A few weeks ago, I did a poll on my Instagram Stories with the question “What is your favorite muffin flavor?” And I was sort of surprised by the result! I had expected it would be chocolate chip because, well, chocolate. But it was not! The answer was actually a tie between (1) Blueberry and (2) Lemon Poppyseed (the latter being the real surprise).
I like to give the people what they want but I also didn’t want to make two batches of muffins, so I decided to make a mashup of these two fan favorites! Hence, these Blueberry Lemon Poppyseed Muffins!
And if you’re one of those people whose favorite muffin flavor is lemon poppy seed, then you should (a) make these muffins but also (b) check out my recipe for a Lemon Poppy Seed Layer Cake! It’s one of my most popular recipes yet and it’s incredibly delicious and decadent.
But back to the matter at hand – these muffins! They are healthy-ish, easy to make, and delicious – what’s not to love?
Ingredients and Substitutions
For the dry ingredients, I use a mixture of all-purpose flour and almond flour. The almond flour lends a nice fluffiness, but you can just use more all-purpose flour if you don’t have any. If you want to make your own almond flour, here’s a guide!
And if you are avoiding gluten, you can substitute with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend (the texture will be a bit denser). Please do not try using any gluten-free flour you like (I tried making these with just oat flour and they came out incredibly gummy). I recommend something like Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1:1 Baking Flour.
For the liquid ingredients, I use plenty of lemon juice and lemon zest (these are lemon poppy seed muffins after). The lemon zest adds a fresh zingy pop that pairs beautifully with the sweetness of the blueberries.
Just be sure to zest your lemons before you juice them. I’ve forgotten that many a times, which has resulted me in dashing out to the grocery store midway through baking (or begging Mr. Rainbow Plant Life to do that for me).
After you zest the lemon, you’ll mix the lemon juice with some almond milk or other plant-based milk, stir, and set aside. You’ll notice that the milk will curdle fairly quickly like buttermilk.
As for the liquid ingredients, the recipe features maple syrup and bananas for sweetness, along with coconut yogurt, coconut oil, and vanilla. For the yogurt, I use So Delicious unsweetened plain coconut yogurt. Be sure to use a relatively thin variety, not a Greek-style or really creamy one, as it will make the batter too thick. If the yogurt feels thick, add a spoon of water to thin it out.
Tips for making light and fluffy muffins
Do NOT overmix the batter
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I repeat, do not overmix the batter! You have probably heard this warning before, but that’s because it’s so true! I made a very similar muffin recipe last year, and they came out a bit too dense. But when I tried them again—the only difference being I mixed the batter less—they came out light and fluffy and perfect!
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You really only need 12 big strokes with a wooden spoon for this recipe. And yes, it’s totally okay (and even encouraged) for there to be a few pockets of flour that remain unincorporated.
Don’t let those blueberries sink
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Once you’ve completed those 12 strokes, gently fold in the blueberries and poppy seeds using a silicone spatula.
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To prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom and creating soggy-bottomed muffins, I toss the blueberries in a few tablespoons of extra flour before adding them to the batter. How does this work? Well, when you bake fruit, it releases its natural juices, so the extra flour absorbs some of that liquid and keeps the fruit in place. #science
Change up the oven temperature
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Preheat your oven to a high temperature (in this case, 425°F/2180°C. Then, before adding the muffin pan to the oven, reduce the heat back to the standard temperature of 350°F/177°C.
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This dual temperature system creates lighter, fluffier muffins with taller domes. This is because the higher temperature causes the baking powder to act quickly, creating a burst of steam that lifts the muffin batter and preventing the muffins from spreading out. #scienceagain
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Vegan Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 extra-large lemon, or 2 small lemons
- 1/3 cup almond milk or other non-dairy milk
- 1 1/2 cups (~180g) all-purpose flour* + 3 extra tablespoons**
- 2/3 cup (~75g) almond flour or meal
- 2 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut yogurt or other non-dairy yogurt***
- 2/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
- 2 tablespoons refined coconut oil, melted (or a neutral oil of choice)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- For serving lemon zest and Lemon Icing (below)
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup organic powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons almond milk or other nondairy milk
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with liners. I recommend lightly oiling the muffin liners, as there’s very little oil in this recipe.
- Zest the lemon(s) to get 1 tablespoon of zest, and then juice to get ¼ cup juice. Mix the lemon juice with the almond milk and set aside - it will quickly curdle, like buttermilk.
- In a large bowl, combine the 1 ½ cups flour, almond flour, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center and then add in the lemon zest, almond milk-lemon juice mixture, yogurt, maple syrup, mashed banana, oil, and vanilla.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry with a wooden spoon, stirring until they're just mixed - about 12 strokes. The batter should be lumpy and not smooth. Overmixing will cause the muffins to become dense.
- Toss together the blueberries with the extra 3 tablespoons of flour.
- Using a silicone spatula, fold the poppy seeds and blueberries into the muffin batter.
- Using a cookie dough or mini ice cream scoop, dollop the muffin batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
- Reduce the temperature to 350°F/175°C and bake the muffins for 23-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs.
- If desired, make the Lemon Icing. Whisk together all of the ingredients in a bowl until you achieve your desired consistency. Add more liquid for a thinner glaze. Drizzle a little icing onto each muffin and top with a zest of lemon.
Notes
These are AMAZING!!! I had no issues with them sticking to the pan, they had a perfectly balanced taste between the lemon, blueberries and poppyseeds. Fresh and tangy and absolutely delicious. I have not disliked one single recipe yet and I am loving trying them all! Thank you for posting such great creations!
