Throughout my childhood, my parents planned multiple family vacations to Disneyland. Since we usually drove eight hours down I-5 to visit my grandparents in San Diego instead of flying (if you’ve ever driven on that freeway in California, you know how monotonous the trip through miles and miles of plain yellow fields can be!) and Anaheim was on the way, it was easy to hop off of the highway and stop at The Happiest Place on Earth for a few days first.
We always stayed at the same hotel, situated just two stoplights away from the freeway and one block from the Disneyland entrance. That made life really easy for my parents… The short little legs of young kids can only walk so fast (and so far before they start complaining!).
As really early risers—my brother and I regularly woke up by 6 am every day—we walked over to the park before most of the crowds arrived and usually were the first in line when the gates opened at 8 am. We spent all morning dashing between the most popular “kiddie” rides, like Dumbo and Peter Pan and the Teacups, before the lines grew too long for our patience.
Then our very smart parents walked us back to the hotel shortly after lunch for a bit of quiet time before we could get tired or cranky (they preferred us taking naps, but my brother and I often refused and silently read books instead!) and swimming in the pool. Sometimes we went back to Disneyland for a couple of hours to squeeze in a few more rides or some souvenir shopping, but other times we just collapsed into bed from exhaustion!
Because theme park food costs an arm and a leg, our parents always packed our own. They filled a backpack with water bottles, apples, fruit snacks, crackers, and a jar of peanut butter for whenever a “rumbly in our tumblies” hit (we loved Pooh Bear!), and we ate PB&J or ham and cheese sandwiches in the hotel room for dinner.
Yet out of all of those meals, I loved breakfast the most. At home, we always poured a bowl of cereal with milk, but since the hotel room lacked a fridge, Mom bought a package of jumbo-sized muffins from the local grocery store bakery as a special treat instead.
As picky eaters, my brother and I only ate one flavor: lemon poppy seed. (We would’ve gladly gone with double chocolate, but Mom drew the “special treat” line there!) And the lemon poppy seed muffins had to be plain… So we always picked off all of the slivered almonds if those were the only ones Mom could find!
Since we were so small, Mom gave us each half of a jumbo muffin morning for breakfast, and I loved every single bite. The sweet lemon flavor… The tiny little barely crunchy seeds… Those moist, tender crumbs… I easily would’ve polished off the second half if she let me. I definitely didn’t care about calories or healthy food back then!
But times have changed, and even though I still love Disneyland just as much, now I want my muffins to be a little healthier than the ones sold from grocery store bakeries. That’s exactly why I created this recipe for the Ultimate Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins! They’re supremely tender and full of that same sunshiny flavor, but they’re made from entirely wholesome ingredients and contain none of the guilt!
This easy recipe begins with white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour comes from finely grinding a special type of white wheat, whereas regular whole wheat flour is made from a heartier variety of red wheat. This gives white whole wheat flour a lighter taste and texture, almost like that of all-purpose flour, but it still has the same health benefits of regular whole wheat flour.
Note: Whole wheat pastry flour would be the perfect substitute! I’ve also included my favorite gluten-free flour blend in the Notes section beneath the Instructions, if you prefer.
Many traditional recipes include anywhere from ½ cup to 1 full cup of oil or butter—yikes!! Instead, this lighter version uses just 1 tablespoon of butter, and the rest of the tender texture comes from my favorite ingredient in healthier baking… Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt provides the same moisture as extra butter or oil for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your baked goods a protein boost, too!
To keep these muffins clean eating friendly, you’ll skip the granulated sugar and sweeten them with a combination of honey and vanilla crème stevia. Vanilla crème stevia is one of my new favorite finds! It’s a plant-based, no-calorie sweetener that’s clean eating friendly, and it’s very concentrated. A little goes a long way! I usually buy SweetLeaf, which is sold in a small bottle with an eyedropper, and you can find it at many health-oriented grocery stores, as well as online. (And you’ll use it in all of these recipes of mine, too!)
The bright citrus flavor comes from two sources: freshly squeezed lemon juice and lemon zest. The latter actually provides the majority of the sunshiny taste, so don’t skip it! I tested this recipe with varying amounts of zest, and all of my taste testers agreed that a full 2 ½ tablespoons had the best flavor.
