Bright and fluffy lemon muffins are easy to prepare from scratch in only 40 minutes. They’re made with healthier whole wheat flour, and are eggless for a completely vegan muffin recipe. Here I share my step-by-step instructions with photos to make delicious sweet and tart lemon muffins for breakfast or a snack!
Table of Contents
About These Lemon Muffins
This easy recipe was developed on a whim one day when I was really craving something lemony. With just a handful of pantry staples I was able to whip up soft and delicious lemon muffins full of lemon flavor in under an hour.
In the recipe I have used olive oil, which creates a rich and smooth batter. And pairs great with the vibrant lemon citrus flavor! Since there are no eggs, butter, or dairy needed my simple recipe also happens to be completely vegan-friendly.
Making these muffins are pretty easy. You only need to sift the dry ingredients and then mix it in a lemon water solution. No stand mixer and no electric beater is required. All you need is a wired whisk to make the batter.
I’ve tested and tweaked this eggless lemon muffins recipe to be just right, and I am confident you’ll love it as much as I do!
How to Make Lemon Muffins
Prep and Make Lemon Solution
1. Line a muffin pan/muffin tin with muffin liners or muffin cups. You can also grease the pan with oil instead of using muffin liners.
2. Preheat the oven to 356 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degree Celsius). Rinse and dry a large lemon. Then zest the lemon with a zester or grater.
Only remove the yellow or green part of the peel and not the white. Set the lemon zest aside.
3. Halve and juice the lemon, straining out the seeds. You want ¼ cup lemon juice in total.
4. Add the juice to a mixing bowl or pan.
5. Now add ½ cup raw sugar to the lemon juice. You can swap raw sugar with white granulated sugar or muscovado sugar.
6. Stir, and then add ½ cup water.
7. With a wired whisk or spoon stir well, so that all of the sugar is dissolved within the lemon solution.
8. Add ¼ cup olive oil. You can also use softened butter (dairy or vegan plant-based spread) instead of oil or any other neutral flavored oil.
9. Whisk the oil briskly for 2 to 3 minutes into the lemon mixture until thoroughly combined.
Note that I have not added vanilla extract, but if you prefer add about ½ teaspoon vanilla extract at this step and mix well.
Sift Dry Ingredients
10. Now add 1 cup whole wheat flour (leveled, 120 grams) and ½ teaspoon baking powder in a sieve placed over a bowl or plate.
I am not a fan of baking soda and it is not needed to get a nice rise on the lemon muffins. However, for a more cake-y texture you can add ¼ teaspoon baking soda to the dry ingredients.
Note: You can use the Indian whole wheat flour (called atta) or the regular whole wheat flour and even whole wheat pastry flour in the recipe. If you are not a fan of whole wheat flour, then swap with all-purpose flour or pastry flour.
11. Sift the dry ingredients.
12. Then add the dry ingredients and 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of the lemon zest to the wet ingredients.
Make Muffin Batter
13. Stir together with a whisk, but use a gentle touch.
14. Everything should be mixed very well, but you do not want to over mix. Because there are no eggs in this recipe, the fluffiness comes from the combination of acid (lemon juice) and baking powder.
Keep in mind that if you blend too much the batter will fall flat when baked.
Bake Lemon Muffins
15. Pour the batter into the muffin liners to fill ⅔ of the way.
16. Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. You can also bake them in a convection or microwave oven in the same amount of time.
But be sure to check them after 18 minutes to make sure they don’t over bake. To test for doneness insert a toothpick or bamboo skewer in the center of a lemon muffin. It should come out clean if they are completely baked.
17. After 4 to 5 minutes rested in the tin, transfer the lemon muffins to a wire rack to cool. From this recipe, you will get 8 medium sized muffins.
18. Serve these egg free and vegan lemon muffins as a sweet snack or dessert. You can also pack them in a lunch box as a sweet side snack!
Helpful Tips
- Lemons: Feel free to use any variety of lemons. You can also make these muffins with limes.
- Oil: Swap the olive oil, with a neutral flavored oil. Alternatively for a vegetarian muffin, you can use softened butter.
