Lemon Muffins are a bakery-style muffin recipe and a lemon lovers favorite! Soft crumb muffins topped with crunchy sweet crumble topping and a light glaze, all with lemon flavor. A great start to any day or a delicious light snack!
Easy lemon muffins are always a sunny start to the day. The bright lemon flavor and moist muffin is a favorite. You’ll use whole lemon goodness using both the lemon zest and the lemon juice to give a natural lemon taste you’ll love.
From the sweet lemon glaze to the moist lemon muffins, this easy lemon muffin recipe tops regular muffins any day of the week.
Whipping up a batch of these lemon muffins is very easy and is sure to make the day special. If you are a lemon lover try our Lemon Cheesecake and Soft Lemon Sugar Cookies too!
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Recipe Ingredients Notes
All-Purpose Flour. Regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blends can be used. We use and recommend Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1-to-1 baking flour for gluten-free baking.
Unsalted butter. This is used in the crumb topping should should be melted before beginning.
Lemon juice and lemon zest. Zest the lemon before juicing it! The zest is used in the topping and muffins, and the juice is used both in the muffin and glaze. Do use fresh lemon juice for best results. I love this handheld juicer type and zester to make this easy.
Plain Greek yogurt. This makes the muffins moist and delicious!
How to make Lemon Muffins
Printable recipe card at the end of the post.
STEP 1. Preparation
Preheat oven temperature to 375 degrees. Prepare muffin tins by muffin liners in each of the cups in the muffin pan (photo 1).
STEP 2. Make the crumble topping
In a small bowl, combine flour, white sugar, salt, melted butter, and lemon zest (photo 2); cut together with a fork until forming coarse crumbs (photo 3). Set aside.
STEP 3. Make the muffin batter
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt (photo 4). Set aside.
In second large mixing bowl, using a hand or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the eggs until frothy (photo 5). Add in the sugar and oil; beat until combined (photo 6).
Add in the Greek yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract (photo 7); mix until combined.
Pour in the flour mixture and fold together with a spoon or spatula (photo 8); don’t over mix.
STEP 4. Bake
Scoop (use an ice cream scoop) the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling the cups ¾ of the way full (photo 9). Add the crumb topping to the top of the muffins (photo 10).
Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then move to a cooling wire rack until fully cooled (photo 11).
STEP 5. Glaze
Pour the powdered sugar into a small bowl, add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix until the lumps are dissolved (photo 12). If the mixture is too thick, add another tablespoon of lemon juice until the desired consistency has been reached.
Spoon the glaze over the muffins (photo 13). Allow the glaze to set before serving (photo 14).
Variations
Next time try one of these options to change up the lemon muffins recipe!
Sour cream instead of yogurt. If desired swap in sour cream instead of the Greek yogurt. Both will keep the muffins moist and add a little tang!
Lemon extract. These lemon crumb muffins are super lemony BUT if you want even more lemon flavor you can add 1/4 teaspoon to the muffin batter too (it’s really up to your taste preference).
Add blueberries or raspberries. Toss some berries in a little bit of flour (this keeps them from sinking) and add them for a lemon blueberry muffins or lemon raspberry muffins. Add after adding the flour to the batter (last step).
Lemon poppy seed muffins. Stir in some poppy seeds after combining the dry ingredients and wet ingredients for moist lemon poppy seed muffins.
How to Store
Line an airtight container with a paper towel. Store the muffins in a single layer at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 1/2 weeks.
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Recipe
Lemon Muffins with Lemon Glaze
Equipment
Ingredients
Crumb Topping:
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ tablespoon lemon zest
Muffins:
- 4 cups all-purpose flour regular or gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 cups plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice use freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze:
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 5-6 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin pan (or pans) with baking liners.
Crumble Topping:
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, melted butter, and lemon zest; cut together with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.
Muffin Batter:
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the eggs until frothy.
- Add in the sugar and oil; mix until combined.
- Add in the Greek yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla; mix until combined.
- Pour in the flour mixture and fold together with a spoon or spatula; don’t over mix.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling the cups ¾ of the way full. Top each batter filled cup with the crumble topping.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan and then move to a cooling rack until fully cooled.
Glaze:
- Pour the powdered sugar into a small bowl, add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and mix until the lumps are dissolved.If the mixture is too thick, add another tablespoon of lemon juice until the desired consistency has been reached.
- Spoon the glaze over the muffins. Allow the the glaze to set before serving or storing.
Kim says
These turned out perfectly and I could not stop eating them. The flavour is out of this world and the crumb topping was perfection!
Allyson Zea says
My book club members devour these! Thank you for the easy recipe!