The baking instructions are slightly different than your stereotypical muffin recipe. To make the muffins as tall and tender as possible, you’ll bake them starting at 425°F for 7 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the temperature to 350°F for the rest of their baking time.
This brief stint at that really high temperature quickly activates the baking powder and baking soda. Along with an internal burst of steam, this makes the muffin tops rise really fast and stay nice and tall. Yes, it has to be 425°F—just turn your oven into a sauna, and your muffins will be happy!
And once they’ve cooled, so will your belly! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your muffins and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| The Ultimate Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins | | Print |
- 2 ½ cups (300g) white whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp (13g) poppy seeds
- 2 ½ tbsp (16g) lemon zest, freshly grated (about 3 large lemons)
- 1 tbsp (15g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp (30mL) honey
- 1 ¼ tsp vanilla crème stevia
- 6 tbsp (90mL) freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
- ¾ cup (180mL) nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and lightly coat 12 muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon zest. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Mix in the honey and stevia until fully incorporated. Mix in the lemon juice. Alternate between adding the flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture, and stirring just until incorporated. (For best results, add the flour mixture in 4 equal parts.)
- Divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 425°F for 7 minutes. Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F, and continue baking for an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the tops feel firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the muffin cups for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack.
Whole wheat pastry flour, regular whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the white whole wheat flour.
Agave or pure maple syrup may be substituted for the honey.
Any milk may be substituted in place of the nonfat milk.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
Hi!
Thank you for the recipe! Loved the flavour.
The texture was a little off for me. I used wheat sifted pastry flour. The muffins came out quite dense, not fluffy at at and the bottom as some strange elasticity to it.
Any idea what went wrong ?
Thank you!
Camélia
I’m so honored that you tried making my recipe Camélia! That sounds disappointing and not like how these muffins should turn out, so I’d love to help figure out what happened! 🙂 Did you make any modifications to the recipe, including those listed in the Notes section? Did you use a hand-held or stand mixer to make the batter, by any chance? How was the consistency of your batter compared to mine in the video above the recipe? Was it the same, thicker, thinner, or something else? How about the texture of your muffins — how did that compare to mine in the video?
How did you measure the flour, with a kitchen scale or measuring cups? If the latter, can you describe in detail how you used them to measure?
Do you know what kind of lemons you used? Were they regular lemons, Meyer lemons, or something else?
I know I just asked a LOT of questions, but I’ll be able to narrow down the potential culprit much better once I know your answers to all of them! 🙂
Wow, I really appreciate your effort to help here!
I left out the vanilla stevia as I didn’t have any. Didn’t replace it with anything. I used sifted wheat pastry flour.
I used a whip to mix the batter. Over mixing sounds very much like me to be honest haha.
My batter was much thinner than yours, quite liquid-y actually. The cooked muffins had some gummy consistency to them. I could almost scoop the inside with my fingers and be left with an elastic shell. The shape was very different as well. Mine had a clear mound in the middle and were flatter around the edges.
I used the scoop into a cup method for the flour. I did have doubt about the quantity. Will definitely use a scale next time.
I had regular lemons, put in the same amount of juice as in the recipe but only the zest of two lemons as this was my first time making a lemon recipe and wasn’t sure how intense I wanted it to taste.
There you have it! Any insight will be appreciated!
Thank you,
Camélia
It’s my pleasure Camélia! I’m always happy to help!
If you omitted the stevia and didn’t replace it with anything, I’m guessing your muffins weren’t very sweet at all… The amount of stevia is the equivalent of at least ½ cup of sugar! Is that true? Did your muffins have more of a bread-like sweetness level, rather than a traditional muffin sweetness level?
For the best results when making the batter, I recommend using a whisk where instructed and a fork for everything else! Just like I did in the video. 😉 If you use a whisk and fork, and you only mix until the ingredients are just incorporated, it should prevent overmixing! (Overmixing often creates a tough or gummy texture!)
