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Satisfying my sweet tooth the healthier way with these Vanilla Chai Lemon Ricotta Muffins. Extra light and moist, these whole wheat muffins are made with fresh Meyer lemons, ricotta cheese, and hinted with warming chai spices. Lightly sweetened with a touch of honey, and kept moist with heart healthy extra-virgin olive oil. You’d never guess these delicious muffins are made on the healthier side. Every last crumb is SO GOOD. Enjoy for breakfast, or as an afternoon snack with a latte on the side and a good pat of lemon poppyseed butter.
I’m not sure I’ve ever loved a muffin more than these. I know strawberry muffins are great, bakery style muffins are so delicious, and sure, pumpkin muffins are sin worthy. They all have their place in the muffin world, and are loved for very different reasons. BUT, I don’t know, these lemon ricotta muffins feel extra special.
And they taste just as special too.
These muffins are moist, light, fluffy, lemony, and hinted with the flavors of chai. I mean, these muffins are pretty healthy. See why I think I may just love these most. And yes, I’m being very dramatic here. Please forgive me. It’s been a long few days. And to be quite honest my brain is far, far past it’s ability to think straight.
Also, it’s currently the coziest situation outside my windows. The snow is making everything just that much better. That makes no sense, but basically what I’m saying is that I love writing about cozy muffins when it’s snowing. Apparently, it makes me over dramatic.
OK. And moving on now.
These muffins encompass everything I love. They’re made using my favorite fresh ricotta cheese, which makes them light and fluffy. They’re scented with Meyer lemons (winter’s delicacy), and they have warming chai spices too.
They also couldn’t be easier to throw together. And while they could potentially be healthier, they’re healthy enough for me. I think you can tell that I’m pretty into them.
I used heart healthy extra virgin olive oil to keep the muffins moist. And while you might think you’d be able to taste the oil, you really can’t. It only leaves the muffins with a moist texture and not much else. To keep the muffins sweet, I used manuka honey And while I know some of you might argue that honey is sugar, and all sugar is the same. I’m looking past this, and instead focusing on that benefits manuka honey is said to have…
Go with me on this. Please.
PS. you can totally use regular honey too!
And then, as if these muffins weren’t cozy enough, I spiced them with my favorite winter flavor, chai.
So, a little cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and allspice. All spices known for fighting off winter colds. Especially ginger. It’s true.
Maybe we should really just be calling these, Cold Fighting Muffins? What do you think? Taking it too far? Yes, surely. But as you can see, my mind is all over the place tonight (it’s Sunday night as I type this).
And with that, I say we make this a muffin baking kind of Tuesday. Bonus points if you also make the poppyseed lemon butter. Which may sound a bit odd, but works really well. Especially when slathered onto a warm muffin. Oh yeah, it’s the BEST!
Enjoy everyone! Tomorrow, I should have a clearer mind. See you then!
If you make these lemon ricotta muffins, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to also tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Watch the How To Video:
Vanilla Chai Lemon Ricotta Muffins
Servings: 12 muffins
Calories Per Serving: 884 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest and 2 tablespoons juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1 3/4 cups white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamon
- 1/4 teaspoon all-spice
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Lemon Poppyseed Butter
- 4 tablespoons salted butter at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon poppyseeds
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.2. In a large bowl, mix together the olive oil, honey, and vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon zest, and juice, beat until smooth and creamy. Add the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, all-spice, and salt. Mix on low-speed until just combined, being sure the batter is completely mixed.3. Divide the batter among the prepared pan. Transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.4. Meanwhile, make the honey butter. In a small bowl, combine the butter, honey, poppyseeds, and lemon zest. 5. Serve the muffins warm or at room temperature, smeared with chia butter. Enjoy!
Could you make these into mini loaves? Would the recipe stay the same? Would love to gift these for Galentine’s! 🙂
HI! I am sure mini loaves will be great! I would you could make 3-4 mini loaves. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Made these last night and my family of 3 has already pretty much polished them off. So good! Just a tip, sour cream or plain yogurt will substitute just fine for ricotta if you don’t have the fancy stuff around.
I am so glad you liked these! Thank you Dee!
These are wonderful! I just had my first one after they cooled (it was still a little warm). Had to change the recipe a bit because I didn’t bother checking to make sure I had everything (white flour, instead of wheat and coconut oil instead of olive). It didn’t matter. They still taste so good and are very fluffy. The flavor is rich and delicious.
I am so glad you still loved these Rose! Thank you so much!
I made these gluten free with Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1. They turned out great. Love that they are only sweetened with honey. The butter is the perfect accompaniment to take them over the top
Thank you so much Brooke! I am so glad you loved these muffins!
These were amazinggg. Perfect amount of sweet and tangy and spicy and everythingggg!
Thank you so much Viviana! I am so glad you loved these muffins!
Hi Tieghan! I love this recipe, so moist and so yum, and I super love that it is on the healthier side – I make them on a Sunday so we have “grab and go” muffins throughout the workweek. Just a question – I’ve made 3 batches now, and although they taste amazing, the muffins always fall into themselves when I take them out of the oven? I don’t “peek” while they are baking and I let them sit for 10 minutes before attempting to eat them (which is sooo hard, lol) Is there anything I could do differently?
Hey Kim! Hmm, I have no idea why your muffins would be sinking. Have you checked your baking soda and baking powder to see if they are fresh? That is the only thing that I can think would cause them to sink. If your rising agents are older that could be the issue. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope this helps! So glad you love the muffins! Thank you! xTieghan
These turned out great! They did not stick to the paper liners at all. I ended up using a lot of honey butter because they weren’t very sweet, which I was grateful for, since they were breakfast for the week.
Thank you so much Lacy! I am so glad you loved this!
These are awesome. I decided to leave out the cinammon and double all of the other spices. In the batter the cardamon dominated but once they were baked, the flavor was still totally subtle and awesome and the vanilla really came through. Thank you!
Thank you so much Margo! I am so glad you enjoyed this!
Do you think I could try subbing yogurt for the ricotta? They look delicious! ☺️
I am sure yogurt will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan
These look amazing and I an now craving them! Do you think I could substitute creme fraiche for the ricotta? I have some on hand.
I think creme fraiche will be great!! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan
Think I could do 50/50 coconut oil/olive oil? Thanks!!
I am sure that will be great! Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan
I just made this and ate 4 straight out of the pan. I didn’t have pastry flour so I subbed 1c all purpose and 3/4 cake flour. So incredibly light and moist.
I am so happy to hear that Leslie! Thank you so much!
These look delicious – I love making muffins so will have to give your recipe a go at the weekend!
Rebecca | http://www.peppermintdolly.com
Thank you Rebecca! I am so glad you like these and I hope you make them!
I made a lemon loaf the other day with my wife and it was really good! I think we’d both love these muffins too haha thank you!
Thank you so much Bryan!
I’m confused. What does “Chia Butter” mean? Seems like it is poppy seed butter.
HI! So sorry, that was a typo. All fixed. it is poppyseed butter. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe. Thanks so much!! xTieghan