These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are tender, moist and full of sweet citrus flavor. Drizzle them with a coconut glaze for a fun and tasty brunch treat or afternoon snack. They’re fast, easy, grain free, dairy free, paleo, and family approved!
If there’s one thing I’m always up for baking, it’s muffins, hands down.
Cookies are a close second, but since cookies seem to always fall into the category of “dessert”, muffins somehow feel more practical and productive, being that most people associate them with breakfast, and “breakfast” is the most “important” meal of the day.
Which means that baking paleo muffins means you’re doing a whole lot of good and nothing else – go with me on this – because we are about to bake some paleo muffins, after all.
Lemon poppy seed muffins are like Spring screaming right in my face, in a good way, of course. They’re light, fluffy, and just moist enough, plus, they’re bursting with lemon flavor – which is totally my thing this time of year, in case you haven’t noticed.
And if you actually haven’t noticed – RUN DON’T WALK to my raspberry lemon cookie crumb bars, nut-free classic paleo lemon bars and lemon crumb cake with creamy lemon curd.
Okay, assuming you’re back now, let’s get into the recipe details!
A long, long time ago I created this recipe for lemon poppy seed donuts. It feels like another lifetime ago, really.
The donuts came out delicious however, and I’ve been basing several of my citrusy muffin recipes off of that original donut recipe. My orange almond poppy seed muffins and pecan cranberry orange muffins are two examples.
Truth be told – this basic recipe could keep me happy forever! However, it does contain quite a bit of almond flour which is why I’m always experimenting with alternatives.
Fine blanched almond flour can feel like the holy grail of paleo baking, BUT there are many people who can’t have nuts AND even more people who don’t feel like spending half they’re paycheck on almond flour (exaggeration, yes, but the struggle is real!)
Back to the muffins now! The combination of almond and tapioca flour along with lemon juice and coconut oil create the perfect texture for these, in my opinion. They’re sweetened with raw honey, and I added both vanilla and almond extracts for a punch of flavor that complements the lemon so well.
For the drizzle, I went with a simple melted coconut butter glaze, sweetened with a bit of raw honey. The flavor of coconut butter isn’t for everyone (and the glaze is entirely optional) but I happen to think the flavors go really well here (I love my coconut butter though!)
The drizzle hardens once it cools just as a traditional icing would, and makes the muffins look picture perfect too – if that’s something you’re going for. With or without the drizzle though, these muffins are going to become a favorite – now let’s bake!
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins {Paleo, GF, DF}
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins {Paleo, GF, DF}
These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are tender, moist and full of sweet citrus flavor. Drizzle them with a coconut glaze for a fun and tasty brunch treat or afternoon snack. They're fast, easy, grain free, dairy free, paleo, and family approved!
Ingredients
Muffins:
- 4 large eggs room temp
- 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice about 4 lemons
- Grated zest of one med lemon
- 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp raw honey melted slightly if necessary to soften
- 1/4 cup coconut oil refined, melted and cooled to almost room temp
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/3 cup arrowroot flour or tapioca flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp poppy seeds
Drizzle:
- 3 Tbsp coconut butter melted (but not hot)
- 2 tsp raw honey melted (but not hot)
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a 12 cup muffin pan with parchment liners.
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In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking soda and salt, set aside.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon juice, zest, honey, coconut oil and both extracts until well combined. Gently stir the dry mixture into the wet until just combined, then stir in the poppy seeds to evenly distribute.
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Divide the muffin batter evenly among the liners, filling 3/4 of the way up to make 12 muffins
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Bake in the preheated oven for about 16-18 mins or until middles are set and domed and toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean
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Cool muffins on wire racks while you make the drizzle. Stir together the melted coconut butter and honey, then drizzle over muffins. It will harden as it cools. Store leftovers loosely covered at room temperature for the first day, and in the refrigerator thereafter. Enjoy!
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins:
Want more delicious paleo muffin recipes? Try one of these!
