Poppy Seed Buns

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These irresistible Poppy Seed Buns are made with a soft and fluffy yeasted dough, flavorful poppy seed filling, and a drizzle of tasty almond icing on top.

Poppy seed bun topped with drizzle of white icing.

I think that poppy seeds are a highly underrated ingredient. Of course, you have lemon and poppy seed, like in my Zucchini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins or Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies. But I don't think poppy seeds are featured enough just to shine on their own. Slavic baking features them often. My Poppy Seed Pound Cake puts poppy seeds on display in a way they deserve, as do these yummy poppy seed sweet rolls!

Almond extract is added to both the poppy seed filling and icing to really make the poppy seed flavor pop! This recipe is made with a yeasted dough, but have no fear, it is very straightforward and simple to follow with step-by-step instructions (including photos!) and a video including each step.

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⭐️ Why You Will Love This Recipe
🧈 Ingredients
📃 Instructions
💡 Top Tip
❓ Recipe FAQs
🍞 More Recipes for Breads and Rolls
📖 Recipe

⭐️ Why You Will Love This Recipe

Texture: These buns are wonderfully soft and fluffy, like my yummy recipe for Lemon Rolls!
Flavor: Deep flavors of poppy seed and almond extract shine in the buttery filling, and the creamy icing on top just makes this recipe!
Method: Baking with yeast might seem intimidating at first, but I promise it's so easy! Follow my complete, step-by-step instruction photos or video below to make this a breeze.

🧈 Ingredients

Here are the ingredients needed to make these poppy seed sweet buns.

Ingredient Notes

Yeast: This recipe requires instant yeast, which is also called quick-rise. Instant yeast can be mixed directly into the recipe without requiring activation in water.
Milk: Using milk in dough yields a super soft and fluffy result, like in my recipe for Buttery Garlic Knots!
Butter: As in most of my recipes, this recipe calls for salted butter, which is included in the dough and filling. See the notes within the recipe card for instructions on how to substitute unsalted butter.
Flour: This recipe is kept simple with regular all-purpose flour!
Almond Extract: Poppy seed and almond extract flavors go together in a similar way to how cherry and almond extract go together. The almond extract flavor helps make the poppy seed flavor really shine.
Poppy Seed: Nothing fancy is required; just the poppy seeds typically sold alongside bagged spices at the grocery store work great in this recipe. Just be sure the poppy seeds are within date and not rancid-smelling or tasting.

See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.

📃 Instructions

Wet ingredients whisked together in a glass mixing bowl.

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the warm milk, melted butter, white sugar, salt, and instant yeast.

Step 2: Stir in 2 cups of the flour and mix for 1 minute to begin to develop the gluten in the dough.

Dough on the countertop before kneading.

Step 3: Add 1 more cup of flour and fold until the dough begins to come together before turning it out onto the countertop. Knead for 5 minutes, adding up to ½ cup more flour or until the dough is soft and smooth. It should be a little tacky but not stick to your hands.

Step 4: Form the dough into a ball and place it into a floured bowl. Cover with a clean and dry towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Step 5: Stir together the melted butter, poppy seeds, powdered sugar, and almond extract to form the poppy seed filling.

Risen dough doubled in size in a glass bowl.

Step 6: Once the dough has risen, punch it down to deflate.

Rolling the dough out into a large rectangle.

Step 7: Roll the dough out on a floured countertop into a large rectangle about 24 inches wide and 12 inches tall and about ¼-inch thick.

Poppy seed filling spread onto half of the dough.

Step 8: Spread the poppy seed filling onto half of the rectangle of dough. Fold the other half of the rectangle over the filling. Roll the dough with the filling sandwiched in between a few times if it has retracted slightly.

Strips of dough cut with a pizza cutter.

Step 9: Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to slice the dough into 12 strips. Twist each strip of dough before wrapping it into a bun shape. (see video in recipe card)

Brushing poppy seed buns with cream before baking.

Step 10: Let the buns rise in a warm place for 30 minutes while the oven preheats. Right before baking, brush the buns with a little bit of heavy cream to keep them soft and help them bake up golden.

Bake in a preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Stir together the powdered sugar, almond extract, and enough heavy cream or milk to create a drizzleable icing. Drizzle the icing over the warm buns after they have cooled for about 10 minutes.

💡 Top Tip

Most traditional Slavic recipes for poppy seed rolls, breads, or doughnuts call for grinding the poppy seeds before making a filling with them. You can do that for this recipe if you want a stronger poppy seed flavor and finer texture. The best tool to grind poppy seeds is a coffee grinder or perhaps a very strong blender. Spice grinders will not work due to the oil in the poppy seeds, and a food processor isn't able to break through the seeds.

❓ Recipe FAQs

Can you freeze these buns?

These poppy seed buns are best eaten fresh, but you could freeze any leftovers once they have fully cooled in an airtight container.

How do you store these buns?

Once fully cooled, store buns covered at room temperature for up to 3 days. Warm slightly before serving.

🍞 More Recipes for Breads and Rolls

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

If you tried these Poppy Seed Buns with Icing or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!