These lemon poppy seed muffins are super moist and bursting with bright citrus flavor. They're delicious plain or with a simple lemon glaze on top!
Let’s make lemon poppy seed muffins! These classic muffins are bursting with fresh citrus flavor, and they have a moist, tender texture that’s punctuated by the poppy seeds’ crunch.
I love them plain for breakfast or an afternoon snack, but they’re also wonderful with my quick lemon glaze on top. It makes them a bakery-worthy treat that would be perfect for a special occasion brunch or even dessert.
Like all my muffin recipes, these lemon poppy seed muffins are easy to make. You simply stir together the batter in a couple of mixing bowls. No mixer required!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this lemon poppy seed muffins recipe:
- Lemons, of course! At least 2 to 3. This lemon poppy seed muffins recipe boasts 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice and 2 tablespoons zest!
- All-purpose flour – Spoon and level it to avoid packing too much into your measuring cup.
- Baking powder, baking soda, and eggs – They help the muffins rise.
- Whole milk Greek yogurt – Ever seen sour cream in a muffin recipe? The Greek yogurt does the same thing here. It adds moisture and richness and makes the muffins extra-puffy.
- Granulated sugar – For sweetness. If you like, you can substitute maple syrup to sweeten these muffins naturally. In that case, omit the milk to make up for the extra liquid.
- Melted butter – For richness. Avocado oil or vegetable oil works too!
- Milk – Any kind you like! Whole milk and unsweetened almond milk both work well.
- Vanilla extract – For warm depth of flavor.
- Poppy seeds – They add delightful crunch.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
To make the lemon glaze, you’ll also need a few more tablespoons of lemon juice and powdered sugar. Or, for a stronger lemon flavor without the glaze, add 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract to the muffin batter.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
FAQ: Can I use chia seeds instead of poppy seeds?
Yes! Just like in my vegan lemon muffins, chia seeds work perfectly here. Feel free to use them instead of poppy seeds.
How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
This lemon muffins recipe is super easy to make! Here’s how it goes:
First, make the batter. Combine the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry ingredients in another.
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. Careful not to overmix! If you do, the muffins will be dense.
Fold in the poppy seeds.
Recipe Tip
The muffin batter will be thick! That’s ok. The thick batter supports the poppy seeds so that they don’t all sink to the bottoms of the muffins. It also helps the muffin tops hold their puffed, domed shape after baking.
Next, divide the batter into the muffin pan. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by greasing the muffin cups or lining them with paper liners. Use a 1/3-cup scoop to portion the batter into the muffin cups.
Then, bake! Transfer the muffins to a 400°F oven and bake until the tops spring back to the touch, about 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins should come out clean.
Finally, let the muffins cool. It’ll be tempting to reach for one right away, but the muffins’ texture and flavor actually improve as they cool! Let them cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the muffins are cool, drizzle them with the lemon glaze for a bolder lemon flavor, or enjoy them plain. Both options are delicious!
Storage Instructions
These lemon poppy seed muffins keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Can you freeze lemon poppy seed muffins?
Yes! Sealed in an airtight container or bag, these muffins keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let frozen muffins thaw for an hour at room temp, or pop them in the microwave for about 30 seconds. They make a great quick breakfast or snack!
More Favorite Muffin Recipes
If you love these lemon muffins, try one of these yummy muffin recipes next:
- Healthy Blueberry Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Carrot Muffins
- Zucchini Muffins
- Healthy Banana Muffins
- Or any of these 10 Healthy Muffin Recipes!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- 2 large eggs
- â…” cup granulated sugar*
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, melted**
- ½ cup milk
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- Lemon Glaze, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly oil or spray a 12-cup muffin tin or line it with muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the yogurt, eggs, sugar, melted butter, milk, lemon juice and zest, and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Do not overmix. Fold in the poppy seeds. Use a â…“-cup measuring cup to scoop the batter into the muffin cups.
- Bake for 17 to 22 minutes, or until the tops spring back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Drizzle the cooled muffins with the lemon glaze, if using.
Hi – can I substitute coconut milk for the milk? Thank you!
Hi Marion, you can use coconut milk or any plant milk from the carton. Just don’t use canned coconut milk, it’s too fatty for the ratios here.
Absolutely wonderful!
Hi! Is it possible to use oat milk instead of whole milk for this recipe?
Hi Jade, yep! Oat milk would work great here.
