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These were seriously delicious! Loved the texture provided by the poppy seeds and chia seeds. The glaze actually ended up being clear but it was so light and delicious (I usually dislike glaze because of that powered sugar glaze) and coated the muffins nicely.
Thanks for an awesome recipe 🙂
Whatever you do, DO NOT imagine me taking down half of that muffin in one bite for picture purposes.
Just don’t even go there in your mind, because I was there in real life and it wasn’t pretty. But it was delicious. It was stuff it in your face ASAP and eat every crumb off the floor embarrassingly, wildly delicious.
I have been trying to get more lemon – check – honey – check – and chia seeds – check – in my life after having a head cold and also being gifted a cute little jar of chia seeds by a sweet friend. And CHIA SEEDS?! Hello, where have you been all my life? Sometimes I think I live under a rock.
One thing though: I can’t taste anything. Like I might have mentioned, I have this horrible head cold — which, one thing you might not know about me yet is that when I have a head cold, or any kind of physical ailment, you’re going to know about it until every last little sniffle and throat itch and .5 degrees above normal temperature is gone, and yes, I married a saint who somehow manages to avoid duct taping my mouth shut and blocking WebMD on all my devices when I am not well — but one of the symptoms that comes with this horrible head cold is not being able to taste anything. I took a bite of muffin this morning and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, waiting for the flavor in my mouth. Nothing.
So then I made the most amazing in the world creamy honey butter glaze that sets up perfectly and looks like smooth dreamy drippy puddle crowning each little muffin, and guess what? Then I could taste the moist lemony zing of the lemon muffins! Which leads us back to the scenario I was describing at the beginning of the post that you weren’t supposed to image. Don’t. Stop. Don’t do it.
This could mean a few things:
- These lemon muffins taste better with glaze (this is truth, regardless of #2 and #3).
- My ability to taste food has improved since first tasting a plain muffin this morning which means I’m getting better and Bjork can stop making trips to the drugstore for the aloe-infused Kleenex! Hip hip hooray!
- My tastebuds are permanently only able to taste honey glaze and I’m doomed to eating it all day every day for the rest of my life. Sigh. Oh, well.
Chia? Well, chia seeds are awesome. I don’t even know that much about chia seeds and I still think they’re awesome. They’re crunchy and cute and can be sprinkled on just about anything, but when you let them soak with overnight oats they get kind of gelatinous. Fun to say that word, right?
In this recipe they’re kind of halvsies replacing poppy seeds. It feels good to be a foodie hipster, doesn’t it?
These muffins will melt in your mouth with the most deliciously moist texture, the brightest, lightest lemon zing and the barely there pop of the chia and poppy seeds. AND THE GLAZE YOU GUYS. Just plan to double it. I’m just telling you right now. You think I’m joking but I definitely don’t joke about honey glaze.
This is my permanent honey lemon home therapy remedy thing, and don’t even try to stop me.
Lemon Muffins with Chia Seeds and Honey Glaze
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 large muffins 1x
Description
These lemon muffins are like poppy seed muffins but they have the addition of healthy chia seeds and a smooth honey glaze.
Ingredients
For the Muffins
- 2 large lemons (yielding 2 tablespoons zest and 1/3 cup juice)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1/2 cup thick plain Greek yogurt (I did not use low fat)
- 1/4 cup milk or cream (I used half and half)
- 3 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 tablespoons honey
For the glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons milk or cream (I used half and half)
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the lemon zest and the sugar in a medium mixing bowl. Rub together with your fingers for a few minutes to release the lemon flavor from the zest. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir to combine.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the lemon juice, vanilla, eggs, oil, yogurt, milk, chia seeds, poppy seeds, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients; stir until just combined.
- Pour batter into greased muffin tins; you should be able to get 8 large muffins. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the tops spring back when touched.
- For the glaze, whisk the powdered sugar, honey, and milk together until smooth. Heat the butter over medium heat until melted; add the glaze mixture and stir until bubbling and warm, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and glaze muffins immediately by dipping muffins upside down into the glaze saucepan or spooning the glaze over the tops. Glaze should set quickly.
Notes
Several commenters have had trouble getting the glaze to thicken, so I’ve adjusted the amount for more powdered sugar. For an alternative glaze recipe that seems to work for everyone, check out this recipe.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: lemon muffins, lemon poppyseed muffins, muffin recipe, healthy muffin recipe
Oh the kids are eating well after coming home with the new baby! I made some of these with the other recipe’s. My frosting was more like a glaze but TBH, it’s sweet enough like that. These are so good!
So, I made these as written and they didn’t rise. I’ve been having this issue with all the lemon muffin recipes I have tried so far. I definitely did not get the lovely browned rounded tops you have in your pictures. Any idea what could have gone wrong? I spooned and measured my ingredients very carefully.
Hi! Check out these helpful tips: https://food52.com/blog/11899-how-to-make-domed-muffins
Great taste but texture was stodgy and all stuck together, is that how it was supposed to be? Didn’t go down well with the family unfortunately. If only it was a bit more firmer and crumbly. I kept in for additional 10 minutes to see if they would stiffen but still with abit of gooey texture inside. Let me know if thats how this is supposed to come out. Such a shame, flavours are rlly yum.
