Erin’s Recipe Rundown
I love lemon recipes in every form, but there’s something special about classic lemon poppy seed muffins. They’re a timeless treat that’s hard to beat.
These gluten-free lemon poppy seed muffins are bright, citrusy, and make the whole kitchen smell incredible!
Why You’ll Love Them: This recipe creates moist, fluffy muffins every time. Topped with a simple lemon glaze, they have the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. Enjoy them for breakfast, brunch, a snack, or even dessert!
Top Tips: Don’t skip the 20-minute chill before baking. Refrigerating the batter helps the muffins rise taller and bake more evenly.
For more gluten-free muffin recipes, try these gluten-free blueberry muffins, gluten-free zucchini muffins, gluten-free peach streusel muffins, or this gluten-free muffin recipe.
xoxo erin
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are a few notes on some of the key ingredients to make these gluten-free lemon poppy seed muffins. Jump to the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Gluten-free: Use a high-quality gluten-free flour that contains xanthan gum to give the muffins the structure they need. King Arthur and Bob’s Red Mill both work well!
- Sour cream/oil: These two ingredients are key for light, tender muffins.
- Lemon juice/zest: Always use fresh lemon! The zest adds bright flavor, while the juice reacts with the leavening to give the muffins lift.
- Extracts: The blend of almond, lemon, and vanilla extracts enhances the natural lemon flavor for truly bakery-quality flavor in every bite!
How to Make Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Here’s an overview of how to make this recipe. You can jump to the recipe for the full instructions!
In a large bowl: Use a whisk to combine the dry ingredients.
In a medium bowl: Whisk together all of the wet ingredients.
Combine: A rubber spatula works well to stir the wet mixture into the dry. Stop as soon as it’s just combined to avoid overmixing!
Chill: I scoop the batter into the prepared pan using a kitchen scoop or large spoon. It’s important to then chill the muffins in the fridge for at least 20 minutes before baking so that the flour can hydrate. No grainy gluten-free muffins here!
Bake and cool: The initial blast of heat at 425°F helps the batter puff up quickly for a light, airy texture and domed tops. Then I drop the oven to 375°F to make sure they bake evenly all the way through without overbaking. I let them cool in the pan for 5 minutes so they’re easier to move, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Glaze: As the muffins cool, make the glaze. I love drizzling it over the tops, but dipping the muffins works just as well. Once the glaze is set, they’re ready to enjoy!
Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2¼ cups (337g) gluten-free measure-for-measure flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 2½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
Other
- 1 cup (240ml) milk of choice, at room temperature
- ½ cup (113g) butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup (60g) sour cream
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest, about 2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, about 1/2 lemon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Glaze
- 1 cup (120g) powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, about 1 lemon
Instructions
- Line a standard muffin pan with paper baking cups.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk, butter, oil, eggs, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla extract, lemon extract and almond extract.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until just combined.
- Using a kitchen scoop or large spoon, portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan.
- Refrigerate the muffins for 20 minutes before baking. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Bake the muffins for 10 minutes at 425°F, then reduce the oven temperature to 375°F and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- For the glaze: In a small bowl, mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle or dip each muffin top with the glaze. Let the glaze set before serving.
hmm… followed directions to a T and mine still came out a bit too chewy and dense. I let my batter sit overnight. I am also wondering if maybe I had the rack in my oven placed too high. Could that have been an issue? I am going to attempt to make these again this weekend to see if it was user error on my part. The flavor was delicious though but just hoping to get the right texture next time!
Hi Lauren! We’re sorry you had this experience! That’s definitely a bummer. Did you use King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure-for-Measure Flour or Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour? Other blends will absorb the liquid differently. When storing the batter overnight, other GF flour blends may hydrate at different rates and change the texture. The oven rack placement shouldn’t be factor unless you felt like it baked unevenly and browned too fast. We hope your next batch turns out much better!
I made the batter the night before baking. The next morning baked up lovely muffins. I had medium sized baking cups and ended up with 18 fully filled with batter. I didn’t freeze any because they were all gone! So good!!
Yay! We love to hear this, Bonnie! Thank you for taking the time to come back and share your positive experience with us. Happy baking!
We followed baking directions but first batch came out overbaked. Second batch we just did 375 for 20 minutes and they came out perfect.
Hi Janet! We’re so glad the second batch was a success! Thank you for sharing with us!
Have you tried this subbing the egg for an egg replacer like a flax egg, to make them vegan? Thanks
Hi Mary Jo! We don’t typically bake with egg substitutes unfortunately. If you decide to give it a try, we’d love to hear how it goes!