Thanks for sharing, Bri! So glad everyone liked the muffins!
I fell in love with the picture of these beautiful muffins and i fell in love with the outcome! I finally bought measuring cups instead of converting the measurements into grams/ml and this way i had no problems – the batter was just right!
These recipe is amazing, thank you :)
We’re thrilled to hear that, Kate! Thank you for trying the recipe :)
Nisha . I tried these and they came out perfect. I only used half cup sugar for icing for a thin layer . I also added pumpkin seeds to the batter and blueberry jam swirl on top for extra fanciness. Your recipes are PERFECTION !!!!
Delicious! Glad you love the recipe, Ashwini!
These tasted good but man… half my muffin was stuck to the liner! I wish I just greased the muffin pan instead. Anyways, they tasted good, not sweet at all but in a good way. Just felt like I was missing the Lemmon blueberry. Tasted more like banana even though I used a small one. I made your lemon olive oil cake before and I had high hopes for this recipe as the olive cake was divine. Maybe I’m missing something?
I’m sorry to hear that, Nora. Did you make the lemon icing and add the full cup of blueberries to the batter?
That’s okay! I didn’t make the icing but I did add the full cup of blueberries. I also wanted to ass in the the liners were easier to peel off the next day after the muffins were refrigerated. I think I’ll try the recipe again with silicone liners or just a greased pan. Thanks for the reply!
Loved these, hadn’t coconut yoghurt first time and they still tasted beautiful. Bought coconut yoghurt yesterday and I’m going to make them again today :) They are that good!
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made these this morning, and we loved them! We didn’t add the icing. BTW, I’m working my way through your book, and everything we have made has been outstanding. Your queso recipe (the one in the book) is still the best vegan queso recipe out there — We have done side-by-side taste tests. Thanks for providing next-level vegan recipes for people who like to cook!
I was so excited about these muffins. I think I messed up because I had just finished making my own coconut oil and it was still hot when I added it. The muffins are really sticky. I didn’t use almond flour. I want to try again.
Delicious! Made it three times already because it’s so good! If someone has a latex and/or banana allergy, I found that you can substitute the banana with 1/4 cup applesauce. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I also love that it’s refined sugar free (if you don’t make the Leominster icing)
These are absolutely delicious! I loved how these muffins weren’t a complete and total sugar overload! Just the right amount of zest and really allowed the blueberries to shine through!! I used normal baking powder and a silicone muffin pan. They turned out big and full of flavor.
I’ve just made them. THEY TASTE ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!!
But they are stuck to t muffin cases. 😏
I’m wondering what went wrong.
I just made this recipe and I can’t wait until they’re out of the oven. The batter is already SO delicious, very creamy, fresh and sweet. Can’t wait to eat them soon. Keep up making those yummy recipes girl <3
I felt like it tasted a lot like banana… I did 1 and a half since I wasn’t sure my banana was considered large … could be why
They are very tasty, my only problem is that the muffins stuck to the paper. I lost half my treat to the paper 😩
Aww I am so sorry to hear! Next time, skip the muffin paper and just grease the muffin tin. Muffin papers can be finnicky, depending on the quality of the paper. Or just grease the paper as well.
I wish I was a doggie in your kitchen so I could eat all your scraps everyday! Lol These look AMAZING! ( also as is your cookbook! Eating sweet potato dal right now!) Any possibility/tips to reduce the maple syrup and add more banana?
Haha you are so sweet Alicia! Your comment made me LOL. I need recipe testers all the time, so you can come right on over :) So nice you made the sweet potato dal – I just made that a few days ago myself. I haven’t tried the change you mentioned, but tastewise, it will be just fine. Using more banana (which is heavier than maple syrup) might affect the texture a bit, so I wouldn’t alter it too dramatically.
Can I do them with frozen blueberries?
Yes, but be sure to check out these guides on making muffins with frozen blueberries to prevent your batter from turning greenish blue!
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2013/09/08/too-blue-the-secret-to-baking-with-frozen-blueberries
https://www.veggiebalance.com/baking-with-frozen-blueberries/
Made these yesterday and they are AMAZING! Not over-stirring is key — first time I ever made fluffy (not dense) muffins!
I also subbed coconut milk for both almond milk AND yogurt (I didn’t have any). I subbed regular whole wheat flour for almond flour/meal and skipped adding the oil. They turned out delicious and moist enough, nonetheless!
Hi Annalise,
That’s so great to hear! Yes, muffins really don’t need much stirring, so I’m glad that worked for you. Thanks for sharing your substitutions and happy they worked out well!
Hello! Are any modifications needed to bake this in a bundt cake pan?
Hi Lynn, I haven’t tried it myself, but I think you’d want to double the batter for a 10-inch bundt cake and bake it for 30-40 minutes. Hope that helps!
Disastrous and I was so looking forward to them. The batter was not batter like at all. Perhaps converting from cups etc it’s lost but it was so thick. Will try again. Oh and I forgot to add the poppy seeds 🙈
Hi Stephanie, I’m sorry to hear that! It is quite likely that the cups/ounces to grams/mL conversions weren’t accurate, since baking is a very precise science and many readers have made these and have reported positive feedback. The batter is supposed to be a bit thick, like most muffin batters, but definitely not so thick that you can’t use it.
This looks absolutely amazing wow!! I can’t wait to try it, I’ll let you know how they turn!
Happy to hear that, Tiara! Thank you so much :)
I made these the other day and omg there where so delicious and fluffy.I recommend 100%.
YAY! So happy to hear that. Thank you for the feedback Joanna!
Is it meant to be a runny batter?