With a ridiculously tender and moist lemon crumb and a wonderful tangy glaze, these paleo and keto lemon poppy seed muffins can’t be missed!
Paleo & Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins 🍋
Suuuper Tender & Moist
These keto lemon poppy seed muffins are simply awesome, and truly a must-make. I mean, it really is no wonder this combo has become a classic!
And this grain free version, topped off with an ultra lemony glaze, varies little from the original.
Note that I’ve since updated the post to provide only one recipe (i.e. the best one!). You see, I was a rookie blogger last year and confused you guys by dropping in a second recipe card (sorry!).
And more good news? This fresh keto delight is just 3g net carbs a pop! Packed with fiber, plenty of nutrients and the best kind of fats.
The Flours
I like a mixture of super fine almond flour and coconut flour (I always use Anthony’s!). Add a touch of psyllium husk and we’re golden.
And don’t skip the psyllium husk. It helps retain moisture, create structure (i.e. it’s highly responsible for the killer crumb). And it just so happens to be a killer source of fiber (it’s responsible for 2g of fiber per muffin 💩!).
You truly need a super finely ground almond flour here, as if you use meal your muffins will turn out dense and oily. Super fine almond flour brands include Anthony’s , WellBees and Bob’s.
The Sweetener
These keto muffins work well with erythritol (my favorite is Lakanto), xylitol, Pyure (at half the amount) and allulose (adding 30% more). And if paleo (or not restricted by sugar), coconut sugar is your best bet here. So you’ve got options.
If you’re opting for the lemon glaze, which comes highly recommended, your best option are xylitol and allulose (barely any after taste), followed by erythritol (some cooling effect). But they must be powdered.
So get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered. Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor.
Or you can always grab a bag of Lakanto powdered or Swerve confectioner’s.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys!
Paleo & Keto Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Customary at the bottom of the ingredients for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto lemon poppy seed muffins
- 64 g almond flour
- 21 g coconut flour
- 1 tablespoon psyllium husk
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or 2 teaspoons ground flaxseed
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 2 eggs yolks & whites divided
- 6 tablespoons erythritol *
- zest of a lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 57 g unsalted grass-fed butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
For the lemon glaze
- 3 tablespoons powdered erythritol
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Line or grease and flour (with coconut flour) a muffin tray.
- Whisk together in a medium bowl almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites until soft peaks form and set aside.
- Add egg yolks and sweetener to a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Incorporate lemon zest, vanilla extract, vinegar, and melted butter. Add flour mixture slowly, alternating with lemon juice and water and beating until well incorporated.
- Fold egg whites little by little and gently into batter. The dough will be thick initially, but will loosen up as you begin to incorporate the egg whites. Spoon batter onto the prepared muffin tray.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes (covering with aluminum foil at minute 13-15), until deep golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for 15 minutes in the pan before removing, and cool completely in a rack (they will be very tender when warm, so handle gently). If they collapse slightly, don't worry the crumb will still be great!
- While the muffins are cooling, make the lemon glaze by mixing the powdered sweetener with the lemon zest and juice. Adding lemon juice as needed until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over muffins.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, though we're fairly certain they'll be long gone before then.
Oh my goodness. These are FANTASTIC!! So moist and so tasty! We used erythritol for our keto sweetener and the coolness from it adds nicely to the lemon glaze.
I have only one complaint … that the recipe is written for only 6 muffins. I can’t imagine anyone not wanting at least 12 of these once they’ve tasted these. Thanks, Paola for your wonderful recipes!
Cheers,
Thom
Lol! My pleasure Thom!
Simply amazing! Moist and delicious. These are better than any muffins I’ve made keto or not keto. This one’s a keeper thank you so much!
Unfortunately my muffins are soggy in the middle – even though I kept them in for 25 mins. They also fell when they came out the oven. Don’t know what I did wrong? Seemed like a lot of effort for a fail. Used all the recommended ingredients.
I made these ..and I am making them again. I usually don’t go for the lemon poppy combo but this recipe is KILLER! I am so impressed. Suuuuper moist and tender indeed.
Thank you so much!
Can I freeze these muffins after they are cooked?
This recipe looks scrumptious, but I have 2 questions:
1. How much water should I add to the batter?
and
2. What is the reason for adding vinegar?
OMG! These were so delish! Wouldn’t even say they are keto. Love love love.
Wow! These are amazing. I made them with no alterations to the recipe, and I will continue to make them as written. You are right, there won’t be any left to freeze!! It would have been helpful to have the number of muffins to expect the recipe to make. I looked for that in the recipe and in the blog notes, but couldn’t find it. I’d say 6 regular sized muffins is a good number with the amount of batter this makes. Thanks for doing the work to get this recipe out to us!!
Hi Paola,
I don’t have any poppy seeds or golden flax. I have chia seeds and regular milled ground flaxseed. Can those work? Do I need to add any considerations to ensure the texture/ moisture isn’t compromised?
Thank you
Can I use the ‘reduced fat almond flour’ really recommended in your pancake recipe or will that change the ‘crumb’ of the muffin? I know baking is a science & was wondering if it would work?
And do you have any recipe for Parker house style roll or a Kaiser style roll. Sometimes you just want a bacon & egg on a roll.
Do you have a video for this recipe of lemon poppy seed muffin?
I love the recipe Thanks!!! Wondering how these freeze or how long I can keep them in the fridge?
