Light and fluffy blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are on a whole new level! Greek yogurt or sour cream keeps them extra moist, creamed butter creates a wonderfully soft texture, and fresh blackberries add a burst of fresh flavor. Drizzle each with sweet, tart lemon icing for a finishing touch.
Today’s blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are fruity and summery, featuring the season’s freshest berries. I love any and all lemon poppy seed muffins (try my orange lemon poppy seed muffins next), but when you introduce berries—it’s a whole new level of awesome. The sweet blackberries cut the tartness of the lemon muffin and add a new texture to each bite. Let’s dive in!
These Blackberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins Are:
- Like my favorite lemon poppy seed muffins, with a burst of berry flavor
- Light and tender
- Like soft and fluffy lemon cake
- Made with basic ingredients
- Baked at an initial high temperature for tall muffin tops
- Studded with blackberries
- Drizzled with lemon icing
- Perfect for summer mornings, when fresh blackberries are in season
Best Ingredients to Use
These blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are a variation of my master muffin recipe, which we also use as the base for my favorite blueberry muffins. We’ll use pretty much the same ingredients for today’s batter! Here are all of the ingredients you need and why each is important:
- Flour: All-purpose flour is the base of these muffins.
- Poppy Seeds: Can’t have poppy seed muffins without them! Same goes for lemon poppy seed bread and glazed orange poppy seed bars.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder: Both leaveners help the muffins rise.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: Salt and pure vanilla extract add flavor. Try using homemade vanilla extract.
- Butter: We use creamed unsalted butter for a lighter texture. My orange lemon poppy seed muffins are made with melted butter for a denser, heartier texture.
- Brown Sugar & Granulated Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the muffins, balancing out the tart lemon. Brown sugar adds a kiss of flavor, plus extra moisture.
- Eggs: 2 eggs bind everything together.
- Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt: Adds unbeatable moisture.
- Milk: Milk adds moisture. I usually use unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Any milk, dairy or nondairy, works.
- Lemon Juice & Lemon Zest: Both add tartness and lots of lemon flavor.
- Blackberries: Fresh blackberries are best, but frozen blackberries work, too. If using frozen, do now thaw before using. You can use blueberries instead, or try raspberries or chopped strawberries. A mixed berry combination would be a delicious option! Keep berries to a total of 1 and 1/2 cups.
Baker’s Tip: It’s important to fill your muffin pan (or cupcake liners) all the way to the top. You’ll have a lot of batter in each cup. Because we bake the muffins at an initial high temperature for 5 minutes, the muffins won’t overflow. In fact, this is what creates tall muffin tops! The high heat raises the muffin tops up, then you’ll reduce the oven temperature for the remaining time which will cook the muffins inside. Not only does this trick create beautifully sky-high muffin tops, it also makes the muffins extra fluffy inside because the tops don’t stay flat.
Optional Lemon Icing
For a little something extra, I like to top each muffin with a drizzle of lemon icing. You only need 3 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and milk. It’s sweet and tangy and, after an hour or two, sets and becomes reminiscent of doughnut glaze. While totally optional, I always encourage adding extra sweetness!
More Favorite Muffin Recipes
- Banana Muffins
- Morning Glory Muffins
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Apple Cinnamon Muffins
- Cream Cheese Zucchini Muffins or regular Zucchini Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Blackberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 22 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 muffins
- Category: Muffins
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Light and fluffy blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are on a whole new level! Greek yogurt or sour cream keeps them extra moist, creamed butter creates a wonderfully soft texture, and fresh blackberries add a burst of fresh flavor. Drizzle each with sweet, tart lemon icing for a finishing touch.
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups (219g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup (120g) sour cream or plain yogurt, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon zest
- 2 and 1/2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk (any kind), at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (250g) fresh or frozen blackberries (do not thaw if using frozen)
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (22ml) lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk (any kind)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: In a large bowl, toss the flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute, then turn up to high speed and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Mixture may look a little chunky and curded; that’s ok.
- With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients and milk into the wet ingredients and beat until no flour pockets remain. Gently fold into the blackberries; they may bleed a little color and that’s ok.
- Spoon the batter evenly into each cup or liner, filling each all the way to the top. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F (218°C), then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F (177°C). Bake for an additional 15–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 22–23 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
- Make the icing: Whisk all of the icing ingredients together and drizzle over warm or cooled muffins.
- Cover and store leftover muffins for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: For longer storage, freeze muffins (with or without icing) for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm up in the microwave if desired.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Glass Mixing Bowl | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack | Whisk
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly.
I’ve tried three of your muffin recipes and absolutely love them. But, when I add the wet ingredients into my Kitchenaid mixer, even with the splash guard, the ingredients go flying…everywhere! I’m using a flex-edge paddle and have tried recalibrating the mixer. Is this something I should expect with this recipe?
Hi Kathy, is the mixer going too fast? We’d start with a slow speed and gradually work up as the batter starts to come together.
I’m not a fan of poppy seeds but I have a bunch of fresh blackberries I need to use, can I omit them and make the recipe per directions anyway?
Hi Sam, yes, you can omit the poppy seeds here if needed.
These beautiful muffins are light and fluffy. Don’t skip the lemon icing—it’s absolutely delicious.
Fantastic, I have pictures. I am unsure how to attach them here, but wow! I made them with yogurt and no substitutions, beautiful. THEN I made them with gluten free King Arthur flour and threw in a handful of shredded coconut to copy a recipe I tried in Breckenridge this past week and they are through the roof. Thanks Sally!
Can this be made into a quick bread?
Hi Valerie, absolutely! We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Can this be used for mini muffins? Is the baking time adjusted any for mini muffins?
Hi Colleen, For mini muffins, the blackberries are pretty large, so we would cut them so they are a nice size for mini muffins. Bake at 350°F (177°C) the whole time for about 11-13 minutes, give or take.
These look delicious! Have you tried to make mini muffins with this recipe? If so, how do you adjust baking times/temps?
Hi Beth, For mini muffins, the blackberries are pretty large, so we would cut them so they are a nice size for mini muffins. Bake at 350°F (177°C) the whole time for about 11-13 minutes, give or take.
Great recipe. All of your recipes are great. I made these with gluten free flour and they worked perfectly. Wondering about whole wheat flour, have you tried?
Hi Belinda, we haven’t tested these with whole wheat flour. You could try swapping half the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour, but the muffins may taste a bit dry and heavy.
If I’m using the mini muffin pan, can I still do the 425 for minutes to get them to dome or are they too small to dome?
Hi DJ, For mini muffins, the blackberries are pretty large, so we would cut them so they are a nice size for mini muffins. Bake at 350°F (177°C) the whole time for about 11-13 minutes, give or take.
Delicious muffins, but do not rise up tall as I had hoped. I used all room temperature ingredients and measured each ingredient to the gram. I blasted them at 425 for the first 5 minutes, then lowered to oven temp to 350 for 18 minutes. They were flat and a pale grey color from the berry juice so I cooked for a few more minutes. The flavor and texture is beautiful, but not great visually. Also, I recommend adding the lemon icing after the muffins have completely cooled otherwise it just melts immediately.