I’ve always had a soft spot for muffins, and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are definitely among my favorite.
In high school, muffins were the little treat to break up the monotony. There would be a muffin cart in the main hallway once a week.
I’m pretty sure the muffins were from Costco. They weren’t wonderful, but it was nice to have a little sweet indulgence to look forward to.
Muffins will probably always have a place in my heart.
They’re truly a multi-purpose treat. They’re perfect for breakfast, as a snack, or even for dessert.
Unfortunately, most muffins are bland. And in my experience, the muffins that often look the prettiest with the tallest muffin tops are often super cakey and dry – even from a good bakery.
I prefer a nice moist muffin with a bit of a springy texture. I don’t want pound cake. Or cake at all. Which I find is what most packaged muffins feel like. And I certainly don’t want a dry muffin. I want MOIST muffins… everyone’s favorite word 😉
So if you feel the same, or are just curious about the science of muffin baking, check out the pink box below for my tips.
How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Don’t Overmix Your Muffin Batter!!
- Be very very careful not to overmix the batter once you combine the wet + dry ingredients. This will create rubbery muffins.
- Gently stir until *just* combined.
- If there’s a few small streaks of flour remaining, that’s perfectly fine.
Secret Baking Science Tip: CHILL The Muffin Batter!
- The BEST thing you can do to make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (or any muffins!) more tender and even a little taller is to cover and chill your batter in the fridge overnight before baking.
- It’s very similar to chilling cookie dough.
- Think of it like marinating.
- By chilling the batter, the starch in the flour is able to absorb more moisture, resulting in a more tender muffin.
- It also thickens the batter without making it drier, which helps encourage taller muffin tops without that crumbly or cakey texture.
- This technique works particularly well with muffin batter, which is usually made from melted butter or oil (not creamed butter + sugar) and uses only baking powder as the leavener, which is double acting. Meaning, it’s activated both by the moisture of the batter and the heat of the oven. Baking soda is only activated by acid in the batter, not from the heat of the oven.
- If you don’t believe me, just look at the comparison below. And what the image doesn’t quite capture is just how much more TENDER the chilled batter muffins turned out.
How to Chill Muffin Batter:
- Chill the batter in one large bowl, as opposed to chilling it in the individual muffin cavities, to prevent it from drying out.
- Bake directly from the fridge.
How Do I Get MORE Lemon Flavor in These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins?
Add 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract along with the juice and zest.
How Do I Stop My Muffins From Sticking to the Liner?
What’s the Best Muffin Tin?
I typically don’t like nonstick bakeware, which is why I was so surprised when I fell in love with the Wilton Recipe Right Nonstick Muffin Pan. They bake evenly and achieve lightly golden brown edges and clean up beautifully. I’ve had 3 of these tins for 6+ years and love them!
Can You Freeze Muffins?
Yes! Unglazed Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Defrost on the counter until room temperature. Refresh in a 300°F oven for 5 minutes if desired. If desired, glaze once thawed and at room temperature.
More Muffin Recipes
More Lemon Recipes
-
2
cups
(254 grams) all-purpose flour
-
3/4
cup
(150 grams) granulated sugar
-
2
tablespoons
poppy seeds
-
1
tablespoon
baking powder
-
1/2
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1/2
teaspoon
fine salt
-
1
cup
whole milk,
at room temperature
-
1
stick (113 grams) unsalted butter,
melted and cooled
-
1
large egg,
at room temperature
-
2
tablespoons
fresh lemon juice
-
1 1/2
tablespoons
fresh lemon zest
For the lemon glaze:
-
1
cup
(125 grams) powdered sugar
-
2
tablespoons
fresh lemon juice
-
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners.
-
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
-
In a small bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, egg, juice, and zest. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not overmix - there should be a couple streaks of flour remaining.* Divide evenly among the muffin tin cups.
-
Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the edges are golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool until barely warm.
-
Serve, or store in an airtight at room temperature for 3 days. Muffins can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
Make the glaze:
-
In a small bowl, combine the sugar and lemon juice with a fork until a smooth and thick glaze forms. Drizzle or dip each muffin top with the glaze. Let set before serving.
*If time permits, cover and refrigerate the batter overnight for taller more tender muffins. Chill the batter in one large bowl, as opposed to chilling it in the individual muffin cavities, to prevent it from drying out. Bake directly from the fridge.
If you prefer muffins with a stronger punch of lemon flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract along with the juice and zest.
This recipe was originally published in 2012 and updated with recipe improvements, new photos, and more baking tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Can I use 2% milk instead of whole milk?
