Home Baked Lemon Pistachio Muffins are quick and easy to make. They are perfect for breakfast or with soup or salad at lunch or dinner.
I’ve been on a serious homemade muffin kick lately. It’s no secret that I love making easy muffin recipes. One of the recipes
It seems like winter will never end. We’ve had 7 weeks of snow in a row and now it’s raining! Weather like that just makes me want to bake. Does it do that to you? What do you do to stay sane with weather like this?
Lemon just brightens anything up, including me! I especially like baked goods with lemon flavors such as these simple lemon muffins with glaze and pistachios! It reminds me of spring so I thought it was fitting when I decided we needed a new easy muffins recipe to go with the Thick Cheesy Baked Potato Soup that I made. Oh, the combination was GLORIOUS!
I totally understand how busy you are so if you don’t have time for my helpful tips and delicious recipe ideas, just scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find the printable recipe card.
Making homemade pistachio muffins from scratch isn’t difficult. If you think about it, store-bought muffin mixes are just the dry ingredients and YOU add the wet ingredients such as egg, milk, oil, and extracts. You are buying very basic ingredients that you may already have on-hand such as flour, sugar, salt and a leavener (baking soda and baking powder). I’m all for convenience so use what is right for you.
What is the best kind of flour to use to make muffins?
All-purpose flour is perfectly fine for muffin recipes. The impact of the kind of flour that you use in some finer desserts or sturdier bread recipes is more measurable. It’s based on the protein content. The higher the protein content, the sturdier or stronger the flour. There are several references for explaining the differences in flour such as Fine Cooking.
What is the difference between muffins and cupcakes?
My first thought is it’s perfectly acceptable to eat them for breakfast! But in all seriousness this is what the differences generally are:
| Difference | Muffin | Cupcake |
| Flavor | Sweet or Savory | Sweet |
| Topping | None, streusel, glaze | Frosting |
| Crumb | Denser | Light, Soft |
| Served | Breakfast, with meal | Dessert |
If you liked these easy Pistachio Muffins with Lemon, leave me a comment and a 5-star rating! Here are a few more recipes that I think you will like.
- Basic Muffin Recipe
- Gluten-Free Coconut Muffins
- Harvest Muffins
- Double Chocolate Muffins
- Mango Muffins
- Blueberry Muffins with Orange Pecan Crumble
Here are a few things you may need
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- 12-cup Non-stick muffin pan – I love these muffin pans and have three of them so I can get them all filled and baked at once. They’re great for egg cups too!
- Mini-Prep Food Processor – This little genius is a work-horse in my kitchen. I love that I don’t have to drag my big heavy one out when I want to chop nuts or veggies.
- Scoops – Wonder how those cookies are the same size? Scoops and I use them for my cupcakes too!
Home Baked Lemon Pistachio Muffins
Ingredients
Muffin Batter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 cups whole milk
- 1 egg large
- 1 lemon juice and zest
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup pistachios coarsely ground
- 1 tbsp flour
Glaze
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 tsp lemon extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or line 2 12-cup muffin tins with oil, butter, or a non-stick cooking spray or insert cupcake liners.
Muffins
- Combine milk and the juice from one lemon together and set aside. This will become buttermilk after about 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine sugar, lemon juice-milk mixture, and egg. Blend together and then add lemon zest and lemon extract. Blend until smooth.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
- Combine ground pistachios with 1 tablespoon of flour. Fold this mixture into the batter. The flour helps the pistachios to stay suspended throughout the batter.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and let them cool on a wire rack.
Glaze
- Combine the glaze ingredients together. The consistency should resemble maple syrup. If it’s too thick to drizzle add more milk. If it’s too thin add powdered sugar.
- Lightly shake a fork dipped in the glaze over the top of the muffins.
- Store muffins in an airtight container. They may also be frozen.
Notes
Nutrition
As crazy as I am for a good muffin, I’m always looking for new inspiration. Are you looking for a flavor you’d like developed into a muffin? Perhaps you have a memory of one that the recipe has disappeared? Let me know and I’ll do my best to make it and you’ll see it here!
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Jennifer Stewart says
Lemon just screams Spring to me. The addition of pistachios to these muffins just makes them that much better. My family is going to love these.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Jennifer! This one has really become one of our favorites!
Debra says
Nothing beats the smell of homemade muffins…any day, any season! It’s still cold here and I know everyone will love these straight from the oven. With the vibrant lemon taste I will make these all year round. How simple and delish!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you Debra!
Trish Bozeman says
Girl, you are speakin my language with these! I’ll take a lemon muffin over chocolate any day of the week. Then you went and added pistachio. An must make recipe! Can’t wait to make these.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you Trish! I’m an equal opportunity muffin lover. Lemon is amazing but I can’t turn down a chocolate one either.
