Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
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These light, fluffy and moist Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with a simple lemon glaze are the perfect summer muffin!


There’s no denying that muffins are one of the best dishes in the breakfast world and these Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are no exception. They’re flavored with fresh lemon juice and zest and they have a perfectly tangy lemon glaze that complements the poppy seeds!
Ingredient Breakdown
Butter – melted butter adds both flavor and moisture! I always recommend using unsalted butter but salted butter works if that’s all you have on hand, just be sure to omit the 1/2 teaspoon of salt later on.
Lemon zest – adds extra lemon flavor by rubbing zest and sugar together until it looks like wet sand. This releases lemon oil from the zest.
Granulated sugar – sweetens and tenderizes muffins.
Buttermilk – adds flavor, moisture and makes muffins super fluffy.
Lemon juice – gives the muffins their lemon flavor. Always use fresh lemon juice!
Vanilla extract and salt – enhances flavor.


How to Make Lemon Poppy seed Muffins
1. Make the lemon poppy seed muffin batter: in a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl rub together granulated sugar and lemon zest until it looks like wet sand. Then whisk in the melted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until smooth and well combined.


3. Fold dry ingredients into the wets until just combined then evenly divide batter between muffin cups. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
4. Make the lemon glaze: in a small bowl combine the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice then drizzle over cooled muffins.


Pro Tips for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale! Measuring ingredients by volume is not accurate; baking is a science after all!
- Don’t over mix your batter! This will cause too much gluten development and nobody likes rubbery muffins so after adding the dry ingredients only mix until just combined.
- Fill your muffin cups 2/3 of the way full to get tall muffin tops. For a jumbo muffin pan I like to do 3 scoops of batter per muffin cup using this cookie scoop.
My Favorite Muffin Tools
- Kitchen scale I love this scale, I’ve been using it for years!
- Jumbo Muffin Pans
- Jumbo Muffin Liners
- Cookie Scoop
If you try this recipe then please leave a rating/comment below to let me know how you liked it and feel free to ask any recipe questions you may have! 🙂
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Equipment
- 1 Jumbo Muffin Pan
Ingredients
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- 250 g (2 cups + 1 tbsp) all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp poppy seeds
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 200 g (1 cup) granulated sugar
- zest of 2 lemons
- 240 g (1 cup) buttermilk
- 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 45 g (3 tbsp) lemon juice, strained
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze
- 120 g ( 1 cup) confectioners' sugar
- 30 g (2 tbsp) lemon juice, strained
Instructions
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a 6 count jumbo muffin pan muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, poppy seeds, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl rub together granulated sugar and lemon zest until it looks like wet sand. Then whisk in the melted butter, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until smooth and well combined.
- Fold dry ingredients into the wets until just combined then evenly divide batter between muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes.
Lemon Glaze
- In a small bowl combine the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice then drizzle over cooled muffins.
Notes
- Weigh your ingredients using a kitchen scale! Measuring ingredients by volume is not accurate.
- Standard size muffins: You can use a standard size muffin pan for this recipe just decrease the baking time. Yields 12 standard muffins.
- Butter: I recommend using unsalted butter. You can use salted butter, just be sure to omit the 1/2 tsp salt.
- Store lemon poppy seed muffins in an airtight container for up to 5 days at room temperature.