Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Recipe

Perfectly domed Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Recipe bursting with lemon flavor and slight crunch from seeds. These are tall, soft and moist muffins topped with lemon glaze that are ready in under 30 minutes!

Try my Moist Banana Blueberry Muffins next! Love berries? This softest Blackberry Muffins Recipe is just for you! If you are looking for summer baking inspiration, check these Easy Summer Recipes out!

What Readers are saying:

Stephanie says: "The best lemon muffins I've made to date. The poppy seeds adds just the right amount of additional flavor and the sour cream adds just a bit of tang. Baked up lovely!"

Dana says: "These are so easy to make and yummy! We loved them. You can make as a loaf and just adjust the heat and time or make as muffins. Both are delish."

Muffins: Taste and Texture

• Soft and Moist crumb
• Perfectly puffed tops
• Loaded with ample of crunchy poppy seeds
• Topped off with a bright and sweet lemon glaze

Recipe Ingredients:

These Muffins require only a few simple ingredients. The list of ingredients and what they do in the batter is mentioned below-

Sour Cream: You will need one cup of cream to make super moist muffins that stay moist for days! Full fat or even low fat yogurt can be subbed for sour cream. But in my opinion sour cream hands down produces the most soft and moist muffins

Baking Powder: We are using baking powder for a good rise in these muffins. You will need 2 teaspoons of it. Make sure to use a fresh baking powder/baking soda while making any baked good. If your leaveners are stale, your baked goods won't rise properly and won't be light and fluffy in texture. Replace them in about a month or as the packaging suggests.  

Lemon Zest and Juice: Both lemon zest and juice are needed to give these muffins a perfect lemon flavor. I suggest not to skip the zest.

All Purpose Flour: All purpose flour is the base of this recipe. I like to sift my flour to get rid of any lumps before adding to the muffin batter.

Vanilla: I know we are making lemon flavored muffins, but along with lemon, I love adding a hint of vanilla to this batter. Lemon and vanilla together are a match made in heaven. Don't skip it. Always use pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste for best flavor.

How do you make these muffins from scratch?

This muffins recipe involves an easy technique of mixing all the wet ingredients first till they all are well combined. Then moving on to dry ingredients.

The batter gets prepared effortlessly and free of lumps when you sift all the dry ingredients together first. 

As there is no butter involved here, creaming technique is not needed to prepare the batter. Whenever we cream butter and sugar, an aerated batter is produced as a result. The texture of those muffins would be similar to cupcakes then. Don't misunderstand, I love those muffins too but making the muffins today is just easier.

Making these lemon muffins is as easy as mixing wet ingredients into dry as long as you don't overmix the batter. Lets quickly see how we are preparing the batter! 

1. Beat room temp egg and sugar together till light and fluffy with electric mixer.
2. Next add in sour cream, oil, vanilla lemon zest and juice.
3. Now fold sifted dry ingredients and poppy seeds into wet and take care not to overmix the batter at this point.
4. Pour in the prepared liners and bake!!

Tips to make perfect homemade muffins every single time:

• Do not over mix the batter: This is the most important step to keep in mind while making muffins' batter. While mixing dry ingredients into wet, fold only till the streaks of flour disappear in the batter. Else muffins may turn out dense and dry if the batter is over mixed.
• Use fresh Lemons: Fresh lemons yield 100x better flavor than the lemons sold in bottles. Always reach out for fresh lemons to make homemade muffins.

• Room temperature ingredients, always: Room temp. ingredients mix well with each other creating a uniform batter. This ultimately leads to a perfect bake! Make sure to take out eggs, lemons, sour cream at least 30 minutes before starting to whip the batter up.
• Use lots of Poppy Seeds: You can easily use about 3 table spoons of poppy seeds in this recipe for a perfect crunch.
• Always keep muffins covered: Muffins will keep moist for days when stored- covered tightly at all times.
• Sparkling Sugar: Like that crunchy bakery style crust on top of your muffins? Drizzle some sparkling sugar on the top of muffins before baking and enjoy!

Can I replace sour cream?

Yes, you can replace ½ cup or even the full cup of  sour cream used in the recipe with either Greek Yogurt or regular yogurt. Using yogurt in the recipe as opposed to sour cream alters the texture of these muffins to some extent.

Like sour cream muffins are super light and tender as compared to yogurt muffins.

What is the point of poppy seeds in muffins?

