffin. 

These Western Muffins are a take on the ingredients western omelet (or a Denver omelet). 

These muffins are very tender and fluffy and are wonderful for breakfast with your coffee and a side of fresh fruit. 

Ingredients in These Western Muffins:

For the Muffin Batter: All purpose flour, corn meal, sugar, butter, oil, eggs, baking powder, salt, and buttermilk. 

For the "Western" Ingredients: Butter, red bell pepper, onion, ham, and cheddar cheese. 

To Make these Muffins:

First, sauté the peppers and onions together in butter in a medium skillet until just softened. This should take about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and then stir in diced ham. Let the mixture cool. 

While the vegetables are cooling, mix the batter ingredients. In one bowl, combine melted butter, oil, and the sugar. Next, whisk in the eggs. 

In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk. Add half of the dry ingredients to the egg, butter, and oil mixture, then add half of the buttermilk, and then repeat with the rest of the dry ingredients and buttermilk. 

After that, stir in the sautéed vegetables and ham, and 3/4 of the shredded cheddar. Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin tin.

Finally, sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the rest of the cheese and bake for about 15 to 18 minutes. 

Recipe Variations:

For the cheese, you can substitute Monterey Jack or Gruyère. 

While I used red bell pepper, green bell pepper or a combination of the two (or yellow, or orange) would also work. 

You could also omit the sugar, or use less if you prefer. You can't really taste the sugar. 

You could also substitute whole wheat pastry flour for about a third of the all purpose flour. 

You can make these muffins with our without muffin pan liners. If you don't use the muffin liners, be sure to spray the the pan with nonstick spray. Even then, you might have an issue with the cheese sticking to the bottom of the pan, leaving behind a bit of the bottom of the muffin. 

To be safe, you could cut little circles with parchment paper to line the bottom of the muffin tin cavities. 

These muffins are fantastic warm from the oven after resting for about ten minutes. You can also reheat them for about 30 seconds in the microwave. 

These muffins keep well for about two days in an airtight container. 

• Banana Crunch Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Chocolate Espresso Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rhubarb-Ginger Muffins with Vanilla Bean Streusel from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
• Sour Cream Banana Rhubarb Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Teff Brownie Muffins from A Messy Kitchen
• Western Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins to brighten their Mondays. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. http://www.pinterest.com/flpl/muffin-monday/

Western Muffins

Yield: 16

Author: Karen Kerr

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 35 Min

These western muffins include the flavors of a western omelet to create a tasty and savory muffin. 

Ingredients

For the Vegetables and Ham

• 28 grams (2 tablespoons) butter, salted or unsalted
• 110 grams (1/2 medium) sweet onion, peeled and diced
• 113 grams (3/4 medium) red bell pepper, seeds, stem, and ribs removed, diced
• 100 grams (2/3 cup) diced ham steak

For the Batter

• 43 grams (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
• 45 grams (3 tablespoons) neutral oil
• 37 grams (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 270 grams (2 1/4 cups) all purpose flour
• 16 grams (2 tablespoons) cornmeal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 2/3 cups buttermilk
• 170 grams (1 3/4 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

1. In a medium skillet, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter and add the diced onions and bell peppers. Cook, stirring regularly, until they are just tender, about 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the ham. Set aside to cool.
2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and spray a 12-cavity muffin tin with spray oil or line with muffin liners and lightly spray the liners.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the melted butter, oil, and sugar. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter/oil mixture and stir to combine. Add half of the buttermilk and stir to combine. Repeat with the rest of the flour mixture and buttermilk.
5. Fold in the vegetable and ham mixture and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Scoop the muffin batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each cavity 3/4 full. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with the remaining cheese.
6. Bake the muffins for 15 to 18 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
7. Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack.
8. Let the muffin pan cool and then fill 3 to 4 of the cavities with the remaining batter. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

211

Fat (grams)

12 g

Sat. Fat (grams)

5 g

Carbs (grams)

19 g

Fiber (grams)

1 g

Net carbs

18 g

Sugar (grams)

4 g

Protein (grams)

7 g

Cholesterol (grams)

49 mg

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2025/05/western-muffins.html

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Created using The Recipes Generator

Recipe adapted from Savory Baking: Recipes for Breakfast, Dinner, and Everything in Between by Erin Jeanne McDowell.