Orange Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
Lemon Blueberry Muffins {Nut Free}
Sweet Potato Cinnamon Raisin Muffins
Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Top
Cassava Flour Blueberry Muffins
Cranberry Pecan Orange Muffins
Double Chocolate Tahini Muffins
Almond Butter Banana Muffins with Flaxseed
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I love lemon and poppy seeds together! These muffins look so delicious! I love the texture – so fluffy!
Yes! The texture is great 🙂
Could I use almond butter in the place of coconut butter for the icing?
Yeah what is coconut butter? Can we use something else?
Coconut butter is pureed coconut and is solid at room temp, so it works well as a drizzle/glaze. Usually in the nut butter section of stores.
Just made these. Texture is perfect. Not too sweet. Used maple syrup in place of honey and did not frost. Would like a little more lemon flavor to shine through, so might add lemon extract or essential oil next time. Definitely a keeper though.
Glad you enjoyed! An extract or oil would be great 🙂
These were fabulous! I had a little trouble getting the glaze melted to drizzle but added some almond milk and lemon juice and delicious!! Love your recipes
Oh glad it worked out! Coconut butter can be finicky to melt properly.
Nice post.. Thanks for sharing this.. First time I have visited in your site its looking good.
Love these but every time I mix the honey in the coconut butter it forms up no matter how much or little I melt the honey???? Help!
I sometimes have this problem with certain types of coconut butter, my advice is to melt it until it’s warm but not at all hot, keeping the ingredients as close to room temp as possible. If you continue to have problems, you can always drizzle a bit of unsweetened melted coconut butter.
Am I missing something? There’s no oil in the ingredient list, but it is mentioned in the post…
I wonder the same thing. These didn’t turn into better at all. They remained crumbly and dry. Terrible.
There should be 1/4 cup coconut oil in there that was accidentally omitted. Very sorry about that!
Not a keeper. Weighed the flours warmed the eggs to room temp etc. came out flat and poor texture. Taste is ok. Sad because they are not worth the time and effort.
Huge apologies for that one! The coconut oil was accidentally omitted from the recipe but it’s back in there now. The measurement is 1/4 cup.
Wonderful muffins! Thanks!
So happy you enjoyed!
Happy you enjoyed them!
These look lovely. They look sl light and fluffy.
So I tried this recipe twice and both times the muffins did not rise, They look like they are going to and then fall in the middle. They taste great and are light and fluffy but look so sad. Any suggestions?
I honestly have no idea! It sounds like the texture is okay, might be the brand of almond flour, I’d say if you test them again, add 1/4 cup more almond flour and see if it helps or hurts!
I can’t have tapioca or arrowroot Do you know how the muffins could be made without those ingredients
You can probably just sub in the same amount of almond flour with good results 🙂
I can’t have tree nuts…can you suggest a good substitution for the almondy bits?
Unfortunately there is no direct sub for almond flour, but check out several of my nut free baking recipes on the site!
I love the image of your ingredients used. That is so helpful for me. Baking gf,df, paleo is out of my comfort zone anyway so the graphic is great for me visually to recall what the heck I am doing here!
I just made these yesterday and they came out perfect! My husband has Celiac disease and had never had lemon poppy seed muffins ’til now.
nutritional info (8 g sugar) equates to what serving size? Number of muffins, with or without drizzle? Apologies if stated and I missed. I read twice but may have missed. Thank you!
Thank you for this recipe! I made these muffins twice and both times they were flat and dented on top. I followed the recipe exactly and they taste good, but don’t look as nice as yours. The batter is pretty liquid, is it supposed to be?
Mine were flat and caved in also. I filled the recipe exactly. No idea what I did wrong.
Is it perhaps because I used arrowroot and the blogger used tapioca flour???
So yummy, easy and quick to make! My new favorite treat, thank you Michele 🙂
Do you have any suggestions for making this as bread instead? Would you bake it for a different time?
Yes, you’ll have to bake longer, probably double the amount of time if you’re using a loaf pan, or close to.