Muffins baked with poppy seeds taste so good with a slight crunch. Also these tiny seeds lend a hearty mouth feel in every bite.

Do poppy seeds add flavor or just texture?

Apart from the lovely crunch that you get from adding poppy seeds to your muffins, these seeds impart a great flavor to your muffins too. These seeds are very earthy and slightly nutty to taste.

How much poppy seeds for muffins?

In most muffins recipes out there you will notice 2 tablespoons of seeds are added in a batch of 12. But we are amping up that game a bit by adding 3 tablespoons of seeds in one batch.

You see I really like poppy seeds to be concentrated in my muffins and if you do too, then go by this recipe and throw 3 tablespoon seeds in that batter. You won't regret it!

How to store muffins:

Muffins keep well stored at room temperature for 2 days. Make sure to store them in airtight containers at all times. For longer storage, you can freeze them for about two months. Do not put the glaze on yet. Thaw on counter top overnight and glaze them before enjoying.

You can also microwave them in 15 seconds increments to warm one up before devouring.

More Muffin Recipes you will like:

Healthy Banana Muffins

Moist Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Strawberry Muffins Recipe

Cinnamon Sugar Banana Muffins

If you liked this recipe, give it a star review. Also, tell me in the comments below, how did this turn out for you! And don’t forget to share your creations with me on Instagram at #greedyeatsblog Also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook!

Recipe

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Soft, fluffy and moist Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins recipe made with sour cream. These are perfectly puffy muffins topped with lemon glaze ready in under 30 minutes!

4.96 from 21 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

US Customary - Metric

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 22 minutes minutes

Total Time: 27 minutes minutes

Servings 12 Muffins

1x2x3x

Calories: 289kcal

Author: Neha

Equipment

• Electric beater/mixer
• 12 Cup Baking Pan
• Paper Liners

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 large Eggs (at room temperature)
• ▢ 1 Cup Granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 Cup Sour cream (at room temperature)
• ▢ ½ Cup Oil (Vegetable/ canola/avocado)
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon Pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 tablespoon Lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Lemon zest
• ▢ 2 Cups All purpose flour
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon Salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• ▢ 3 tablespoon Poppy Seeds

Lemon Glaze

• ▢ 1 Cup Confectioners' sugar
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoon Lemon juice
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Lemon zest

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Line a 12-count muffin pan with cupcake liners and preheat your oven to 400˚F. In a large mixing bowl beat together eggs and granulated sugar with stand mixer/hand beater on high till it gets thick and light in color. About 2 minutes.
• Next add sour cream, oil, vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Mix it them on low speed until all the ingredients are well combined.
• Sift all dry ingredients (all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and poppy seeds) over wet and fold just until combined.
• Divide the batter into 12 muffin liners. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove muffins from tin after 4-5 minutes and cool on a wire rack until the muffins are at room temperature then drizzle with lemon glaze.

Lemon Glaze Recipe

• Combine confectioners' sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir it all until smooth. If the glaze gets too thick add a little lemon juice or water, just a teaspoon at a time. To thicken, add a little more confectioners' sugar.

Notes

Storage Info:

Store muffins covered tightly at room temp for up to 2 days. These muffins can also be frozen up to 2 months.

When freezing, do not glaze the muffins before hand. Freeze them as is and glaze when ready to serve, after thawing.

Thaw them overnight in the fridge or microwave for around 30 seconds direct from the freezer.

Tips to make best muffins every time:

• Do not over mix the batter: This is the most important step to keep in mind while making muffins' batter. While mixing dry ingredients into wet, fold only till the streaks of flour disappear in the batter. Else muffins may turn out dense and dry if the batter is over mixed.
• Use fresh Lemons: Fresh lemons yield 100x better flavor than the lemons sold in bottles. Always reach out for fresh lemons to make homemade muffins.
• Meyer Lemons: Try switching lemons for meyer lemons, for even a brighter- sweet and citrusy flavor in the batter. I promise, you will fall for those lemony-fruity-floral accents!
• Got no lemons at hand? No problem. You can sub lemons with 2 and a ½ tsps of lemon extract and just ½ teaspoon of white vinegar. Worry not! You won't taste vinegar in your baked muffins.
• Room temperature ingredients make all the difference: Room temp ingredients mix well with each other creating a uniform batter. This ultimately leads to a perfect bake!  

Nutrition

Serving: 1Muffin | Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 44g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 11g | Sodium: 38mg | Sugar: 27g

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