Keto Lemon Muffins – Low Carb and Gluten-free

These scrummy keto lemon muffins (cake tho, right?) are the perfect way to celebrate the onset of Spring! Boasting a tender lemon low carb muffin base, with a crunchy streusel topping and a sweet and tart lemon glaze – it’s everything you’ve ever wanted a in a keto almond flour muffin recipe!  Great for breakfast, a snack, or even dessert…

This gluten-free keto muffin post has been updated since I created it back when we were living on an island in Belize. We are back in New York now after 5 years in Central America – but I still remember how excited I was to get lemons in a country that didn’t seem to know they existed! This keto lemon muffin recipe is one of my most popular recipes on Pinterest, Instagram, AND Facebook – so be sure to try them out and let us know what you think!

As most of you know by now, I live on an island in Belize where the weather is perpetually summer-like. The temperatures here range from HOT most of the year, to spontaneous combustion is imminent if you’re outside more than 5 minutes in August.  

So it’s not easy for me to get in the mindset of “yay, Spring!” like it used to be when I lived in New York and froze half the year. Still, I got very excited when out of the blue, lemons showed up on the island about a month ago. 

They don’t have yellow lemons here usually – it’s all limes all the time in Belize. Which I’m OK with for the most part. But this time of year still means lemon flavored everything to me – so I bought a huge bag of them.

I was amused by the cashier’s obvious confusion – first at the weird yellow limes, and second that I was buying at least 20 of them! ? I couldn’t wait to get started cooking lemon flavored everything – the only problem was that I was leaving for the states for 3 weeks and had no time to use them before they went bad…

So I froze them out of desperation, which I’d never done before. ❄️

I was terrified that they’d be ruined when I got home from our trip – but it worked great! As an added bonus, when I thawed and cut them in half to juice them with my hand-held citrus crusher thingy, it was easy to get every last drop out of them – much more so then when they were fresh.

The moral of this story is that if you have more lemons then you can use – you can totally freeze them whole and thaw them as needed! I even zested them for my grated lemon zest with no problems! 

So, long story long – against all odds I was able to get lemons in Belize and I made you these keto lemon muffins with them. And THEY TASTE GOOD. SO. GOOD. 

There is lemon juice and/or lemon zest added to every component, so it’s sooooooper lemony people – in the best possible way.

Lemon lovers rejoice!  You are going to LURV these keto muffins!

How do I make these keto lemon muffins?

Don’t be intimidated by the multiple layers in these keto lemon muffins, they are very easy to make I promise!  The muffin batter is made in the blender, with the wet ingredients and dry ingredients being all thrown in there together and blended until smooth – no need to fold or cream or mix in a stand mixer. 

The streusel topping you simply stir together with a fork in a bowl until crumbs form, then sprinkle over the batter in the muffin cups before baking. 

Finally, the easy lemon glaze is made by using a whisk or fork to blend the erythritol and lemon juice together until smooth – which literally takes seconds to do. Then you simply drizzle it over the top of each muffin (after baking) and you are ready to go!

Why is there sour cream in this keto muffin recipe?

It’s an honest question. I wasn’t sure about it myself, but I used to order an amazing lemon sour cream pound cake years ago, and it was so very tasty that I thought I’d try it in these keto lemon muffins.

The sour cream made the muffins very tender, super rich, and the tart cream flavor really complemented the lemon. I’m hooked, and you will be too!

Can I make these keto muffins in a loaf pan instead of a muffin pan (or muffin tin?)

I made these both as muffins and as mini loaves, to see if it would bake up ok both ways. It totally did, and I’m on the fence about which way I liked it more. Both tasted the same, but I liked being able to just slice off a small piece of the loaf without committing to an entire muffin.

That being said, my keto muffins were pretty large – so if you make them average sized then you’ll probably be getting about the same amount either way.

The point is – you can make these keto lemon sour cream muffins in almost any format and they will be great. I’m including baking times for multiple sizes in the instructions, but please be aware that ovens and cooking times may vary. Bake it until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and you’ll be in business.

If using a muffin tin, then I definitely recommend using muffin liners so that they don’t stick to the pan – even a non-stick muffin pan isn’t always a guarantee that they won’t stick. If baking in a loaf or cake pan, make sure to line the pan with parchment paper for the same reason. This will ensure that you get them out without sticking.

Can these low carb muffins be made dairy-free?

Yes, you can replace the butter with coconut oil and the sour cream in these keto muffins with 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk. The resulting muffin won’t be quite as rich, but the recipe will still work. If you find that your muffin batter is very wet, you can another tablespoon of coconut flour to help dry it out.

What is the best sweetener to use in keto muffins?

I prefer to use granulated erythritol in the batter, and confectioners style erythritol in the glaze of these muffins. You can also use a monk fruit sweetener like Lakanto in these with excellent results. I have an allergy to stevia so I don’t use it anymore, but if you have a brand that you like and you don’t mind the flavor then that will also work.

Any of these sweeteners will keep your carbs per serving down, and the net carb count shouldn’t be affected by switching them up. 

Do you have more keto muffin recipes here on IBIH?

So glad you asked, why yes I do have more low carb muffin recipes – both sweet and savory, with more being developed as we speak! 

• Keto Zucchini Muffins (chocolate with mocha frosting – yum!)
• Keto Blueberry Muffins
• Keto Pumpkin Spicy Monkey Bread Muffins
• Keto Cheesy Herb Muffins
• Keto Cheddar & Jalapeño Cauliflower Muffins

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If you love lemon desserts like I do – you should also try my low carb Lemon Cloud Pie from last season!  It’s a stunner for sure!  Oh and my favorite keto lemon bars are pretty awesome too – just sayin’.

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