Paleo Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins – delicate, lemony poppy seed muffins made with a blend of almond and tapioca flour. Mixed together in one bowl and only 8 ingredients!
Four!
It took four attempts before getting this recipe nailed down for these paleo + vegan lemon poppy seed muffins and it was so worth it! Attempts numbers 1 & 3 were completely inedible with #3 coming out weird and green(??). Attempt two was tasty, but sunk a little too much in the middle. It also required three different types of flours which felt like a bit much for a simple muffin.
Fourth time’s the charm though, right? At any rate, it was worth it!
How To Make: Paleo + Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
These muffins are as easy as they come. It’s just a matter of whisking together the dry ingredients and then stirring in the wet into a thick, lump free batter.
A few things to keep in mind when making these:
- I have not tested these muffins with any other flour combination so I’m afraid I can’t advise on any substitutes here.
- Make sure your oven is properly heated up before adding the muffins and don’t be tempted to open to oven door while baking! Letting the cool outside air into the hot oven will cause your muffins to sink in the middle.
- Your batter should be thick and stick to your spoon when held up. If the batter looks too runny add an extra spoonful or two of almond flour to thicken it up.
Is Baking Powder Paleo?
Technically no. Baking powder is usually contains corn starch which makes it not technically paleo friendly. Fortunately, it’s really easy to make your own baking powder at home by mixing together a small amount of arrowroot starch, baking soda and cream of tartar. I include the amounts needed in the recipe below if you’re interested in making it.
That being said – if you’re not bothered about following a strict paleo diet this recipe only needs two teaspoons so it’s not much at all.
Note about the lemon glaze:
The glaze pictured here is not paleo. It’s a simple powdered sugar glaze. I personally love a lemon glaze with my baked goods so I didn’t want to skip on it here though it’s completely optional and up to you if you want to add it.
If you are interested in keeping this strictly paleo you can make your own powdered coconut sugar by blending regular coconut sugar in a high speed blender for about 30 seconds until it turns to powder. If you do go the coconut sugar route keep in mind that your glaze will look more like the one in these Carrot Apple & Flaxseed Muffins.
And that’s it! Zesty lemon muffins make in one bowl and ready in under an hour – enjoy!
If you like this recipe you might also enjoy my vanilla paleo + vegan cupcakes and my paleo chocolate cupcakes as well!
Paleo Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Paleo Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins - delicate, lemony poppy seed muffins made with a blend of almond and tapioca flour. Mixed together in one bowl and only 8 ingredients!Â
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups |240 g almond flour
- 1/2 cup | 56 g tapioca flour or arrowroot starch
- 2/3 cup | 120 g coconut sugar or white cane sugar (white sugar is not paleo)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/4 cup | 56 g melted coconut oil
- 1/2 cup | 120 ml almond milk, room temperature (or another milk sub of your choice)
- 3 tablespoons | 45 ml lemon juice +1 teaspoon lemon zest
Optional Lemon Glaze
- 1/2 cup | 63 g powdered sugar*
- 1 tablespoon | 15 ml lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C and grease or line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. You'll only need 9 cup greased/lined.
- Whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, and poppy seeds together in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
- Stir in the coconut oil, almond milk, lemon juice and zest until no lumps remain and a thick batter forms.
- Pour the batter evenly into each muffin cup about 3/4 of the way full. Place in the oven and bake for 20-22 minutes until the tops have goldened and the insides are cooked. Let cool in the tin for at least 10 minutes in the pan before enjoying.
Optional Lemon Glaze
- In a small bowl whisk together the sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins once they have mostly cooled down.
Notes
- Make your own paleo baking powder by mixing: 1/2 teaspoon baking soda + 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot starch + 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- You can make your own paleo friendly powdered sugar by blending coconut sugar in a high powdered blender (I used Blendtec) and process until you get a soft powdery sugar. If you do make your own powdered coconut sugar your glaze will look more like the glaze in these Carrot & Apple Flaxseed muffins.
- I ran out of coconut sugar when picturing these which is why my glaze is white. I'm also not strict paleo so I prefer a classic glaze but this part is up to you!
I haven't yet tried this using other types of flours so I can't advise on using alternatives here.
Eve says
Hi there,
The video shows 9 muffins. Does this recipe yield 9 or 12?
Thank you!
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Eve – this recipe only makes nine muffins. I note in the recipe to use a 12 cup muffin tin (because those are the most common size muffins tin) but only to grease nine cups because that’s all you’ll need. Sorry about the confusion!
Kristen Repp says
Hi there, currently making these but my batter is too thick, basically not pourable. Can I add additional almond milk until thin enough to pour?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Kristen! If that batter feels too thick you can add an extra tablespoon of almond milk. Just in case you haven’t seen it here’s a video of how to make these muffins for reference – around 30 seconds you’ll be able to see what the batter should look like. Hope that helps! https://www.facebook.com/asaucykitchen/videos/2284815921779909/
KIRII says
These are amazing! Please, please, please make a chocolate and blueberry version and more egg-free baking recipes. This recipe and your Blondies are the best egg-free baking I have ever experienced!!!
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! I’m so glad you liked these! Have you seen these blueberry muffins? If you like these lemon ones I think you’ll enjoy the blueberry version. https://www.asaucykitchen.com/paleo-vegan-blueberry-muffins/
I’ll get started on testing chocolate ones! I’m always happy to take requests 🙂
Richa Gupta says
Hi! Can I substitute honey with sugar? Or can I use Truvia instead of sugar? If so, how much truvia do you think would replace 2/3 cup of sugar?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Richa! I’m afraid I’m not too sure how these muffins would come out if you tweak the sugars too much. I think changing the type of sweetener would change the texture quite a bit and might not cook the same in the middle without additional testing. If you do any experimenting please let me know if/how they come out!
Craftyhourmom says
Followed exactly except used butter as I don’t have coconut oil. They taste good but all caved in the centre, regular size and mini size alike. Any ideas why?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Laura!
So – butter is about 75% fat and 25% water – when you use butter to replace oil in muffin recipes you often times need to increase the amount of butter used and decrease the amount of liquid in other parts of the recipe to make up for it. In this case you probably would have needed to decrease the amount of almond milk and increase the butter to make it work – too much liquid in breads/quick breads (like muffins) usually result in sunken middles.
Hope that helps! glad you still enjoyed the taste!
Caroline says
A true godsend! Thanks from the bottom of my heart for dairy-free, egg-free perfection of texture and taste! This will be a forever-keeper for me. Thank you for your work and sharing it generously. You have added some joy into my life 💛
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! That makes me so happy to hear how much you enjoyed them! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought!
Christine says
These sound delish! Is there another flour I could use instead of almond? I’m allergic.
Sarah says
Hey Christine! Unfortunately I don’t have any recommendations for other flours here that I know would for sure work. You might have better luck playing around with my paleo coconut flour cake and adding lemon juice/zest to that one as though as that one is naturally nut free. I haven’t tried that out myself (yet!) but I do think that you could add the same amount of lemon juice and poppy seeds to that one and it would work.
Lottie says
Tried these made by the lady herself. Omg they are the best. Prefect level of lemon, sweet icing and slightly savoury dough. Delicious!
Erin says
These were incredible! Even my boyfriend was impressed and he’s usually not a fan of vegan desserts!
Sarah says
Thanks Erin! So glad you guys liked them!
Natalie says
I love lemon and poppy seeds together! Looks delicious!
Sarah says
Thanks Natalie! Lemon & poppy seed is one of my favourites!