Keto Blueberry Muffins with Almond Flour

Blueberry muffins are always a winner, a favorite with so many people and these Keto Blueberry Muffins with almond flour are no exception. They are easy to make and they are so delicious to eat, in spite of being low carb and low in calories compared to others. 

They are perfect to eat for breakfast or as a snack especially when you are looking for a gluten-free, low carb treat that’s yummy and guilt-free!

I love blueberry muffins, they have always been one of my favorites and once I went on a low carb diet I never knew that my craving would be satisfied with these homemade almond flour blueberry muffins. 

If I didn’t tell you that they are low carb you would never know. They are so moist and full of plump juicy blueberries! 

We made a few batches of them recently and brought them to a bunch of our friends, who didn’t know that they were low carb until we told them….mission accomplished! The best blueberry muffins are so yummy!

What are Blueberry Muffins?

Blueberry muffins are just as it sounds…..a cake-like muffin with blueberries. The best ones are the ones where you don’t have to search for the berries, where they are in every bite that you take. 

They can be served for breakfast or a snack, maybe even dessert.  When we think of blueberry muffins we often think of a donut shop that serves several flavors of muffins as a change to eating doughnuts and has become the American-favorite muffin.

Is a Blueberry Muffin Healthy?

The typical blueberry muffins are not all that healthy. People may think because they have fruit in them that they for sure have to be healthier than a doughnut, but when you look at the ingredients they tend to be either the same as or worse than a doughnut.

I did a comparison at Dunkin Donuts between muffins and donuts just to give you some idea. So much for the  “healthy muffin”…

Blueberry Muffin        Glazed Donut                   

460 calories                     260 calories

76 carbs                            31 carbs

Can You Eat Blueberries on a Keto Diet?

The carb count of food will determine how much can be eaten or not eaten on keto while still staying in ketosis.

Blueberries like other berries are pretty low in carbs, that’s why if you are going to eat fruit berries are the type of fruit to eat. 1 cup of blueberries has 17 NET Carbs, but there is only one cup of berries in a blueberry muffin. 

Being careful about the quantity of something makes the difference so 1/4 cup of blueberries has about 4.4 NET Carbs which make this amount certainly doable.

Are Blueberry Muffins Low Carb?

Let’s see the difference between regular blueberry muffins and Keto blueberry muffins…

For the most part, on average, a homemade blueberry muffin has about 40 NET Carbs. That’s obviously way too many carbs on a keto or low carb diet.   

In contrast, our homemade sugar-free blueberry muffins have only 3.3 NET Carbs for each muffin. That is a huge difference!

What Ingredients are in Keto Blueberry Muffins

• Almond Flour – Almond flour that is almonds ground up super fine and has a light texture. It can be used as a low carb replacement for other flours that are high in carbs.    
• Coconut Flour – Another flour that is a replacement for regular flour which is a good compliment to almond flour. It is also naturally gluten-free.
• Salt – this is added to almost every recipe as a flavor enhancer.
• Baking Powder – Without it, your muffins will not rise.
• Cinnamon – Just a touch brings in the flavor of autumn.
• Powdered Swerve – A sugar substitute that has zero carbs and is good for you.
• Vanilla – An essential flavor in a lot of baked goods.
• Eggs – These will add structure and firmness along with flavor and color to the muffins.
• Coconut Oil – A good replacement for butter, margarine, or vegetable oil, which is a healthy replacement.
• Blueberries – Well you can’t have blueberry muffins without blueberries.

Is Almond Flour or Coconut Flour Better for Low Carb Blueberry Muffins?

Almond flour is the best flour to use for these low carb blueberry muffins and it’s our favorite flour substitute for a lot of baked goods. It’s made from just almonds which are ground into a fine flour.  It has some moisture and it’s easy to handle and work with. It just works the best. 

We also add coconut flour sometimes to our almond flour when we make things, but when we do it’s only a small amount because coconut flour is dry. Sometimes you need a little bit of dry flour but we never use it all by itself. When you use only coconut flour, it’s too dry and so it requires adding extra eggs to make the flour more moist. 

If you are allergic to nuts then you can use the coconut flour by itself but don’t forget to add extra moisture with extra eggs.

Best Sweetener for this Recipe

We used powdered swerve sweetener in our sugar-free blueberry muffins. It is usually our go-to or favorite for most recipes. However, we also use granulated monk fruit in some of our recipes too, depending on what it is. 

• When we need a powdered sweetener we use Swerve. 
• When we need a granulated sweetener we use Monk Fruit.

