Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins (with Video)
These Jumbo Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are the perfect afternoon pick-me-up: tender, fluffy muffins with a golden, crunchy top and a vibrant citrus flavor. Bonus? They’re so easy, the kids can help make them!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Recipe
I don’t hang out in coffeeshops much anymore now that I’m a work at home mom, but that shouldn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a fluffy and tart coffeeshop-sized lemon poppy seed muffin with my daily caffeine fix!
I can never make a normal-sized muffin last for a full cup of coffee, especially now that I have at least one little person requesting bite after bite (because whatever I’m eating always looks tastier than what they’re eating – even if it came out of the exact same batch). I was so excited to spot this jumbo-sized muffin pan and knew immediately which recipe we were going to try first.
(Of course, we’re going to have to make every kind of muffin under the sun in jumbo-sized because I have to get the full value out of my new pan…)
These lemon poppyseed muffins are moist and hit that perfect tart note without going over the top into sour-ville. They taste great with a bit of butter or jam, but thanks to the sour cream and melted butter in the batter – you don’t actually need anything on them. They have the perfect crunchy golden outside and fluffy tender inside.
This lemon poppyseed muffin recipe is pure muffin indulgence and the kids can help with every step of the process – from grating the lemon, to rubbing the lemon zest into the sugar (my daughter’s favorite), juicing the lemon, measuring out the ingredients, and of course – whisking it all together!
I love making muffin recipes with kids because the recipes are pretty fail-proof, and you don’t need a mixer – lumps are actually fine in the batter (and will get cooked out in the oven). Even with the occasional ingredient spill or adding the ingredients out of order, these muffins will still turn out delicious. (We’ve even forgotten the occasional ingredient and all that happens is the muffins turn out a bit denser or something else that isn’t a big deal.)
Are poppy seeds good for you? Poppy seeds have high levels of dietary fiber, B vitamins and several important minerals, such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium and zinc, all of which have been linked to digestive, heart and immune health. (You can read a few more of their benefits here and here.)
Can these lemon poppy seed muffins be frozen? Yes! You can freeze the baked muffins for 2-3 months in your favorite freezer containers or ziptop freezer bags. (This set of freezer containers is a crazy bargain.) Allow the muffins to come to room temperature before enjoying.
How do I get domed muffin tops? There are two things that allow these muffins to puff up and look just like your favorite coffee-shop muffins. 1/ we are filling the liners almost to the top, and 2/ the higher baking temperature causes the muffins tops to “puff up” and brown quickly, keeping the inside of the muffin moist and fluffy without risking overbaking.
Can I add fruit to these lemon poppy seed muffins? Yes, I think blueberries or raspberries would be a delicious addition to complement the tartness of the lemon and would add a nice texture. My trick for adding berries to a muffin recipe is to coat the berries in flour and then just stir them in at the last minute. This prevents them from breaking or dying the rest of the muffin batter.
Can I use honey or maple syrup instead of sugar in this recipe? Liquid sweeteners will actually inhibit the lemon taste and make these muffins spongy rather than fluffy. Personally, I would swap in an equal amount of coconut sugar if you are just trying to lower the glycemic index of these muffins.
If you’re looking for more yummy lemon desserts, check out:
- Our No Bake Lemon Lush dessert
- Our Lemon Sticky Rolls
- Lemon Magic Cake from Jo Cooks
- Our Glazed Mini Lemon Loaves
- Our No Bake Raspberry Lemon Mini Cheesecakes
- Baked Lemon Blueberry Donuts from The Soccer Mom Blog
- Our Lemon Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies
- Our Sugar-free Lemonade Recipe
- Lemon Buttermilk Bundt Cake from Kylee Cooks
Watch our quick recipe video to see just how easy these Lemon Poppyseed Muffins are to make, and then don’t forget to scroll down to grab your free printable recipe:
Ingredients for Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- White sugar <– can be swapped for an equal amount of coconut sugar
- All-purpose flour <– these muffins can be made gluten-free by swapping a C4C gluten-free flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Sour cream <– can use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Butter, melted and cooled <– we’re using melted butter to make a denser muffin that doesn’t just fall to pieces, and it keeps the muffins moist without added oil
- Poppy seeds
- One lemon – juiced and zested <– see note about using lemon extract instead
Makes 8-10 jumbo muffins.
Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.
Tip: if you really love your lemon flavor, add 1 teaspoon lemon extract.
Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful:
- Large muffin tray
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Large muffin cups
- Zester/microplane grater
- Citrus juicer
How to Make Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
First, assemble your ingredients.
Let the eggs get to room temperature and the melted butter cool as you prepare your baking pan. I used a jumbo muffin pan and simply use the jumbo liners (you can also buy jumbo silicone liners if you’d prefer something reusable.)
Preheat the oven to 400F.
Place the sugar in a large bowl and zest the lemon over it. Set lemon aside.
Rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant from the lemon. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and stir well.
Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter.
Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the wet ingredients. First incorporate the wet ingredients together, and then whisk in the dry ingredients until it forms a batter (a few lumps are okay as long ash the baking powder and baking soda were fully mixed into the dry ingredients earlier).
Add the poppyseeds and then portion out the batter into the muffin liners.
Bake for 22-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Pin this delicious jumbo lemon poppyseed muffin recipe:
Grab your free printable recipe for these copycat lemon poppyseed muffins here:
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
These jumbo-sized lemon poppy seed muffins have a fresh, citrus flavor and perfect tender, fluffy crumb. They taste just like your favorite coffeehouse lemon muffins, at a fraction of the cost to make!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- Lemon - grated zest and juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Place the sugar in a large bowl and zest the lemon over it. Set lemon aside.
- Rub the lemon zest into the sugar until the sugar is moist and fragrant from the lemon. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and stir well.
- Make a well in the dry ingredients and add in the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter.
- Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the wet ingredients. First incorporate the wet ingredients together, and then whisk in the dry ingredients until it forms a batter.
- Add the poppyseeds and then portion out the batter into the muffin liners.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Notes
Tip: for even more citrus flavor, replace the lemon juice called for in the recipe with 1 teaspoon lemon extract.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Microplane Premium Classic Series Zester Grater, 18/8, Black -
Norpro 5207 2 Cup Citrus Juicer, Clear
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Simply Organic Whole Poppy Seed, Certified Organic | 3.81 oz | Papaver somniferum L.
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Norpro 3600B, White, Giant Muffin Cups, Pack of 500
-
McCormick Pure Lemon Extract, 2 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)
-
Wilton 2105-955 6-Cup Jumbo Muffin Pan
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 300Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 72mgSodium: 290mgCarbohydrates: 38gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 5g
Sugar, Spice and Glitter uses an auto-generate nutrition calculator. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate unless analyzed in a scientific lab, so these should be considered more of a guideline than medical information.
For more delicious muffin recipes, be sure to check out our apple vanilla muffins or our blueberry muffin recipe.
Check out our other Breakfast Recipes here:
Original picture from 2016:
What is the calorie and fat and other nutrients counts? Doing a school project and need these
Hi Emily,
Will you be making these muffins for your project?
There are a few nutrition calculators available online that would be helpful, like –> https://happyforks.com
These are the results that calculator gave me, but I’m not a nutritionist so I have no idea if these are correct:
Energy (calories): 223 kcal
Protein: 4.65 g
Carbohydrates: 23.68 g
I don’t provide this information on my site due to liability 🙂 A lot of bloggers use built-in calculators but they can have errors so I just err on the side of caution 🙂
How many lemons do you use?
1 lemon 🙂
Can I replace the sour cream with buttermilk? For the lemon poppyseed muffins.
Hi Marlene,
According to Google 🙂 you can use 1/2 cup buttermilk with 3 Tablespoons butter, or yogurt stirred in. I haven’t tried that though, but let me know how it works!
