Gluten-Free Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are fluffy and moist with a lovely lemony taste! These healthy, low-carb muffins are made with almond flour making them grain-free and can be dairy-free too!
Muffins are an almost-weekly occurrence here as both my husband and me love them so much! A quick search on my site and you’ll find a wide variety of muffin recipes including several healthy options like my Healthy Apple Oat Muffins, Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins, and even my Savory Veggie Muffins.
These are all well-loved recipes but they are not low carb. We are on a (temporary) low-carb kick right now, and you can be certain we are not going without a delicious muffin to nibble on.
These Gluten-Free Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins are the perfect way to enjoy a muffin while maintaining a low-carb diet! These muffins are made without traditional all purpose flour, replacing it with almond flour instead. If you are keto, you can use a granulated keto sweetener and then have you a truly low carb and delicious breakfast or snack ready to go!
The end result is a delicious, moist lemon poppy seed muffin that is low in carbs and naturally gluten-free (since we are using almond flour here). It can also be made dairy-free if that is important to you. All this and still feels like a delicious treat!
These keto muffins are up there with other keto-friendly favorites like my Keto Cheddar Biscuits and Gluten-Free Keto Blueberry Muffins. If you have not tried these, I highly recommend them!
Ingredients in Gluten-Free Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
- Almond flour: This replaces regular flour in traditional muffin recipes. Since almond flour is made from ground almonds, it does not absorb moisture like all purpose flour does. This results is a super moist muffin. Almond flour muffins also have a more crumbly texture since the ground almond flour doesn’t bind in the same way as regular flour.
- Sweetener: Monk fruit sweetener or a granulated keto sweetener of choice. You can use regular sugar if not on a keto diet, though this will increase the carb count.
- Poppy seeds
- Baking powder and baking soda: gluten-free. Not all brands are gluten-free so if this is important to you and you have a dietary restriction, make sure the brand you use is gluten free.
- Salt: used in baked goods to enhance the flavor.
- Butter: melted. If you want to make these dairy-free you can replace this with melted coconut oil.
- Milk of choice: A dairy-free milk alternative like almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk, or similar can be used. Just make sure they are unsweetened. You can also use heavy cream.
- Eggs: They help bind these muffins together. Unfortunately, you can’t replace these with vegan options like flax eggs as they just won’t keep the muffin together.
- Lemon: fresh lemon juice and zest.
- Vanilla extract: Enhances the flavor. If you want to make these muffins extra lemony, you can replace half of the vanilla extract with lemon extract.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card the end of this post.**
How to make these almond flour lemon muffins
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar (or sweetener of choice), poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the wet ingredients. Add the melted butter, milk, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
- Scoop and bake. Scoop batter into a muffin tin prepared with muffin liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Tips and Substitutions for Gluten-Free Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
The recipe for these muffins is pretty straight forward and easy to do. Below are some tips to ensure the perfect muffin as well as some easy substitutions to make these healthier or diet-compliant!
- Substitute the butter and milk for dairy-free options. I have made these muffins with coconut oil in place of the butter as well as almond milk in place of the milk (other non-dairy options work too). Substitutions are in equal 1:1 ratios.
- Use keto sweetener options like Erythritol in place of sugar to ensure these are keto-friendly and low carb. Using almond flour in this recipe in place of all purpose flour decreases the carbs dramatically, but sugar is a carb as well. If you are on a keto diet and trying to keep your carb intake low, use a keto sweetener instead of sugar.
- Use gluten-free baking powder and baking soda. Although the brands I use are gf (even though I am not celiac nor was I specifically looking for gf versions), these ingredients are not always gf. If you are celiac or following a strict gluten-free diet, be sure to buy brands that are gf. Many brand-name products are already gf but you may want to check first before using.
- These muffins are best when consumed the same day. Almond flour does not absorb moisture the same way all purpose flour does. As they sit, they do tend to get more moist the next day as opposed to drying out like regular muffins. They are still super delicious though!
- You can halve the recipe for 6 muffins instead of 12. To halve the recipe, use 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. The other ingredients can easily be halved.
Storing muffins
You can store these muffins in an air-tight container at room temperature for several days. You can also freeze them in an air-tight container for up to a month.
I hope you enjoy these keto lemon poppy seed muffins as much as we do! If you are looking for more low-carb, keto snacks, make sure to check out my recipes for Gluten-Free Keto Blueberry Muffins and Keto Cheddar Biscuits.
Happy baking!
-Cathy
Looking for more low-carb meal ideas? Check out:
Low Carb Pizza Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Baked Pesto Salmon Recipe
Almond Crusted Salmon
Healthy Tuna Melt Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Pizza Stuffed Mini Peppers
Fudgy Avocado Brownies
Taco Stuffed Mini Pepper
Gluten-Free Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup monk fruit sweetener (or keto sweetener of choice. You can use regular sugar if not on a keto diet)
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 teaspoons baking powder gluten-free
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda gluten-free
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter, melted*
- 1/3 cup milk*
- 3 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a muffin pan with muffin liners.
- In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar (or sweetener of choice), poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the melted butter, milk, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and mix to combine.
- Scoop batter into the muffin liners and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
Notes
- *substitute melted coconut oil and non-dairy milk for a dairy-free muffin
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
It’s so hard finding gluten free recipes that my whole family can enjoy, but I made these for my family yesterday morning and everyone loved them! My family had eaten all of them by the time I went for seconds, which never happens when I bake gluten free! I’m going to make them again today or tomorrow, and was wondering if I made a double batch if I could freeze some of the batter? These are definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
I would recommend baking the muffins and freezing them after they’ve cooled. I haven’t tried freezing the batter for these so I am not sure how it would hold up.