We haven’t tried that as we prefer whole milk for the best flavor, though other readers have had success 🙂
Tessa at it again with this AMAZING muffin recipe. I’ve never let muffin batter sit overnight but I read Tessa’s post and explanation, and have seen others also suggest the benefits of letting muffin batter “marinate” overnight. Pro: these muffins turned out SO well. Besides the batter being almost too easy to make, letting the batter refrigerate overnight produced moist, fluffy and tall muffins! No flat hat ones. Con: I will now have to wait overnight before making other muffins again… like with cookie dough this time in the fridge really does yield a better end product. But guess its worth it! And it was really nice waking up, and only having to divide the batter into liners and 20 minutes later having oven fresh muffins first thing.
I love following your blog, Instagram and baking your recipes – knock on wood but I haven’t had a “dud” yet. Now i must find the willpower not to eat all 12 muffins… 1.5 are already missing …
Aw yay!! So happy to hear how much you love this recipe! And I’m so glad that you tried marinating the batter overnight too, it really makes a difference! Feel free to freeze some of the extra muffins in an airtight container so you can enjoy them for longer (if there’s any leftover!) 🙂
LOVE THEM! I had unexpected company and only one egg. I’m so glad I was able to find this recipe and was able to make a tasty treat for my guests. EVERYONE loved them! (I added a streusel topping before baking. One can’t have too much goodness with their morning coffee.)
Wonderful! So glad this recipe worked perfectly for your company and that everyone enjoyed!
The texture and moisture was PERFECT!!! Best muffin I’ve ever had in those terms…even better than muffins I’ve gotten at bakeries!
The glaze was very good. The muffin itself could have used some more lemon flavor. Next time I’ll experiment with a bit of lemon extract. That’s just my preference to make a recipe that is already SO delicious better suited for someone who likes more of a punch.
Yay! So happy you enjoyed them, Christine! Thanks for taking the time to write such a rave review, we appreciate your feedback as well!
I love your content, especially when you tell the truth about how you feel about a particular matter like buttermilk.
Question: What is the difference between using 2 cups (here) vs. 2-1/4 cups (in your ultimate muffin freebie) flour? Thank you.
Hi Janine! Glad you’re enjoying our content! This recipe and the Ultimate Muffin recipe have a completely different set of ingredients, including the weight of each. While each recipe is absolutely delicious, this recipe was created specifically to make the perfect Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin, whereas the Ultimate Muffin recipe was created specifically as a base recipe that can be used for endless flavor/add-in options. I hope that helps!
Hi,
What can happen if you over mix?
Hi Taji! Over mixed muffins are not light and fluffy, they’re a more tough muffin with a chewy texture. They can have peaked tops and develop “tunnel-shaped” holes in the interior. Sometimes they may not even rise to full volume. We recommend that your batter still contains a few traces of flour when you stop mixing. I hope that helps!
Hi Tessa,
Can I use bread flour for your Lemon Poppyseed Muffins and Ultimate Muffins in lieu of all-purpose?
I am looking forward to making them.
Many thanks,
Robin
We haven’t tried that, though we always recommend making the recipe as written for best results. Bread flour has a higher protein content, so we don’t typically use it in muffin recipes as it can result in a tougher, more chewy muffin.
Hi Emily,
Bread flour is used in your Easy Bakery Style Banana muffins, so before I make these can you please let me know why is doesn’t work for other muffin recipes. I am sure there is a very good reason but I need to know how it works for one and not others.
Warmest wishes,
Robin
No problem, Robin! The bread flour was used in the Banana Muffin recipe to help absorb more of the moisture of the bananas and to help with its structure. Tessa hasn’t actually used bread flour in any other muffin recipes, just all-purpose flour, but you’re more than welcome to try with this one 🙂
Amazing recipe! cant fault it! i tried it with orange instead of lemon and it was also amazing!
Delicious! Love making them with orange instead, so happy you enjoyed this recipe 🙂
These turned out delicious! Thanks
So happy you enjoyed them, thanks for letting us know! 🙂
Hi Tessa,
I live half time in Sun Valley, Idaho at 5900 feet. I have looked at so many recipes that were meant for altitude but it looks like one needs to “try” one or more of three alteration possibilities for baking at altitude (less leavening, higher/lower heat/ less or more flour…eeeks!) ; that requires lots of time and often wasted ingredients.
Do you have any foolproof tips? For example, I recently made a delish lemon meringue pie. One recipe said make the meringue at the same time as the custard…a bit daunting…and spread the egg white on the hot custard and bake. Another was make the custard and refrigerate for 2 hours or more (I did 2 hrs) cover w/the egg whites and bake for 10 min at 400. It looked great tasted good but the custard turned runny.