Both are equally good in taste and usually, they measure the same as sugar so it’s easy to use them in recipes. They are both made from natural ingredients only. We love both and which one we use sometimes just depends on which one we have in our kitchen at the time.

They have zero calories, zero net carbs, and they do not raise your blood sugar or insulin levels which opens up a whole world of yummy treats to anyone who needs to eat low carb, sugar-free, Keto.

For Almond flour blueberry muffins you can use either Swerve or monk fruit, there isn’t a big difference.

How Many Blueberries to Use?

You don’t need too many blueberries to make your keto muffins yummy! Only 1 cup goes a long way. If you use any more of this it may be too many and make your muffins too soggy. 

Plus there are 17 grams of net carbs in 1 cup so that’s enough for one batch of muffins.

Can I Use Buttermilk?

Buttermilk is fermented dairy milk and even though it may have some health benefits it also has too many carbs if you are on a low carb or Keto diet. 

Buttermilk has 12 carbs for one cup, pretty much the same as regular dairy milk. If you consume too much of it all of the time the carbs can build up fast. 

With that being said, you certainly would not want to drink a whole glass of it, but if you decided to bake with just a little of it then you might be able to get away with it, especially if those carbs are spread over 16 muffins.

If you are watching your carbs strictly, so as not to spike them up there are lower-carb alternatives such as heavy cream, almond milk, or coconut milk.

Substitutions

Can I Replace the Eggs in this Recipe?

It’s a little hard to make these homemade Keto blueberry muffins without eggs. There are things called chia eggs and flax eggs but they just don’t make acceptable substitutes in our opinion. As far as I’m concerned eggs are still the best when baking.

Replacing the Almond Flour

Almond flour is a very common flour that is used quite often in low carb baking. If by chance a person is allergic to almonds but not to other nuts then there other nut flours that are good to use, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia nut flour, etc. 

Coconut flour is ok too but remember, it’s dry so you will have to add more eggs to balance it out.

Replacing the Coconut Oil

Some Keto/low carb recipes for blueberry muffins use butter and some use coconut oil. We happen to use the coconut oil for our recipe but both work equally as well. 

If you prefer the taste of butter then use that. If you don’t like the taste of butter or can’t eat dairy then use coconut oil, both work great.

Use the same portion for each so there’s no need to be a mathematician to figure out the calculations.

Frozen Blueberries vs Fresh in Muffins?

When making these low carb blueberry muffins with almond flour it’s always better to use fresh berries. In my opinion, they come out better. They are just plumper and they don’t get squishy inside of your muffins, they stay whole.

If you can’t find fresh berries and you are really craving blueberry muffins then buy some frozen ones in the store. Or if you think ahead, you could freeze some blueberries so that when you want to make some homemade blueberry muffins you will have some to use.

Fresh – In my opinion fresh is always best because they stay firmer during the baking process and have that fresh fruit flavor.  

Frozen – If you use frozen berries just thaw them before using. If you do the low carb muffins will be soggy, so instead use them frozen.

What Pan Do I Need for Blueberry Muffins?

When you are making Homemade Keto blueberry muffins you need what’s called a muffin pan. It has individual portions of the pan to form the muffins in, usually about 12 in each pan. The pans are usually made from silicone or nonstick metal ones. 

When we make muffins of any flavor, we use cupcake liners in the muffin pan so that when the muffins are done cooking we can just take them out of the pan.

How to Make Low Carb Keto Blueberry Muffins from Scratch

Let’s spend a few minutes and go through the steps on how to make a great batch of homemade and easy to make Keto blueberry muffins.

Mixing the Batter

While mixing up the batter to make your easy blueberry muffins, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium-size bowl add your almond flour and coconut flour, stir together.

Add baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend them all together.

In another bowl crack your eggs, add the coconut oil, and pour in the vanilla. Beat them with a whisk until blended well.

Next, add the swerve sweetener and mix it with the eggs.

Then add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and use your whisk to blend all of the ingredients.

Fold in half of the blueberries.

Cooking the Muffins

Fill your muffin pan with paper liners. Lightly spray them with cooking spray so that the muffin will not stick to the paper or you will never get it off the paper.

With a spoon or small ladle scoop out some batter into the muffin pan.

Only fill the cups ½-¾  of the way. Do not overfill or else when it rises in the oven it will pour out over onto the pan or into the oven.

Now it’s time to add the other half of the blueberries to the top of the muffins.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. During the last few minutes of baking keep checking so that you don’t overcook your muffins.

