These lemon raspberry muffins are so simple to make and bake up incredibly soft & moist with tall rounded tops. Studded with juicy raspberries and dipped in a thin lemon glaze, these muffins are the perfect baked good for a spring or summer brunch!
For more summer fruit recipes, try Gluten Free Strawberry Shortcake Cake, Cardamom Cherry Pie, Roasted Strawberry Cinnamon Rolls, and Small Batch Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins.
Jump to:
Why you'll love these lemon raspberry muffins
- Impossibly Soft & Moist Crumb: Thanks to the buttermilk & butter-oil combo, these muffins bake up with an impossibly tender texture, without sacrificing that rich, buttery flavor everyone wants in a muffin.
- Tall Rounded Tops: Muffins are meant to stand tall! But it can be tricky to get that height just right. Read below under Expert Baking Tips and Recipe FAQs on how to achieve this bakery-style quality!
- Thin, Sweet Lemon Glaze: When each muffin, warm from the oven, is dipped into this two-ingredient glaze, they take on a beautiful sheen that adds a punch of lemony goodness in every bite!
- Frozen Juicy Raspberries: Fresh raspberries are a fairly delicate berry, so I opted for frozen berries in this recipe. Frozen berries do bleed into the batter slightly, but they hold their shape so each muffin is studded with whole juicy raspberries. And with frozen raspberries, you can make these beauties any time of the year!
Ingredient Notes
- All-Purpose Flour: Use a high quality unbleached all-purpose flour for best flavor and overall result.
- Unsalted Butter: I highly recommend European-style butter, as it has a higher fat percentage and lower water content than American-style butter, which results in the best flavor of baked goods!
- Oil: A small amount of oil is added to give these muffins extra moisture and softness. I prefer light tasting olive oil, but you can use any neutral oil, such as canola or vegetable oil.
- Eggs: Use two large Grade AA eggs, and bring them to room temperature quickly by placing them in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk has a higher fat content than whole milk, so it cuts through the sweetness of the muffins well, giving them a more well rounded flavor, as well as adding moisture. If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can substitute it with an equal amount of whole milk.
- Vanilla: Use a high quality pure vanilla extract to add some warmth. I also sometimes like to add almond extract too!
- Raspberries: I opted for frozen raspberries, but you can absolutely use fresh berries. Just be sure to mix carefully!
- Lemons: Lemon zest rubbed into the sugar gives the muffins a bright zesty flavor, while the glaze made with lemon juice adds a pronounced lemon flavor.
- Coarse Sugar: Sprinkle each muffin with turbinado sugar for a sweet, crunchy top!
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this lemon raspberry muffin recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.
STEP 1: Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
STEP 2: Rub lemon zest & sugar together, then cream with butter. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, rub the sugar and lemon zest together until it resembles wet sand and smells aromatic. Add the butter to the lemon sugar mixture and cream together for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
STEP 3: Mix in oil, eggs, and vanilla. Scrape down the bowl, then add in the oil, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until fully combined.
STEP 4: Alternate dry & wet ingredients. Add in half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Then, mix in the buttermilk.
STEP 5: Add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix in the remaining dry ingredients.
STEP 6: Fold in the raspberries. In a medium bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with 22g (3 tbsp) of flour to coat. Lastly, gently fold the raspberries into the batter until evenly distributed.
STEP 7: Bake. Divide the batter up between 12 muffin liners spaced out in two muffin tins. Top each muffin with a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for another 15-18 minutes or until deeply golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
STEP 8: Dip in lemon glaze. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan. In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. While warm, dip each muffin into the glaze and place on a wire rack to set and cool completely. Enjoy!
Expert Baking Tips
- Bake the muffins in every other cup. To help with the heat distribution in the oven, space the muffins out in the pan. More even heating will result in taller muffins!
- Add some extras before baking! Top each muffin with a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar.
- Bake at a high temperature for the first 5 minutes. This first initial blast of heat will force the muffins to rise up rapidly. After 5 minutes, turn the oven down and bake for another 15-18 minutes.
