Full of zesty lemon and crunchy poppy seeds, these Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are the perfect muffin to make! It's also a great use for your sourdough starter that is hanging out in your refrigerator!
Baking with sourdough discard is one of my favorite things to do! You can make baked sourdough donuts, sourdough scones, sourdough discard banana bread, sourdough discard pancakes, sourdough discard waffles, sourdough chocolate chip muffins, and even sourdough crackers with herbs and olive oil crackers!
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Why You'll Love These Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- These muffins are a great make ahead breakfast! Bake up a big batch on Sunday and then enjoy them throughout the week. Pop one in the oven to heat it through and slather with butter. A delicious grab and go breakfast!
- These muffins are easy to make! The lemon poppy seed muffins are made by hand, so you don't have to break out any equipment to make these.
- This recipe use some of that precious sourdough starter! I love using my sourdough starter for other things than just bread. The starter adds a little bit of rise, but also the health benefits of the wild yeast.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Flour. All purpose flour, bread flour, or a combination or white flour and whole wheat flour will work.
- Sourdough Discard. Unfed, meaning that it is right out of the refrigerator and has not been fed yet.
- Lemons. Fresh lemons are best since we are using both the lemon zest and the lemon juice
- Leavening agents. Even though we are using sourdough discard, we need the baking powder and baking soda to make the muffins rise and become light and fluffy.
See printable recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
What is Sourdough Discard?
Sourdough discard is the portion of your sourdough starter that you are not feeding. When you are "feeding" your starter to make bread with, you add equal parts flour, water, and starter to a mason jar and let it rise.
You can't feed your entire starter, as it doubles and sometimes triples in size, and that's a lot of starter to have on hand! If you are new to sourdough, be sure to check out how to keep a sourdough starter post all about how to keep your sourdough starter happy.
Step By Step Instructions
Tips and Tricks
- To make these lemon muffins even sweeter, add a lemon icing like this one on blueberry zucchini bread with lemon icing! There's always a brown sugar streusel topping to add to the muffins too!
- Rotate the muffin pan halfway through the baking process to make sure that the muffins bake evenly.
- If you don't have fresh lemons, you could use store bought lemons. Increase the amount to 3 tablespoons since you won't be using the lemon zest.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! If you have some extra active starter (meaning it has already been fed and is active and bubbly) use that! The muffins will get even bigger! Think bakery style muffins.
Yes! These muffins freeze beautifully! To freeze muffins, allow them to cool completely and then place them in a gallon Ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Keep leftover muffins in an airtight container on the counter. Do not place leftover muffins in the refrigerator. They will go stale very quickly.
More Muffin Recipes
- 2 Ingredient Banana Muffins
- Carrot Cake Muffins
- Banana Oatmeal Muffins
- Banana Muffins with Self-Rising Flour
- 2 Ingredient Pumpkin Muffins
- Cranberry Walnut Muffins
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📖 Recipe
Tangy Sourdough Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Butter Melted
- 1 cup Sugar
- ½ cup Whole Milk
- 1 cup Sourdough Starter Inactive
- 2 Eggs
- 3 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 3 tablespoon Lemon Zest
- 2 tablespoon Poppy Seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners. Set that aside.
- In a small mixing bowl, add the all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix and set that aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the sugar and melted butter. Mix well. Add the milk, sourdough discard, and eggs. Mix again.
- Squeeze the lemon juice and zest the lemons into the bowl. Add the poppy seeds and mix until all the ingredients are combined.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It's ok if there are just a few lumps in it, you do not want to overmix the batter.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.
Notes
- Rotate the muffin pan halfway through the baking process to make sure that the muffins bake evenly.
- If you don't have fresh lemons, you could use store bought lemons. Increase the amount to 3 tablespoons since you won't be using the lemon zest.
- To make these lemon muffins even sweeter, add a lemon icing like this one on blueberry zucchini bread with lemon icing! There's always a brown sugar streusel topping to add to the muffins too!
Jennifer Osborn
This is one of my favorite flavor combinations and my family ate every last muffin. Thanks! Your recipe turned out well.
Lynn Polito
Yay! I love that!
Claire
These were quite delicious!!
We were having these for afternoon tea rather than brunch so I made the icing that you suggested and it added such a delicious sweet touch.
Perfect for serving with tea.
Great recipe and so easy to follow
Sherry
I love your website, Lynn!! This sourdough lemon poppy seed muffins recipe is super tasty and my family loved them! Another great muffin recipe!
Devy
Used the sourdough discard and was pleased with the result. The muffins were so delicious. Though I didn't use poppy seeds as my kids don't like them.
Sarita
Love the poppy seed lemon combination - a great spring flavour and snack!
rupali
So easy to make and the tangy little treats were a delight to have with tea!
Angela
My favorite Lemon Poppy Seed muffins!