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!
SO GOOD
I think the sour cream is the gem in this one. They taste like cream cheese muffins. They’re really good. The lemon flavor is extremally subtle
I’ve made your lemon blueberry cake twice and my family loves it! So, I decided to try making the lemon muffin recipe. I followed the recipe exactly except that I added a little milk to the batter for a more cake-like consistency and added blueberries to half and chopped strawberries to the other half. They turned out great – the tops had a nice crispness while the rest was moist with a cake consistency (the way I like muffins)! Thank you for the recipe!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Margie! 🙂
Best muffins ever! I brought them to an event at a friend’s house, and I got so many compliments on how delicious/moist they were. I have made them multiple times since, and also tried making them dairy free. I substituted the butter for coconut oil and the sour cream with coconut yogurt, and they still turned out great. Thank you so much Sam!!!
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Adeline! 🙂
Very good! I made sure to not over cook and they were light, moist and wonderful! A couple had not cooked entirely and had a bit of raw batter in the very center but I removed them all from the tin and left those in the tin longer.. seemed to help! Don’t be discouraged by how thick the batter is as I think that is partially what makes them so light and fluffy.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Cindy! 🙂
I am loving baking with you. I got injured and have been out of work for two months, so I started baking. I was looking for recipes and found your site. At first it was a little difficult but by following your videos and going through the steps I am getting better. I want to thank you for the Measuring tips on flour. It really makes a difference.
Thank you so much for the very kind comment, Richard! I’m so glad everything has been so helpful and I wish you a speedy recovery. 🙂
Love this recipe!! I made it without the glaze and reduced the sugar to 100g. I had to add to the baking time though. I’m guessing it’s because i was using paper cups without a muffin tray (used a regular baking tray), so it was less hot. The muffins are delicious!!! Thank you so much!! 😊
We’re happy you enjoyed the muffins, Raine! Thanks for the review 💜
I would like to know if this recipe could be used for a lemon loaf instead of muffins?
Hi Andrea! I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would go. Let me know how it does go if you do try it. 🙂
Can I use something else besides Coen startch? I’m out and really want to make these.
Hi Sara! You can just replace the corn starch with flour. 🙂
Hi,I am 11 years old and love to bake.This recipe was awesome and the features of the site like how tells you the ingredients under the directions and how it has a setting so that you device doesn’t turn off while you are baking were absolutely stellar.
Hi Elaine! We are so happy the features are helpful for you 😊 Thanks for commenting!
The batter was overly thick, even though I measured the ingredients carefully. I added some milk to make it a batter rather than a dough. Then, the muffins needed an extra five minutes of cooking time. Overall, I was disappointed in the recipe.
Hi! It is a thick batter, I mention this so if everything was measured properly and it looked as it did in the video/photos you should be fine. Adjusting the recipe or a difference in oven temperature could be why it took longer to bake and would probably also diminish the flavor and make the muffins a bit underwhelming.
If I make these with gluten free flour, would you still put the cornstarch in?
Yes! Enjoy 😊
Super tasty.
I love this recipe! I did have trouble mixing it because it is thick so I gave it a quick hit with my mixer and added two more teaspoons of sour cream. Made one batch with dried apricots and a little coconut on top and another batch with chocolate chips.
Can I add poppyseed ?
Sure!
I’m an experienced baker, and I know how to measure flour properly, but this batter was too thick to avoid over mixing in order to get the dry ingredients mixed in. I managed to eke out 12 muffins, and after reducing the heat I checked them at 5 minutes, then 6, and had to bake them 8 minutes. I know my oven is working properly as I had just baked 2 other recipes and they turned out fine. The lemon flavour is great, but they turned out dense because of the overmixing/baking. I had mixed the wet ingredients and they sat awhile, don’t know if the butter solidified too much, even though the mix seemed fluid enough,but I was disappointed as I made your blueberry streusel cake the other day and was thrilled with the results.
I’m sorry this happened, Sandra! I’m not really sure what could have happened here. 🙁 I’m glad you enjoyed the blueberry streusel cake though. 🙂
Tried this recipe yesterday. Absolutely satisfying: muffins were light and fluffy, just the right amount of lemon taste and the glaze really brings the whole ensemble satiably!
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Nadine! 🙂