These tasty keto mini muffins are easy to make, kid-friendly, and totally nut-free! A perfect after school snack or a treat when you’re on the go. Freezable for keto meal planning too.
Mini muffins make me happy. Why? Because they’re mini, plain and simple. They’re cute and delicious. What’s not to love about keto mini muffins like these? And I have more mini muffin recipes too! Try my Chocolate Avocado Muffin recipe, or my mini pizza muffins.
Easy to make, fun to eat, and my kids are always delighted to see them at the breakfast table. It’s a win win of a recipe all around.
Better yet, these mocha mini muffins are completely nut free, and could even be dairy-free if you were so inclined. So this is a great one for the allergy crowd, and I know the parents of kids with nut allergies or who send their kids to nut-free schools are going to love me!
Nut-Free Keto Flours
With a big keto baking book due out in the late fall, I decided I had to experiment with a number of keto flours. That was the inspiration for this mini muffin recipe.
I am often asked what keto flours can replace almond flour for my recipes. Coconut flour isn’t a good replacement, since it cannot be subbed in one for one. You have to change so much more in the recipe, including the eggs, liquids, and fat content.
I’ve found that sunflower seed flour is a good one for one replacement, for the most part. You can buy it or you can make your own sunflower seed flour using a coffee grinder. The problem with this is that sunflower seeds react with baking powder and baking soda and can turn a little greenish, if you don’t offset this reaction with some acid like vinegar or lemon juice.
Sunflower seed flour is also a little higher carb than almond flour, so it’s a bit of a trade off.
This time, however, I decided to experiment with pumpkin seed flour. Yes, you heard me right, pumpkin seed flour. Trust me, people, if there is a food that can be finely ground enough, someone is making flour out of it!
I found that the pumpkin seed flour can replace the almond flour almost cup for cup. I did find I needed just a little more pumpkin seed flour than I would normally use almond flour. Just a few added tablespoons for cup seemed to do it.
Do keep in mind that it has a greenish tinge right from the start. For chocolate recipes, this isn’t an issue because the cocoa powder covers up the greenish color.
How to make Keto Mini Muffins
Well first things first, you need a mini muffin pan! My old one was on its last legs so I recently purchased a new mini muffin pan from USA Pan. Whenever one of my old pans dies and I need a new one, I go with USA Pan. Yes, they are pricier but they are worth it. They are non-stick, non-toxic, and if you care for them properly, they will last and last. Which means you save money in the long run.
But even with a good non-stick pan, I like to line it with silicone liners most of the time. It makes clean up a snap. You can also use parchment liners but don’t use paper. Keto muffins and batters tend to stick more than wheat-based treats, so you lose half your muffin to the paper.
I love whipping up keto muffin batter in my blender because it makes it more cohesive and also fluffier. You can just whisk this by hand but if you have a good blender or food processor, I highly recommend.
And the mocha/coffee flavor is not a necessity. Feel free to replace it with just water. I’m a coffee fiend and mocha is the best, but I know not everyone agrees.
You can use regular Lily’s chocolate chips here. But if you haven’t seen the new mini chips from Explorado Market, definitely check them out. Totally dairy-free and super useful for keto recipes. I’m kind of obsessed with them and tossing them into every recipe I can think of!
Want to make dairy-free mini muffins? Sub any dairy-free oil here, like avocado or melted coconut oil.
And if you don’t need to be nut-free and just want to use almond flour, I’ve provided those instructions as well.
Enjoy the little things in life. Like keto mocha chip mini muffins!
More Mini Keto Recipes You Might Like
Mini No Bake Nutella Cheesecake
Mini Chocolate Peanut Butter Dirt Cake
These tasty keto mini muffins are easy to make, kid-friendly, and totally nut-free! A perfect after school snack or a treat when you're on the go. Freezable for keto meal planning too.
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup strong coffee
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups pumpkin seed flour (can sub 2 to 2 1/4 cups almond flour)
- 1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/3 cup sugar-free chocolate chips
-
Preheat the oven to 325F and line a mini muffin pan with silicone or parchment liners.
-
In a blender or food process, combine the eggs, coffee, and vanilla extract. Blend a few seconds to combine.
-
Add the pumpkin seed flour, sweetener, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Blend on high until well combined. Add the melted butter and blend again until smooth.
-
If your batter is overly thick, add a little more liquid (coffee or water) 1 tbsp at a time. The batter should be scoopable but not pourable.
-
Stir in most of the chocolate chips by hand, reserving a few for the tops of the muffins. Fill the mini muffin cups almost to the top. You will get about 30 mini muffins so you may need to work in batches.
-
Add a few of the reserved chips to the top of each muffin. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the tops are set and firm to the touch. Remove and let cool in the pan.
Gail Holcomb says
We are going to try these today. How many muffins would be one serving? They look delicious!
