Looking for the best keto lemon muffins around? These tender cream cheese muffins are easy to make, with a bright luscious lemon flavor. Grain-free!
Spring is springing and lemon recipes are popping up everywhere. And I demand that you put these Keto Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins to the top of your must-make list.
Yep, I absolutely demand it. Because adding cream cheese to your keto muffin batter is a game changer.
I can hear some of you right now: “But Carolyn, you already have a bunch of cream cheese muffin recipes”. And yes, friends, that is correct. There is my ever popular Starbucks copycat Keto Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins. And my recently updated Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins.
But while both of those recipes feature a delicious cream cheese center, it’s not in the batter itself. And after my success with Keto Gingerbread Cream Cheese Pound Cake, I found I was eager to try that method again.
Best ever keto lemon muffins?
I am inclined to say yes. I’ve made any number of low carb lemon muffin recipes, but I realized the other day that I don’t have a single one featured here on my blog, as they were all written for other publications.
One of my favorites is the Lemon Ricotta Muffins I created for The Ultimate Guide to Keto Baking. If you love to bake, I cannot recommend my new cookbook enough.
It was time to address the lack of a keto lemon muffin recipe on my site, and after poking around and doing some research, I decided to try them as cream cheese muffins.
Oh my word, I am glad I did! Adding cream cheese to keto muffins gives them both great structure and a rich tenderness that is unparalleled. This may be my new favorite way of making muffins!
How to make keto cream cheese muffins
Darlings, it’s as easy as softening some cream cheese with your butter, and beating them together with the other keto ingredients. But as always, I have some great tips for you to make them perfect.
Room temperature ingredients: You may have seen me mention this before but it’s important. All the beating and creaming of the cream cheese and butter will be for nothing if you add cold eggs. It will clump up and your batter won’t be smooth.
Your choice of sweetener: The muffin batter will be great with any sweetener you like best, as the cream cheese is what provides structure and consistency. You do need a powdered sweetener if you choose to make the drizzle.
Eggs or egg yolks? The egg yolks in this recipe help give these keto lemon muffins a deep rich yellow. If you would prefer, you can use another whole egg instead.
Why protein powder? Oh boy, I get asked this a lot! Simple answer: Gluten is a protein and in its absence, another dry protein powder helps keto baked goods rise and hold their shape. The best sub for whey protein is egg white protein.
Almond flour and coconut flour: I really do love this combination of keto flours and I always use Bob’s Red Mill for both. If you prefer to use only almond flour, you will need an additional 1/4 cup.
Can you make cream cheese muffins dairy-free?
Well, I haven’t tried it myself but I do think you can. Kite Hill almond milk “cream cheese” is an excellent option, and I’ve found it works well in almost all cases. So you should be able to sub that for the cream cheese.
For the butter, you can use coconut oil or another non-dairy oil. If it’s a liquid oil, such as avocado, add it in along with the eggs.
Replace the whey protein with egg white protein powder. Voila! Dairy-free keto lemon muffins.
More keto lemon recipes
- Keto Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Keto Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake
- Easy Keto Lemon Curd
- Low Carb Lemon Ricotta Scones
- Keto Lemon Butter Cookies
- Keto Lemon Coconut Balls
Keto Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
Ingredients
Lemon Cream Cheese Muffins
- 4 ounces (113.4 g) cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup (56.75 g) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (121.33 g) granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 tsp lemon extract
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (160 g) almond flour
- 1/4 cup (27 g) unflavoured whey protein powder
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
Lemon Drizzle (optional)
- 1/4 cup (45.5 g) powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 1/2 tbsp (1.5 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 350F and line a muffin pan with silicone or parchment liners.
- In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Beat in the sweetener and then beat in the eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lemon extract, and vanilla extract until well combined.
- All at once, add the almond flour, whey protein, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt, and beat until thoroughly mixed.
- Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are golden and set to the touch. Let cool completely in the pan.
Drizzle
- In a medium bowl, whisk the sweetener together with the lemon juice until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled muffins.
Video
Nutrition
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omg i love love love these! these will be a staple recipe for me. i love the texture. alot of keto baked goods i dislike. but these are so awesome! tyty so much!
Love to make your muffins but we have tree nut allergies so no almond flour, can I substitute coconut flour and how much.
Thank you
Sorry, but coconut flour is not a good replacement for almond flour, you have to change the whole recipe. But you can try sunflower seed flour… here’s some info: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/how-to-make-your-own-sunflower-seed-flour/
Damn these were good! I made a few teeny substitutions using a blend of almond and cashew flour, I used keto vanilla protein powder, and a blend of SF sweeteners (Monk Fruit, Swerve, Allulose). I also poked holes in them when they were done and drizzled the lemon syrup right down in there. They were so good I ate 3! The texture is amazing. I’m a celiac and gluten free since 1997 and keto/low carb for years. I am very picky about my baked goods. These, well, dear ones, these are the real deal. Get your asses in the kitchen and make them pronto, you won’t be disappointed1
Second time I have made these! They are so good. I add 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries so get a couple more than the recipes states. Hard to tell these aren’t carb laden. Thanks for all your hard work, your recipes are always a hit.
I recently started my low carb journey and found your recipe. Just baked it today and holy moly! The bomb! Was baking it for this week’s daily dessert but guess what? I almost ate half of it. I know! Thank you so much for sharing this.
