Lemon Muffins
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My Lemon Muffins are bright and cheery bundles of sunshine. They’re so soft and fluffy, and they’re topped with an easy sweet-tart two-ingredient glaze. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Best & Brightest Lemon Muffins
Today I’m refreshing an old recipe on the blog. My original (previously streusel-laden) laden muffins get a makeover that allows the tart lemon flavor to really shine. Feel free to skip the glaze and use my easy streusel topping instead, if that is what you prefer, but I love the lemon glaze instead here!
These are super soft, tender, and fluffy lemon muffins. They’ve got tall muffin tops and a bright, fresh lemon flavor from real lemons. The glaze I mentioned earlier is beautifully tart and super simple (just two ingredients!), and it makes the perfect citrus crown.
Just as with my bakery-style chocolate chip muffins and banana muffins, we’ll start baking these muffins at a higher temperature and then reduce it about halfway through (without opening the oven!). This trick helps the muffins get those fluffy, sky high tops that bakery muffins have.
Why you’ll love my recipe:
- No mixer required: this batter needs to be mixed by hand.
- Comes together quickly: just 15 minutes of prep!
- Produces big, beautiful muffin tops: thanks to a two-temperature baking method.
- So soft and fluffy: I’ve updated my old recipe for even better results!
What You Need
Just a few simple ingredients come together to make these brightly flavored lemon muffins. Here are the stars of today’s recipe:
- Cornstarch. This keeps our muffins soft and tender without making them dense.
- Melted butter. Melted butter gives these muffins such a great flavor. I use unsalted butter and recommend you do the same for best results; however, if you only have salted on hand, you can use that and reduce the salt to ¼ teaspoon.
- Lemon juice. Fresh lemon juice is best, and remember to always zest your lemon before juicing it!
- Sour cream. A key ingredient in so many of my recipes (remember the difference it makes in the crumb of my sour cream pound cake?), this adds moisture, tenderness, and depth of flavor without making the our lemon muffins taste like sour cream. It compliments the lemon so well!
- Lemon extract. If you have lemon extract on hand, feel free to add it (it will give the muffins a more lemony flavor), but they’ll still taste great without it.
SAM’S TIP: Always zest your lemon before squeezing, and when zesting, don’t go into the papery white layer (pith) below the yellow exterior. That part is bitter (not sour/citrus-flavored) and could make your lemon muffins bitter.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Lemon Muffins
- Whisk together the dry ingredients.
- Combine the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then add them to the dry ingredients.
- Use a spatula to gently stir together the wet and dry ingredients; the batter will be thick.
- Portion the batter between 10-12 muffin liners (more on this odd-ish range of muffins below) and bake for 8 minutes before reducing the temperature and baking for an additional 5-6 minutes.
- Combine the glaze ingredients until it reaches the proper consistency.
- Dip or drizzle the glaze over the cooled muffins.
SAM’S TIP: You may notice that this recipe makes an odd number of cupcakes. While you can divide your batter between an entire standard muffin pan (12 liners), I’ve found that dividing the batter between just 10-11 liners yields much taller, prettier muffins. If that doesn’t matter to you, feel free to fill your pan entirely. Check out the photo below for a visual example.
Frequently Asked Questions
While this could be a result of over-baking, over-mixing is the most likely culprit. Muffins are a quick bread (like pancakes or chocolate banana bread), and they need a gentle hand when combining wet and dry ingredients. Don’t be too aggressive when mixing, and do NOT use an electric mixer for this recipe!
Yes! You can add about a cup of blueberries to your lemon muffins. You may use fresh or frozen berries (no need to thaw first if using frozen). To avoid overmixing, fold the berries in when your wet and dry ingredients are about 50% combined.
When followed correctly, my lemon muffin recipe should yield moist, flavorful muffins. Using sour cream helps, but my best tips for moist muffins are to measure your flour properly and avoid over-baking. Even a minute too long can dry out your muffins. Check them a few minutes before they should be done–some ovens run hotter than they say!
Don’t have cupcake liners? These lemon muffins would look so pretty in my parchment paper muffin liners!
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Lemon Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
Muffins
- 1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ¾ cup (180 g) sour cream
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tablespoons lemon zest
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon extract, optional, but will give your muffins a stronger lemon flavor
Lemon Glaze
- 1 ¼ cup (160 g) powdered sugar
- 1 ½ – 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425F (220C) and line a 12-count muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.1 ¾ cup (220 g) all-purpose flour, ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon table salt
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, melted butter, egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract (if using) until well-combined.¾ cup (180 g) sour cream, ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 3 Tablespoons lemon zest, 2 Tablespoons lemon juice, ½ teaspoon lemon extract
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and use a spatula to gently combine until you have a uniform batter (don’t over-mix or your muffins will be dense!). This is a very thick muffin batter.
- Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin tin – for larger, taller muffins only divide the batter into 10 cavities rather than all 12.
- Bake in center rack of 425F (220C) for 8 minutes, then, without opening the oven door, reduce temperature to 350F and continue to bake for another 5-6 minutes (may need a minute longer if only baking 10-12 muffins), unti a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow muffins to cool in their pan for about 5-10 minutes before carefully removing from pan and allowing to cool on cooling rack before adding glaze.
Lemon Glaze
- Whisk together powdered sugar and 1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice. If glaze is too thick to whisk easily, add more lemon juice, a splash at a time, until a smooth consistency is reached that drizzles off the whisk in a ribbon.1 ¼ cup (160 g) powdered sugar, 1 ½ – 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
- Drizzle over muffins or dip completely cooled muffin tops in the glaze.
