If you love the taste of lemon and poppy like I do, then you’ll be an instant fan of these keto muffins. They’re so fast and easy to make and store (and freeze) well for a perfect breakfast throughout the week. Plus, they’re only 1.73g net carbs per muffin so you won’t have to feel guilty when you’re in a rush and need to leave the house.
I highly suggest popping them in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to warm through, slice in half, and place a pad of butter between them. Just for that extra kick of keto fat in the morning!

One of the great things about these are the texture when they’re fresh. The bottoms crust up really well and add just a little bit of extra crunch when they come out of the oven. You could easily whip up a quick cream cheese frosting that these would definitely stand up against, too, if you want a dessert.
Don’t forget to try out these Lemon Poppyseed Souffles either – they’re just as flavorful and a tasty, light dessert to serve when guests come over! Let me know how you like them both in the comments below.
Yields 12 Keto Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
The Preparation
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 1/3 cup erythritol
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- 1/4 cup butter, salted, melted
- 3 large egg
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 25 drops liquid stevia
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons lemon zest
The Execution
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F. In a bowl, use a fork to combine the almond flour, flaxseed meal, erythritol, and poppy seeds together.

2. Stir in the melted butter, eggs, and heavy cream until smooth, ensuring no lumps are in the batter.

3. Once smooth, add in the baking powder, liquid stevia, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly until well combined.

4. Measure the batter out equally between 12 cupcake molds. You can use silicone cupcake molds (much easier to remove after baking), or you can use a normal muffin pan.

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until slight browning appears. I prefer to bake on the higher side to get the nice crust on the bottom.

6. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes on the counter.

7. Slice and serve! They taste fantastic sliced in half with a pad of butter between the muffins. Great for eating with your morning coffee!

This makes a total of 12 servings of Keto Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins. Each serving comes out to be 132 calories, 11.8g fats, 1.4g net carbs, and 3.9g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 3/4 cup almond flour | 486 | 42 | 18.5 | 10.9 | 7.6 | 17.6 |
| 1/4 cup flaxseed meal | 139 | 10.9 | 7.5 | 7 | 0.5 | 4.7 |
| 1/3 cup erythritol | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 tablespoon poppy seeds | 90 | 7.2 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 1.5 | 3.1 |
| 1/4 cup butter | 407 | 46 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 |
| 3 large egg | 236 | 15.7 | 1.2 | 0 | 1.2 | 20.7 |
| 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream | 202 | 21.5 | 1.6 | 0 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| 1 teaspoon baking powder | 2 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 | 1.3 | 0 |
| 25 drop liquid stevia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1 teaspoon vanilla extract | 12 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 0 |
| 3 tablespoon lemon juice | 8 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 0.3 | 2.2 | 0.2 |
| 4 teaspoon lemon zest | 4 | 0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| Totals | 1600 | 143.3 | 39.4 | 22.5 | 16.9 | 48.7 |
| Per Serving (/12) | 133 | 11.9 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 4.1 |

Keto Lemon & Poppy Seed Muffins
Ingredients
- ¾ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup flaxseed meal
- ⅓ cup erythritol
- 2 tablespoon poppy seeds
- ¼ cup butter salted, melted
- 3 large egg
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 25 drop liquid stevia
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, use a fork to combine the almond flour, flaxseed meal, erythritol, and poppy seeds.

- Whisk in the melted butter, eggs, and heavy cream until smooth, taking care to remove any lumps from the batter.

- Once smooth, add the baking powder, liquid stevia, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir until well combined.

- Pour the batter into silicone cupcake molds. Alternatively, use a regular muffin pan with paper liners.

- Bake for 18–20 minutes or until lightly browned.

- Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes on the counter.

- These taste great sliced in half with a pat of butter and served with coffee in the morning. Enjoy!

