Why You Should Ditch The Liners When Baking Muffins

When it comes to baking treats like cupcakes and muffins, there's one important question you have to ask yourself -– should you use baking liners or not? Unfortunately, we have no easy answer for you, as some experts say you should use them, while others say you shouldn't.

Some of the benefits of using liners when baking cupcakes include keeping your baked goods moist, limiting messes in your cookware, preventing sticking, making treats easy to handle, and, of course, adding a little something extra to your cupcake or muffin's aesthetic. Per Baking Kneads, liners come in paper, foil, and even reusable silicone varieties. The latter is especially great if you don't want to constantly be buying and throwing away single-use liners.

However, for each upside to using liners, there's also a downside. We can't say either way which method is best, but the negatives might just outweigh the positives. Let's take a look at the no-liner side of the argument, shall we?

Although cupcake liners obviously exist for a reason, there are several benefits to not using them. In fact, some experts call using liners one of the biggest mistakes you can make while baking muffins in particular, simply because they can get in the way of your treats baking properly.

Furthermore, The Spruce Eats points out that liners are an added expense and can be tricky to size correctly if you have a bigger or smaller muffin tin. Perhaps most importantly, no one likes it when half their cupcake peels away with the liner.

So what can you do instead of using liners? Just as you would with any other baking project, you can thoroughly grease your muffin tin for quick cleanup. You can also trade out your standard muffin tin for a silicone muffin tin, a sustainable kitchen item that also makes it super easy to pop your cupcakes and muffins out when they're done. At the end of the day, cupcake and muffin liners aren't entirely necessary, but they can still be fun to use.