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 ¼ 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 cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup butter softened
- ⅔ cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks room temperature
- Zest of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups almond flour
- ¼ cup unflavoured whey protein powder
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Lemon Drizzle (optional)
- ¼ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- 1 ½ tablespoon 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.
Della says
These are YUMMY!!! Definitely a do-again recipe. Thanks Carolyn, for your wonderful recipes. 🙂
VP says
I followed the recipe exactly, and mine came out really dry. I actually choked when I tasted one because it was so dry. The taste is good though. If I make these again, I would not use the coconut flour (ever single time I use coconut flour in anything it turns out so dry), and also I would add more butter and cream cheese.
Carolyn says
Something went wrong, then. I can’t say what without more info but these are definitely not dry. Did you use defatted almond flour?
Liz s says
Out of this World. ????????????
Next I want to try a Cranberry/Orange flavor muffin !
Sheryl says
These look delicious! Do you know if I could sub THM baking blend for the almond and coconut flours?
Anu says
What can I say, delicious again! A wonderful recipe, worked the first time without any problems (I halved it), and the only thing I changed was to use your cream cheese frosting (from your carrot cake scones) instead of the lemon drizzle. I loved it (I love cream cheese anything really), and next time I’ll try the lemon drizzle as written in this recipe, just for a more lemony flavour. Thank you, this was a lovely little treat 🙂
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Rosa rizk says
Thank you for your free recipes, I love everything you do and trust you with the the ingredients and nutrition you mention
Anything you published I do
And it’s all good
Thank you
Judith Carlson says
Love your blog, thank you for all these delicious recipes
Marcia says
So I had already downloaded your recipe before you fixed the whey protein error and of course, now mine are in the oven without it. ???? I’m hoping they will still taste good but I know now they probably won’t rise how I would like. ???? Fingers crossed!
Carolyn says
I’m confused – when did you download it? This recipe has been around for a year and I haven’t touched it in a long time so unless you downloaded it right when it was published and then sat on it that whole time…
Billie Cornett says
I can’t wait to make these. Is there any reason I couldn’t throw some poppy seeds in as well?
Carolyn says
No reason at all!
Sheila Siegel says
What is the fat content? These are very good.
Carolyn says
Did you check the nutritional card at the bottom of the recipe? It’s in there!
Lori Huhn says
I made these last night. I used fresh lemon juice and extract. They are so good. moist, tart. Its hard not to eat them all. Thank you for all the work you do to create great recipes. I always come here first when searching for diabetic recipes. I have learned a lot about low carb baking from your videos. Thanks again.
Danielle says
Is there an alternative to lemon zest? I feel like any time I use zest it makes things kind of pulpy? I know it is not actually pulp haha but I can’t think of another way to explain it!
Thanks!
Carolyn says
Lemon extract is your best bet.
kelly says
I made these and followed the directs exactly. Mine came out pretty flavourless. I wish I had used more lemon extract.
Kinda bummed cause I love all your recipes. I can’t think of what I might have missed 🙁
Carolyn says
It might be your actual lemon extract… maybe it’s not a great brand or maybe it’s lost its flavor?
Ellen says
I made a batch of these tonight. They smell great,but didn’t rise in the center. Thoughts on why?
Carolyn says
Without being in your kitchen I can’t say for sure but sounds like your baking powder might be old? Also… does your oven run cool? If things take too long to rise in a cooler oven, then the centers will never quite get there.
Olga R Wheatley says
May I use vanilla whey protein instead of the unflavored?
Carolyn says
Yes, but if it’s strong, you may have a strong vanilla flavor. So leave out any additional vanilla.
Emily says
Just made these muffins. They have baked for 21 mins, but seem uncooked in the middle, brown on top. Will they setup as they cool?
Carolyn says
Um, no. They should be fully baked before you take them out of the oven. Does your oven perhaps run cool? Or did you use a different kind of pan (i.e. not metal)?
Carrie Neyland says
Two questions. I have no lemon extract. Should I use a combo of more zest and lemon juice to substitute or just more zest? Also , have some fresh raspberries I want to throw in. Should I add more sweetener?
Cant wait to bake these!!
Carolyn says
No need to add more sweetener. But I would simply add more lemon zest so as not to throw off the wet/dry ratios.
Peggy says
I haven’t made these yet, waiting for the protein powder, but I wanted to say that I have dairy allergies and have been subbing goat milk and goat cheese in all my recipes and they turn out great. Just thought I’d let you know. Thanks for the recipe.
Carolyn says
Good stuff!
Cyndee says
Can I mix up the batter and bake later so I can serve them fresh out of the oven.
Carolyn says
Well I think the batter is going to get crazy thick as it sits…
Elizabeth says
Can I substitute egg white (or any other) protein powder for the whey, which I don’t seem to tolerate?Thanks.
Carolyn says
You bet. It’s always a good sub.