Don't Throw Out Old Muffin Tins: 12 Genius Ways To Reuse Them Around The House

Whether you can't help yourself when it comes to buying kitchenware at the thrift store, you got a few too many as housewarming gifts, or you have a rusted pan you no longer want to bake with, you may find yourself with a surplus of muffin tins. In reality, most home bakers need only one or two for everyday baking needs, or maybe a few extra if you want a standard, jumbo, and mini tray. But before you donate, recycle, or toss those extras, it's worth taking a second look at their hidden potential.

Muffin tins are surprisingly versatile household staples that lend themselves to all kinds of clever, creative repurposing. Thanks to their built-in compartments and sturdy design, they're ideal for organizing small items, tackling cluttered drawers, or keeping countertops neat and functional. Beyond organization, they can also be used during craft time to sort supplies or pull double duty as a paint palette. Even better, muffin tins can be used in the garden to help with seed starting and soil prep. With so many unexpected ways to put them to use, you may even find yourself on the lookout for extra muffin tins the next time you're out shopping.

Ever wonder how cooking show hosts always have everything handy, and their recipes seem to come together faster than you can even turn the stove on? That's thanks to a practice known as mise en place, which basically means, "everything in its place." Taking time to portion out spices and other ingredients makes the cooking process less stressful, and muffin tins are the perfect support for this. The cups can hold a variety of ingredients and keep them separated without you dirtying every bowl and ramekin in the kitchen in the process. 

Whether you or your kiddo are the resident artists of your home, you'll love using muffin tins as excellent paint palettes. Unlike traditional flat painter palettes, muffin tins are deep enough to hold generous amounts of paint, which helps minimize spills and messes during creative time. Each individual cup provides a built-in compartment for different colors, making it easy to keep shades separated and organized while you work. This setup is especially helpful for kids, who always seem to end up mixing their paints to a uniform shade of brown. 

There's no need to drop cash on seed starting trays at the plant nursery if you have old muffin tins sitting around. These are perfect for sowing a few seeds indoors during the cold months, and with the help of muffin tin liners, you can easily transfer the sprouts to soil in the warmer outdoor months. Fill each liner with a few inches of soil, add your seeds, and cover them lightly with more soil. Popsicle sticks make for easy plant labels, and come spring, planting your bountiful garden will be a breeze. 

If you're a professional maker or hobbyist scrapbooker, no doubt your drawers are overflowing with pins, embellishments, stickers, and so on. To help keep them in order and keep them from falling into the depths of your desk drawers, use a muffin tin to keep them conveniently grouped. You can also use muffin tins to separate different elements for more elaborate crafts, like ROYGBIV-sorted beads for bracelets, or small fragments of tile for your mosaic kitchen backsplash. 

Who said your DIY wine tasting flight needed to be fancy? Instead of shelling out for a bunch of tiny port glasses and flight trays, use a muffin tin to hold cups of beer, wine, cider, or anything else your guests want to sip on. Label each one with stickers or a permanent marker to make tasting easier than ever. Additionally, if you're serving drinks at a party and worried about clumsily spilling them or having the wind knocking over the cups, you can give them extra stability by placing the cups in muffin tin slots. 

When it's time to sow your seed sprouts outdoors, your muffin tin can double as a spacer tray to ensure that your seedlings are perfectly spaced and have plenty of room. Gently press the tin tray into the soil to create divots and plant your seedlings in the center of each. Proper spacing in the garden supports proper root growth, improves airflow, and allows crops to grow without being stunted or leggy, making this an easy trick for helping your garden thrive. It also keeps garden beds neat and easy to organize.

Muffin tins are ideal molds for homemade fire starters made with wax and dried tinder. Place wax (you can use residual candle wax or wax shavings) in the base of the tray, then bake until liquid. Remove from the oven and place materials like pine cones, wood shavings, or dried pine needles into each cup. Once cooled and hardened, the starters pop out easily and can be stored for camping trips or emergency kits — these compact fire starters light quickly and are perfect for keeping your wood-burning stove burning all night. They are also practical but pretty enough to be given as a gift to camping enthusiasts. 

Turn a muffin tin into a charming 24-day advent calendar with minimal effort for Christmas. Fill each cup with a small treat, note, or trinket, then cover the tin with numbered paper liners or foil. To create an heirloom that you can use year after year, consider making magnetic, fabric-covered numbers that can snap on to the muffin tins. Beyond Christmas, consider using this countdown calendar for other major events like family vacations, toilet training a toddler, or your own personal reward system for following through on a goal. 

A muffin tin can instantly tame desk clutter by acting as a compact office supply organizer. Each cup is perfectly sized for staples, thumbtacks, binder clips, sticky notes, paper clips, USB drives, and other small essentials that tend to wander. Unlike shallow trays, the deeper wells keep items upright and visible, so nothing gets lost at the bottom of a drawer. This setup works especially well inside desk drawers, on shelves where space is limited, or just directly on top of your desk if you want to keep everything in reach without your desk becoming a chaotic landscape. 

During short power outages, a muffin tin can safely hold tealight candles to provide gentle ambient light or even heat up water. Placing individual tealight candles in separate muffin tin cups keeps them stable and prevents tipping. Plus, the walls stop flames from jumping out of the contained area. While this setup isn't a replacement for stoves, it can provide light for basic tasks and even help you to heat up water for drinking or make simple food in case of an emergency. Always supervise open flames, keep flammable items away, and extinguish candles when not in use. 

A muffin tin can double as a unique tray for displaying small potted succulents, creating a visually interesting arrangement that allows you to decorate with plants. Each cup can cradle a tiny pot, helping keep plants upright and evenly spaced while adding a structured, grid-like look to shelves, windowsills, or tabletops. This setup also makes weekly watering easier, since you can remove individual pots or water carefully cup by cup without disturbing the entire display. It's especially helpful if you're managing several small succulents with similar care needs, keeping them organized and contained in one attractive, easy-to-maintain area. 

Muffin tins also work as amazing, large-form ice cube molds so you can add a festive splash to chill any cocktail, mocktail, or basic glass of water. Add whatever elements you like to the tray, such as citrus slices, herbs, berries, and more, then pour water over the top. Once they are fully frozen, pop the cubes out and use them in your nightly old fashioned or save them for your next dinner party. For even more flavor and color, you can use lemonade or juice instead of water, making this a tasty and aesthetically pleasing use for muffin tins.