My first to at making lemon poppyseed muffins. They turned out great with the exception of not being very lemony at all. If I were to double the amount of lemon juice how will that affect the outcome and do I need to adjust quantities of dry ingredients?
If you want even more lemon flavor, I would increase the amount of zest or use a few drops of a food-grade lemon oil rather than adding more lemon juice. I also notice a huge difference between lemon juice brands if you’re using a bottle versus fresh.
Our lemon gave almost two tablespoons of juice when using a manual juicer.
Absolutely delicious! I love that these aren’t sicky sweet. Just the right amount of lemon and just bursting with poppy seeds. I’ve already made this recipe 5 times!
Thank you for this <3 your comment made my night!
These muffins are seriously perfect! Like a fresh burst of sunshine on a summer morning 🙂
This muffins look so yummy! I’m huge lemon poppyseed fan – can’t wait to try them!
second time making these, they have a really good texture and they fluff up nicely in the oven, resulting in a pretty perfect little muffin 🙂
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that, Michelle! Thank you.
How can I added fresh picked raspberries to this? Will the moisture effect the texture?
If you want to add some raspberries, just toss the raspberries in a couple tablespoons of flour first to help prevent them from “bleeding” into the muffins. If will make them slightly more moist but it shouldn’t be too soft as a result.
Tried this recipe today. The only substitute I made was greek yogurt for the sour cream since the recipe lists this can be substituted instead.
I have to say this was not as sweet as I would expect a muffin to be and the texture was dense and more in line with a biscuit than a muffin.
I followed the directions exactly. They taste fine but I was disappointed.
11/14/20 just made this recipe. Followed instructions, including the ability to substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream, exactly. I used 1 1/2 lemons to ensure the lemon flavor came through since the recipe didn’t specify how many. The finished product is more like a biscuit than a muffin. It’s very dense but flavorful. Will not be making this again. The search for a truly light, fluffy and flavorful poppy seed muffin continues…
Hi Cheri, Thanks for your feedback. As stated in the recipe, I used melted butter because I don’t like it when my muffins are so light that they fall apart (I like a chewy muffin) – but if you want a less dense texture, you can use unmelted, softened butter. That said, it shouldn’t have had a biscuit texture – just a chewy muffin texture.
Also, the less you beat/stir a muffin, the lighter it is – you can even leave some flour streaks in it.
Wow, these came out great! I followed your recipe exactly as far as ingredients go. I like that they’re not too sweet, but next time I may try upping the sugar, just to see what happens. They’re fluffy and tender, and they rose really well. I also like that they use melted butter and sour cream–my favorite muffin ingredients. Great job!
Hi Margaret,
I’m so glad you liked them! Thank you for your sweet comment!
I made the muffins yesterday and loved the delicious smell of them baking in the oven. Our housemates (2) thought they were great, they just wished for more lemon flavor. I had one this AM, sliced, buttered and toasted, Yum! Just right!
After making the batter yesterday I found it to be too stiff and not what I expected. So I attempted to rectify this after checking with the website to make sure I hadn’t missed an ingredient. So, I added about 1/2 cup of whole milk and Voila! success!! The milk made all the difference in the world. They baked the normal time, as suggested, and had perfect little domes! It would have helped to know the amount of lemon to use, zest and juice, but lucky for me my guess of one tablespoon of juice and the zest from one mid size lemon worked!
I made these today. I was going for the 6 Jumbo muffins. The only
changed I made was using the Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. These did not rise like my other jumbo muffins. Can you advise what you think?
Hi Sandy,
There are a few things that could have caused this, but I’m suspecting that maybe you used a low-fat greek yogurt and that could be the culprit. The sour cream I used is 5% fat and the fat is integral to the structure/rise.
If the greek yogurt was full-fat, it could be that your baking powder/soda are a bit old or that your oven wasn’t hot enough.
I’m sorry to hear that they didn’t work out, though, I hope they tasted okay!