How to Tell When Blueberry Muffins are Done

In order to tell if your sugar-free blueberry muffins are done cooking, you need to use a toothpick and insert it into the middle of the muffin.

If the toothpick comes out clean then it is done. If it does not come out clean then put it back in the oven 1 minute at a time and then check it again until the toothpick comes out clean.

When they are done take them out of the oven. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then pull the muffins out of the pan, with the papers, and place them on a cooling rack.

Do not try to eat them until they are completely cooled otherwise they may fall apart.

Turning these into Mini Muffins

Sometimes it’s nice sometimes to have mini muffins, especially when you don’t feel like eating a full muffin. Just having a small bite sometimes is all that you need to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

To make easy mini Keto blueberry muffins, use a mini-muffin or mini-cupcake baking pan, along with the mini-paper liners to put into the baking pan.

Follow the rest of the instructions as it, though you will need to cook them 5 minutes less than normal so keep an eye on them.

Best Tips for This Recipe

Batter Thickness – The almond flour batter could seem a little thicker than regular flour batter is but this is normal, so no worries.

Too Many Blueberries – This easy low carb recipe calls for 1 cup of blueberries which is a good amount to use. When making the batter put about ½ of the berries into the batter and then place the other ½ on top of the poured batter before baking. That way all of the blueberries will not sink to the bottom and you will have an even amount dispersed throughout the muffin.

Blueberries have 21 carbs per cup so also that’s another reason for keeping the amount we use to 1 cup.

Avoiding Aftertaste – Some of the Keto approved sweeteners have an unpleasant aftertaste. To have the sweetness and avoid the aftertaste we needed to come up with a solution.

• Both vanilla extract and almond extract are a great addition and help hide the aftertaste. You can use a little more than a recipe calls for to help drown out the aftertaste. 
• Cinnamon is a great addition to a lot of recipes and also hides aftertaste.
• Another yummy solution is to add some lemon zest or orange zest, both of which would be good in the homemade Keto blueberry muffins. Fruit flavors all compliment each other nicely, and they both go great with blueberries. 
• The more things you have going on the less likely that you will have the aftertaste.

I also find that since I have not eaten regular sugar for over 2 years, when I bake with Swerve or Monk Fruit I can cut the portion down somewhat because if I don’t, it tends to taste too sweet.

How to Keep Keto Muffins Moist?

By using fresh blueberries, this will keep your blueberry muffins with almond flour moist because of the water content in the berries.

Melted butter and melted coconut oil are also moist ingredients that help. If you think they come out too dry, try adding a little more of one of these.

Like we already said earlier, if you are trying to keep your homemade blueberry muffins moist then using coconut flour instead of almond flour is not the best because it is dry and so will, in turn, dry out your muffins.

How to Keep the Muffins from Falling Apart?

The last thing that you want to happen is for your sugar-free blueberry muffins to fall apart after you just spent time making them. Let me share a few helpful tips with you to keep them from doing that.

1 – Do not overmix the batter because it can make a big impact on the texture of your finished product…the muffins may crumble easier. 

2 – Make sure to put muffin or cupcake liners into the muffin pan so that the muffins won’t stick to the pan. Also by spraying the liners lightly with a cooking spray you will be able to pull off the liners without breaking the muffin. 

3 – Do not overbake the muffins because they can go from just right to dry in a short time so keep your eye on them. Use a toothpick to test them a couple of minutes before the recipe says they will be done because all ovens vary.

4 – When you remove the muffins from the oven leave them in the pan just for a couple of minutes, then lift the muffins, including the liners out, and place them on a cooling rack. Cool completely before trying to eat them.

Working with Almond Flour for Muffins

When I first went on a low carb diet, for my health, I cut out all things like muffins, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes..etc. Of course, I felt deprived of some of my favorite foods and was thrilled when I found out about almond flour!!! 

Wow, I could actually make some foods, even baked goods, that could fit into my new way of eating…I was thrilled. 

Stephanie and I have experimented a lot and tried our hand at so many recipes with almond flour and I must say that I have been very happy with the results. Like anything else you do, it’s just a matter of getting used to it by trial and error. That’s why we started our food blog so we could share our recipes with you, this one for easy low carb/keto blueberry muffins is one of them.

One thing for sure is it’s best to use good, finely-ground almond flour, not almond meal which has a more grainy taste and texture. The almond flour is also lighter in texture which works well for baking and breading things.

How to Get the Perfect Muffin Top?

If you want to make a large muffin top for your low carb blueberry muffin then fill it to the top.

