Perfect Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Easy and delicious, these really are the best lemon poppy seed muffins ever! Fluffy and soft, they are ever so lightly sweet with a pop of fresh lemon flavor in the yummy glaze.
As you started off this innocent Wednesday morning, you may not have even known the one thing missing from your life might very well be a perfect lemon poppy seed muffin.
But I’m here today to gently inform you of that fact.
I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go one more day without the best lemon poppy seed muffin recipe ever.
I fully recognize this may cause you to be a bit less productive as you drop whatever you are doing today and head immediately to the kitchen to make these muffins.
As I apologize for any inconvenience that may arise from this, I am also promising that your life will be infinitely more joyful when you have a batch of these muffins (in less than an hour!) staring you in the face.
Lemon muffins in general are often overlooked, in my opinion. They just don’t get the same attention and press as, say, a decadent chocolate muffin.
And while I can understand that, to a point (I mean, hello, chocolate!), lemon muffins are one of the most delicious, unassuming varieties of muffins around.
Perfect for almost any occasion and delicious year round, I think lemon muffins need a chance to shine again.
I’ve posted a few lemony muffins over the years – these lemon crumb muffins are a serious standout (sooooo yummy), and these wildly popular lemon blueberry muffins are timeless and fantastic.
But a quick inventory of my muffin archives and the shocking lack of a classic lemon poppy seed muffin had me feeling a bit lost.
Lemon poppy seed cookies? Yep, got that covered.
But I wanted a really easy, really tasty lemon poppy seed muffin.
One you could whip up for an after school snack or make-ahead for breakfast. A muffin worthy of serving to a baby shower or bridal shower brunch crowd, but one simple enough to make just because.
Light and fluffy, but not overly sweet (we’re after a muffin here, not a cupcake).
And this really does pan out to be the best lemon poppy seed muffin recipe I’ve ever made.
There really isn’t anything fancy, secretive, or difficult about these muffins.
A quick batter infused with fresh lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice (plus some yogurt or buttermilk to help tenderness!) is dotted with poppy seeds and baked until fluffy and lightly golden.
The essential and somewhat special part of the recipe is the easy syrupy glaze (just fresh lemon juice and sugar!) that simmers until slightly thickened. Brush that tart, sweet glaze on top of the muffins right as they come out of the oven!
The extra pop of fresh lemon flavor from the glaze is fantastic and so yummy! If you have coarse sugar laying around, sprinkle some of that on top, too, for a fun bakery-style vibe.
This lemon poppy seed muffin is definitely fit for the “best of” archives!
One Year Ago: Creamy White Chicken Chili {Stovetop or Slow Cooker}
Two Years Ago: One Pot Creamy Asparagus Bacon Pasta
Three Years Ago: Scripture Bars {i.e. Mud Hen Bars or Marshmallow Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars}
Four Years Ago: Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
Five Years Ago: Fudgy Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Perfect Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 3 cups (426 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups plain yogurt, Greek or regular or buttermilk (or a combination; see note)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, from 1-2 lemons
- 1 ½ tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest, from about 3 lemons
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (113 g) salted butter, melted and cooled until no longer hot
Glaze:
- ¼ cup (53 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- Coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional, but fun and delicious)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (if using a dark-coated pan, preheat to 350 degrees F). Lightly grease two 12-cup muffin tins or line with muffin liners. If you only have one pan, you can easily bake in separate batches. See note about using a USA brand muffin tin.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- In another bowl or large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the yogurt/buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and eggs.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together once or twice to start combining (stop stirring before it’s fully combined; it’s ok if there are dry streaks remaining). Add the melted butter and gently fold/stir until just combined. Don’t overmix or the muffins might be dry and tough!
- Fill the muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full (I use this handy dandy #20 cookie scoop to fill the muffin tins).
- Bake for 17-20 minutes until the top springs back lightly to the touch.
- For the glaze, while the muffins bake, simmer the sugar and lemon juice together in a small pan on the stove, for about 5 minutes until the mixture is thickened into a light syrup. Remove from the heat.
- Pretty quickly after the muffins come out of the oven (within 2-3 minutes), keeping the muffins in the tin, brush the top of the muffins equally with the lemon syrup. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if using.
- Let the muffins cool another minute or two in the muffin tin before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from America’s Test Kitchen
These are wonderful, I made them for a wedding brunch. They disappeared fast, with people asking for more.
Delicious! Tangy but still lightly sweet, fluffy and moist. I halved the recipe, and it turned out great!
This is great! But is there supposed to be vinila or almond extract?
You can add those if you’d like.
Hello. For anyone that is interested,,I tried this with GF flour and did half and half yogurt and butter milk and it turned out great. Very fluffy even for GF! I didn’t make the glaze but used a bit of caramel sauce. Awesome.