I have gluten free tom sawyer flour can I use that in place of the other flours listed on the recipe?
Will this work wig flax eggs?
I don’t think you’d get the rise and texture you need from flax eggs unfortunately.
These look amazing!! I am curious if the nutritional facts are for what serving size? Thank you!!
Can you sub Cornstarch for Tapioca Flour? I know it’s typically interchangeable with arrowroot powder. I’m hoping I don’t need to buy another kind of flour, as these look delicious!
This is my go-to muffin recipe! I’ve found it’s crucial to have eggs at room temp and really beat them well before adding them to the other wet ingredients.
I’ve substituted the lemon juice with clementine juice when that’s all I had and maple syrup for the honey. Love em!
Nice info! thanks for sharing
carbonated drinks
Amazing recipe! Such a hit, even with my 13 year old!
I substituted 1/3 C of Monk Fruit sweetener for the honey in the muffin recipe and it worked out great!
First recipe I tried, cant wait to try the white bread recipe next!
Did you use granulated monk fruit sweetener? I was wondering if I could substitute that for the honey since I also need it to be keto.
This came out sooooo good! Love this recipe and anything lemon poppy. I didn’t have time to make the glaze but it was even delicious with out it! Would make this again!!
I made this recipe yesterday and the muffins turned out so yummy! They have a great consistency and aren’t too sweet or too lemony. I was wondering though, is there a possible sub for the coconut oil? (either paleo or non-paleo) Pretty sure the coconut oil messes with my stomach unfortunately 🙁
I have a bunch of lemons from a friend and these were a perfect way to use some! This was actually my second time making this recipe because it’s so good!
My son is doing immunotherapy and has to eat poppyseed chia seeds to prep for flax. Can I substitute 2 eggs with white chia seeds and use two real eggs? He used to be allergic to eggs and almonds, too, so this recipe is perfect!
They were easy to make and I love them. These are the first paleo muffins that I actually like. I’m eating one as we speak (1, 2 or 3, who’s counting ..) I think I am a bit addicted to your website. I am now looking through your recipes every day haha 🙂
I made this as a loaf in a 4.5″ by 8.5″ pan. It needed to bake for about 50 minutes, with a piece of foil on top for the last 10 minutes to keep it from getting too brown.
It’s a nice loaf! I prefer being able to cut slices and toast them.
I used a bit more lemon juice and a bit less honey, and took the suggestion of one commenter to add lemon extract (1/2 t.) Came out fine!
Looking forward to making these today. Is the nutrition content per cake or per batch?
I recently started baking Paleo muffins and cupcakes and read that you need to weigh your flours. I found 96 g for almond flour on some sites, which seemed to work for some recipes. But with other recipes like these muffins it wasn’t enough. Batter was too runny and they sank in middle. Now I see some sites listing 112 g per cup. Could you please share what you use for weighing your almond flour. Thanks! Flavor of these was wonderful and I want to remake.
these turned out so well! my family loved them. even after a few days they stayed so moist. the almond extract added a really nice flavor to these muffins 🙂
LA RECETA ES RAPIDA Y MUY BUENA, TIENE BUEN SABOR Y ESPONJOSIDAD, ME GUSTO PORQUE TIENEN EL DULZOR NECESARIO. PODRIA PONERLE UN POCO MAS DE SABOR A LIMON. LO UNICO QUE NO ES IGUAL AL MUFFIN DE LA FOTO ES QUE ME SALIERON MUY OSCUROS. PORQUE SERIA?
SALUDOS.
Can I use maple syrup instead of honey?
These turned out fantastic! They rose beautifully and taste and smell fantastic! Best paleo muffin recipe I have tried yet!
They sound soooo good, but my family is currently going on a no sugar diet so I can’t make it yet.
These are delicious!
Hello! Can i omit the poppyseeds? Making for a 6 year old’s bday and might not fly with the little people.
Hi, can I use olive oil instead of coconut oil?