Hi Craig! This is my first time to comment one of your posts, I’m writing from Spain so sorry if my English isn’t so good!
I just wanted to say that these muffins were AMAZING, my mother-in-law owns a small house in the countryside and we brought a bag full of lemons last Sunday, I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I saw your post, and I have to say these are the best keto muffins I ever made. Fluffly, consistent, not so sweet and filling. Usually almond flour is a bit dry for me but these were moist, I love that. Thanks for your recipes!
Hehe, awesome to hear and thanks so much for the amazing feedback!
So…. I usually skip recipes that include stevia because I really dislike the taste. But these look so good I was wondering how you thought they might turn out if I just skipped the stevia, or even subbed Swerve for the Erythritol?
Hey Lisa – actually Swerve is a mixture of stevia and erythritol, so you could replace the stevia and erythritol with Swerve at the same measurement of the erythritol + 1 tbsp. more.
I thought that Swerve had stevia in it too, but my current package doesn’t list it in the ingredients. Maybe they changed their formula? In any case, I will try the recipe with your suggested measurements. These look so good!
Weird, it’s very possible they changed the formula. Sure thing – hope you enjoy!
I used Swerve. They turned out delicious!!
These are very tasty. Next time I’m going to add a bit more lemon juice (1-2 Tbsp) but I like stuff really lemony, and maybe a dash of coconut flour to help with the added liquid. I’ll also add a bit more sweetener, and my 12 muffins are a bit titchy, I’d probably just make 9 next time. But definitely a repeat!
Glad to hear it. I thought the muffins were a nice size to grab 2 for breakfast on the way out the door. Let me know how they extra lemony ones are!
These are GREAT! Mine didn’t rise as much as yours though. Any tips?
Mine didn’t rise too much, they mostly rise up and then once they cool they’ll go down to a normal size. Don’t worry 🙂
I have liquid stevia and I have Truvia (stevia and erythritol), can I just substitute with 1/3 cup truvia?
Sure – substitute with 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp. of the Truvia and it should work out just fine 🙂
These are amazing! Made them today. I am have a hard time adding it to my fitness pal. I keep track of everything. Any help adding it?
Awesome to hear you like them Maria! You can add these as a custom meal and just input the final macros of them. You can just edit the quantity in MFP to reflect how many muffins you had.
I made these- got 10 muffns from the mix and I too will add more lemon next time (am thinking of using lemon extract) and I froze them so when I want one I just pop it into the microwave and add a bit of butter and I’m good to go! This was the very first thing I made from your Keto recipes and they turned out great 🙂
I made these, they’re really glorious! I will be making these again, maybe even post-keto!!!
Awesome to hear that you like them so much – thank you!
Thanks for this interesting one!I really want to make these but I don’t have poppy seeds. Would chia or hemp make a good substitute?
Hi Craig! I would LOVE to make these, however, I don’t eat flax seeds as they tend to mess with my thyroid. Do you think I could use more almond flour or coconut flour instead? I know… I hate these questions.. but I had to ask…
No problem – how do you do with chia seeds? You can use it in around 2/3 the ratio. More almond flour would work, but it may make them slightly more dense.
Erythritol isn’t absorbed by the human body, so I don’t include it in the nutritional information. You can see more about it here: http://www.ruled.me/keto-di…
Hi I LOVE these! They are my new favourite recipe. I had to convert the cups into grams as I’m in the uk. But have experimented and used more double cream (heavy cream) and lemon juice and then reduced it to 2 eggs. The outcome was really light and fluffy. I found the 3 eggs a bit too eggy for my liking! I also added lemon extract as I love really lemony things!! 🙂 thank you for a fab recipe!
Sounds like some awesome improvements – really happy you like the recipe!
Thank you! Can these be frozen?
You can freeze them, but I suggest re-heating using an oven so they don’t get too soggy.
