Perfect for breakfast, afternoon tea or as a sweet snack, these Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins are easy to make, ready in 35 minutes and absolutely delicious. The perfect mix of sweet, tangy, moist and crunchy!
Why we love this recipe
Citrus and Poppy Seed is such a classic combo… and for a good reason: the mix of tangy, crunchy and slightly bitter just works perfectly together. And I find that this flavour combination works especially well in the form of a muffin!
Just like my Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins, this recipe makes deliciously moist, crunchy, sweet and lightly sour muffins the whole family loves.
They are great if you are looking for an easy make-ahead breakfast recipe, a sweet treat for morning and afternoon tea, a lunchbox dessert for your kids or just an every day light snack!
Muffins Ingredients
- Caster Sugar: or fine White Sugar.
- Canola Oil: my preferred oil when it comes to baking as it as a very neutral flavour.
- Orange: you will need both the Juice and the Zest
- Greek Yogurt: a great ingredient to bring lightness, creaminess and a bit of of tang.
- Dry Ingredients: a mix of Plain / All-Purpose Flour, Baking Soda (that will react to the orange juice and greek yogurt to make the muffins rise) and Baking Powder.
- Poppy Seeds: I like my muffins to be packed with poppy seeds, but you can adjust the quantity to suit your preference.
Ingredient Substitution
A few of the ingredients can be substituted if required:
- Canola Oil: you can use any neutral-flavoured oil you have instead, or even melted butter. I personally prefer to use oil instead of butter in muffin because it gives them a more moist crumb for longer.
- Greek Yogurt: you can use Sour Cream instead, or any Natural Plain Yogurt.
- Poppy Seed: I have never tried it myself but I know that many people use Chia Seeds instead of Poppy Seeds. I would slightly reduce the quantities of Chia Seeds though as they will expend when soaked and baked.
More Poppy Seed Recipes:
How to make Orange Poppy Seed Muffins
The process of making these orange muffins is pretty quick and straight forward. It is split in two main steps: mix the wet ingredients, then add in the dry ingredients. Easy, right!?
Let’s look into each steps in detail:
- First, pre-heat your oven on 180’C / 350’F. Prepare your Muffin Pan with Muffin Cases/Liners or grease it well with a little bit of oil.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the Eggs and Sugar (*) for about a minute. You want to see small bubbles at the surface. – photo 1 & 2
- Add the Canola Oil, Orange Zest and Orange Juice. Mix well until combined. – photo 3 & 4
- Whisk in the Greek Yogurt until smooth – photo 5 and 6
(*) If you want an even stronger Orange flavour, a good tip is to mix the Orange Zest and Sugar first before adding the eggs. They will help extract all the oils (and flavours) out of the zest. But it is completely optional
Once all of your Wet Ingredients are mixed together, it is time to add all the Dry Ingredients:
- Whisk in the Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda (*) until smooth and no lumps remain. – photo 7 & 8
- Add the Poppy Seeds and quickly mix until evenly distributed into the batter. You can add a little bit more or less poppy seeds depending on your personal preferences. – photo 9 & 10
- Scoop the batter into the Muffin Pan and place in the hot oven to bake for about 18 to 20 minutes (more or less depending on your oven) – or until the tip of a skewer comes out clean.
- Leave the Muffins to cool down for 10 to 15 minutes before removing them from the pan.
(*) I highly recommend mixing those 3 ingredients together in a separate bowl before adding them to the wet ingredients so that the raising agents are evenly distributed into the batter – but it is optional. You can also sift these ingredients first if you aren’t using a pre-sifted flour.
Tips to make these Poppy Seed Muffin
- Try to use ingredients that are all at room temperature.
- To get more juice out of your Orange, you can heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave. This trick works with Lemons and Limes as well! You might also want to use Organic Oranges if possible since we are using the Zest.
- Mix together the Dry Ingredients – Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda – in a separate bowl and sift them before adding them to the wet ingredients. This is to make sure the raising agents are evenly distributed in the batter and that all the muffins rise the same way.
- Use an Ice Cream Scoop to make perfectly even muffins. This will help you pour the same quantities of batter into each muffin pan.
- If not using muffin cases/liners, make sure to grease the muffin pan really well. If they seem stuck when coming out of the oven, leave them to cool down for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a small knife around the edges and gently lift them up.
- Make sure the oven is pre-heated to the right temperature before baking the muffins.
Recipe FAQs
The only dairy ingredient of this recipe is the Greek Yogurt. You can easily use a Dairy-Free Plain Yogurt instead, or a slightly flavoured dairy-free yogurt such as Coconut Yogurt (but it will add another flavour to the muffins).
Yes, this recipe will work just as well with Self-Rising Flour. Simply substitute the Plain/AP Flour with the Self-Rising one and discard the Baking Powder and Baking Soda.
These Orange Muffins with Poppy Seed can be kept at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 3 days. Note that you should leave them to cool down completely before placing them inside the container.
A great tip to keep the muffins fresh for longer is to place some paper towels under and above the muffins in the container. They will absorb any moisture that may come out of the muffins and keep them for longer!
They can be kept for longer in the fridge, but that will dry them out more quickly too. If keeping them in the fridge, I highly recommend re-heating them up for a few seconds in the microwave before eating them. This will provide a less dry texture.
These Poppy Seed Muffins with Orange can absolutely be frozen and will keep fresh in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To freeze these muffins, first make sure they are completely cool. Then either wrap them individually or place them in a larger freezer-friendly container, separated from each other with baking paper.
To thaw, leave in the fridge over night or place for a few minutes in the microwave (time will depend on your microwave – start with 30 seconds only and slightly increase until fully defrosted). You can read more about storing and freezing muffins here.
More Orange Recipes:
- Orange Honey Cake
- Almond Orange Cake (Gluten-Free)
- Quick Orange Semolina Cake (Dairy-Free)
- Easy Orange Brownies
- Mini Blood Orange Cakes
- Blood Orange Upside-Down Cake
- 25 Delicious Orange Dessert Recipes
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Orange and Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 70 gr (1/3 cup) Caster Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) Canola Oil
- 1 Orange, Zest + Juice
- 120 gr (1/2 cup) Greek Yogurt
- 250 gr (1 2/3 cup) Plain Flour
- 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 15 gr (2 1/2 tbsp) Poppy Seeds
Instructions
- Preheat your oven on 180'C / 350'F. Prepare a Muffin Pan with Paper Liners (1).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the Sugar and Eggs for about a minute, or until froathy.
- Add the Canola Oil, Orange Juice, Orange Zest and Greek Yogurt. Whisk together until smooth and combined.
- Whisk in the Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda (2) until smooth, then add the Poppy Seeds.
- Scoop the muffin batter into the muffin pan, then bake for 18 to 20 minutes (more or less depending on your oven) – or until golden and the tip of a small skewer comes out clean.
Notes
- If not using paper case / liners, make sure to grease the muffin pan very well so that the muffins don’t stick. Once baked, leave to cool down in the pan before removing them – they will start to pull from the edges when they cool down.
- I highly recommend mixing the Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda together in a separate bowl before adding them to the dry ingredients. This is to make sure the raising agents are evenly distributed into the batter.