Thanks!
I’d like to make these but don’t have any whey protein powder. Do you think collagen powder would be an okay sub?
No, it will make them very gummy and hard to cook through. Sorry… whey or egg white protein are best.
I made these in mini muffins. How long will these keep in the fridge?
About a week.
How long did you bake the mini muffins? About half the time?
I have made these three times and have decided that they are my “perfect” keto muffin. The last time I switched the lemon extract and zest to orange extract and zest and I skipped the glaze because they just didn’t seem to need it. I can’t decide which ones I liked the best, the orange or the lemon ones; both are delicious! My grandmother used to make a citrus pound cake with lemon, orange and lime so I plan to try that next.
Could I use pea protein powder in place of whey protein?
Probably.
Love this recipe, but I MUCH PREFER metric measurements for accuracy. PLEASE, please, please at least include both measurements (cups and grams). Flours such as coconut and almond and vary greatly!!
I made this and it was yummy
Didn’t habe lemon essence used lemon juice 1.5 TBS and added 2 heaped TBS of sour cream
So yummy
My daughter loves it
Especially when told her it’s keto
She felt less guilty eating it
I don’t have whey protein but do have eggs protein powder will that work?
It should!
The cream cheese makes the crumb so much more like what I have been missing. How do we adapt for chocolate, and other flavors?
I just excitedly popped these in the oven!… And realized that I forgot to add the salt!! Do you think they’ll still turn out okay?
Yes, they will. The salt isn’t critical to consistency, it’ just helps bring out flavor a bit.
Hello Carolyn, may ask your opinion? Could this recipe be doubled for a good lemon bundt cake? I’m such a fan of your lemon poppyseed bundt cake. Dawn
Sure, it would be great!
Thank you answering so quick! I will be making this and will report back. BTW your compilation of ground beef recipes are so helpful. THANK YOU for putting these together.
Glad to hear it!
Doubled the recipe and made in an 8-inch bundt pan to RAVE reviews (especially mine!). Moist with excellent yummy lemon flavor. I started checking doneness at the 40 minute mark. Took it out at 47 minutes. I have an electric oven. Oh my, will be making this again!
Good stuff!
Hello!
If I don’t have any Whey Protein Powder, can I omit it or substitute with something else?
Thanks!
You can omit but they won’t rise quite as well.
These are amazing!!! I made them for my birthday as cupcakes and they were so good! I’m already about to make another batch! Thank you for sharing your recipes!
So glad you liked them!
Can you sub liquid allulose for the sweetener?
Yep, should be able to in the muffins themselves. Not for the drizzle, of course… that requires a powdered sweetener.
I made these yesterday…yum! I too am going to have to freeze some of them so I don’t eat them all. Carolyn, your recipes never disappoint.
I so want to make these! I finally got whey protein so I’m really excited to try this out. I don’t have lemon for zesting or lemon extract. I struggle in keto baking with frequently feeling like I need another different ingredient, but not knowing what or how to sub ingredients. Could I substitute lemon juice in the muffins? If so, how much do you think? Thank you!
Hi Margie – so we must be talking about bottled lemon juice, then? You can use 2-3 tbsp to get some good lemon flavor but it does through off the liquid to dry content so you need another few tbsp of almond flour to offset that.
Thank you so much! I made these today using your suggestion and they were so good. So glad it was the end of the day when I tried one or I might have eaten the whole batch. Perfect for a rainy day at home. Thank you!
I found that a great substitution for lemon essence if you can’t find it (as here where I live) is lemon essential oil food grade (I’ve found an organic, non-alcohol based, one that is wonderful both used for aromatherapy and baking, just a few drops are enought to give a very pleasant smell and tasete, and the tiny amount used doesn’t imply any modification in the structure of the baked good, you can also add it to creamy dessert and it’s so good if you like lemons, it satisfies nose and taste buds… pricey, yes, but worth it 😉 )
This recipe is fantastic, approved by the whole family, and we appreciated you posted the alternative with just almond flour instead of almond&coconut flour since lately some of use has been suffering from strange itches with coconut flour, and while we investigate the cause we’re trying to avoid coconut in all its forms except coconut oil -being just fat, it less prone to give allery or intolerance reactions, or so the nutritionist told us)
I made these today and they are delicious! I didn’t have any lemons for the zest but I added 4 True Lemon packets and they were really lemony. Like Sandra, I added the protein powder with the other dry ingredients. The texture on these is beautiful. I’m going to freeze most of these so I don’t eat them all in a couple of days.
I am a bit obsessed with lemon/blueberry muffins. Nothing beat the moist tender Lemon Ricotta Blender muffins you posted for SwerveSweet-perfection! Then you created Keto Blueberry Yogurt muffins with Two Good yogurt-so so good…I make them every two weeks! The only reason I tried these was because I was not only out of the yogurt but I happened to have half a block of cream cheese and two egg yolks in the fridge so, Why Not? Well, these are my new favorites! I added blueberries to half the batch-delicious. (I didn’t see the protein powder in the instructions so assumed it was added with the dry ingredients.)
Yay, Sandra! I really love these too! Thanks for the catch on the dry ingredients, I will correct that.
Gi carolyn,
Its 186 calories per muffins right?
Yes, all nutritional info is listed per serving (muffin)