These Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are moist and fluffy, zesty and tangy and healthy enough for breakfast! They're also refined sugar free, and come together in one bowl.
Tips for baking with lemons
- For optimum lemon flavour, I would recommend using fresh lemons (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
- You have to be careful when baking with lemon juice as the acidity and lemon flavour can really vary depending on the lemons you use.
- I would recommend tasting the lemon juice you're using and adjusting the amount of lemon juice you use accordingly.
- For the lemon zest, make sure you use unwaxed lemons.
How to make this recipe
Scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe.
- Mix together all the ingredients in a glass mixing bowl.
Tip: Make sure to use a measuring jug to measure out the exact amount of plant-based milk!
- Divide the batter between muffin cases in a muffin/cupcake tin.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
Tips for the lemon syrup
I decided to make a sweet, tangy lemon syrup to pour over the muffins. The syrup is refined sugar free and easy to make, and adds a little extra zippy sweetness. Plus, you can quickly mix it together whilst you're waiting for the muffins to bake in the oven.
- I recommend pouring the syrup over the muffins straight out the oven while they're still hot, so that it gets properly absorbed.
- It's optional so you can definitely leave it out if you want.
Substitutions you can make
- You can use any type of oil: coconut oil, olive oil or vegetable oil.
- You can use any type of plant-based milk: almond milk, rice milk, soy milk, cashew milk, oat milk etc.
- You can use any type of liquid sweetener: maple syrup, agave syrup, brown rice syrup etc.
- You can replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground walnuts.
- For a nut-free version: replace the ground almonds (almond meal/almond flour) with ground sunflower seeds or use 30g (¼ cup) coconut flour instead of 150g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds.
- You can use plain flour, wholemeal (whole wheat) flour or spelt flour instead of the gluten-free flour if you're not gluten-free.
How long do these keep for?
These do taste best when fresh, but they do keep covered in the fridge for up to a few days. You can reheat them in the oven or an oven toaster if you like.
For more vegan muffin recipes
- Carrot Muffins
- Blueberry Banana Bread Muffins
- Chocolate Muffins
- Apple Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Muffin Tin Sushi Cups
- Chocolate Banana Muffins
- Orange Muffins
- Orange Poppy Seed Muffins
- Strawberry Muffins
- Raspberry Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Cranberry Muffins
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I'd really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo @rhiansrecipes #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Watch how to make it
Gluten-Free Vegan Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins:
- 60 g (¼ cup) coconut oil (or sub olive or vegetable oil)
- 180 ml (¾ cup) unsweetened almond milk (or sub any other plant-based milk)
- 8 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest (use unwaxed lemons)
- 12 tablespoons maple syrup (or sub any other sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
- 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) ground almonds (almond meal) *
- 150 g (1 ¼ cup) gluten-free flour blend (or sub plain flour if not gluten-free)
- 2 heaped teaspoons baking powder (ensure gluten-free if necessary)
- ¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
For the syrup (optional):
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
For the muffins:
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- Place the coconut oil in a large bowl and melt over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave (skip this step if using any other oil).
- Once melted, add the milk to the same bowl along with the lemon juice, lemon zest, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, poppy seeds and ground almonds.
- Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.
- Mix well, adding a tiny splash more milk if it's looking too dry.
- Transfer the mixture between muffin cases in a muffin tin.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
For the syrup:
- Whilst the muffins are baking, mix together the lemon juice and maple syrup.
- Drizzle it over the muffins as soon as they're out of the oven - it will soak into the muffins better when they're hot.
- These muffins taste best eaten on the day they're made, but keep for a few days. They can be reheated in the oven or an oven toaster if you like!
Video
Notes
- For optimum lemon flavour, I would recommend using fresh lemons (not ones that you've had sitting in your fruit bowl for weeks!) and organic ones if possible.
- You have to be careful when baking with lemon juice as the acidity and lemon flavour can really vary depending on the lemons you use.
- I would recommend tasting the lemon juice you're using and adjusting the amount of lemon juice you use accordingly.
- For the lemon zest, make sure you use unwaxed lemons.
Disclosure: This posts contains affiliate links to Amazon. If you purchase any of these products, a small percentage will come to me with no extra cost to you! This income will go towards the running of this blog - thank you.
Mai
Hi, I have a nut allergy so I was wondering if there was something else I could put instead of the almond meal? Really excited to try your recipe!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much! You can use ground sunflower seeds or use a fifth of the amount of coconut flour. Hope that helps!
Valentina Allende
Hi! I'd like to know what can I substitute the maple syrup with cause I can't find it anywhere in my city. Thanks!
Rhian Williams
Hi! You can use any other liquid sweetener - so agave syrup, brown rice syrup, or honey if you're not vegan, or you can even just use the same amount of sugar. Hope that helps!
Mieks
Just made these, they are delicious. I was able to make 12 following the recipe fairly closely and used regular flour. Super yummy and moist:) Thanks so much!
Rhian Williams
Aw great, thank you so much. So glad you like them!
P. Dot
Can you use only regular flour and not a mix? I’m poor, so can’t buy fancy stuff aside from what I need to get with a dairy allergy. Thanks.
Rhian Williams
Yep you can use regular wheat flour no problem!
Kara Western
I really enjoyed these! The only thing I changed was to use 1/4 cup brown sugar instead of maple syrup. I used buckwheat and oat flour, they turned out a little dry and crumbly. It made 12 regular sized muffins, but they didn’t rise at all. I’m new to gf baking is this normally a problem when not using gluten? Thank you!!
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you for your feedback! I'm glad you liked the muffins. I think they were dry and crumbly because both buckwheat and oat flour are like that and require more moisture. Using a mixture of almond flour and gluten-free flour keeps them moist. If using buckwheat and oat flour in future I would add some extra milk and maybe something to help with moisture such as a few tablespoons of applesauce. Hope that helps!
Anonymous
Do you think this recipe would work using all almond flour rather than a mix?
Rhian Williams
I'm sorry I have tested it like that, but unfortunately it doesn't work with 100% almond flour. If you don't want to use gluten-free flour, you can alternatively use rice flour. Hope that helps!