Any advice?
Love what you do and so happy to see you succeed! Keep it up!
I’m sorry, I don’t bake at high-altitude so I can’t help much-I’d suggest checking out King Arthur Flour’s tips linked here 🙂
Hello, I tried the cheat sheet recipe today, however this version of the recipe is way better than that in the Ultimate Cheat Sheet for muffins. The cheat sheet recipe lacks flavor and tender crumb whilst this version of your recipe is perfect!
Thanks for sharing your recipes!
I rarely comment on recipes after I have made alterations because that would be unfair, but this recipe still holds up brilliantly! The muffin was soft and baked up super well without the greasy bottom, it was (sorry) MOIST and fluffy. Definitely make this!
Alterations that I made:
– Reduced granulated sugar by half a cup. If your family doesn’t like sweet recipes, this won’t affect the muffins.
– Lemon drizzle instead of glaze. Ran out of powdered sugar and I’m unorganised. I used the juice of a lemon and 55 grams of granulated sugar then stirred until the sugar dissolved. Poked holes into the muffin and spooned the drizzle over it. FOLLOW THE RECIPE! The drizzle didn’t get absorbed well, but this was still super delicious. If you don’t have powdered sugar I recommend this.
can this be doubled to make a cake instead?
I haven’t tried making these muffins into a 9×13, if you do experiment with it, let me know how it goes! 🙂
First time attempting lemon poppy seed muffins, definitely worried about the texture because I did not want a dense blob. Surprisingly they came out really good, I was really pleased with the result. I already doubled the poppy seeds and lemon juice, but my hubby requested to triple them next time.
I did a some modification; I didn’t have any AP flour so I used cake flour. I didn’t melt the butter but leave it to soften and beat it with sugar which I cut in half since we are trying to go keto. Then top with almond slices before baking. The muffins even have top muffin tops, moist and fluffy soft, better than store bought muffins my hubby claimed lol
Thank you for the recipe, it is a keeper!
Happy to hear they were such a hit! 🙂
Can I substitute orange juice and orange zest for the lemon to make orange and poppyseed muffins?
I haven’t tried that, but you’re welcome to give it a shot! Keep me posted on how they turn out! 🙂
Excellent recipe! I used cake flour to create a lighter texture. Baked muffins at 425 for 8 minutes, then decreased the oven temp to 350 for an additional 13 min to prevent too much browning. The muffins came out perfectly!
So happy to hear your substitution worked well!
Perfect moist muffins! Very tasty
It was so good! I have been searching for my “go-to” muffin recipe for my husband’s early mornings on the farm and I think I found it. The glaze at the end gives it the extra *made with love* finishing touch. Impressed!
Best ever muffin batter recipe! Made them million times already and still can’t get enough ♡
So happy to hear this, Monika!
Very easy! And scrumptious. The only change I made was I added almost a full cup of sugar
So happy you loved these muffins!
I made these with 3 TBL lemon juice and they still weren’t very lemony. The consistency is tasty and the baked really nice but the lemon flavor is too lacking.
Any estimation on how long to bake mini muffins?
Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes, and it’ll make about 24 to 28 mini muffins. I actually talk about difference in muffin sizes and baking times/temps in my Ultimate Muffin article if you’re interested!
These muffins are SO TALL! I chilled the batter as recommended and I have never had such tall muffins before – taller than the photo! And they’re super delicious. I love the texture and the lemon zest taste. I haven’t even made the glaze to put on top yet, I had to eat one first!!
YAY for tall muffins! So glad you love this recipe 🙂
Great recipe. I did have to at least double the lemon juice for the glaze as it was super stiff.
You can definitely thin or thicken the glaze to your liking, I’m so happy you enjoyed these muffins!
Had a craving for lemon poppy seed muffins and this definitely delivered!
Super soft and tender!
Definitely recommend this recipe!
Wonderful to hear this!
I was scrolling Pintrest for a lemon poppy seed muffin without Greek yougert or sour cream (didn’t have those on hand) this one turned out yum and I haven’t even iced them yet
So glad you loved these muffins!
Perfect little muffins! I made ours with almond milk and just added my lemon juice to mock a “buttermilk” for extra moisture. Also used Meyer Lemons which I would highly recommend when in season. Great recipe!
So glad you enjoyed these muffins!
So so good!!! Incredibly moist and not too sweet. I didn’t have edible zest so I added a couple extra tbsps of lemon juice. I also chilled over night as suggested. Delicious!
So thrilled you tried these muffins out!