Carolyn says
Says in the nutritional info! 🙂
Vivian guest says
How many are 3 grams
Carolyn says
Mistake. It meant 3 mini muffins, it’s corrected now.
Linda says
I’m afraid on my page it still says 3grams. I was actually going to ask how many muffins that was until I seen the comment that said 3 muffins. 😁
Carolyn says
You’re right and I keep trying to fix it and it keeps flipping back to grams. I don’t know why and I am having someone look into it.
Sherry Corson says
Would the same recipe work to make about a dozen regular size cupcakes?
Carolyn says
It would make more like 9 or 10.
Kate says
Carolyn, maybe you could talk this new company into making white chocolate chips.
Connie says
Wow! Had all ingredients (used almond flour) so went right to the kitchen and baked. They are going fast! So yummy!
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
D says
The link to pumpkin seed flour actually shows pumpkin seed MEAL. Same thing?
Carolyn says
Yes, it is. I mean… it’s all just finely ground pumpkin seeds. Whether you call it meal or flour is open to interpretation! 🙂
Kay Clark says
I don’t drink coffee and don’t have it conveniently around, but I do like to add expresso powder to chocolate recipes to “oomph” up the flavor. If I replace the 1/3 cup coffee with 1/3 cup water, as you suggested, how many teaspoons of expresso powder would you suggest, if at all?
Carolyn says
1 teaspoon at most, probably.
Anna says
My family devoured these muffins!
Krissy Allori says
Mini muffins make me happy! These look so good!
Suzy says
We make lots of muffins for breakfast! The whole family loves them! Perfect for when we need something that we can grab and go!
Melissa says
Mini muffins are my favorite! Great recipe!
Laura Reese says
These muffins look delish. I can’t believe they’re Keto friendly.
Becky Hardin says
These are the best muffins. So delicious.
Michelle Owens says
These look delicious. Can’t wait to try and share.
Sameen says
What’s the best replacement for the chocolate chips as I don’t have any available in my part of the world.
Carolyn says
Nuts?
Roberta says
Maybe you could try a DIY version melting some cocoa butter and whisking in some cocoa powder with powdered sweetener or liquid stevia, pouring the mixture in molds and then let it cool before breaking the solid mass obtained into small chunks, if you do not have a mold that hasn’t already drop-shapened holes…
Christy says
How would the espresso cream from your chocolate espresso torte work on these muffins made into a cake? Thanks.
Cheryl says
These look great except for the coffee. Is there something I could use as a substitute, as I imagine leaving out 1/3 cup of liquid would significantly affect the recipe. Thanks! P.S. Thank you for all the great recipes you provide here!!
Carolyn says
Just water is fine.
Linda says
Hi ! These tasted amazing, but not sure what I did wrong, but the bottoms were very crumbly so I ended up having muffin tops?? Still very delicious, just wondering what I did wrong. Please advise
Shireen says
First let me say that I love all your recipes for baked goods. I have been trying a lot of different keto baked goods and not always happy with the consistency. Yours are very excellent. I only have one question, I see you always mention the blender as your preferred tool to mix your batters. And as a baker of many years, I understand that all bakers have their preferred tools. About five years ago I purchased a KitchenAid stand mixer and I am in love with this piece of kitchen equipment. I always used handheld mixer’s before and the difference between the two is simply amazing. And a lot of it has to do with as you stated consistency and being able to achieve that fluffy texture for your batters. So to my actual question, I just wonder why you never even mention the stand mixer as an option? I guess my main reason for asking is that anyone in this country who does a lot of baking, I think it would probably be safe to say they have a stand mixer in their kitchen. Please understand I am not doubting the use of your blender as a mixer, but I also think there probably are a lot more people who have A stand mixer in their kitchen vice a special super wide mouth high-speed blender. Have you ever tried using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment? I hope you take no offense at my question, my curiosity just got the best of me and I had to ask.
Carolyn says
I have a kitchenaid stand mixer too. While it’s good, it’s not the same. It mixes, but it doesn’t fluff it up the same way – and a blender actually makes the almond flour or nut flour more cohesive as well. You’re free to use it but hand mixing and a stand mixer are never going to quite achieve the same texture.
Additionally, most muffin recipes use melted butter. The benefit of a mixer of any kind is to beat the sweetener into the butter to help create tiny air bubbles that help things rise nicely. With melted butter or liquid oil, you simply don’t need that so it’s easier to just mix it in together with a spatula.
Aya says
Hi !
I was wondering is it okay to replace the almond flour with sunflower seeds flour or golden flaxseed flour?
Thank you ❤
Carolyn says
There is no almond flour in these. Did you mean pumpkin seed flour? If so, then sunflower seed flour is the best option.
faye rivkin says
these sound yummy but i’m not a huge fan of swerve. think i could use maple syrup? any thoughts on how much? thanks!
Carolyn says
yes but maple syrup is a liquid so you may need more flour to offset that. I don’t use maple syrup so I really can’t advise.