I made some homemade lemon whipped cream and lemon cream cheese frosting with a tiny bit of stevia and it went perfectly with these. I also have a tip to make the muffins taste better. Squire some lemon juice directly on top of them and let it soak in. It took some of the stevia aftertaste a way and it’s a small amount of lemon juice not to mess up ketosis. Thanks for the recipe! I couldn’t get any erithyritol, but they still turned out great without it! Also not sure why, but these tasted better the next day in my case at least
Sounds absolutely awesome and I’m glad you liked them!
Hi Craig, made these yesterday and loved them! I am in Ireland and we use grams and ml over here so when I got to adding the eggs I added only 2 instead of three as otherwise the dough seemed to have gone quite liquid. Is there any chance you’ll make these again and are perhaps able to provide measurements in grams and ml? I used a website to do the conversion for me but not sure it gave me the right conversion amounts.
Glad you liked them! Generally speaking I don’t do metric measurements because it can get a little hectic in the kitchen when I’m doing recipes. The online conversion should give you a good estimate on the measurements; though I think you made the right call. The batter I had was pretty viscous. If you’re planning to do keto long-term it may be worth it to buy some US measuring cups/spoons (as many keto blogs are in imperial units).
This all said, I think I will add a conversion page to the website soon with some common ingredient conversions. That would probably help out!
Cheers Craig, good idea will see can I get some cause yes loads of imperial unit recipes and they all look so delish!
I didn’t have a muffin tin so I used a glass loaf pan. The batter smelled divine..and I watched it closely but added 20 min to cook time. I also liberally buttered the inside before pouring batter, added the extra lemon juice as suggested by other readers…Sliced and buttered it..with a cup of coffee…while still getting the same results as muffins!! Delish! So moist!
Can I use powdered stevia rather than liquid?
Sure, it shouldn’t make too big a difference 🙂
I have coconut flour at home but not almond flour, would that work ok? I will have to use the liquid stevia that I received in my keto delivered box for July. 🙂 Thank you for all of the great recipes!
Unfortunately not (and sorry for the late reply). Coocnut flour is MUCH more absorptive than almond flour. The liquid stevia will work great, though! 🙂
I just made it with coconut flour, but I had to double the heavy cream to make the dough more liquid. I didn’t have any flax, so I ground chia seeds instead. They turned out sooo yummy!
I’m glad your substitutions worked out!
Is it possible to swap the erythritol and liquid stevia for something like Truvia (it combines both in a granulated form)?
Yes, it definitely is!
these look delicious! love lemon & poppy. i have the lemon stevia drops too, so the lemon flavor would be totally cranked up! wondering about maybe adding a bit of protein powder too, any thoughts on a proportion of the almond flour to switch out? would not want them to get too dry. maybe i would need to add a bit more liquid too..
That sounds great! I don’t really like using protein powder in my baked goods because I always get that weird dry texture from it. Personally, I avoid it. Though you could get away with halving the almond flour and then adding 1/3 to 1/2 protein powder as a replacement.
Can I use Xylitol instead of Stevia?
You can, just keep in mind that Xylitol has a higher GI.
I made them the other day and they are delicious!!! I cut them in half and add some Kerrygold butter in between, put the top back on and microwave it for 30 seconds to melt it. The best!!
I love them with a pat of butter in the middle 🙂
I think mine tasted better the second day too…then on the third day, I microwaved it with a little butter in between (I cut them in half and stuck butter inside!) and it was the best of all!!
Yum!
made these for the week’s breakfast…they are tasty!
can coconut sugar be used in these recipes?
Hi Cheryl. You can substitute coconut sugar but the recipe would no longer be as good for keto. It’s nutritionally similar to table sugar.
I think you’re missing the Erythritol and liquid stevia in your nutrition totals.
I leave those out of the nutrition information because they don’t interact the same way as other sugar alcohols do. Feel free to check out my more in depth post on it here: http://www.ruled.me/keto-di…
can you tell me how long thses keep for
You can keep for up to a week. If you need to keep them longer then try freezing.
