Last Updated on January 19, 2022 by Sabrina Currie
Tender, moist muffins with the gentle crunch of poppy seeds. Extra lemony flavor topped with a simple tart-sweet glaze of regular or powdered sugar makes a vegan muffin that tastes divine.
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Why I Make These Muffins
I love anything and everything lemon. Tart and tangy recipes like this one are my favorite with coffee on a Saturday morning (and popped into my lunch bag during the week).
Muffins are a staple in my family. Bran, blueberry, banana, oatmeal...you get the idea. They are great for lunch bags, snacks and a somewhat healthy treat after dinner. I make these ones for my vegan family and friends. They are the only vegan muffins on my site but also a favorite.
If you love making muffins with a healthy twist, try my Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins, Zucchini Muffins and Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins. These are all healthy enough for breakfast with enough sweetness for dessert too! And for a sweet treat, there's Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies (30 minute recipe). Oh, and did I mention they are all quick to make with regular pantry ingredients just like these? Yep. Fast and easy is my thing but I'll never sacrifice taste or texture.
Simple Pantry Ingredients
Vegan lemon and poppy seed muffins are excellent for vegans and those with egg or dairy sensitivities. These are completely dairy free and egg free.
These vegan poppy seed muffins are made almost entirely of fridge and pantry staples. No hard to find ingredients here. Fresh lemon juice, lemon zest and poppy seeds combine with almond milk and margarine, giving a rich depth of flavor and a tender crumb. Regular, unbleached, all purpose flour mixes with baking powder, baking soda and some apple cider vinegar for leavening to keep the texture light and fluffy.
Step By Step Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350'F and grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin.
- Mix your wet ingredients in a large bowl. In separate bowl or large measuring cup, mix together your dry ingredients and then pour in to your wet mixture. (This is the most common way to make muffins.)
3. Gently mix wet and dry ingredients together until they are just mixed. Don't overmix or you risk making tough, dense muffins.
4. Spoon evenly into 12 lined muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
5. Make simple lemon sugar glaze and spoon or brush over muffins after they have cooled for 5-10 minutes. enjoy right away or let cool to room temperature before storing.
Expert Tip
Vegan lemon poppy seed muffins can be mixed up in 10 minutes or less. While your muffins are baking you can whip up the lemon glaze. Having your ingredients at room temperature is ideal but you can microwave your milk and butter a bit if they are cold when you start.
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Vinegar As An Egg Substitute
In these egg free lemon muffins, I chose vinegar as my egg substitute because it is such a universally easy ingredient to find. Vinegar and baking soda together are an excellent replacement for eggs, helping to leaven and retain moisture in baked goods.
This was a popular substitute for eggs during war time when rationing meant there weren't many eggs. Additionally, you can use vinegar to curdle your almond milk (like buttermilk) before baking, adding a more creamy, dairy-like flavor.
Variations and Additions
These are somewhat versatile muffins. Easily swap an ingredient or two to make vegan lemon blueberry muffins or lemon cupcakes and whip up a quick and easy vegan lemon frosting if you like.
Vegan Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Simply omit the poppy seeds and add 1 cup of fresh blueberries at the end, stirring gently just until combined. Frozen blueberries will work too, but may add a greyish purple hue to your muffins. You can toss frozen blueberries in a little flour before adding, which helps minimize the color bleeding.
Vegan Lemon Cupcakes
If you want plain vegan lemon cupcakes, just omit the poppy seeds. This is a really nice, versatile vegan muffin recipe. Top these simple vegan lemon cupcakes with a simple lemon frosting piped on with a star tip and wow your guest!
Vegan Lemon Frosting (Icing)
For a quick and easy vegan lemon frosting, combine a ¼ cup of softened margarine with a few cups of icing sugar and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. A little lemon zest (½-1 tsp) is wonderful if you have it too. Beat with electric mixer on medium until fluffy, adding extra icing sugar or drops of water or almond milk until you reach your desired consistency.
Fill an icing bag with a star tip or used a zip top bag with the corner cut off and pipe in concentric circles to top your cupcakes.
Substitution For Poppy Seeds
If you don't have poppy seeds, you can substitute chia seeds. To make the swap, reduce the amount to 1.5 tablespoons of chia seeds and stir them into your dry ingredients. Once the batter is mixed, bake right away. This is important so the chia seeds don't soak up all the moisture. This substitute works really well if you mix and bake quickly.
How To Store
These keep well in a sealed container on your counter for 1-3 days. (Make sure they are fully cooled before you store them.) If you want to keep them longer than that, put them in an airtight container and freeze.
Here are a few other vegetarian and vegan recipes I love.
If you have any questions or comments, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook. I try to answer any recipe related questions quickly as I know you might be in the middle of making it.
Also check out my FREE PRINTABLE meal planner to make menu planning and grocery shopping a breeze and my shopping guide. And if you like this recipe, I would love it if you give it a star rating in the recipe card.
Cheers and happy cooking, Friends! Sabrina
Happy baking my Friends!
ox Sabrina
📖 Recipe
Vegan Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- ½ c Margarine, melted
- 1 c Raw Granulated Sugar Or regular sugar
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Zest
- ¾ c Lemon Juice
- ½ c Almond Milk, warmed to room temperature or other Vegan Milk
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Dry Ingredients
- 2 c Unbleached, All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Poppy Seeds
Lemon Glaze
- 3 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 3 tablespoon Granulated or Powdered Sugar Choose based on the consistency you prefer, powdered will be smoother.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350' F and grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin.
- Mix margarine and sugar together until well mixed and creamy. Add remaining wet ingredients and mix well with a hand blender or whisk. It may look a little curdled at this point, that is ok.
- Mix all dry ingredients together well and then pour into wet mixture. Stir gently until it is just mixed together. Do not overmix as this can make your muffins hard and dense.
- Divide batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups (they will be quite full, that is ok) and bake for 20-25 minutes. Test with a toothpick. It will come out clean once muffins are done.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes in pan, then remove to a cooling rack. Once fairly cool, spoon glaze (about ¾ teaspoon per muffin) equally over tops and let it soak in. Enjoy!
Make Glaze
- Mix sugar and lemon juice together well and then spoon over tops of muffins.
Nutrition
Bernadette Laganella says
Great recipe and an interesting tip about the vinegar.
SabCurrie says
Thanks Bernadette, enjoy 🙂
Sunrita says
Wow! Love the mix of flavours
Jessica Formicola says
I am so ready for spring and all things lemon, and these muffins are just what I need! I love that they're vegan, too!
SabCurrie says
Yay! Me too, thanks for the note Jessica!
Audrey says
My family love these!
Sabrina Currie says
I’m so glad, thank you for letting me know 🙂
Chef Dennis says
Yum! My wife keeps asking for more of this Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffin.
Sabrina Currie says
Aw! That’s awesome, thanks for sharing!