- Flour: If you like add all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat flour for a more lighter and softer crumb. You can also use regular whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or the Indian atta flour that is used for making roti to make these muffins.
- Lemon glaze: If you prefer you can choose to frost these tangy sweet muffins with a lemon glaze icing. This is the recipe I follow: In a small bowl mix together ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar) with 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ½ teaspoon lemon zest. For a slightly thinner glaze, add 1 to 2 teaspoons more lemon juice. Drizzle this lemon glaze on the muffins.
- Scaling: The recipe can be scaled to make a smaller batch of 4 muffins or larger batches of 16 muffins or 24 muffins or more.
FAQs
I prefer whole wheat flour for a healthier muffin and delicious crumb, but you certainly can use all-purpose flour or pastry flour instead.
Yes, if you are not adhering to a strict vegan diet you can use melted butter or ghee in place of the olive oil. Or, to keep the recipe vegan, simply use your preferred melted dairy-free plant-based butter alternative.
Lemon muffins will keep well for at least a week in the refrigerator. Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge.
Definitely. As-is this lemon muffin recipe yields 8 treats. Double the ingredients to make 16 muffins, or triple to make 2 dozen (24) lemon muffins.
More Eggless Muffins To Try!
Cake Recipes
Dessert Recipes
Dessert Recipes
Dessert Recipes
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Lemon Muffins (Eggless, Whole Wheat)
Ingredients
- 1 cup whole wheat flour – leveled – 120 grams
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup raw sugar or white sugar – 80 grams
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup olive oil or any neutral oil
- ¼ cup lemon juice – juice extracted from 1 large lemon or 2 medium lemons or 3 medium limes
- 1 to 1.5 tablespoons lemon zest
Instructions
Preparation
- Line a muffin pan with muffin liners. You can also grease the pan with oil instead of using muffin liners.
- Now rinse a large lemon first. Wipe dry and then zest the lemon with a zester or grater. Keep the lemon zest aside. Only remove the yellow or green part of the peel and not the white pith. Also preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius or 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Halve the lemon and squeeze it to get its juice. You should get about ¼ cup lemon juice. Do measure the juice quantity as ¼ cup is required for this recipe.
Making Batter
- Take the lemon juice in a mixing bowl or pan.
- Now add the raw sugar to the lemon juice.
- Add water. With a wired whisk begin to stir so that all the sugar granules are dissolved in the lemon solution.
- Add olive oil. With a wired whisk stir briskly for 2 to 3 minutes so that the oil is mixed evenly with the lemon juice and sugar solution.
- Now take a plate or tray. Place a sieve on it. Add whole wheat flour and add baking powder.
- Sift the dry ingredients onto the tray and plate.
- Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Also add the lemon zest.
- With light hands stir well. Be quick to stir. Everything should be mixed very well. But don’t over do the mixing.
- Pour the batter in the muffin liners up-to ⅔.
Baking Lemon Muffins
- Bake the muffins at 180 degrees Celsius (356 degrees Fahrenheit) for 20 to 25 minutes. Since the temperatures in all the ovens are not the same, do keep a check while baking.
- A toothpick or bamboo skewer inserted in the muffins should come out clean.
- After 4 to 5 minutes, place the lemon muffins on a wire rack to cool. From this recipe you will get 8 medium sized lemon muffins.
- Serve these egg free lemon muffins as a sweet snack or dessert. You can also pack one or two muffins in the tiffin box as a side sweet snack.
Notes
- The recipe works with any variety of lemons. You can also make it with limes.
- In place of olive oil, you can use a neutral oil. For a vegetarian option, you can use softened butter.
- All-purpose flour can be swapped with whole wheat flour for a more lighter and softer crumb. You can also use the regular whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour or the Indian atta flour that is used for making roti.
- The recipe can be scaled to make 16 muffins or 24 muffins or more.