Then bake the muffins for the first 5 minutes on a higher temperature, like 400 degrees, then turn it down to 325 degrees for the balance of the baking.

Want a Crunchy Topping?

To get a sugary top with a little crunch to your blueberry muffins with almond flour just add a little bit of golden monk fruit to the top of the muffin before baking and it will crunch up in the oven.

Different Variations

You could feel free to also add some nuts to the muffins. Not too many but just a few small pieces to give the homemade muffins a slightly different taste and texture. I love nuts so in my opinion nuts make my favorite variation for the best blueberry muffins.

Adding a bit of lemon or orange zest will pop in your muffin and both flavors go so well with the blueberry taste.

Can I Use Different Berries?

For sure if you are not a fan of blueberries or if you love these muffins so much that you want to try them using different berries, then yes go right ahead because raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries will all work well with this easy low carb blueberry muffin recipe. 

After the batter is made, just fold in 1 cup of your favorite berries and bake the same way. This is especially nice when berries are in season and they don’t cost too much money, so take advantage and try out different kinds.

Other Diets This Recipe is Good For

• Gluten-free – Another winner recipe without any ingredients that have gluten in them.
• Paleo – All of the ingredients are good for this way of eating.
• Dairy-free – By using coconut oil instead of butter it makes this recipe dairy-free.

How to Serve Blueberry Muffins

Almond flour blueberry muffins are perfect for breakfast with your bacon and eggs or instead of. Also as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack, it’s a perfect low carb treat. 

My husband always toasts his almond flour blueberry muffins and spreads butter on top at literally any time of the day, morning, afternoon, or dessert at night. 

If he doesn’t spread butter on it he will top it off with some homemade Keto whipped cream.

The best way to do this is to cut one muffin in half and place at the bottom of a small bowl, then throw a few blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or blackberries on top and then top it off with a little sugar-free, homemade whipped cream.

It makes such a yummy dessert, just be careful with how much fruit you put on top so as not to go over your carb count for the day.

Perfect Toasting these Muffins

Skip the eggs this am and treat yourself for breakfast and have one of these homemade low carb blueberry muffins toasted. You could toast them 2 ways…

1 – Cut it in half and stick it in the toaster oven for just 2-3 minutes or until it reaches the desired doneness. When it’s done toasting you can spread some butter on it.

2 – Cut it in half and spread some butter on it and heat it in a small frypan and heat it up or brown it up until it’s golden. 

You don’t have to worry about any carbs in the butter because it’s perfectly acceptable when you are on a low carb or keto diet.

Enjoy your breakfast!!

How to Store

Once you bake your easy blueberry muffins and have leftovers, make sure that they are completely cooled off before trying to store them. If they are not cooled completely then they will get soggy when trying to wrap them up.

If you put them in an airtight container they can stay on your counter for 3 days. 

If you do not eat them all within a few days then I would suggest freezing them to keep them the freshest possible.

Can You Freeze Blueberry Muffins?

Freezing the leftover Keto/low carb blueberry muffins is easy.  Make sure that these homemade blueberry muffins are cooled off completely before trying to freeze them. 

Next, freeze them in a plastic freezer Ziploc bag. Double bag it to stay fresher longer. 

Frozen Keto blueberry muffins freeze well for up to 6 months if wrapped properly and will, of course, be appreciated as you take them out of the freezer. They usually don’t ever make it to the freezer at our house though!! 

You can pull them out all at once if you have guests coming over or 1-2 at a time just for yourself for breakfast or a snack.

Defrosting Blueberry Muffins

When it comes time to take those little blue beauties out of the freezer, only take out the ones you are going to be eating that day. They don’t take long to thaw so you can take them out any time and be eating them in a few minutes.

They can be thawed on your counter at room temperature. 

If you are in a hurry you can thaw them out quickly in the microwave. Take them straight out of the freezer and warm them in the microwave for 30 seconds wrapped in a paper towel or napkin. 

Lastly, you could wrap them in foil and thaw them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Low Carb Breakfast Recipes

If you’re in the mood for some other Keto-friendly breakfast ideas, check out our:

• Keto Pumpkin Bread
• Breakfast Egg White Cups
• Low Carb Zucchini Bread with Almond Flour
• Keto Lemon Pound Cake

Low Carb Muffin Recipes

• Keto Pumpkin Muffins
• Low Carb Banana Muffins with Almond Flour
• Keto Chocolate Muffins
• Low Carb Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

All of them are Keto-friendly and low carb, and will have your friends raving!

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