These glazed Almond Poppy Seed Muffins are fluffy, moist and topped with sliced almonds! You can make these bakery style muffins in no time in the comfort of your home. The almond flavor is delicious and will have your kitchen smelling amazing! They're similar to my Almond Coffee Cake with the addition of poppy seeds and a sweet almond glaze!
These are the best homemade muffins I have ever made! ★★★★★ - our reader, Cristi
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If you're a fan of Costco Almond Poppy Seed Muffins, you're going to love this recipe! It's a lighter take on my Almond Poppy Seed Cake recipe. Almond is one of my favorite pastry flavors and it comes through perfectly in these muffins (and in my Almond Danish recipe)! They're a great quick breakfast to start your day with, but can also be enjoyed for dessert or a tasty snack!
Try an amazing variation of these muffins in my Orange Poppy Seed Muffins recipe! If you're looking for a sweet and fruity almond dessert, try my Almond Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting!
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Ingredients
Muffins have always been one of my go-to breakfast foods. I'd order them at cafes or grab packaged ones from grocery stores. These homemade muffins are so much better because they're warm, fresh and you know exactly what ingredients are going into them!
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder: A tablespoon of baking powder is used to help make perfect muffin tops!
- Salt
- Poppy seeds
- Canola oil: Another neutral oil (like vegetable oil) will work as well.
- Eggs
- Granulated sugar
- Almond extract: Use high quality pure almond extract! It has a strong almond flavor and you'll only need a little bit of it.
- Buttermilk: There's a whole cup of buttermilk in this recipe and it plays a big part in the flavor and texture of these muffins, so I do not recommend substituting this!
- Sliced almonds: Regular or toasted, whichever you prefer.
- Milk: This is just for the glaze so it can be any kind. You could also use water instead.
- Powdered sugar
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions & Variations
Substitutions:
- Oil - This can be substituted with melted butter.
- Almonds - The sliced almonds can be toasted or un-toasted, whichever you prefer.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions. If you do replace any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
Variations:
- Regular sized muffins - This recipe will make 12-14 muffins in a normal pan. Fill liners ⅔ full and bake at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes.
- Mini muffins - This can make 24-28 mini muffins. Bake at 350°F for 10-15 minutes.
Equipment
This recipe is very simple and only requires basic baking equipment!
Bake the muffins in a 6-cup jumbo muffin pan with or without liners. A cookie or ice cream scoop works well to distribute the batter.
DIY Muffin Liners
Want to give these muffins an extra cozy, rustic feel? Make your own parchment paper cups following this muffin liner tutorial!
How To Make Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
Step One (Picture 1 above) - In a small/medium bowl, mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and almond extract.
Step Two (Picture 2 above) - Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and poppy seeds in a large bowl.
Step Three (Picture 3 above) - Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Fold everything together using a spatula just until all flour streaks disappear.
Evenly distribute the almond poppy seed muffin batter throughout a jumbo muffin pan. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top and bake at 425°F for 5 minutes. This will help give the muffins nice domes on top! When the 5 minutes is up, drop the temperature to 375°F without opening the oven door. Continue baking them until a toothpick comes out clean (12-18 more minutes). Let the muffins sit in the pan until they're cool enough to transfer to a wire rack.
Step Four (Picture 4 above) - While the muffins are cooling, make the almond glaze. Whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract and milk until smooth. Feel free to adjust the milk/powdered sugar and almond extract amounts based on your consistency and flavor preferences. Once the almond muffins are cool, drizzle glaze over the tops.
Expert Baking Tips
Tip #1 - Use room temperature ingredients. Take the eggs out of the refrigerator and measure the buttermilk 30-60 minutes before getting started. This will help everything combine better together.
Tip #2 - Weigh your dry ingredients. Use a scale and measure your flour in grams for the best, most accurate results. If using measuring cups, spoon the flour into them and level it off with a knife.
Tip #3 - Use real buttermilk! I know there are homemade buttermilk "replacements" out there. Even I use them in some recipes. However, this muffin recipe uses a lot of buttermilk so I do not recommend substituting it with a DIY version. The buttermilk plays a big role in these almond muffin's delicious flavor and fluffy texture!
Tip #4 - Make your own muffin liners. They're super easy to make and all you need is parchment paper! Cut 5-6 inch squares of parchment and then place a pint glass in the center. Fold the sides up around the glass and make tight creases. You can also buy jumbo liners or just grease the pan without using any.
Recipe FAQs
Sure! Swap out the almond extract for lemon extract and adjust the amount to your flavor preference. Instead of adding extract to the glaze, I'd recommend using a little lemon zest.
No, these are best made with real buttermilk.
Yes, of course!
Absolutely!
The muffins are best served fresh but the batter can be stored in the refrigerator overnight and baked the next day.
