Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are perfectly moist and bursting with citrus flavor and 100% vegan! Drizzled with a simple lemon glaze, these sunshine muffins are the perfect morning treat.
Want all the vegan lemon treats you can get? Then you have to try my Vegan Lemon Cake, Vegan Lemon Bars, Vegan Lemon Cupcakes and Vegan Lemon Loaf!
These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are the most delightful sunshine filled muffin, perfect for spring and summer. Best of all, they are so easy to make in 1 bowl!
They are big on lemon flavor, and topped with the most incredible lemon glaze! They can also be made gluten free. Consider making some tofu scramble, breakfast casserole or tempeh bacon to go with them for a tasty brunch!
Tips for success
- For light, fluffy and tender muffins do not over mix the batter. Mix until just combined and gently. This is the most important thing to remember when making muffins!
- Always bake in the center rack of the oven, to avoid burnt bottoms or tops and even baking.
- If you want maximum lemon flavor, add in the lemon extract. That along with the lemon zest and juice makes for a super lemon flavored muffin!
- Want to skip the poppy seeds? No worries, leave them out for vegan lemon muffins! Or fold in some blueberries for lemon blueberry muffins.
Gluten free lemon poppy seed muffins
To make the muffins gluten free, simply substitute a gluten free 1:1 baking flour, such as King Arthur brand. It works very well. Do not try subbing almond flour or coconut flour, they will not work.
Lower sugar option
Skip the glaze altogether and reduce the sugar to 1/2 or 3/4 cup. Or substitute coconut sugar. This will cut down on the sweetness a lot.
Want more vegan muffins and quick breads?
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated lemon zest
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or tapioca starch
- 1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/2 cup neutral flavored oil I used canola
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice from 1 large lemon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon pure lemon extract optional for more lemon flavor
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a standard muffin pan with liners and spray them lightly with oil. Or simply spray a non-stick muffin pan with oil and skip the liners for golden edges.
- Combine the soy milk and apple cider vinegar in a glass measuring cup or small bowl and set aside to curdle. This is your vegan buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest and stir well with a large spoon until fragrant and combined. Now add the flour, baking powder, salt, cornstarch and poppy seeds to the bowl with the lemon sugar and stir to combine.
- To the bowl with the dry ingredients, pour in the vegan buttermilk, oil, lemon juice, vanilla and lemon extract, if using. Stir until just combined, being careful not to over mix or your muffins will be dense and rubbery.
- Fill liners or muffin cups 3/4 of the way full and bake in the center rack of the oven for 22-25 minutes, until the tops are done and a toothpick comes out clean in the middle.
- Let them cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove and place on a cooling rack to cool completely before drizzling with glaze.
- For the glaze: Whisk the powdered sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. If too thick, add more lemon juice. If too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar. Drizzle over cooled muffins, and enjoy!
Notes
- May substitute another non-dairy milk for soy if desired.
- The muffins can be made with whole wheat pastry flour or a gluten free 1:1 mix.
- For the oil, make sure to use a neutral flavored oil, such as canola, vegetable, grapeseed, melted refined coconut or melted vegan butter. For oil free, applesauce might work or even vegan yogurt.
- Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days, or the refrigerator for an extra day or two. They also freeze well.
Another reliable Nora Cooks recipe! Lovely flavour and texture. Thank you, Nora!
I’m thrilled you enjoyed the muffins, Melanie 🙂 Thanks for your wonderful review!
These turned out supper yummy! I used Einkorn flour and added some roasted, shredded coconut. Very nice recipe!
Nora, my family & i love all your recipes! & i mean ALL of them! Im thinking about adding fruit to these, blueberries or raspberries. Do you think that will work?
Thanks so much for using my recipes, Bailey! Yes, you can definitely add fruit to the muffins. You can gently fold up to 1 cup of the berries of your choice into the batter after it’s mixed together (step 4). Hope this helps!
One of my “go-to” recipes and it never fails to please anyone that I’ve shared the muffins with. Thank you for this outstanding recipe that is so quick to pull together.
Question, I’ve always used ACV for the soy milk curdling process. If using lemon juice would the ratio remain the same?
You’re very welcome, Jo! I’m so happy you love the muffins and thank you for your wonderful review! And yes, the ratio would stay the same if you used lemon juice instead.
