These blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are bursting with juicy fresh blackberries, bright lemon zest, and crunchy poppy seeds in every bite. They’re soft, fluffy, and wonderfully moist thanks to Greek yogurt (or sour cream), while a drizzle of tangy lemon blackberry icing adds the perfect finishing touch. If you love bakery-style muffins with tall domed tops, this easy recipe delivers every time.
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since updated it with new photos and additional success tips.
Built from my trusted ultimate muffin recipe—the same one behind my favorite blueberry muffins—these blackberry muffins have a tender crumb, plenty of fresh lemon flavor, and just the right balance of sweet and tart.
If you’re already a fan of lemon poppy seed baked goods, these muffins take that classic flavor combination one delicious step further! Plus, who doesn’t love a lovely light purple-hued icing?
Here’s Why You’ll Love These Blackberry Lemon Muffins
- Soft and fluffy with tall muffin tops
- Filled with fresh, bright lemon flavor
- Made with simple pantry staples
- Finished with an easy lemon blackberry icing
- Easy to freeze
- Like my favorite lemon poppy seed muffins, with a burst of berry flavor!
Key Ingredients You Need & Why
These blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are a variation of my ultimate muffin recipe, which we also use as the base for my favorite blueberry muffins and apple cinnamon muffins. We’ll use pretty much the same ingredients for today’s batter!
- Flour: Stick with all-purpose flour. The flour gives the muffins structure and keeps the batter nice and thick so the blackberries don’t sink to the bottom.
- Poppy Seeds: Can’t have poppy seed muffins without them! Same goes for lemon poppy seed bread and almond poppy seed tea cakes.
- Butter: We’re creaming the butter to make today’s muffins, so make sure to use proper room-temperature butter here. If you’re a beginner baker or if you need a refresher, I also have a helpful video tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar.
- Sugar & Brown Sugar: Granulated sugar sweetens the muffins, balancing out the tart lemon. Brown sugar adds depth of flavor, plus extra moisture.
- Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt: Either creates an exceptionally moist muffin with a soft crumb.
- Lemon: Use both fresh lemon zest and lemon juice for the brightest flavor.
- Blackberries: Fresh blackberries are best, but frozen blackberries work, too. If using frozen, do not thaw before using. If your fresh blackberries are particularly large, cut them in half before adding them to the batter.
You’ll also need a few baking staples including baking powder, baking soda, eggs, salt, vanilla, and milk.
Making muffins is pretty straightforward. Whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl, then cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer. Beat in the remaining wet ingredients, then add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the batter.
Finally, fold in the blackberries very gently.
Success Tip: If your berries are particularly juicy, they may start to tint the batter a purplish-gray hue.
- To prevent that, you can wait to add the berries until you’re filling the muffin cups. Spoon some batter into each muffin cup, filling it about halfway. Add a few blackberries, top with more batter, then gently swirl with a knife.
- Press a few more blackberries into the tops before baking.
How to Bake Blackberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins with Tall Muffin Tops
For tall bakery-style domed muffin tops, there are 3 directions to follow closely:
- Make sure your muffin batter is THICK. (This one is!)
- Fill your muffin tins/liners all the way to the top.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at a high temperature, and then lower the temperature while keeping the oven door closed. This initial high oven temperature quickly lifts up the muffin top. Once the temperature is reduced, the centers of the muffins bake. I recommend this in nearly all of my muffin recipes.
Lemon Blackberry Icing
For a little something extra, I like to top each muffin with a drizzle of icing. The icing adds another layer of bright citrus flavor and lightly coats each muffin without making them overly sweet.
You only need 4 ingredients: confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, blackberry jam, and milk. Whisk everything together until smooth. Instead of blackberry jam, you can use a few fresh blackberries. Mash them with a fork before whisking into the icing.
These blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are so delightfully summery. The sweet-tart blackberries pair beautifully with lemon and add so much texture to every bite. I know you’ll love them!
Blackberry Lemon Muffin Tools
Description
These blackberry lemon poppy seed muffins are bursting with juicy fresh blackberries and bright lemon flavor. Greek yogurt or sour cream keeps them extra moist, while creamed butter creates a wonderfully soft texture. Drizzle each with sweet-tart lemon blackberry icing for the perfect finishing touch. See recipe Note below if your blackberries are extra juicy.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C). Spray a 12-count muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with cupcake liners. You may need a 2nd pan as this recipe makes up to 14 muffins, though you can always bake in batches using 1 pan. Set aside.
- Make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk the flour, poppy seeds, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the sour cream, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed until combined. The mixture will look curdled; that’s OK.
- Add in the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until almost combined. Add the milk and lemon juice and beat on low speed until combined. The batter is thick. Fold in the blackberries. (See Note if your blackberries are extra juicy.)
- Spoon the batter into liners, filling them 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 16–18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 21–23 minutes. 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 the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, and milk together. Whisk in the blackberry jam until smooth. If using fresh blackberries, mash them with a fork and then whisk into the icing. If desired, add 2–3 more Tablespoons of sifted confectioners’ sugar to thicken the icing. Drizzle over the warm or cooled muffins.
- Muffins stay fresh covered at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Freezing Instructions: Freeze baked and cooled muffins for up to 3 months. It’s best to freeze the muffins without the icing and add the icing after thawing and before serving. (Freezing them with the icing on is completely fine, but the muffins taste better with fresh icing.) Thaw muffins in the refrigerator or at room temperature before icing/serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 12-count Muffin Pan | Muffin Liners | Citrus Zester | Citrus Juicer | Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack
- Sour Cream: Sour cream adds so much moisture. Plain yogurt is a great substitute. I recommend plain Greek yogurt, any fat content.
- Milk: You can use any milk, dairy or nondairy. I recommend avoiding nonfat milk, however.
- Blackberries: If using frozen blackberries, do not thaw them. If your blackberries are extra large, cut them in half. If your berries are particularly juicy, they may tint the batter a purplish-gray hue. To prevent that, wait to add the berries until you’re filling the muffin cups. Spoon some batter into each muffin cup, filling it about halfway. Add a few blackberries, top with more batter, then gently swirl with a knife. Press a few more blackberries into the tops before baking.
- Why is everything at room temperature? All refrigerated items should be at room temperature so the batter mixes together easily and evenly.
- Note on Flour: This recipe is based off of my ultimate muffins recipe. Today’s blackberry version uses slightly more flour to balance out the extra liquid from lemon juice and large blackberries.