So sorry to hear these didn’t turn out for you, Alba. Thanks for sharing this feedback with us!
Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans. run 3
This glaze recipe is weird and I knew it was when I saw it had melted butter. Maybe I heated it too long, but mine is gluey and would have been perfect without the butter, it did not set, such a disappointment.
So sorry to hear the glaze didn’t turn out for you, Chelsea. Thanks for sharing this feedback with us!
Hi Lindsay, was going to make these tomorrow afternoon but was wondering how long to bake it for if I made it into a loaf rather than muffins? Also, I bought the low fat Greek yoghurt…will the recipe still work?
Hi, Aliya! Low-fat Greek yogurt should still work here. To make this into a loaf, we’d recommend taking the temp down to about 350 degrees F and starting the bake time around 30 minutes and checking the loaf from there. Let us know how this goes!
Thanks! Going to get started this afternoon 🙂
can you freeze these before adding the glaze?
Yep, that should work just fine. 🙂
The long long looonnngg rambling blog about muffins could really be done without. Honestly no one cares about your relationship with chia seeds. Just post to the recipe and be done with it.
hi my muffins are really dense and doughy how did this happen i did everything right 🙁 #depressedbaker
Hi there! It’s hard to say why these didn’t turn out without seeing the muffins. We’d recommend testing them with a toothpick as they get closer to the 12-14 minute mark. Depending on your oven, they might need a little more time if they turned out doughy.
This recipe worked for me however, I had to scroll through the comments to see that the recipe called for 2T of lemon zest instead of 1/4 cup. I wish she’d update the recipe. I used about 1 1/4 a cup of powdered sugar to make the glaze thick enough and the muffins came out not really tasting like anything.. I think if I did it again I’d add fewer seeds and more lemon juice.
Below is the nutritional data. Each serving (I assume per muffin) has over (capitals to indicate emphasis only. I’m not yelling) THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY CALORIES AND TWELVE GRAMS OF FAT. PLUS FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-SIX GRAMS SALT PLUS THIRTY THREE GRAMS OF SUGAR. 😵😵😵
Serves 8
Calories Per Serving: 359
% DAILY VALUE 19%
Total Fat 12.6g
Cholesterol 56.6mg
Sodium 426.7mg
Total Carbohydrate 55.6g
Dietary Fiber 3.5g
Sugars 33.2g
Protein 7.5g
Vitamin A 43.7mcg
Vitamin C 11.4mg
Good heavens! These are simply really, really not good for you and quite frankly are almost entirely “empty calories”! I wouldn’t make these even as a treat. And that tiny bit of chia certainly won’t improve these as far as nutrition.
I don’t mean to be harsh~but wow!
Thinking I should have l let my muffins cool before I glazed them? Ruined the batch!
Would love to try these but need gluten and dairy free. Will substitute almond milk for dairy but I haven’t had luck converting to gluten free. Help?
And how to substitute for yogurt?
Linday hi!! I make this deliciuos muffins, they where great!! Thank you for The recipe. I have some question, The glaze was impossible to do, I try 2 times with two diferents sugar and was The same result. Do you have another recomendatio ?
Best regards
Andrea from Chile
What is the calorie count without the glaze?
Thanks ,
sharing lemon muffins with chia seeds recipe
Chia seeds are very healthy to body. Chia seeds are lot of advantages
so, Let ‘s start buy Chia Seeds at Nourishyou
https://nourishyou.in/superfoods/chia-seeds/
Hi Lindsay, those look good! Does the milk, cream and butter have to be dairy? Thanks and best regards. Carlos.
These sound wonderful, do you know if they freeze ok please?
We’ve never tried, but think the would!
My first batch didn’t rise in the middle, but my second batch did. Any thoughts why? They both taste yummy though!
Not sure why that would be! Maybe the oven wasn’t quite up to the required temp for the first one?
These look amazing! Just wondering what kind of oil to use in them though? So looking forward to making them! 🙂
Just vegetable or canola oil! 🙂
dey good
Hey Lindsay,
We put together the Costco magazine in Australia. In the winter issue we are carrying an advertorial for organic chia, ethically sourced from growers in Central and South America. It’s a native advertising piece and we would like to include a recipe from a food blogger, with a high res image and a credit to the blog.
The recipe and image that we love is Lemon Muffins with Chia Seeds and Honey Glaze.
The magazine has an audited circulation of 120,000 copies plus online presence, and provides exposure to Costco audience. Costco is a rapidly growing presence in the Australian market. My food blogger friend notquitenigella has followers all over the world so I’m hoping you might be interested in some exposure in Australia!
If you are agreeable could you please let me know and provide access to the high res image?
Thankyou so much, Gillian
Oh my good god… these are so good….
I dont think I’ve ever left a comment for a recipe that I’ve tried before, but i just couldn’t pass up saying something about this one… so so good.
Thanks for sharing
For a glaze, I would just use some powdered sugar and add lemon juice until it was honey -like. I love doing this with fresh orange juice too!
I made these for my dad, because he’s diabetic i cut the sugar in half and added more raw honey from our own bees, and used just chia seeds instead of poppyseed and he loved them! they barely affected his blood sugar and they tasted amazing!!! am definitely going to make these again!!
So glad to hear that, Laura! 🙂