Greetings from South Africa! Nora, your recipes are amazing and the first place I look for inspiration. I made these today and they are delicious! Thank you so much for sharing your expertise and tips with us. Best regards
Hi Janet in South Africa! How fun the lemon poppy seed muffins are being baked there! I’m glad my recipes inspire you! I put a lot of love and work into them, and appreciate you noticing! Thank you for sharing your wonderful feedback! Wishing you lots of happy cooking!
I made this last night and it was so dang good! I didn’t have poppyseeds so I omitted that and I didn’t have muffin cups so I transferred the batter into a cake pan that I greased up with vegan butter. I baked it for 22 minutes, let it cool a bit and served it slightly warm. It was heaven. Thank you so much for this.
That sounds wonderful, Bree! I’m so happy the cake still worked out for you. Thanks so much for your review!
Delicious muffins! Perfect texture and flavor!
I’m so glad you like them, Jade! Thanks you for sharing your feedback!
I love all of your recipes so eager to try more. Can these muffins be baked in a big 6 muffin tray as opposed to 12? If so how long should I bake them for? Thankyou
Yes, a larger muffin tin should work well. Just bake them for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, and check them after 30 minutes just in case. Happy cooking!
These are amazing!!! I love how soft they are. My roommate and I love them! So sweet and ?-y. Will make again, thanks for sharing your recipe with us.
Hi. Can these be made in a loaf pan and not muffins. I have never used lemon zest. How is this done or is there a substitute?? Thank you
Hi Sally. Yes these can be made in a loaf pan vs. a muffin pan. Lemon zest is the yellow outside portion of its peel. It is created by grating the peel of the lemon. When you’re grating, make sure to grate away the yellow part of the peel only. It can also be purchased already zested.
I really enjoy these muffins! I used almond milk instead of soy, and they turned out just as good. I have found that if you start the muffins off at 425 F for five minutes and turn the temp down to the recipe’s temperature and cook for 17 minutes, the muffin tops grow bigger.
Hi Ruby. I’m glad you enjoyed the muffins! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review and comments!
Hi! Can I substitute tapioca with arrowroot powder? Love lemon muffins!!!
Yes, that will work. Hope you enjoy the muffins!
Flavor was on point but the mix didn’t rise. Not enough baking powder?
Tried it with oat milk for the non-dairy milk and 4tps potato starch instead of cornstarch.
It was easy to make and baked quick. You’ll need two muffin trays, I only had one and made a loaf with the rest of the batter. This one fluffed more than the muffins.
Hi Ingrid! So usually if muffins don’t rise or come out dense, it’s because the batter is over mixed OR the muffins bake too long. Since the loaf fluffed up, I’m guessing the muffins just cooked for too long. Potato starch is also different than cornstarch, so that may have made a difference as well. Hope that helps!
Another brilliant recipe from you Nora. I made these this morning and they were a real hit with the friends I took them to. And my husband who is my taste tester! My friends couldn’t believe they were vegan. I didn’t have any poppy seeds so used chia seeds instead. I didn’t drizzle the icing as delicately as you did so put a blob on the top of each and sprinkled with more chia seeds. Will definitely be making these again. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing your wonderful review, Louise! I’m glad the muffins were a hit!
PS my husband has elevated them this morning from 10/10 to 12/10 and asked WHEN I’m making them again!
That’s awesome, thank you!
These cupcakes are delicious ❣️
Thank you! Glad you like them!
Wow! These were amazing. Easy to make and my daughter asked for these to be made on her birthday! I will be making these again soon!
Thank you for sharing your review, Kerri! I’m glad you loved them!
These were delicious and easy to make! Thank you for another yummy recipe =)
Thank you for sharing your review, Tom! I’m glad your muffins turned out delicious!
These are delicious! I cut the sugar down to 1/4 cup, which was perfect for me. I also added fresh blueberries to the muffins. They are really really really good!!!
Hi Bekka. The blueberry addition sounds wonderful! Thank you for sharing your review! I’m glad the like the muffins!
Can I substitute coconut sugar? Will the measurements be the same.
Can’t wait to try these.
Yes, coconut sugar would be fine and I would use the same amount. Hope you enjoy them!