- If you’re the patient type, allow glaze to sit and become firm before serving.
Notes
Muffin count
You can divide the batter into all 12 muffin cavities, but for large muffins with tall, fluffy muffin tops, I like to divide the batter into just 10 or 11 liners instead. See the photo in the post for a visual on the difference between baking as 10 or 12 muffins.Storing
These muffins are best enjoyed fresh, but they may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. You may also tightly wrap them and freeze for several months.Original Recipe
I have updated this recipe from the original (which was published in 2017) and prefer this version. However, if you are looking for the original recipe, you can find my original lemon muffin recipe here.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Hi, Sam! I am currently baking these muffins and have to say you’re an inspiration. Your recipes and explanations of techniques are exactly what I was looking for as a new baker.
I noticed you left out when to add the vanilla extract to the batter. I assumed after the eggs. Also, listed for the crumble ingredients, you have 1/3 cup sugar (100 g) but 100 g is 1/2 cup of sugar. I just wanted to clarify.
Hi Laura! I am sorry about that, the 1/3 cup (70grams) is correct, I just fixed it in the recipe. Thank you for catching that!
I hope you love the muffins!
The lemon muffins I made are good however they are a bit dense/heavy. Definitely not fluffy. I don’t know what I did wrong. The only thing I did differently was to add approximately 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds to the batter. I also made your blueberry muffins as well (2nd time in a week) and they are amazing. Nice and fluffy. I can’t figure out where I went wrong with the lemon muffins. Any ideas? Thank you for your help.
Thanks for trying both my recipes, Lyn! I am happy that you enjoyed the blueberry muffins but sorry to hear that your lemon muffins were dense. Two things come to mind… over mixing the batter or too much flour was added. Over measuring the flour is the most common issue so I have created a guide that can be used as a reference for the future. Again, I am sorry there was an issue but happy they still tasted delicious. 🙂
I made these muffins last night. They came out really moist and yummy. I didn’t make the crumble topping, because that’s too much sugar for my taste, but I was very generous with the lemon zest, and added a handful of blueberries to the batter for good measure. Glad to have found your website, Sam!
Carolina
I am so happy that you found my site too, Carolina, and that you enjoyed the lemon muffins. Thank you for commenting. I can’t wait to see what you try next! 🙂
Something with coconut flakes. I always get the unsweetened ones, because I like to have control over how much sugsar goes into my recipes.
Carolina
can I use the normal milk rather than buttermilk?
It it alright if I use vegetable oil instead of canola?
Absolutely, enjoy!
Hi Sam,
How long should I cook in the oven for if I was going to make them as a whole cake rather than cupcakes?
Thanks
Kelly
Hi Kelly! I haven’t tried it, so I can be sure.
Sam – have you ever tried adding fresh blueberries to this recipe? I get requests all the time for lemon – blueberry muffins. I’ve made this recipe as is & the muffins are terrific. I do add zest to the crumble & to the glaze fir added lemon flavor. Thanks in advance for your thoughts about the blueberries.
I think adding blueberries would work just fine in this recipe. 🙂
Your muffins rock!! Would love to see you come up with a coconut cream muffin.
Thank you for the suggestion Nancy! I’ll add it to my list. 🙂
Im confused, step 1 and 4 are the same? is it doubled?
Whoops! Good catch, thanks Cathy!
Hi Sam I’m going to give theses a try cz I love making muffins and trying different flavours and the photos look yummy.
Made these for an Easter egg hunt. They were delicious but a little dry. Next time, I won’t cook them for the entire stated time. Thanks for the recipe!
Sam, I made these last Sat. to take to church on Sun. Followed directions carefully and weighed all ingredients. They looked beautiful!
However 🙁 they were a bit dry, couldn’t taste the lemon, and the glaze caused the topping to crack and fall off. I used lemon juice that I froze in the spring from our Meyer lemon tree. Perhaps I should have added a bit of lemon flavoring? Omit the glaze? But how to make them more moist?
Oh no, I’m very disappointed to hear this, Judy!! One thing I really loved about these muffins when I made them was how moist they were so I’m sorry they didn’t come out like that for you. Overmixing could definitely cause the muffins to be dry, is it possible that they were over-mixed? It’s OK to still be able to see a bit of flour in the batter when you portion it into the muffin cups. I assume you added the lemon zest, right? that’s what really gave them the flavor for me, you definitely can add lemon flavoring but this recipe was designed so you wouldn’t have to :-/
That’s really strange to me about the topping cracking and falling off, usually I feel like there’s no such thing as too much glaze, but is it possible that it was too much? Mine didn’t do this, so I’m really not sure…
I’m sorry they came out dry for you and that I don’t have a clear answer why it happened!
Yummm I feel like these would be so perfect to wake up to. I have been loving lemon desserts lately!
Thank you, Sues! Definitely the time of year for lemon everything!
But Sam , this muffin doesn’t have marshmellow ???
I might have to CHEAT
And have a WHEAT TREAT
I love lemon and they look great.
Hugs, Pat
Haha, you are right! The Marshmallow was for a S’mores recipe I was working on the same day 😂
Thank you for commenting, Pat! I hope you are doing well!! <3
Your photo’s are beautiful, and love the crumble and glaze on top of these muffins!