I forgot to add the star rating, lol!
I made these this weekend for my dad’s birthday (both of my parents and I are on keto, while my hubby and son are not), and EVERYONE loved them! The texture and taste was absolutely perfect. I had forgotten that I hadn’t bought psyllium husk yet, so I substituted golden ground flaxseed (which I HAD bought because of your recommendations) and it still worked fabulously. I will definitely be making these often…might even get adventurous and use the same recipe base and try with different flavors, like strawberry or something. Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Paola you mentioned that there are 2 versions of this recipe, but I can only see one. Is the one with both baking powder and baking soda the latest one?
I made them tonight and they taste delicious, but didn’t rise much, so I am wondering if I did the latest recipe
Thank you ☺️
Andreea
Have made these twice with only half the sweetener. 3 tablespoons was adequate. I used around 2 tablespoons in with lemon juice and heated and poured on top of muffins when taken out of oven. Absolutely beautiful. I keep them in their silicone cups and they stay fresh for days. Keep the recipes coming as I’m just getting started. Love your site
Thank you for reporting back in detail Linda! So happy to hear you’re enjoying the site, and worry not I’m here to stay!
I have tried several of your recipes with great success. These Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins turned out fabulous. I used fresh baking powder and the rise was incredible. The muffins had a nice crown even after they had cooled. I followed the recipe exactly but I used the coconut oil, I didn’t have unsalted butter. I dampened a spoon to smooth out the tops of the batter when filling the muffin cups. With the slight bit of extra moisture, I didn’t have to cover the muffins with foil. They browned slower and came out perfect. I will definitely be baking these again. Thank you so much!
I’ll be honest I did not have psyllium husks. But I made this without and just added a 1/4 tap more of xanthan gum and these were wonderfulll. I will make these again!!!
Can you tell me what brand of xylitol you use? I found the now brand to have a cooling effect even though that’s what came up when I clicked the link on your post.
you used to show this with a keto raspberry jam/sauce recipe. i went looking for it a week ago, and could not find it. help! i loved it!!!
Search for the chia jam Alanna.. but this recipe has never been shown with it?
That’s the one! Thank you!!!
I made the 2.0 version. Didn’t even realize there was a 1.0 until I was finished baking and re-read the recipe. Panicked when I thought I missed the xantham gum and beaten egg whites.
Anyway, these are delicious! No surprise there. And they are so easy to make. This recipe will be on repeat.
Love this recipe! I made them last week with one substitution (brown flax instead of gold) and used the minimum suggested amount of sweetener (Erythritol). The batter was super thick and needed the tops smoothed. They baked up nicely with good texture but weren’t sweet enough for me and of course had a slight savory flavor from the brown flax.
I just made them again exactly as written but did 1.5 times the recipe for 6 jumbo muffins to get a larger bakery style result, and used the max amount suggested of sweetener (this time Xylitol). I also used Meyer lemons instead of regular. This variation was perfect for me – you could sell them at a bakery to people not dieting and everyone would be happy. The batter was like regular muffin batter consistency and they baked with smooth tops, slightly domed in the oven but a little fallen in the middle after cooling. The milder golden flax flavor let’s the lemon shine through. Thanks for a great recipe!
Having never made the original recipe, I just tried the 2.0 version and am really pleased! I did sub the golden flax meal for regular flax but otherwise followed recipe exactly including regrinding flax and psyllium and using recommended brands. The texture is great but mine do have a more wheaty, savory flavor from the regular flax. I’ll have to get some golden flax and might slightly up the sweetener next time (I used just under 1/2 cup and might use the full 1/2 cup plus an extra tablespooon, which would then allow me to omit the glaze.
With the regular flax and less sweetener, these would also make a great savory muffin.
Hey Paola! Just tried the muffins 2.0 and have to say the first version of this recipe is still my fave!
This stands out as being one of the only muffin recipes online that yields 6 muffins instead of 12. Please fix your recipe and double the indredients so people like myself don’t bake up 12 flat cookie muffins, load your recipe back up, and in a little box at the top it says ‘6’. Who breaks there back for 6 muffins ? Unless your the lone crazy cat lady ?
Dear John this is the last comment that will be published from you as you are an incredibly rude person in every single comment… Don’t be lazy and just type in 12 servings on recipe card and the recipe will double…
ps… keto peeps have consistently asked to keep batches at 6 because most are on a diet.
ps.2 I’m actually a dog lady not a cat lady 😂😂😂
Bye bye and go take your anger somewhere else!!
Oh my!! I guess this makes me a crazy cat lady too, because I prefer things in 6’s. Paola I love everything you do!!! Thank you for always bringing amazing stuff to my life!!!!!!
My pleasure Abbie!!
High Five Paola!
Omg I just read this as I’m making this recipe and was scrolling through the comments. It takes a lot of nerve to come to such a positive place online for so many people and act like such an ass JOHN. So many of us get so much joy from everything on this site so thank you Paola! You’re a rockstar!
Lol! Thank you so much Holly!!
Unbelievable complicated to make. I don’t know where you guys can make multiple muffins because I barely had enough batter to cover bottom of loaf pan.
Either reduce your steps or be truthful on this recipe. I have it in the oven now but don’t see being enough for all the work.
Hi Lucy! I need a few more details to know what went wrong… and if you know gnom-gnom there is no lying here 😉 I thoroughly test ALL the recipes and, as you can see, this one has worked out great for most! xo!