I just made these and they turned out really well! I do agree that the muffin itself doesn’t have a ton of lemon flavor, so next time I’ll add some lemon extract to help boost the flavor (just my luck that I found out I was out while baking today!). As it is, the glaze really provides the base lemony flavor and the muffin is slightly sweet and tender, which I find to be a rather addictive combo. I used a darker muffin pan, so next time I think I’m going to lower the temperature a bit further (maybe to 330 or 335F?), just because the bottoms of mine got a little darker than I’d prefer.
I did have to add a few tbsp of milk to get the dough to come together, though if you also run into this problem, I definitely suggest first trying this: mix a few times, then wait a couple minutes before mixing again. It gives the flour time to rehydrate without overworking it.
Made these last week. Fabulous recipe as always. Mel’s recipes are always my go to. The next day put in microwave to barely warm. Makes them them soft.
I don’t like a sweet muffin which is why I chose this Recipe but these aren’t sweet enough. Not enough lemon flavor either. The batter was like bread and the texture is a bit rubbery. I’m not sure how everyone below is adding this and that and gives this a 5 star rating. Not a 5 Star muffin to be certain. Very disappointing as I had to search all over for poppyseeds and overpaid and 2-I was so looking forward to these. 🙁
I made these muffins last night and they were delicious. They came out very light and fluffy. The dough was quite a bit dry so I ended up using about 5-6 tablespoons of lemon juice to keep it all together. The glaze really gave the muffins an extra zing! I sent my fiance to work with these to feed his crew of tree workers and they raved about them!
8 T or 4 ounces? Which is the correct amount for the butter? Thanks!
4 ounces is referring to the weight not the volume measure…8 tablespoons of butter weighs 4 ounces.
I made the recipe with 1/2 buttermilk and 1/2 vanilla yogurt. I also added 1 tbsp vinegar and 1 tbsp orange juice as the dough seemed really thick. Agree with the comments that more lemon juice is needed for flavor. For the consistency, mine were light and fluffy but a little dry. Added a lemon simple syrup to them and they were delicious.
Hi there! Did you use salted or unsalted butter in this recipe?
I use salted butter.
These are delicious! Extra lemon zest is perfect. So lemony. Just zap them for 10 seconds from cold and the lemon pops. Defiantly recommend!!
Not light and fluffy…but in my opinion, muffins are supposed to be dense. Love the texture of these muffins. I would probably add more lemon juice next time as I love a good lemon punch! Super great recipe as usual from you.
I made these and my husband just tested them; I used about 3 tablespoons of lemon zest, which is double what the recipe called for and I also used Raw sugar on the top after I applied the glaze. Thanks so much for sharing your gifts with us
My daughter requested lemon poppy seed muffins and I knew that I would find a winning recipe from you! These turned out amazing! I used all store bought buttermilk and followed the recipe exactly. Your website is my absolute favorite for recipes. Thank you!
Definitely not light and fluffy. Having read the comments before making this recipe, I was careful to not over-mix the dough and in measuring the dry ingredients. Our muffins were dense and doughy; lemon flavor was minimal – better on day 2. I used sour cream and whipping cream (3 to 1 ratio) in place of the yogurt.
SO good! Love this recipe! I love citrus, and this recipe has lots of lemon flavor! The muffins are so moist and delicious! I make this recipe for my kids lunches! Thank you for posting!
Why is everyone saying these are dense?! You must have done something wrong! They are so fluffy and delicious. Perhaps the problem is over-mixing? Not folding? Zesting too much, past the white of the lemon can lose some of the flavor. I had great success..and I am NOT a baker. They yield 24 muffins. Cooked just as described for 17-20 minutes. Don’t skip the glaze!
just made these but they turned out more like a biscuit instead of a light muffin….any suggestions on how to fix that? they still tasted delicious but i wanted more of the light, fluffy texture like your pictures show. Thanks!
Hi Shar – making sure the dry ingredients aren’t over measured (measure the flour with a light hand) and not over mixing might help!
dough was very thick and had me worried: they turned out good but quite bland.
I followed every instruction perfectly… Used Greek yogurt which was quite dense which made the batter super thick . this recipe was terrible. it was bland with no lemon flavor… It was dense like cake… And it was dry. I don’t know how in the world this had so many good reviews. my kids wouldn’t even eat the muffins!
This was my experience, too. I added a little extra fresh lemon juice than what was called for and the flavor is so so bland. Unfortunately I made a double batch in the hopes of giving some to people, but they’re going in the trash.
I don’t think the oz of flour is correct, my dough turned out way to thick!
Can’t wait to try this recipe this afternoon. What would the cook time be for mini muffins?
Probably right around 7-9 minutes.
I made this into two small loaves, 350° for 50 minutes. I also cut the sugar in half. I didn’t have any buttermilk or yogurt, so I just made my own buttermilk with one and a half cups half-and-half with lemon juice. Delicious!