Marisa F. Stewart says
Spring is here but the weather is still terrible. We may get one sunshiny day and the rest of the days are rainy and cold. Sometimes snow. Now the idea of lemon and pistachio has me seeing some bright warm lights – sunshine. I do love anything with lemon and pistachios are my favorite nuts. Your explanation of cupcakes and muffins is right on the mark.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you Marisa! I guess when it gets to hot we’ll be whining too LOL!
[email protected] says
Pistachios and lemon! What a great combination! I tend to use pistachios more often in savoury dishes, but I love them in all sorts of recipes. I’m totally with you when it comes to cake/muffin mix too. I call them ‘manufactured convenience’ – they give you the impression that you’re saving time, but when you factor in having to go out and buy them, you’re really not doing yourself any favours (plus I just think scratch tastes better). Once you try a good scratch recipe you realize that you’re not limited by box mixes, and that you can make any kind of cake/muffin base any time as long as you’ve got a well-stocked pantry. And hey, that’s my kind of power. Haha.
I hope your winter woes pass soon enough – but if you keep turning out awesome recipes like this as a result, then it’s certainly not the worst thing in the world. Cheers.
Julie Menghini says
Ha! I like your superpower reference! I should be stocked for a month but I still find myself running to the store a couple of times a week. Thank you for stopping by Sean!
Annemarie says
While we’ve had a fairly mild winter here (nothing like the weekly blizzards we got a few years back), I’m still all about lemony spring recipes! There is nothing like a lemon muffin to wake up the taste buds as I watch the crocuses wake up too. And I love the addition of the pistachios. I don’t bake with them enough and this was a great place to start.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Annemarie! Our winter started off mild but sure made up for it in a short period!
Sandra says
Lemon puts me in a happy mood too! My mom just gave me a bunch of lemons from her tree, so I used fresh juice instead of the extract. These muffins are a keeper and I wll make again!
Julie Menghini says
Oh, I wish I had access to just picking them from the tree! That would be amazing!
Charity says
Oh my goodness! Seven weeks of snow sounds awful! We had what seemed like a lifetime of rain last year but cannot imagine what that much snow would be like. It certainly would call for a lot of baking to keep the cabin fever at bay!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Charity! I think we may be beating Seattle for the gloomiest year ever!
Michaela Kenkel says
I never used to use pistachios in anything. I feel like I wasted so many good years!! I LOVE baking with them, and I have been putting them in everything!! The addition to the lemon muffins is brilliant!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you! We didn’t grow up eating pistachios and I don’t even know if we had access to them. It was always walnuts!
michele says
Jeff is a huge fan of pistachios so when I read this recipe I knew he would love them! A lovely texture and the nuts were so so good in them! I used a little more drizzle on mine, but other than that followed your recipe to a perfect delicious muffin!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you! John loved this one and may have just dipped his muffin in the glaze LOL!
KJA says
Made these this morning, and they were a hit with the family! So easy, and super tasty.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you!
Daniela says
It’s rainy and gloomy today where I live, and I was just thinking that I should bake something! 🙂 These muffins seem like just the perfect thing to drive away the winter/early spring blues; I love the combination of lemon and pistachio, and they are so easy to make.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Daniela! Gloomy here forever too!
Deb says
You’ve combined two of my favorite flavors pistachio and lemon! These muffins look so savory and delicious I can’t wait to give them a try!
Julie Menghini says
Thanks, Deb! We really loved them too!
Brandi Burgess says
Lemon is my FAVORITE!!!! These look incredible!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you! We loved them too!
Lynn Elliott Vining says
Looks and sounds delicious! Now I just need smell-o-vision! LOL
Julie Menghini says
Thanks Lynn! I’d love to figure that one out too!
Diane Baker says
I love the addition of pistachios to this recipe! Plus, we love lemon
here so, this is a winner! Cannot wait to make some of these! thanks for
sharing your wonderful recipe 😉
Julie Menghini says
Thank you so much, Diane!
Madi says
I love the combination of flavors! Lemon and pistachio sound so perfect together!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Madi!
Hadia says
These muffins look great! I love both lemons and pistachios, but never thought of combining them together, the muffins look moist and enticing, on my to do list!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Hadia! I really enjoyed this combination too!
ally says
Oh, yes, I will be making these, Julie! I love lemon. I love pistachios. And, this is a perfect muffin for happiness!
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Ally! Anything lemon here too!
Christine says
I could eat one of those muffins any time of the day.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you Christine! I agree!
Gloria says
Spring is FINALLY here…and means LEMON desserts and goodies. I would love one of these to start my day. I would love one of these with my afternoon latte. I would love to serve these on the weekend brunch. By now, I think you know how much I love lemons.
Julie Menghini says
Thank you, Gloria! An afternoon latte with this muffin would be like a vacation at home!