Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

If you love baked goods for breakfast, you’ll want to make these delicious orange poppy seed muffins, full of flavor and topped with orange-infused glaze. It yields tender, moist muffins that are easy to make, perfect for an indulgent weekend breakfast.

A vegan orange poppyseed muffin on a piece of brown pepper with more muffins behind it.

Serve these muffins with a hot cup of Chocolate Green Tea.

My muse was an orange in the fridge that was on its last leg. All I can say now, is thank goodness for “day-old” oranges because it inspired these orange poppy seed muffins!

Why is This the Best Recipe?

  • Orange zest adds flavor and bits of texture throughout each muffin
  • Using vinegar helps soften the proteins in the flour creating super moist and tender muffins
  • Vegan butter added to the batter creates a buttery flavor making these muffins irresistibly delicious!

Key Ingredients

You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.

Here are the ingredients in this vegan muffins recipe:

  • Vegan butter — I used Earth Balance buttery sticks
  • Sugar — We’ll add just enough sugar to make these muffins sweet…but not too sweet
  • Vegan buttermilk — Combining plant-based milk with vinegar makes a great vegan buttermilk
  • Orange — We’ll use both the juice and the zest of one orange
  • Vegan sour cream — This makes your muffins so moist and tender. If you don’t have vegan sour cream vegan yogurt will work
  • All-purpose flour — You can substitute whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free flour
  • Poppy seeds — Obviously the star of the show. Make sure your poppyseeds are fresh
  • Salt — Adding a little bit of salt adds a depth of flavor that makes a difference
  • Baking powder + baking soda — These two ingredients make for big, fluffy muffins.

That’s a pretty simple list of ingredients for some pretty amazing muffins!

Ingredient Spotlight

A bowl is full of poppy seeds and some have spilled over onto the table beside it. There are three dried stems from which poppy seeds come from.

Why Add Poppy Seeds to Baked Goods?

Poppy seeds serve three purposes in baked goods: Flavor, color, and texture. These highly nutritious seeds are harvested from poppy plants. Even though they’re tiny, they can contribute flavor to. your baked goods. In fact, you can boost the flavor of poppy seeds by toasting them in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant.

How to Make Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

The process for making these poppy muffins is pretty straight forward. You can easily put the ingredients together in around 5 – 10 minutes, bake them for 20 and have them cooling on the counter and ready to be frosted (and eaten) soon after that.

Here are the basic steps to making these homemade vegan muffins:

  1. Create vegan buttermilk by combining plant-based milk with apple cider vinegar
  2. Cream vegan butter and sugar with a mixer and add the vegan buttermilk, vegan sour cream, orange zest, and vanilla and mix again
  3. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl
  4. Make the batter by pouring the flour mixture in with the vegan butter mixture being sure not to overmix
  5. Spoon the muffin batter into a greased muffin tins (I used a large muffin tin with 6 compartments) and then bake
  6. Prepare the icing by combining powdered sugar with the juice from the orange and drizzle this over finished muffins.

Storage Tips

Store muffins in an airtight container and keep at room temperature for 3 to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days. To freeze them, allow them to come to room temperature and then place them in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Set frozen muffins on the counter until they come to room temperature. Microwave them in short bursts until warm enough for your liking. Here are some great tips for using a microwave to thaw frozen foods.

Best Vegan Muffins

Here are even more tasty vegan muffins recipes:

That’s it for these vegan orange poppyseed muffins. Enjoy!

An orange muffin sits on a piece of parchment paper.

Orange Poppyseed Muffins

Delicious orange-infused muffins with an orange glaze. These orange poppyseed muffins make a delicious weekend or weekday breakfast.
5 from 4 votes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 263kcal

Ingredients

Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

  • ½ cup plant-based milk
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • ½ cup vegan butter
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • zest of one orange
  • 1 cup vegan sour cream
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

Orange Glaze

Instructions

For the Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

  • Heat your oven to 350°F/175°C and prepare your muffin pans (spray with vegetable spray or line with papers).
  • Make vegan buttermilk by stirring together soy milk and vinegar. Set aside.
  • In a medium-sized bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a mixer. Add the buttermilk, vegan sour cream, and orange zest. Mix again with your mixer until well-combined.
  • In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, poppy seeds, salt, baking powder, and baking soda). Add to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
  • Drop the batter into prepared muffin compartments and bake for approximately 20 minutes. A tester inserted in the center of a muffin should come out clean. When the muffins are done, remove them from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

For the Orange Glaze

  • While you’re waiting for the muffins to cool, stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice. Don’t worry if the mixture is a little runny – that’s what we’re looking for. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins.

Recommended Equipment

(The products above contain sponsored links to products we use and recommend)

Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 304mg | Potassium: 111mg | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 400IU | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1.2mg

The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Enjoy!

5 Responses to Orange Poppy Seed Muffins

  1. Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyKatrina Reply

    Could these be made into a loaf?

    • Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyMarly

      Hi Katrina! Yes, use the orange muffin batter to make a loaf and increase the baking time — I’d say to 45 – 50 minutes. Check it around 45 minutes for doneness by inserting a tester in the middle. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Please send me a photo on IG – I’d love to see it!!

  2. Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyLeona Reply

    5 stars
    I need to make these orange poppyseed muffins.

  3. Avatar thumbnail image for MarlyPam Reply

    5 stars
    Marly, these look scrumptious!

  4. Avatar thumbnail image for Marlyryan Reply

    I reckon your orange glaze would taste gorgeous on anything, these look mouthwatering Marly.

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