Just a note for those who are required to drug test at your employment, poppy seeds will show as opiates on a urine drug test
Oh no Shane! I hope that didn’t happen to you D:
No, they will not. You would have to eat an EXTRAORDINARY amount of poppy seeds for that to happen.
I wonder how much? Snopes says a single bagel can do it. xD
These are now a staple in our Keto household. In the morning, I CAN NOT WAIT to heat 2 up, put butter in the middle, grab a cup of coffee, and nom nom!
YUM! That sounds like a great breakfast Adrienne. I’m glad to hear it!
Hi Christine, I think it will be hard to replace. I wonder if maybe some of these flourless treats would work for you?
http://www.ruled.me/keto-mi…
http://www.ruled.me/keto-pu…
http://www.ruled.me/keto-ra…
We also have a lemon poppyseed souffle that is flourless!
http://www.ruled.me/low-car…
Hot Damn! These are good! They don’t taste low carb at all. I am not keto but I’m low carb due to PCOS and hate it, lol. I cheat regularly and I shouldn’t but these will help stop me. The only thing I changed was I added 3 more tbsp of lemon juice and 2 tbsp of psyllium fibre. I made 10 larger muffins that turned out to be net 2.5 carbs each. I think I might try to make a loaf out of this recipe and put a low carb glaze on it. I love these so much that I’m afraid I might eat the whole batch at once. Not too eggy, not dry, no strong sugar substitute taste. Just perfect!
i made these last night…i like these as a mid-morning snack…next time i make them i’ll only use half of the amount for the poppyseed…I couldn’t taste the lemon, wondering if lemon extract would be ok to add?
Carole
King Arthur makes a great lemon oil that I use in this recipe. Really punches up the lemon taste.
I’m quite upset about this recipe. I was looking for a breakfast alternative to eggs and was happy to come upon this recipe – particularly since it’s stated as 1.5 net carbs per cupcake. I’ve been entering my food intake in CRONOMETER, and was blown away when the net carb content came up as 6.9 per cupcake . That’s a HUGE difference when you’re limiting yourself to 20 net carbs per day. I thought I had input the ingredients incorrectly, but when I double checked your information, I see that you neglected to add Erythritol in your calculations – which has quite a bit of carbs. I do love the flavor and texture, however, I won’t be able to eat them due to the high carb count.
Hi Mary, if you’re tracking total carbs it would be an issue. We go by net (subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols.) Since our nutrition tables don’t have enough space for a sugar alcohol column we zero the row out. Erythritol is indigestible and doesn’t raise your blood sugar. The net-carb count for this recipe should be fairly accurate…it’s one of the best sweeteners you can use on a keto diet.
Thanks for posting, this was confusing for me as well.
Erythritol isn’t processed by the human body so we generally don’t count it in our macros. You can see more about it here: https://www.ruled.me/keto-d…
maybe we did something wrong, but we just made these and while they taste fairly well, you could not taste the lemon as much as the after taste of the sweetener. May have to add some tweaks next time.
Is there an alternative to the flax meal? I have a flax allergy.
ambitious project. I just made these and they need some work.
I would like some additional lemon flavor (will use 1/8-1/4 tsp lemon oil).
The main problems are gumminess and lack of structure. The flax is likely causing the gumminess. next time I will try about half the amount of flax, and adding 1/4-1/2 tsp or so of xanthan gum. I may also add garbanzo flour or something like that.
Sweetness is not only subjective, but subject to the variability of products used. Stevia can vary in sweetness substantially. People talk about some Stevia brands being double, triple, or even quadruple the sweetness of others.
I don’t usually leave reviews, but figured I should since there are a few negative ones. I made these last night and ate 2 for breakfast. I think they turned out great! After reading about people not getting enough lemon flavor, I added the zest of a 3rd lemon and added the juice of one to the other lemon juice already called for. Baked for about 19 mins, and they’re great. This was my first time baking on a keto diet, using almond flour, erythritol, etc. and I can honestly say, it was a good experience! Thanks for the recipe!