This could be from over-measuring the flour or over-baking the muffins. I always recommend using a scale to weigh the flour in grams (see metric tab in recipe card below).
Old, inactive baking powder could cause this. You can test it by mixing a little baking powder with water and if it fizzes, it's still active. This could also be from not baking at the correct temperature. I recommend using an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is at the temperature it needs to be.
Storage
Room Temperature: Store almond poppy seed muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Refrigerator: Storing muffins in the refrigerator will dry them out, but you can store the glazed ones in an airtight container here for 1 week.
Freezing Instructions: Wrap cooled, unglazed muffins tightly in plastic wrap and/or a freezer-safe bag labeled with "Almond Poppy Seed Muffins" and the date. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat in the microwave for about 30 seconds and top with fresh almond glaze.
📖 Recipe
Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
Equipment
- Jumbo Muffin Pan
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Measuring spoons
Ingredients
Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
- 2¼ cups (281.25 g) all-purpose flour weighed in grams (see metric tab) or spooned & leveled
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 cup (236.59 ml) buttermilk room temperature
- ½ cup (118.29 ml) neutral oil vegetable oil, canola oil, etc.
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds for topping
Almond Glaze
- ⅔ cup (80 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Almond Poppy Seed Muffins
- Preheat oven to 425°F and either fill a jumbo muffin pan with liners or coat it with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and poppy seeds.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and almond extract.
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until the flour streaks disappear.
- Evenly distribute the muffin batter throughout the muffin pan. Sprinkle sliced almonds on top.
- Bake the jumbo muffins at 425°F for 5 minutes. Without opening the oven, lower the temperature to 375°F and continue to bake them until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (another 12-18 minutes; about 17-23 minutes total).
- Let the muffins sit in the pan until they're cool enough to handle. Transfer them to a cooling rack.
Almond Glaze
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract and milk until smooth. Drizzle on the cooled muffins.
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Ff says
If I'm making regular muffins, do I still bake them at 425 first before changing the temp?
Kayla Burton says
Hi! You can bake regular muffins at 375°F for about 15-20 minutes 🙂
Alyssa Loyd says
Exellent recipe! I substituted 1C of flour for almond flour bc I forgot to buy almond extract, and used vanilla extract in place of the almond extract. Still was super almond-y and not super sweet (which I loved!). Best poppyseed muffin recipe I've ever made!
Kayla Burton says
Oh good, I'm glad they turned out well with those substitutions! Thank you for sharing!!
jj says
didn't the almond flour make it dense?
Bev says
Hey Thank you for sharing this recipe, these almond poppy seed muffins are great! Good to have when girlfriends come for coffee! They turned out exactly as the recipe posted will be definitely making them again.
Patrick Carpenter says
I'm not one to usually leave reviews. But these are actually some of the best almond poppy seed muffins I have ever made!!!!
Thank you so much for the recipe!
Patrick Carpenter says
I used coconut oil and it came out 10/10 perfect.
Cristi says
These are the best homemade muffins I have ever made! I weighed my flour for the first time ever. Maybe that's why they turned out so great?! Would this recipe be a good base for other additions/muffin flavors? Thank you!!
Kayla Burton says
Yay I'm thrilled to hear this!! It could be a good base recipe but I would be careful with mixing in ingredients that add or absorb moisture.
Esther Simmons says
It had a great crumb, but it didn’t have enough almond flavor for me. 🙁
Kayla Burton says
Hi Esther, I appreciate your feedback! Please feel free to increase the amount of almond extract for extra almond flavor.
Cassie says
This is by far the best poppy seed recipe i've tried!!! So soft and fluffy! My family loved them! Printed out the recipe to put in my note book! Thanks!
Kayla Burton says
Thank you, Cassie!! I'm so happy you and your family enjoyed them!
Cam’s Gram says
Just baked and sampled these fluffy, delicious muffins! Wish I could post a picture as they are beautiful as well! The glaze is a nice touch - adds a bit of sweetness which is not overwhelming. I used water instead of milk for the glaze and a little extra extract. I also had to sub bread flour for all-purpose but I doubt it made a difference. I weighed my ingredients. If you don’t have a scale, I highly recommend investing in one. It’s a game changer! Thank you for this recipe - much appreciated! Good almond poppyseed muffins aren’t easy to find these days.
Kayla says
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful review! It's good to know that bread flour works as well 🙂 I'm so happy that you like them as much as I do!!
Christine says
My family RAVED about these muffins. Thank you!
Kayla says
That's wonderful! Thanks for trying my recipe! 🙂
pavla.n says
I tried to bake these muffins a few days ago. And they were luxurious. They tasted amazing. I love the almond aroma. Yeahh, I LOVED them. Thanks for the recipe!
Kayla says
Yay I'm so happy to hear this!! Glad you enjoyed them!