Wake up to these bakery-style Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins that are perfectly light and fluffy. Topped with a sprinkling of coarse sugar for a little extra texture.
Rise and shine with these light and bright Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Perfect bakery-style domed tops with a sprinkling of coarse sugar for extra texture. These sweet treats are sure to kickstart your morning.
We’ve made Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins in the past, years ago. A recipe you used to be able to find our our YouTube channel and blog, but we’ve since removed it. However looking back at it, it’s truly amazing the progress we’ve made, both on content and recipe quality. We’re super excited to share this new and improved vegan muffin recipe.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Light, fluffy, and pillow-y in texture.
- Super lemon-y flavour in every bite.
- Perfect domed tops, like straight out of a bakery.
Top tips for making Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins:
- Use tall muffin liners. To get those classic bakery-style muffins, sometimes a little support is needed. We like to use taller muffin lines (or make your own with parchment paper) to help support the muffins as they rise.
- Massage the lemon zest. To release the oils and flavours we massage the lemon zest with the white sugar between our fingers for 30 seconds. As soon as you smell the lemon-y aroma it’s ready.
- Fill your muffin tin. To get tall, domed muffin tops we fill our muffin tin to the top or just below it. The right recipe won’t overflow while rising and the muffin liners will help support it. However because we fill our muffin pan, we get less muffins out of it (around 8-9, instead of 12) but it’s worth it!
- Bake until golden. You know the muffins are done baking because they’ll be golden on top. We like to also do a second test, pressing gently into the top of the muffin with your finger, if it spring backs it’s done.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions:
- Ground Flax Seed – We use ground flax seed to create structure since there are no eggs in this recipe. You can also use ground chia seeds if you prefer.
- Lemon Juice – This ads flavour and it also is used to create vegan buttermilk for this recipe. We don’t recommend substituting this as this recipe is all about the lemon flavour!
- Non-Dairy Milk – We like to use Kirkland Soy Milk or Whole Not Milk for our baking. You can also use other brands or varieties, but we haven’t tested the recipe with those.
- All-Purpose Flour – We use No Name All-Purpose Flour, but you can use any brand. We haven’t tried this with any other type of flour.
- Lemon Zest – Lemon zest is KEY for the delicious lemon-y flavour in this recipe. Don’t leave this out of the recipe. However if you want even more lemon in this recipe you can use more lemon zest!
- White Sugar – We like using white sugar for muffins as it creates a delicious texture and the perfect colour.
- Vegan Butter – We like using butter for the flavour but you can also use oil if you prefer.
- Vegan Yogurt – We use the Maison Riviera Coconut Milk Vegan Delight to help add moisture to these muffins. We recommend using vegan yogurt, but the brand is up to you.
- Demerara Sugar – Used to add a crunchy top to these muffins. You can skip this if you prefer, but we recommend keeping it.
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins FAQ:
How do you properly store muffins?
There’s a little more to storing muffins than just an air-tight container. Muffins are likely to go soft or soggy if this is done. To keep your muffins from going too soft, we like to store in an air-tight container that’s lined with a paper towel to help absorb some of the extra moisture.
How do you make muffins with domed tops?
There are a couple tricks to getting perfect bakery-style domed tops. Firstly be sure you don’t overmix the flour. Secondly, use tall muffin liners and fill each muffin cup to the top. Finally, we bake ours at a slightly higher temperature than normal for a better rise.
Other vegan baked goods you’ll love:
How to make Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins:
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 7 g (1 tbsp) ground flax seed
- 75 mL (5 tbsp) lemon juice, divided
- 180 mL (¾ cup) non-dairy milk
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 10 g (2 tsp) baking soda
- 6 g (1 tsp) baking powder
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 134 g (⅔ cup) white sugar
- 113 g (½ cup) melted vegan butter
- 117 g (½ cup) vegan yogurt
- 34 g (3 tbsp) poppy seeds
- demerara sugar, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F. Line a muffin tin with 9 liners and set aside.
- Combine ground flax seed with 3 tbsp of the lemon juice and set aside.
- Mix the remaining 2 tbsp of lemon juice with the non-dairy milk and set aside.
- Add all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until combined. Set aside.
- To a separate bowl combine white sugar with lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest and sugar between your fingers to release the oils.
- Add flax mixture, milk mixture, yogurt, and melted butter to the bowl with the sugar and lemon zest. Mix until smooth.
- Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Sprinkle in the poppy seeds and gently stir until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- Divide batter between muffin liners using a cookie scoop and sprinkle with demerara sugar.
- Fill empty muffin tin spaces with 2 tbsp of water each to promote an even bake.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes. You know the muffins are ready when they are golden and when you gently press the top with your finger it immediately springs back.
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