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Filled with fresh, bright, and zesty flavor, these lemon chia seed muffins are so lemony scented and full of springtime nostalgia!
Fresh and Zesty Vibes: Lemon Chia Seed Muffins
Whenever I make anything lemon (such as lemon pound cake or lemon blueberry muffins), they remind me of springtime. There is something about the brightness of lemon that really uplifts your day! These lemon chia seed muffins are the perfect treat to brighten your day. They’re so full of lemon flavor that it seems like you’re smelling a lemon.
On top of being so fresh and zesty, these chia seed muffins are also the lightest and fluffiest muffin thanks to ricotta cheese as the secret ingredient! The chia seeds give these muffins a nice, crunchy texture and adds a bit of extra protein. Poppyseeds are probably what you expect in these muffins, but give chia seeds a try and use your extra chia seeds to make chia seed pudding!
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Make this into a lemon flavor combo with another fruit. Try using raspberries, blueberries, or even blackberries! You’ll want to be careful folding the berries in, taking care to not burst them so they don’t turn the batter a weird color.
- I do not recommend substituting Greek yogurt for the ricotta cheese. The ricotta cheese is what makes this muffin light and fluffy. I feel that Greek yogurt makes baked goods have a spongy texture that is not pleasant.
- If you prefer to use poppyseeds, you may substitute them for the chia seeds.
- Slice in half and warm these chia seed muffins up in the toaster oven before digging in! The warm muffin is the perfect environment for slathering on a pad of butter!
Storage Instructions
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. After 3 days, you can put them in the refrigerator to stretch their shelf life, however, they might dry out a bit so it won’t be as moist and bouncy as when they’re fresh.
Lemon Chia Seed Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
- Cooking spray
- 1 ¾ cups (219 g) all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (185 g) part-skim ricotta cheese
- ½ cup (118 ml) water
- ¼ cup (59 ml) olive oil
- Zest of 2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons chia seeds
- 2 tablespoons honey, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 °F (191 °C). Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners and lightly spray them with cooking spray. Set aside.Cooking spray
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.1 3/4 cups (219 g) all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar, 2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt
- In a medium bowl, mix together ricotta, water, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg.3/4 cup (185 g) part-skim ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup (118 ml) water, 1/4 cup (59 ml) olive oil, Zest of 2 lemons, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 egg
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour the wet ingredients into the middle then mix together with a wooden spoon.2 tablespoons chia seeds
- Add the chia seeds then gently fold into batter.
- Evenly divide batter into prepared muffin pan using a large scoop.
- Bake for 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let cool for 5 minutes then with a pastry brush, gently brush melted honey onto the tops of the muffins.2 tablespoons honey
- Cool completely then enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container for up to 7 days.
Video
Nutrition
Photographs by Meg McKeehan Photography
They taste bland and doughy. Not a great recipe
sorry to hear about this! i would like to know how you measured your flour and how much you mixed. if you overmix, it can make the results doughy and how you measure the flour affects it too. i’m also wondering how fresh your lemons were! thanks for helping me try to help you!
These muffins were delicious and light and fluffy, but not as lemony as I would have expected. Is there any way to increase the lemon flavor???
more lemon zest and lemon extract
These are delicious! My daughter is on a chia seed kick so I made these for us to share. Just as described… light, fluffy, full of lemon flavor. Makes a perfect dozen! I brushed orange blossom honey on top. Will definitely make these again!
What a fabulous recipe! I forgot the egg but they still turned out amazing. A new favorite!
Very delicious! Made the recipe exactly as is except I made some technical errors like I forgot to grease the liners so they stuck a little. I also might have over mixed the batter because I added the chia seeds in after I combined everything, but they still came out with a nice texture. Brushed on fresh honey I got from a local farm and everyone in my family loved them.😎👍
Made these for the 1st time this morning. I used 1c unbleached AP flour + 3/4c oat flour. Used only 1/2c sugar. Substituted with 3/4c strained 0% plain Greek yogurt. Used parchment cupcake liners so no greasing necessary. Baked for exact recipe time. Topped with a little melted honey. DELICIOUS!!
So I actually did make these as a loaf of bread- because I apparently lost my muffin tins in my move. I actually did not have any problems doing so- I did 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until it was done. The taste was kind of a bummer, though! I was hoping for a little stronger lemon kick. I also expected the chia seeds to have a better texture- compared to other chia-recipe breads I’ve had before I thought they were a little disappointing.
Very good. Will make again. My edits were, part white whole wheat flower, vanilla yogurt instead of ricotta and only 1/2 cup of sugar due to sweetened yogurt.