I’ve made these a few time now, and they are my current favorite quick fix in want of something sweet. I substituted the poppy seeds with chia seeds, as that’s what I had in the cupboard. I also love them extra zingy, so in went the extra lemon zest
So glad you love these muffins!
This is the best hands down recipe even though I substituted, I used lemon extract instead since I did not have enough lemons. My kids love these, oh I also used Wholewheat flour but they are to die for. I normally don’t leave a rating but I had to come and rate this one 5/5
Great recipe. Thanks for the tip on chilling the dough overnight! Baked up so nice and high, great crumb and the flavor! So good!
So glad you enjoyed!
Could I add blueberries to this recipe?
Loved this recipe! Easy to make yet so tasty! Swapped poppyseed with black sesame seeds and still tasted good.
Worked out perfectly. Light and fluffy. I will make again, and perhaps add some coconut for a bit of extra oomph! Lovely though, and great tips with not over mixing. I didn’t chill the batter overnight but did for two hours. Most of mine raised up nicely.
I tried this recipe a couple times. The first time, I followed the instructions, and the muffin tops were good, but the bottoms were burnt and the texture was a little off. The next time, I made them monstrously huge, added extra lemon juice and poppy seeds, used a combo of half and half and 2% because we didn’t have whole milk, and baked them at 375 instead of 400, and they were perfect.
These muffins caved in before I could even open the oven to test if they’re ready. I do not know what went wrong
It sounds like either the baking powder was expired or the oven wasn’t hot enough!
I let the batter sit over night. It was light, fluffy, and full of flavor. The glaze is very sweet (as expected) so I found it doesn’t take much on each muffin. I will likely make these again as my mother in law loved them. Thank you!
The recipe says tablespoon full of baking powder????? Isn’t that a lot! Is that a typing error????
If we chill the batter, do we need to let it come back to room temp before baking?
Just made this yesterday! Amongst 6 people who has tried it, they loved it!!! Tastes so great! I chilled the batter overnight. I got some really tall muffins. They looked amazing. Would this be able to be made into a loaf? If so, should I change anything in the ingredients?
Amazing! So glad to hear that. I haven’t tried as a loaf so I’m not sure. If you give it a go, let us know how it turns out 🙂
Lovely work!! Charming one
Does chilling overnight benefit your other muffin recipes that have only buttermilk and baking powder? Do you think that would work for quick breads too?
I believe it would! 🙂
How much flour and what kind of flour?
What a great recipe! It’s a hit with my family. I did 1 cup all purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour (b/c I usually do that) and added about a tablespoon extra milk to balance the wheat flour. I also cut the sugar to 1/2 cup. That’s just because my kids are sugar fiends so I’m trying to do less sugar. We were running out of time so I baked them at 450 for 15 min and they puffed up in my silicone cups…without leaving it overnight. It made 12 muffins for me. Fantastic!!! Nice and moist. Thank you for this recipe…my daughter has been begging for lemon poppyseed for months now!
So glad you and your family enjoyed these muffins!
These look so yummy! I love lemon poppyseed muffins, and these ones look amazing. And that chilled batter trick sounds intriguing; I’ve never done it before, but it must work well, because those muffins look SO moist and tender, even in just the pictures! All I wanna do right now is reach through the screen and grab one… 🙂
Is it whole milk or buttermilk?
The ingredient list called for whole milk and the instructions said buttermilk. Are they interchangeable?
And do we use milk, or buttermilk? You list milk in the ingredients, but mention using buttermilk in the directions.
Can I substitute flax seeds for the poppy seeds?
How much flour ??
You’ve not listed the flour in the ingredients.
Does this hold true for brownies as well? Should they be refrigerated prior to baking? Thanks.
flour was not listed in recipe, oops??
Ive made these 3 or 4 times now and they are fantastic! The batter always seems to make 12 very large muffins plus 6 regular sized muffins. I follow the recipe exactly and its happened every time.
I do wonder how many calories each has though, any idea?
Excellent! Feel free to paste the ingredients into a calorie calculator online 🙂
These muffins look delicious! I want to cook them! Once I tried these banana muffins http://cookiteasy.net/recipe/banana-muffins-211159.html They are very tasty/ I can recommend!
Mmmm, I just made these and they were delicious! I cut the recipe in half, but I still had enough to make 10 muffins. I think “12” might be a bit low for the recipe.
I've just tried them. I have had dough for about 18 pieces…
you mean batter?
I tried this last night. Delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh my goodness, these muffins look so good! I've been wanting to make some yummy muffins, so I will definitely have to make these. Thanks for sharing.
lmld.org
Lemon poppyseed has to be the best combination since peanut butter & chocolate. Mmm! These muffins look fantastic! 😀