Oat Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are moist and sweet with all the lemon flavor you crave. They’re made gluten-free with oat flour and boast bakery-style high domes. Topped with a luscious lemon glaze, they’re secretly healthy and vegan!

Top of the muffin to you! If spring had a food personality, it would definitely be lemon poppy seed muffins. I feel each season requires its own muffin, don’t you? Vegan Gingerbread Muffins for winter, Vegan Pumpkin Spice Blender Muffins for fall, and Gluten-Free Banana Mini Muffins with Chocolate Chips for summer. These spring muffins taste like a lemony ray of sunshine. Plus, they make your kitchen smell delicious. One bite and you’ll be tempted to step outside without a parka on!

Speaking of spring flavor feels, I really like my lemon baked goods to tasty *lemony*. So, we add 2 full tablespoons of lemon zest and ¼ cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice to the batter for a bright pop of sweet tang in every bite. That’s 2 whole lemons! It’s also wonderfully satisfying to drizzle the high domes with Easy Lemon Glaze and then pass them around so everyone will fall in love with you. These moist and cakey lemon poppy seed muffins look impressive but use basic ingredients and are uncomplicated to make. Ready to rise and shine? Let’s you and me grab an apron, a cup of tea, and make some edible music!

Ingredient Overview:

Gluten-free vegan baking is its own science, but the ingredients are pretty straightforward. You may have some of them in your pantry right now! Let’s take a closer look at each one and why it works in this recipe.

Oat flour- is a great gluten-free choice for muffins. It has a coarser grain and higher nutritional profile than all-purpose flour for a muffin you can really sink your teeth into. This is the brand I use.

Poppy seeds- A classic ingredient in lemon poppy seed muffins with a fun added crunch!

Baking powder and fine sea salt- Gluten-free oat flour needs a little help rising so we use a full tablespoon of baking powder for high domes. I enjoy how fine sea salt dissolves quickly in the batter. Diamond Crystal kosher salt would also be a good choice.

Ripe banana pulp- Mashed bananas replace eggs in this vegan recipe and are naturally very sweet. Use bananas that are soft and dotted all over with black spots. Then mash them up like baby food so you don’t end up with chunks of banana in your muffins.

Maple syrup – This liquid sweetener gives the muffins a slight caramelly taste and makes them extra moist. Although I haven’t tested it, I feel date syrup would be a good swap for maple syrup, if you want a completely fruit-sweetened muffin.

Creamy almond butter- adds richness and helps bind the ingredients together. Use creamy almond butter for the best texture. This is the brand I use.

Note: I tested this recipe with both drippy almond butter and tahini. Both led to slightly gummy muffins. Should you give these ingredients a try, bake for 25 minutes.

Lemon juice and zest – There’s *lots* of lemon in this recipe, so please use freshly squeezed lemon juice, not the kind from the bottle which can taste watery and bitter. And nothing compares to the flavor explosion you get from freshly zested lemon peel.

Almond extract – for sophisticated bakery-style muffin flavor.

Troubleshooting:

Muffins have an easy personality, but they can be a little tricky to get the texture right, especially in gluten-free baking. The key to moist, cakey texture that is neither gummy nor dry is to have the correct amount of wet-to-dry ingredients. Too much liquid often leads to a gummy texture. Too many dry ingredients can make your muffins dry and crumbly. Let’s do some quick troubleshooting before we begin.

My muffins are gummy-

Muffins that are overly moist taste gummy. This is often because there is too much liquid in the batter. Carefully measure out your wet ingredients to be sure you have the exact amounts.

Another trick to cakey muffins is to remove them from the baking pan as soon as they’re cool enough to handle, about 3 minutes out of the oven. If left in the hot pan, steam will form around the sides and the bottom making them soggy.

Also, check to see that your oven is nice and hot, 375°F / 190°C, before sliding the pan into the oven. A cool oven will undercook the batter.

My muffins are dry and crumbly-

Dry, crumbly muffins are heartbreaking. To avoid this tragedy, use a kitchen scale to weigh your oat flour. This ensures that you’ll have the correct wet-to-dry ingredient ratio. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, trust your measuring cup, and spoon the flour into the cup, scraping the excess away the flat end of a knife.

