These lemon muffins are light, fluffy, incredibly moist and are bursting with fresh lemon flavor. They’re bakery style muffins with beautiful tall, domed tops covered in a bright and tart lemon glaze . What I love most is how quick and easy they are to make. This easy lemon muffin recipe makes the best muffins for wonderfully delicious breakfast, snack or dessert.
Why Should You Make This Recipe
I absolutely adore a bakery style muffin. My Pistachio Muffins, Banana Coffee Cake Muffins, Raspberry Almond Streusel Muffins and Cinnamon Streusel Muffins are just a few muffins recipes I always reach for when I want bakery style muffins. If you’re a fan of delicious bakery style muffins, I know you’ll love this lemon muffin recipe just as much as I do!
- Layers of flavors and textures: From the moist and fluffy lemon muffin, to the sweet and tart lemon glaze with lemon zest, these moist lemon muffins will delight your senses.
- Easy to make, bake and eat: These homemade citrus muffins taste like you just bought them from the bakery, but are so simple to make. All you need is two bowls, a whisk and a muffin pan.
Ingredients
These lemon muffins with lemon glaze requires only a handful of simple ingredients to make and you probably already have them in your house. Here’s what you’ll need.
Dry Ingredients: Gather all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Wet Ingredients: Gather granulated sugar, lemon zest, melted butter, oil, eggs, sour cream, milk, lemon juice and vanilla extract.
Glaze Ingredients: Gather powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice.
Substitutions
These moist lemon filled muffins are as easy to make as they are delicious. Here are my recommended substitutions to make these muffins if you need them.
- All purpose flour: To make these cinnamon crunch muffins gluten free, use a good 1-1 gluten free flour. I recommend using the one from Bob’s Red Mill.
- Melted Butter: Feel free to use an equal amount of salted butter in place of the unsalted butter. Just make sure to omit the added salt. Vegan butter or plant based can also be used in place of regular unsalted butter for this pistachio muffin recipe.
- Canola Oil: Feel free to use any neutral oil in place of the canola oil or use an additional 4 tablespoon (57 g) of melted butter in place of the oil.
- Granulated Sugar: This muffin recipe calls for granulated sugar, but maple sugar would also work well to make these muffins refined sugar free.
- Lemon Zest and Juice: Replace the lemon with any citrus you like. Lime, keylime, meyer lemons or oranges all work well in this recipe!
- Eggs: This recipe has not been tested without eggs.
- Sour Cream: Greek yogurt works well in place of sour cream.
- Milk: Use any milk you like.
- Vanilla Extract: This adds a lovely background flavor that pairs really well with pistachios.
Variations
- Mini Lemon Muffins: Prepare the lemon muffin recipe according to the recipe directions. Grease or line a 24 ct. mini muffin pan with mini cupcake liners. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C) and fill each muffin liner with out 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of lemon muffin batter. Bake for 12-14 minutes. This recipe makes about 36 mini muffins. Check out my Mini Blueberry Muffins for another delicious spring and summer muffin recipe.
- Lemon Streusel Muffins: Make an easy streusel topping by combining ¼ cup (30 g) flour with 2 tablespoon (25 g) sugar and 2 tablespoon (28 g) cold butter until it forms a sand like consistency. Prepare the lemon muffins according to the recipe directions, top the muffins with the streusel and bake.
How To Make
Learn how to make the best lemon muffins in a few easy steps!
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.
- In another bowl whisk the sugar and lemon zest together until well combined with a wet sand consistency. Whisk in the melted butter, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, sour cream and milk together until well combined.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Do not overmix. Let the lemon muffin batter rest at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes. While the muffin batter rests, preheat the oven to 425 F (218 C). Line a 12 ct. muffin pan with cupcake liners. Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. This method produces the tallest bakery style tops. If you prefer to bake them all at once, the tops won’t be as high.
- Bake the muffins at 425 F for 6 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 (177 C) for an additional 7-9 minutes. Do not open the oven door to reduce the temperature. Wait until closer to the minimum baking time. The muffins will bake for a total of 13 - 15 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes about with a few moist crumbs. Cool the lemon pudding mix muffins in the muffin pan for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and make the lemon glaze
- Make the 2 ingredient lemon glaze by stirring the fresh lemon juice into the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. For a thicker glaze, use 1 - 2 tablespoons. For a thinner glaze, 2 - 3 tablespoons. Spoon the glaze over the mostly cooled lemon muffins. Top with lemon zest if you like and enjoy!
