Wake up to these PERFECT Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. They are everything you want in a muffin: moist, citrusy, sweet, and with a little crunch. Make them in under 30 minutes!
Do you remember those HUGE muffins from Costco that came in large cardboard trays and wrapped in cellophane?
Each package contained 12 deliciously enormous muffins: blueberry, double chocolate, and lemon poppy seed. For a short time when I was a child my family had a Sunday breakfast tradition of eating these Costco muffins. Despite all the freshly made, home-baked pastries and desserts that were accessible to me growing up, these store-bought muffins were the. best. thing. ever.
So on Sunday mornings, we would each get to choose one muffin that was all ours.
As I remember it my sisters always went for the double chocolate muffins. My parents' muffin of choice was for the blueberry, and I thought they were all crazy because is there anything better than a lemon poppy seed muffin?
No. No, there is not.
And so, today, I bring you Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. And I think you're gonna love them.
Recipe Video
Ingredients & Substitutions
Like most of the vegan muffin recipes on this blog, these lemon poppy seed muffins are super simple to make! They just require a little bit of whisking, folding, and baking. If you think you can do that, then let’s make some vegan muffins!
Here is everything you need.
- Non-Dairy Milk – I recommend soy milk because it curdles the best. Almond milk will often curdle but not as well. This may affect the overall texture of the muffin.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – This is my vinegar of choice when making vegan buttermilk (vinegar + soymilk) but white vinegar, white wine vinegar, and lemon juice are great alternatives.
- All-Purpose Flour – For healthier flour options, you can use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend, buckwheat, or spelt flour.
- Baking Powder & Soda
- Salt
- Poppy Seeds
- Granulated Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements. For a healthier sugar alternative, I recommend coconut sugar.
- Oil – This recipe calls for canola oil because it creates the best texture without added flavor. If you want to avoid hydrogenated oils, try avocado or melted coconut oil. Olive oil also works but adds a slightly savory flavor. If you want to eliminate the oil altogether, swap it out for the same amount of applesauce.
- Vanilla Extract
- Lemon Juice & Zest
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step One - Make the Batter
To start, we must first make our “buttermilk”. To do this, mix together soymilk with 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and set it aside for 5 minutes to curdle. Once it’s curdled, whisk in the sugar, oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
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In a small bowl whisk together the dry ingredients. That’s the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Whisk until it’s well combined and set aside. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until all the flour is evenly hydrated.
Step Two - Bake the Muffins
Scoop your batter into a greased muffin tin. I find that using an ice cream scoop is the cleanest and easiest way to get the batter into the muffin molds. With an ice cream scoop, you can ensure the muffins are equally sized as well. Fill each muffin mold about ¾ of the way full and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Remove the vegan lemon muffins from the oven and let them cool in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping out to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
Step Three - Make the Lemon Glaze
While the muffins are baking, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice to make your lemon glaze. Once the muffins are out of the oven, spoon about one tablespoon of glaze over each warm muffins then let the muffins continue cooling until completely cool.
Serving and Storing
Serving - Serve these muffins immediately. They come out of the oven warm, buttery, and hard to resist! Serve them with a matcha latte or chai tea.
Storing - Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze these muffins for up to 2 months. To thaw, pull the muffins from the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for several hours.
Tips and Tricks
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Do not overmix your batter. Overmixing allows the gluten to develop and too much gluten will give you gummy and dense muffins.
- Fill muffin tins about ¾″ of the way full. Any fuller than that and they will overflow.
- Let the muffins sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping them out to a wire cooling rack. Otherwise, the muffins may fall apart.
- Glaze the muffins while they are still warm. This allows the glaze to melt over the lemon poppy seed muffins.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. While I choose soy milk because it curdles so well, many people have had success with almond milk, oat milk, and cashew milk as well.
Yes! If you want to make this muffin batter in advance, store the batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. To bake the muffins, preheat the oven and bake according to the instructions. However, these muffins may take a few minutes longer to bake since the batter will be chilled. The muffins will also be slightly denser as the baking soda begins to activate once it’s mixed into the batter, causing it to be slightly less potent.
For sure! For gluten-free muffins, I recommend using a 1:1 baking blend.
Sure. If you would like to make this recipe oil-free, simply swap out the oil for additional applesauce at a 1:1 ratio.
I recommend coconut sugar. Other readers have replaced the sugar with ½ cup maple syrup or simply reduced the sugar by 25%-50% with great success. Check out my complete guide to vegan sugar for more ideas.
More Vegan Muffin Recipes
- Blueberry Muffins
- Mixed Berry Crumb Muffins
- Healthy Vegan Banana Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
And make sure to check out all my muffin & pastry recipes for inspiration.
Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 cup soy milk
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoon poppy seeds
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- zest & juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
Lemon Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups and set aside.
- In a small bowl combine soy milk and apple cider vinegar and let sit for 10 minutes to curdle. In another bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and poppy seeds. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and the lemon juice and zest. Slowly add curdled soy milk, whisking while adding, until completely incorporated. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, folding in gently until just combined.
- Fill the muffin liners ⅔ full and bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean. Set the muffins on a cooling rack to cool.
- While the muffins bake, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. You may need to add a little extra lemon juice to get a thick and smooth consistency.
- Spoon about 1 tablespoon of glaze over each warm muffins then let the muffins continue cooling until completely cool.
Video
Notes
- The most accurate way to measure flour is to spoon it into your measuring cup, leveling it off with the back of a knife.
- Let the muffins sit in the muffin tin for 10 minutes before flipping them out to a wire cooling rack. Otherwise, the muffins may fall apart.
- Glaze the muffins while they are still warm. This allows the glaze to melt over the lemon poppy seed muffins.
- If you want to make this muffin batter in advance, store the batter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 48 hours. To bake the muffins, preheat the oven and bake according to the instructions. Muffins may take a few minutes longer to bake since the batter will be chilled.
Hi, I’m Sarah. I’m a 14-year (and counting) vegan, professionally trained photographer, former pastry chef, founder of My Darling Vegan, and author of the
Veronica Brown says
These came out so beautifully fluffy and yummy and were such a success with my neighbours that I immediately made another batch two days later and they came out even better 🙂 This will definitely be a recipe I go back to often. Thank you!
Hannah says
These muffins are perfect so moist and fluffy! Your recipes are always great!
SS says
This was soooo tasty! Perfect flavor, perfect texture. It came out quite fluffy too for a vegan recipe! I actually made just one single serving (1 muffin) in a little ramekin, and it was so yummy! A great little dessert for anyone who loves this flavor. Thank you!
Victor says
Hi! I’ve tried some of your recipes and are all amazing!
I’ve just wanted to know if the baking temperature are for a conventional oven or fan?
Thank you! ?
Rachel says
Thank you for the recipe! I made these last night and they turned out quite sticky - any idea why? I followed the recipe and didn't have to sub any ingredients. The flavor is there!
Belle says
Hi, Sarah!
Would love to try baking these muffins for a small birthday gathering this week. I do not have access to poppy seeds, and was wondering if I could leave them out altogether? Thank you in advance!
Sarah McMinn says
Sure, you can just omit them.
Shirley Everson says
Can I replace sugar for honey
Alexyss says
Can I use olive oil instead of vegetable?
Sarah McMinn says
Sure!
GW says
Darrrn good! Subbed oat milk for soy milk and added 1/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup of corn meal, 1 tbsp of maple syrup. Came out no different than your regular muffin and the roomies didn't believe it. Thank you for helping me maintain my mental health during quarantine. (I also made another batch and added 1/2 tsp of lemon emulsion and that gives it a kick too if it's available)
Brooke says
Hi there!
Is almond flour an option for substitution (lower carb)? Maybe with adding more applesauce for binding or add arrowroot starch/something of the sort? I understand the texture may be different.
Rahi says
Hi! I only have 2% milk, I just used 1 cup of that instead of the soy milk. But, the milk didn’t curdle— is there some adjustments I have to make for using this?
Sarah McMinn says
I don't believe cows milk would curdle with apple cider vinegar. The muffins should still work, they might just have less rise.
Sadie says
These muffins were amazing! They had the perfect amount of lemon, the glaze had a nice subtle tang, and the cake part was super yummy. I did a little bit of experimenting and baked one batch in a silicon muffin tin and the other batch in a regular tin - if you like denser muffins, definitely do the silicon mat, but the regular tin made them a little fluffier. Either way, both batches were equally as good!
Hilary says
Thanks for the recipe! I am a horrible baker and managed to mess these up. I am baking at altitude which adds a complication. And, I accidentally used all purpose gluten-free flour which makes it even harder to get right at altitude. I am going to try these again with whole wheat pastry flour. I can tell the flavor is terrific. Mine just didn't really rise and are kind of like little chewy disks. Delicious chewy disks but not big fluffy muffins.
Grace says
This is my go-to muffin recipe! I use the basics to make other flavors too, like lemon and blueberry-- yum!!
Alannah says
Hello, this looks very yummy! Is grape seed oil and okay substitute for vegetable oil? Many thanks!
Sarah McMinn says
For sure!
Zury says
I added a third lemon to have lots of lemon flavour and fed it to non vegan friends and was a huge hit - just like those Costco muffins. Thanks for great recipe!