Double-check that your oven is 375°F / 190°C before sliding in the pan. If your oven is too hot, the muffins will overcook and dry out.

My muffins are not sweet enough-

Bananas are one of the three sweeteners in this recipe. To take advantage of their natural sweetness, use bananas that are very ripe, soft, and covered all over with black spots. The sweet bananas, a generous amount of maple syrup, and a luscious lemon glaze make for a perfectly sweet muffin.

Top tips for terrific muffins

Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. This will help ensure your wet-to-dry ingredient ratio is just right.
Use ripe bananas that are covered all over with black spots for natural sweetness.
Line your muffin pan with non-stick baking cups. You can find these in the baking aisle with the cake mixes.
After you’ve mixed your batter, scoop or spoon it into the muffin cups right away. Don’t let the batter sit!
Fill the muffin cups almost to the top for high domes. This recipe perfectly fills 12 standard-sized muffin cups.
Bake the muffins on the center rack in a 375°F / 190°C pre-heated oven.

Here’s everything you need to make Oat Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2½ cups (250 g) oat flour
3 tablespoons of poppy seeds
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of fine sea salt

Wet Ingredients

1 cup (235 g) of ripe banana pulp, finely mashed
2/3 cup (158 ml) of maple syrup
1/3 cup (85 g) of creamy almond butter
¼ cup of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of lemon zest
2 teaspoons of almond extract

Easy Lemon Glaze

½ cup of sifted powdered sugar whisked with
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

1.Preheat your oven to 375°F / 190°C. Line a 12 standard sized muffin pan (or equivalent) with baking cups.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients- In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together, seeing that there are no clumps of oat flour remaining.

3. Whisk the wet ingredients- In a large mixing bowl, whisk all of the wet ingredients until well combined. It will look a little lumpy and that’s okay.

4. Mix- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 parts. Gently stir the ingredients together after each addition so that there is no oat flour clinging to the sides or bottom of the bowl.

5. Scoop- Use a full-sized cookie scoop or soup spoon to fill 12 standard sized muffin cups almost to the very top. Each cup will hold approx. ¼ cup of batter. Use any remaining batter to round out the tops.

6. Bake- Bake at 375°F / 190°C for 22-25 minutes. (See blog post for suggestions on baking times.) Let them cool for 3 minutes. Then pluck the muffins out of the pan and place them on a cooling rack. This prevents steam from forming around the sides of the cup in the metal pan which can make the muffins gummy.

7. Glaze- Scoop the sifted powdered sugar into a small bowl. Pour in the lemon juice and whisk until smooth with no powdered sugar lumps remaining. Once the muffins are cool, use a fork to drizzle the tops with easy lemon glaze!

Storage:

Store cooled muffins in an airtight container. They will stay moist and cakey for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them, individually wrapped and placed in a freezer-friendly bag for 3-6 months. Let defrost at room temperature before enjoying.

FAQ

How long do I cook my muffins?

Because everyone’s ovens and measuring equipment are unique, I have a few options for baking times.

In place of the traditional toothpick test which comes out clean at the end of each of these baking times, use this guide to decide how long to bake your muffins.

20 minutes- If your oven runs hot or you like a *very* moist, almost doughy, muffin.
22 minutes- If your oven runs true or you like your muffins moist and cakey with no crumbs. This is my sweet spot for my 1952 oven.
25 minutes- If your oven runs cool or you like a muffin with a slight crumble and no hint of gumminess.

My muffins are sticking to the baking cups, help!

Nothing is more disappointing than losing half your muffin to the paper baking cup. I’ve found baking cups that look and feel like writing paper tend to cling to your baked muffin. Baking cups made out of parchment paper or nonstick paper will easily peel away from the muffin. Silicone muffin pans are another good choice.

How do I get high domes?

We can all agree that muffins look positively royal with nice high domes. For high domes, you can boast about, fill the muffin cups to the top with batter. This recipe will perfectly fill 12 standard-sized muffin cups. They will poof up during baking with a delicious craggy top.

It’s also important to get your oven preheated to the correct temperature first before sliding in the pan.

If you’re muffins still come out flat, double-check the expiration date on your baking powder.

I hope you enjoy every bite of these lemony muffins!

Happy baking and until next time, take care.

X,o,

Oat Flour Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins / Vegan

Ingredient Overview: