Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Fresh and, of course, lemony.
Texture: The interior is ultra tender and moist with those delightful little bites of poppy seeds.
Ease: Super easy.
Pros: Quick, simple, and delish.
Cons: None!!
Would I make this again? Yes.
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I’ve always had a soft spot for muffins, and Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are definitely among my favorites.
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 tips below.
Sprinkle of Science
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?
- This can sometimes be caused by the brand of liners.
- This is my favorite brand that I order in bulk from Amazon.
- If you find your liners still get stuck and end up ruining your muffins, don’t worry. I’ve actually written an entire article about how to prevent muffin or cupcake liners from sticking here.
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:
- Brown Butter Blueberry Muffins (with a streusel top!)
- Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Coffee Toffee Crunch Muffins
- Bakery Style Banana Muffins
More Lemon Recipes:
- Glazed Lemon Cookies
- Lemon Bundt Cake
- Lemon Cheesecake
- Lemon Yogurt Zucchini Bread
- Raspberry Lemonade Cheesecake Bars
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Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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 cooled muffin top with the glaze. Let set before serving.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2012 and updated with recipe improvements, new photos, and more baking tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Absolutely delicious!
So happy you loved these muffins, Gerpha!! 🙂
Oh my goodness! These are delicious and so easy! I was skeptical because: 1. No yogurt for moisture and 2. I was worried they’d stick to the muffin cups because it doesn’t call for spraying the cups first. I am so glad I followed the recipe as written because they are perfect! I read some of the comments about not being sweet enough, I think they are plenty sweet, as does my 7 year old. This will be our new go-to, as we love lemon baked goods! Thank you 🙂
PS I didn’t add lemon extract, just used the called for fresh lemon juice and zest. I also just chilled the batter for about 2-3 hours and the muffins are super light and fluffy with the perfect touch of crunch on top.
Hi Marta! I’m so happy you loved these muffins – and that your son loves them, too!! Happy baking 🙂
I’m trying to find the video of the lemon poppy seed muffins cuz I have a question what to do
What to do with the icing sugar and lemon juice
Hi Patricia! Apologies for the confusion. We do not have a video for every recipe, unfortunately. We are in the process of updating our recipe templates, so recipes without a video will no longer show this option. To answer your question, the icing sugar and lemon juice are the ingredients for the glaze! Simply mix in a small bowl with a fork until a thick, smooth glaze forms, and drizzle or dip the top of each cooled muffin with the glaze. Let set before serving. I hope that helps 🙂
I made these muffins today and they are absolutely awesome. I followed your recipe to the T, and also added lemon extract, and refrigerated overnight. They are popping with flavor and the only adjustment I made was baking off at 375 degrees because I do not like to bake anything at 400 degrees. I tested at 21 minutes and they were done. Thanks for a fabulous recipe.
These were some of the best muffins I’ve ever made and had! They were so nice and fluffy with the right amount of sweetness and lemon flavor. Also do not skip letting the batter sit overnight, I really think it made that much of a difference!! Also super easy to make and come together!
Happy you enjoyed this recipe, Thalia!
Honestly, I don’t understand the high ratings on this recipe at all. They were average at best, like other reviewers have said they had no lemon/ flavour and were a waste of time. I won’t be using this blog again for recipes.
Thanks for the easy-to-follow recipe and tips. The muffins turned out yummy and tall.
These muffins were delicious, light and lemony. Ever since I’ve read your tips on the perfect muffins I haven’t had any problems with my baked goods. I didn’t want to wait overnight to bake these so I put the batter in the fridge for about 4 hrs, then baked. They came out looking like they were made in a bakery!
They came out to be great. Thanks for this amazing recipe Tessa!
Hey.. I made these just today. Kept the batter in the fridge overnight. They look amazing. Tall and soft. But I feel they are not lemon-y enough. Infact I added a little more zest + lemon extract to the batter. Still I could hardly taste the lemon.. Any thoughts on why that would be or what I could do next time?
Hi Kanika! Just to confirm, did you also use the original 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice in your muffins? Or did you only use lemon extract and zest? Tessa does suggest adding 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract along with the juice and zest if you want ever more lemon flavor in your muffins. I hope that helps!
I feel like this has to be a negative-comments-get-deleted sort of blog, because this recipe is… fine. The muffins turned out and look great, but they’re not sweet enough and kind of bland. Also, the advice to chill muffin batter overnight is pretty puzzling. Baking powder works immediately by interacting with liquids. It’s going to lose its effectiveness if you let it sit overnight.
Thanks for your feedback! Baking soda works immediately, whereas baking powder is double acting, meaning that it reacts twice- once when added to liquid, and a second time when it hits the heat of the oven. Because this recipe has both, you may lose just a little bit of browning on the muffins while they bake after chilling overnight, but thanks to the baking powder, you’ll still achieve that lift. I hope that helps! You can find out even more details in this article here on How to Bake Tall Bakery Style Muffins.
These muffins are great! Not too sweet, and easy to make. I added 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Was going to add almond extract but I was out! I refrigerated the dough overnight, and was impressed with the outcome. 20 minutes was a bit too long in my oven. I will be making these again and using the tips!
So happy you loved this recipe, Erika!