Packed with fresh lemon zest and lemon juice, you don’t need to visit a bakery for the perfect lemon poppy seed muffin. My effortless recipe makes moist and tender muffins with only a few simple ingredients and an easy stir-together method! All you need to go along with these is a warm cup of tea or coffee.
What You’ll Need for this Recipe
Greek Yogurt: The addition of greek yogurt creates a tender texture and helps keep the muffins from being dry. You can use your favorite brand of plain greek yogurt, just make sure it’s not non-fat. A whole milk yogurt between 2 and 5 percent works best.
HOW TO MAKE LEMON POPPY SEED MUFFINS
1. Preheat oven to 425F. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in the poppy seeds.
2. Combine sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl then rub the lemon zest into the granulated sugar. This brings out the oils in the zest, giving the muffins a more robust lemon flavor.
3. Whisk yogurt, milk, butter, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Fold the batter together just until combined.
5. Fold the batter together just until combined. Divide batter evenly among muffin liners. Bake until golden brown on top.
6. Whisk together confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle glaze over muffins.
PRO-TIPS FOR THIS RECIPE
- Make sure you use greek yogurt or a thicker yogurt, like skyr, and not plain yogurt in this recipe. Plain yogurt is too runny and will add too much moisture to your batter causing them to spread more than puff.
- If you don’t have fresh lemons, 2½ teaspoons lemon extract can be used in place of the lemon zest. Substitute the lemon juice for ½ teaspoon white vinegar. (Don’t worry! You can’t taste the vinegar in the baked muffins!)
- Use a spring loaded scoop to fill muffin tin with batter for more evenly sized muffins. A heaping ¼ cup scoop fit my muffin liners perfectly.
- Try using Meyer lemons in place of regular lemons for a fun flavor twist!
- Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with sugar before baking for a sugary crust on top when baked.
- For a perfect drizzle, place the lemon glaze in a zip-top bag, seal, and cut the very tip of a corner off. Squeeze the glaze out over the muffins.
- Store leftover muffins at room temperature in an airtight container. Muffins are best if eaten within 3 days.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Are poppyseeds safe to eat?
Absolutely! But, if you don’t enjoy them or have concerns, you can definitely leave them out and still bake perfectly delicious muffins.
Do I have to use yogurt in my muffins?
You can use sour cream instead of yogurt if you have it or prefer to use it. You can also use whole cultured buttermilk – just omit the whole milk from the recipe if you do!
My batter is very thick – is that right?
Yes! Because of the greek yogurt, the batter is thick like a pound cake batter instead of runny like a lot of muffin recipes.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin recipe then don’t forget to leave a rating and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Video
Equipment
- Muffin tin
- Paper liners
- Bowls
- Whisk
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour 313g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder 8g
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda 2g
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds 23g
- 1 cup sugar 186g
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest 6g
- 1 cup whole milk greek yogurt 245g
- ⅓ cup whole milk 78mL
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted (113g)
- 2 large eggs 110g
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 15mL
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5mL
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 2g
For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar 113g
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 30mL
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- For muffins: In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk in poppy seeds and salt.
- In another large bowl, combine sugar and lemon zest. Working with your hands, rub zest into sugar until fully combined. Add yogurt, milk, melted butter, eggs, lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth. Pour into flour mixture and fold just until combined. (Batter will be thick.) Divide batter evenly among paper liners.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.
- For glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over cooled muffins.
Notes
- Make sure you use greek yogurt or a thicker yogurt, like skyr, and not plain yogurt in this recipe. Plain yogurt is too runny and will add too much moisture to your batter causing them to spread more than puff.
- If you don’t have fresh lemons, 2½ teaspoons lemon extract can be used in place of the lemon zest. Substitute the lemon juice for ½ teaspoon white vinegar. (Don’t worry! You can’t taste the vinegar in the baked muffins!)
- Use a spring loaded scoop to fill muffin tin with batter for more evenly sized muffins. A heaping ¼ cup scoop fit my muffin liners perfectly.
- Try using Meyer lemons, oranges, or limes in place of regular lemons for a fun flavor twist!
- Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with sugar before baking for a sugary crust on top when baked.
- For a perfect drizzle, place the lemon glaze in a zip-top bag, seal, and cut the very tip of a corner off. Squeeze the glaze out over the muffins.
- Store leftover muffins at room temperature in an airtight container. Muffins are best if eaten within 3 days.