Recipe FAQs
To get that high dome top, muffins need to initially be baked at a high temperature for 5 minutes and then a slightly lower temperature for the rest of the bake time. That first blast of high heat will force the muffins to bake upward more rapidly, creating a domed top. Then, the temperature is lowered for the remaining 15-18 minutes to bake the muffins all the way through. Spacing them out in the muffin pan will also help, as the heat can be distributed more evenly around the muffins.
The trick to ensuring juicy raspberries evenly studded throughout the muffins is to coat the berries in flour before folding them into the batter!
Yes! This is a great base muffin recipe and would be perfect with the addition of blackberries, blueberries, or strawberries.
While DIY buttermilk recipes that combine milk with lemon juice or white vinegar create that tangy, acidic taste, it doesn't replicate the fat content that true buttermilk has. If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you can simply substitute it with your favorite milk. I have not tested this recipe with a dairy free or lactose free milk, but I would imagine it would work just fine!
Store these muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, or freeze them in a freezer ziplock bag for up to 3 months. Do not store them in refrigerator! The cold air will dry them out.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other muffin recipes to try
If you tried this recipe, I'd love to know how it turned out for you! Leave a star rating & review below and post a picture (or video!) on Instagram and tag me so I can see your bakes! Not ready to make this recipe yet? Click the heart button on the right of your screen to save it for later 🙂
📖 Recipe
Lemon Raspberry Muffins
Ingredients
For the raspberry muffins:
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour
- 14 g (1 tbsp + ½ tsp) baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 250 g (1 ¼ cups) granulated sugar
- Zest of two lemons
- 84 g (6 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temp
- 50 g (¼ cup) neutral oil
- 2 eggs, room temp
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 170 g (¾ cup) buttermilk, room temp
- 320 g (2 cups) frozen raspberries, toss in 22g (3 tbsp) flour
- Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling
For the lemon glaze:
- 113 g (1 cup) powdered sugar
- 36 g (3 tablespoon) lemon juice
Instructions
For the raspberry muffins:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line two muffin pans with 6 parchment liners each in every other cup.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, rub the sugar and lemon zest together until it resembles wet sand and smells aromatic. Add the butter and cream together for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Scrape down the bowl, then add in the oil, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until fully combined.
- Add in half of the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Then, mix in the buttermilk, followed by the remaining dry ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, toss the frozen raspberries with 22g (3 tbsp) of flour to coat.
- Lastly, gently fold the raspberries into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Divide the batter up between 12 muffin cups. Top each muffin with a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar.
- Bake the muffins for 5 minutes, then turn the oven down to 375 degrees F and bake for another 15-18 minutes or until deeply golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the pan.
For the lemon glaze:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
- While warm, dip each muffin into the glaze and place on a wire rack to set and cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Bake the muffins in every other cup. To help with the heat distribution in the oven, space the muffins out in the pan. More even heating will result in taller muffins!
- Add some extras before baking! Top each muffin with a generous sprinkling of turbinado sugar.
- Bake at a high temperature for the first 5 minutes. This first initial blast of heat will force the muffins to rise up rapidly. After 5 minutes, turn the oven down and bake for another 15-18 minutes.
lilly says
These turned out very nicely! Moist crumb and super aromatic from the lemon.
I wanted to use what I had on hand, so mine had oat milk, a few fresh raspberries & about half as much vanilla. I also have a fairly small muffin tin, somewhere between cupcake and muffin, so baked them a little less. My first batch were maybe slightly underbaked but I loved how tender they were, so recommend not letting them get too dark.
I reckon the batter could handle about half a cup more raspberries for anyone who wants a really loaded muffin.
If I make again, I might reserve a little of the batter before adding raspberries, and then adding it back once they're incorporated. That might get a bit more contrast in colours of the swirl.
Tammy says
it says baking soda but it is not listed in ingredients
Sloane says
oops sorry about that! There's only meant to be baking powder in this recipe. It's fixed now, thank you for catching that! Let me know if you try it!