- You can also choose to frost these muffins with a lemon glaze icing. To make the lemon glaze mix ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar (or powdered sugar), 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ½ teaspoon lemon zest in a bowl. For a slightly thin consistency, add 1 to 2 teaspoons more lemon juice. Then drizzle this lemon glaze on the muffins when they are cooled.
- Add ½ teaspoon vanilla extract to the lemon solution if you prefer.
Nutrition Info (Approximate Values)
This Lemon Muffins post from the archives (July 2015) has been republished and updated on 8 October 2021.
Not adding baking powder why
No need
𝙃𝙞, 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙄 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙥𝙚?
Yes you can try.
Hi Dassana,
I tried the lemon muffins today morning by halfing all the quantities. The batter was quite dry so added more water and sugar to make it to pourable consistency. I could make 5 muffins out of it.
Since I used only 1/4 TSP of baking powder, Could that be the culprit for uncooked muffins. While the muffins were baking, they did rise forming a dome shape but then sank once out of the oven. The bottom of the cup cake liners was all brown though.
hi jas
1/4th teaspoon of baking powder is fine for muffins made with 1/2 cup of flour. muffins sunk when the batter is mixed too much or if the oven temperature is very high. another reason is opening the oven door too many times. for both cakes and muffins always open the oven door after 3/4th of the baking is done. so these could be the reasons. adding water depends on the texture of flour. some flour varieties need more water to be added. so in any baking recipe with whole wheat flour, you can always add less or more of the liquids depending on the batter consistency mentioned in the recipe. hope this helps.
Also I used zest of lemon and juice of lime. The taste has turned out to be bitter anD tangy
when using zest of citrus fruits, always use the colored part of the peel and not the white part. if the white part is added, then the baked goods become bitter.
I baked at 180 degree for around 30 mins
fine. temperature is okay and even timing is fine.
I had used the coloured part of lemon for zest. While extracting juice of lemon the juice from lime’s skin also mixed with the juice may be that is the reason for the bitter taste. I should have used the lemon juice instead of lime.Further the batter of mine didn’t show that bubbles as yours. So may be that is the reason for its hardness
thanks for clarifying shruti and letting me know. the bubbles appear due to the reaction of baking powder with lemon juice in these lemon muffins. if the baking powder is not active or not in its shelf life, it will not react with lemon juice.
mostly in eggless baking recipes either baking soda or baking powder are used alone or in combination with each other to help the cake rise and make it porous or spongy. so if they are not fresh, it won’t help the cake rise. telling you from experience.
what i do is i test the freshness of baking soda or baking powder when they starts getting over. to check the freshness, dissolve ½ tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice in 1 tablespoon water. add ¼ teaspoon baking soda or ½ teaspoon baking powder. they should fizz and bubble immediately. if not then they are not fresh. hope this helps.
Hi, I tried this recipe. But instead of wheat I used Maida. And I baked it in OTG with mode of heating at bottom and at top. The muffin didn’t turn good. It was not baked inside though it was baked outside. Was I mistaken by considering Maida or the mode of baking was wrong? Kindly suggest
shruti, maida works well in this recipe. what temperature did you set up in the oven. while baking both the top and bottom heating elements can be used. could be that the temperature inside the oven was less, so the inside have not been baked. you can keep the muffins again in the preheated oven for some minutes till the center is done.
Hi, l am a big fan of urs, each recipe l made by following u, it comes out delicious. My family likes my recipes very much, again thanks for great recipes.
Welcome Suchitradharpure. Thanks for your kind words. Glad to know that recipes are coming out very well.
Hi Dasanna,
I have tried some of your cakes and they have come out great. I Tried this out but the muffins came out little hard. Could you tell me what I would have done wrong ?
Also could you add a recipe for eggless blueberry muffins 🙂
THanks
thanks preeti. hardness could be due to too much of mixing or the freshness of baking powder. if the batter is mixed too much, then due to gluten strands being formed in it, the muffins can become hard. if the baking powder is not fresh or active, then it won’t react with the lemon juice. so the muffins won’t have lightness and fluffiness. so these could be the reasons. hope this helps.
i will try to add blueberry muffins recipe.