Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Why You’ll Love this Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin Recipe

Spring is starting, which means I want fresh flavors in everything! Lemon is one of those flavors that just never gets old to me. Today, I’m sharing these bakery-style Vegan Lemon Muffins! Packed with lemon zest and juice and topped off with crunchy granulated sugar, this recipe makes for a tasty morning treat. Here are a few more reasons we love this recipe and you will too:

• Bright, Lemon Flavor: Lemon zest, juice, and lemon extract packs each bite with citrusy flavor.

• Tall, Fluffy Bakery-style Muffins: This recipe features a unique trick…letting the batter rest before baking enables the baking powder to react with the other ingredients, producing more air bubbles that create rise and height when baked. This gives the muffins a super fluffy crumb!

• Simple Ingredients & Easy Method: This easy recipe uses pantry-friendly ingredients and a straight-forward one bowl method. 

Ingredients

These vegan lemon muffins are fluffy and moist on the inside, with a crisp, sugared crust on top. To get the best texture and flavor, you’ll want to use the following ingredients:

• All-Purpose Flour
• Granulated Cane Sugar
• Lemons: For zest and fresh lemon juice.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda: These give the muffins lift and rise.
• Poppy seeds
• Pure Vanilla Extract
• Lemon Extract
• Dairy Free Milk: Like unsweetened almond milk.
• Dairy Free Yogurt : Vegan yogurt is a must in this recipe! It helps bind the muffins, acting as the egg replacer, and keeps them incredibly moist.
• Vegan Butter: Vegan butter adds fat to the mixture to help keep the muffins from drying out.

Add-ins & Substitutions

While the core ingredients are above, you could play around with some of the different flavors and substitutions below:

• Non-Dairy Milk: I used almond milk, however, any unsweetened plant milk will work. I also recommend soy milk or oat milk.

• Vegan Butter: This recipe calls for melted dairy free butter. You can use neutral oil like vegetable oil, avocado oil or melted coconut oil instead. If using oil, add an extra 1/8 tsp of salt to the batter.

• Sugar: You can use another granulated sugar like coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. I don’t recommend using a liquid sweetener like maple syrup.

• Fruit or Berries: While the core ingredients are above, you could play around with flavors and add in fruit like blueberries. Lemon blueberry muffins would be an amazing treat!

• Poppy seeds: You could try substituting chia seeds instead of poppy seeds. I haven’t tried this substitution myself, so I can’t guarantee results.

• Lemons: You could play around with other citrus flavors like Meyer lemons, orange (to make vegan orange muffins!) or grapefruit. Substitute in the same amount of zest and juice that’s listed in the recipe card below.

​Helpful Equipment

• ​Muffin Pan
• Muffin Liners, optional
• Mixing Bowl
• ​Cooling Rack

Step by Step Instructions

🎥 Video tutorial is in the recipe card down below!

STEP 1: Prepare the muffin pan by greasing the cups or lining with paper baking cups.

STEP 2: In a medium bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar. Add the remaining wet ingredients on top and mix until combined.

STEP 3: Add the dry ingredients on top of the wet mixture. Gently fold the dry and wet mixtures together using a spatula just until combined and few lumps remain. Avoid over-mixing.

STEP 4: Allow the batter to rest at room temperature for 15 minutes. This resting time allows the baking powder to activate and creates taller, fluffier muffins.

📌 TIP: This step is super important and creates tall, fluffy vegan muffins! See the image below for a side-by-side comparison of a muffin that was baked without resting and one that was allowed to rest before baking.

STEP 5: Use a spoon or cookie scoop to divide the batter evenly, filling the muffin cups about 3/4 full. Sprinkle the coarse sugar on top. 

STEP 6: Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 400°F (205°C) and continue baking 12-13 minutes more until golden brown on top.

Serving

These easy vegan lemon poppyseed muffins are great to eat for breakfast, brunch, or a quick snack. Bursting with citrus flavor, these fluffy muffins make me feel so ready for spring!

This recipe makes 6-7 full-sized muffins that are great on their own, but they’d also be delicious topped with a simple lemon glaze like in my lemon turmeric tea cake recipe.

Storage

While they’re best served warm with a dollop of vegan butter, you can store these muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. 

You can also make a double or triple batch of these muffins and store them in a freezer bag in the freezer for 2-3 months.