That’s so strange that your batter was so liquidy… How much flour, milk, and lemon juice did you use? Did you measure the lemon juice with measuring spoons, or did you simply add the juice of 2 lemons? (And did you measure the zest with tablespoons as well, or did you simply use the zest from 2 lemons?)
And if you have a kitchen scale, I definitely recommend using it to measure all ingredients listed with gram measurements! A kitchen scale will almost always be more accurate than measuring cups for those ingredients with gram measurements. (And bonus — that usually results in fewer dishes to wash too! 😉 )
I have a strong feeling about the culprit, but your answers to this next round of questions will reveal whether I’m correct! 😉
Yes, exactly! Didn’t replace the stevia so they weren’t sweet at all, which was fine by me.
For the flour, I put it the same but as in the recipe with the fork and measuring cup method but I think it was not accurate in my case. Will use a scale next time.
For the milk, I used a measuring cup for liquids so that was the exact measurement.
For the lemon zest and juice, I didn’t measure them, just put in the amount given by 2 lemons.
Learned my lesson that eye-balling isn’t great for baking hahah.
Camélia
Thanks for sharing this information too, Camélia! You’re exactly right — although eye-balling can work with cooking, it doesn’t work very well in baking. Baking is a science, which definitely requires precision! 😉 And I was right with my previous hunch — it’s the lemons! Not all “large” lemons are exactly the same size, so the amount of juice and zest that they yield will vary. If you didn’t measure the lemon juice, it sounds like your large lemons were much bigger than mine because the batter was so thin and liquidy.
So for next time, I’d recommend (a) a kitchen scale for measuring the ingredients with gram measurements, (b) measuring the lemon juice with tablespoons, and (c) a whisk and fork to make the batter {and gently, not vigorously, stirring!}. If you do those things, I think your muffins should turn out MUCH better!! Does all of that make sense? 🙂
Thank you so much, Amy!
Will definitely be keeping this in mind for my next baking adventure.
Really love the site – I’m sure I’ll find another recipe to try on here.
Thanks again!
Camélia
It’s my pleasure, Camélia! I’m so honored that you’d want to try another one of my recipes. That truly means a lot! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear which one you pick to make next!
I’m wondering what I could substitute instead of the yogurt as I cannot have any dairy in my diet?
Dairy-free yogurt (ie soy-based, almond-based, coconut-based, even oat-based!) would be the best substitute! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making these muffins Aaron!
I wanted to make this but I don’t like stevia. Is there a substitute for this in this particular recipe? Thanks so much…I love ALL your recipes!
You’re really sweet, Emily! It means so much that you’re enjoying my recipes. ♡ If you’d like to omit the stevia in this particular recipe, then substitute ½ cup of honey (or pure maple syrup or agave!) in its place, and reduce the milk to ¼ cup to compensate for the additional liquid. I can’t wait to hear what you think of these muffins!
Can you modify this recipe for almond poppyseed?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Michelle! Great minds must think alike… Almond poppy seed muffins are at the very top of my recipe testing list! In the meantime, I think it might be possible to modify this one a bit. Although I haven’t personally tried this, I think I’d recommend (a) omitting the lemon zest, (b) substituting almond extract for the vanilla extract, and (c) substituting 2 tablespoons (30mL) distilled white vinegar + ¼ cup (60mL) milk for the lemon juice.
If you end up trying that, I’d absolutely love to hear how your muffins turn out!
I actually ended up trying my own modification before I heard back from you. I left out the zest, still included 1 tsp of vanilla extract, added 2 tsp of almond extract and then included 80 ml of water (as a substitute for the lemon juice). They turned out pretty good! Would the vinegar have made a flavor difference you think? The muffins did have a nice, tall pointy dome look which I was impressed with! I’ll watch for your recipe once you perfect it!
I’m so glad they turned out, Michelle! Thank you for taking the time to let me know! 🙂
Compared to water, vinegar would’ve given them a slightly softer and more tender texture, and it may also help them rise a bit more. Vinegar is an acid, like lemon juice, that reacts with the baking soda. When they react and are heated in the oven, they forms air bubbles, which then impacts the texture of baked goods. (I was a chemist before I became a baking blogger, so I love nerdy baking chemistry like this!)