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.
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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.