How To Store, Freeze and Thaw
- Store leftover muffins: Place the moist lemon muffins in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Then transfer the muffins to the fridge for up to 3 more days.
- Freeze the muffins: Make sure the muffins are completely cooled to room temperature. Individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap. Place each wrapped muffin in a ziplock bag. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months. It’s best not to glaze the muffins if you plan on freezing them.
- Thaw the muffins: The easiest and tastiest way to thaw the glazed lemon muffins is to let them out at room temperature for at least two hours. Enjoy at room temperature or microwave the muffin for 20 - 30 seconds for that “fresh from the oven” taste.
M’s Expert Tips
- Bring cold ingredients to room temperature.This allows the ingredients to mix together more evenly which requires less mixing, resulting in soft, fluffy and moist muffins.
- Don’t overmix the muffin batter. Always use the lowest speed on your electric mixer or mix in the dry ingredients into the wet by hand until just combined.
- Rest the batter for about 30 minutes. This is a little trick to get those beautiful bakery style domes on muffins. Allowing some time for resting allows the batter to hydrate, thicken and rise, making these the best pistachio muffins.
- Alternate muffin wells in the muffin pan. This allows each muffin to get the maximum of amount of even heat circulating around it. This combined with the rest time and two different baking temperatures, gives you beautiful bakery style muffins. The tops will still pop up, but they won’t be as high if you decide to fill all the muffin liners at once.
- Use high heat, then reduce. Higher heat activates the baking powder quickly. Reduce the heat to continue baking. This gives the muffins their signature bakery style dome.
FAQs
Buttermilk is a key ingredient in a moist muffin. However, I love using a combination of sour cream or greek yogurt with regular milk in place of buttermilk for these lemon muffins.
Yes. Resting the batter for as little as 30-60 minutes allows the flour to better absorb the liquid in the batter, creating a thicker batter.
This is done for the same reason as resting the batter. Baking muffins and other quick breads at two different temperatures allows for a quick rise, with high, lightly crisped golden tops; while the centers of the muffins stay soft, tender and fluffy.
Other Lemon Recipes to Try
- Lemon Dump Cake
- Lemon Loaf
- Lemon Cake Mix Cookies
- Lemon Lavender Cookie Bars
- Lemonade Bundt Cake
- Lemon Pancakes
If you try this Lemon Muffins recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! -M
Lemon Muffins Recipe
Equipment
- 12 cupcake or muffin liners
- 2 bowls
- 1 whisk
- 1 spoon or flexible spatula
Ingredients
Lemon Muffins
- 2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- 2 lemons, zested
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup (59 ml) canola oil
- 2 large eggs (US), room temperature
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup milk, room temperature
- ¼ cup (59 ml) lemon juice, room temperature
- ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream, room temperature
Lemon Glaze
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar
- 2 - 3 tbsp (30 - 45 ml) lemon juice
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until well combined.2 cups (240 g) all purpose flour, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- In another bowl whisk the sugar and lemon zest together until well combined with a wet sand consistency.1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar, 2 lemons, zested
- Whisk in the melted butter, oil, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon juice, sour cream and milk together until well combined.4 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, ¼ cup (59 ml) canola oil, 2 large eggs (US), room temperature, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup milk, room temperature, ¼ cup (59 ml) lemon juice, room temperature, ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream, room temperature
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Do not overmix. Let the lemon muffin batter rest at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes. While the muffin batter rests, preheat the oven to 425 F (218 C) and line a 12 ct. muffin pan with cupcake liners.
- Use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop to scoop the muffin batter into each of the muffin liners, alternating every other cup. This method produces the tallest bakery style tops. If you prefer to bake them all at once, the tops won’t be as high.
- Bake the muffins at 425 F for 6 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 (177 C) for an additional 7-9 minutes. Do not open the oven door to reduce the temperature. Wait until closer to the minimum baking time. The muffins will bake for a total of 13 - 15 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes about with a few moist crumbs.
- Cool the lemon muffins in the muffin pan for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the muffins to cool to room temperature and make the lemon glaze.
- Make the 2 ingredient lemon glaze by stirring the fresh lemon juice into the powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency. For a thicker glaze, use 1 - 2 tablespoons. For a thinner glaze, 2 - 3 tablespoons. Spoon the glaze over the mostly cooled lemon muffins. Top with lemon zest if you like and enjoy!1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, 2 - 3 tablespoon (30 - 45 ml) lemon juice
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