My first keto baking attempt and I think these are a win! The only change I made was adding a scant 1/2tsp of lemon extract (because I only had 1 lemon on hand to zest) and I only had mini-sized silicone baking cups, so I wound up making 36 (still needed to bake for 20 min in my oven). I was surprised that they actually rose like “real” muffins, I was expecting flattened little hockey pucks lol. I will be adding these into my regular rotation for sure. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you Tiffany!
I would love to make this recipe, but I’m not going to use erythritol. I’ll stick to the stevia only. Can you tell me if the erythritol makes a different in the texture?
I think the texture should be OK!
Just pulled these out of the oven! They are delicious. I had to use an erythritol/stevia combo sweetener, and I think 1/4 cup would have been just right. The lemon is there, just not very pronounced. I think if they were just a tad less sweet the whole thing would be really well balanced. Great recipe, things like this are going to keep my wife sane as she transitions off the SAD.
What can I substitute for the flaxseed meal?
It’s not extremely simple to replace flours from 1 to the other. It’s possible, but may lead to a different taste or texture than what was originally anticipated in the recipe. Feel free to check over our flour substitution post here: https://www.ruled.me/keto-flour-substitutions/
Coconut flour could work, but it’s different from almond flour. You will need to add more moisture to make it work right. I would add more cream, and maybe an additional egg.
If you can get almonds where you are, and have a food processor, you can also make your own almond flour at home. 🙂
Is the butter measured as 1 cup of melted butter, or 1 cup of butter that you then melt? I don’t understand cup measurements at all…
I have just baked these and followed the recipe down to the t! but within ten mins of cooking time my muffins were burnt 😭😭😭 dark brown on top and stuck solid into the tray due to being over cooked. Complete disaster. I’m so disappointed. 18-20mins seems like a crazy high number for muffins! I cooked them on 175c/350F I have a normal fan assisted oven and live in the UK. Maybe next time I’ll try 7-10 mins and see if I can get a clean batch out 😔 I’m positive they would of tasted great as I sneaked a taste of the batter and it was yum! Make sure to watch your muffins people as they can burn quickly 😭
did you use paper cups in the tin? Mine came out perfect on both batches?
I don’t have a fan-assisted oven, but it is my understanding that fan-assisted ovens shorten the baking time considerably.
What kind of butter are you using that only has 40 calories for 1/4c – all the ones I find are 100 cal per TBSP? P.S. These are DELICIOUS!!!
You are 100% correct – it was just a mistake in the macros that I made when making the chart. I went ahead and updated it and updated the calories reflected with the new totals.
These came out perfect but I’m confused with the net carbs? Erythritol has 4 gms/1tsp of carbs? How do your muffins have less than 2gm carbs each if using 1/3 cup of Erythritol?
Erythritol isn’t processed by the human body so we tend to not count the carbs in it since they are not digested like normal carbs. You can read more about it here: https://www.ruled.me/keto-d…
If I wanted to use Stevia instead of Erythritol, would I still need 1/4 cup of powdered stevia and 25 drops of liquid stevia or would the ratios be different?
You may need less liquid Stevia. I would leave it out then add incrementally if needed.
Thanks Laura!
made these yesterday. So yummy. love them.
Would I need to make any adjustments if I substitute Swerve for the erythritol and eliminate the liquid Stevia?
No, you should be okay just using 1/3 cup of Swerve.
I can’t wait to make these! But why do I see two different sweeteners? I actually see that in more than a few recipes. I never understood that.. wouldn’t the one be just fine?
Hey Kriste,
Stevia and erythritol tend to taste a lot better together than using either one on its own. Since stevia is so sweet, it can also be used to reduce the amount of erythritol required in a recipe.
If you’d like to learn more about using keto-friendly sweeteners in general, I recommend checking out our guide on the topic:
https://www.ruled.me/keto-d…
If you have any further questions, let me know.
Hey Just wondering if these can be frozen.. Im the only one in my family on a keto diet and I wouldnt be able to eat 12 in a week..
We’ve heard from a few people that they freeze well so you shouldn’t have an issue with it!