So delicious! Did the maple syrup substitution (no granulated sugar, no milk) and did melted coconut oil (no butter). They turned out amazing!
For the swap, did you use the same amount of maple syrup as it calls for the white sugar?
Hi Sasha, here are our instructions for making these with maple syrup: For naturally sweetened lemon poppy seed muffins, replace the sugar with maple syrup (still 2/3 cup). Omit the milk to compensate for the extra liquid. The muffin batter should be thick, but if it feels too thick or dry, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time to moisten it.
Can you make these incorporating lemon curd into the batter? If so, how would that change the ingredients?
Thank you
Also, is Monk fruit okay to use in place of sugar? Thank you.
I’ve never worked with monk fruit sweetener, so I can’t speak to it, but you can substitute maple syrup here. In that case, omit the milk. If the batter is very thick, you can add a tablespoon of milk at a time to loosen it. Hope this helps!
New egg allergy. What can be substituted for this recipe? Please and thank you.
Hi Barbara, we haven’t tested this recipe without eggs, so I can’t guarantee the results, but I think it would work to use 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed mixed with 5 tablespoons of water. Let the mixture thicken for 5 minutes before adding it to the wet ingredients. I would also go up to 1 tablespoon on the baking powder.
Can you offer a suggestion for the yogurt to make recipe nondairy?
How about vegan yogurt? It’s coconut based and I was surprised how good a raspberry version of it was. Haven’t tried plain yet, but it can’t be bad at least.
Hi Toni, a non-dairy yogurt should work fine here.
This sounds amazing! If we substitute avocado oil for the butter, is it the same measurement?
yep!
Can I use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt
Hi Eva, I think that would be fine!
did you edit this recipe recently or am i losing it haha? i made this a few weeks ago, they were delicious, but i thought the recipe called for maple syrup, not as a substitution…if this is the case, did it also call for milk or is that an edit you made when changing it to sugar? they were perfect as i made them and want to make them that way again! thanks!
Hi Christie, yes, this recipe was recently updated. It used to call for 2/3 cup maple syrup, 1/3 cup avocado oil, and 2 tablespoons milk (any kind works!). All the other measurements were the same. Hope you enjoy!
Please what is the nutrition information?
Hi Vicki, we don’t calculate nutrition facts for our recipes unfortunately, but you could use an online nutrition calculator to get an estimate.
Could I use gluten free flour instead?
I used cassava flour and they came out fine
Awesome! Did you use an equal amount of cassava flour? I’m trying to substitute cassava or almond flour in all of my recipes, and this is good to know. Thank you, Vicki!
Hi! These look delicious! Could I also use a bundt cake tin instead? If so, what would the baking time then be? Thanks in advance!
Hi Femke, we haven’t tried making this recipe in a bundt pan, so I’m not sure what the timing would be. Sorry about that!
Wow… these are amazing. So i used about less then half of whole wheat flour, i did half maple syrup and coconut sugar I didn’t have whole fat Greek but used sigis skyr high protein yogurt. These turned out amazing!! Im not much of a baker but these were perfect! Thank you!!
Hi Faith, I’m so glad you loved them!
These were excellent! Definitely less sweet than traditional lemon poppyseed recipes which was a nice change. Texture was perfect. It did make 12 muffins and filled a mini loaf pan. The flavor was fantastic.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
lemon flavors are always a favorite of mine in banking, and am definitely in on a nice lemon glaze, thank you!
Hi Sabrina, I hope you love the muffins!
How much in grs is a cup?
Hi, we don’t have gram conversions for this whole recipe, but we usually estimate 125g of flour per cup. Hope this helps!
Hi I made these. There’s no sugar in them. They taste like flour :-/ was there supposed to be any white sugar in them. Mine are really bad:-(
I would think the maple syrup is the sweetener.
Hi Karla, did you add the maple syrup? It sweetens these muffins.
Hello! I’m really looking forward to making these but we don’t eat dairy. Could I sub the greek yogurt for a coconut yogurt even if it’s much runnier?
Hi Kianna, this might work fine, but we haven’t tried it, so I’m not 100% sure. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Update – I drained the coconut yogurt overnight and it thickened right up. I cut the maple syrup down to somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup because I like my muffins less sweet and otherwise I followed the recipe as written.
I did make only 12 muffins but they were giant – I think making 15 or so might have been better. Because of this, I had to bake them for closer to 25 minutes in order for them to be baked through.
The outcome was delicious – these are not going to last long!