These light and fluffy almond flour muffins are incredible. Their texture is very close to traditional muffins.
They freeze well, so you can make a double batch. They're perfect for breakfast or as a quick and filling snack!
These muffins are easy to make, light, and fluffy. They're perfect for breakfast, and my kids also like having them in their lunch boxes. I often double the recipe to ensure I have plenty of them in the freezer. You can quickly defrost them in the microwave.
Almond flour bakes beautifully when combined with eggs, a sweetener, and a leavening agent. It produces baked goods comparable in texture and flavor to traditional baked goods.
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Ingredients
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make these muffins. The exact measurements are included in the recipe card below. Here's an overview of what you'll need:
- Eggs: I use large eggs in most of my recipes, including this one.
- Sour cream: Please use full-fat sour cream.
- Sweetener: I use stevia. You can use a granulated sweetener instead, including sugar, if you don't mind the carbs.
- Vanilla extract: It's best to use the real thing - pure vanilla extract.
- Orange zest: It greatly enhances the muffins' flavor, so please don't skip it.
- Almond flour: I use blanched, finely ground almond flour. I don't recommend using coarse almond meal in this recipe.
- Sea salt: Just ¼ teaspoon.
- Baking soda: You can replace it with 2 teaspoons of baking powder (gluten-free if needed).
Variations
- Use lemon zest instead of orange zest. I tried both versions and prefer orange zest, but lemon zest is good, too.
- Omit the orange zest and use coconut extract instead of vanilla extract.
- Add ¼ cup of dark chocolate chips to make keto chocolate chip muffins.
- Add ¼ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts to the batter.
- Mix ¼ cup of blueberries into the batter, and also scatter a few blueberries on top of each muffin. To minimize the risk of the blueberries sinking to the bottom of the muffins, use small blueberries, dry them completely on paper towels, and toss them in a teaspoon of cornstarch before adding them to the batter.
Instructions
Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps for making these muffins:
Mix everything in one bowl, starting with the liquid ingredients and then adding the dry. One of the best things about gluten-free baking is that you don't need to worry about over-mixing the gluten, so you can use one bowl and mix until smooth.
Divide the batter evenly among greased foil liners.
Bake the muffins for about 20 minutes in a 325°F oven. Cool them before serving. You can dust them with a powdered sweetener to make them look prettier.
Expert Tips
Orange Zest is a Must
The orange zest is an important ingredient. I tried making this recipe with and without it, and there's a big difference in flavor. If you decide to skip it anyway, I recommend increasing the vanilla extract from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon.
Use Foil or Parchment Liners
It's best to use foil or parchment liners, not standard paper liners. In my experience, these muffins sometimes stick to paper liners, even well-greased ones, but they don't stick to greased foil or parchment liners. As you can see in the photo below, it's easy to remove foil liners:
Recipe FAQs
I use stevia glycerite. I find that the glycerite formulation greatly minimizes any aftertaste. The amount of stevia I use equals about ½ cup of sugar. You can use sugar (if you don't mind the carbs) or any granulated sweetener instead of stevia.
You can use whole-milk Greek yogurt, but it won't be as good as sour cream in terms of flavor and texture.
No. Coconut flour is highly absorbent and needs extra liquid and eggs to work in a recipe. If you'd like to use coconut flour, try this recipe for coconut flour muffins.
Not at all. I used to think almond flour baked goods were dense, but this is not the case when you formulate them correctly. The photo below shows off their wonderfully airy and fluffy texture. 
Serving Suggestions
Just like keto chocolate chip muffins, these muffins are perfect for breakfast or a quick snack. I love having a couple of them with coffee for breakfast:
They are delicious just as they are, but you can cut them in half and top them with any of the following:
- Unsalted butter, as shown in the photo below
- Peanut butter
- Almond butter
- Walnut butter
- Keto hazelnut spread
- Cream cheese
If you'd like to turn them into cupcakes, you can frost them with cream cheese frosting, yogurt frosting, or chocolate whipped cream.
Storing Leftovers
You can store these muffins in the fridge, in an airtight container (as shown in the photo below), for up to four days. Gently reheat them in the microwave to take the chill off, 10 seconds per muffin at 50% power. These muffins also freeze well in freezer bags for up to three months.
More Muffin Recipes
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Recipe Card
Almond Flour Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup sour cream - 8 ounces, 240 grams
- 1 ½ teaspoons stevia glycerite - equals ½ cup or 100 grams of sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1½ cups almond flour - blanched, finely ground; 6 ounces, 168 grams
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a muffin pan with 10 foil liners and grease the liners well.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, sour cream, stevia, vanilla, and orange zest.
- Mix in the almond flour, whisking until the batter is smooth and free of lumps. Mix in the sea salt and baking soda.
- Using a 4-tablespoon scoop, divide the thin batter evenly among the muffin liners.
- Bake until the top of the muffins is golden and a toothpick inserted in their center comes out clean, 20-25 minutes.
- Cool the muffins in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then serve. You can lightly dust the muffins with a powdered sweetener to make them prettier.
Video
Notes
- I use Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Almond Flour. One cup of this flour weighs 4 ounces, so 1.5 cups weigh 6 ounces. It's best to measure almond flour by weight, not volume.Â
- Occasionally, baking soda can cause a reaction in baked goods, resulting in an ammonia smell. If you're concerned about it happening, use 2 teaspoons of fresh, gluten-free baking powder instead.Â
- The orange zest is an important ingredient. I tried making this recipe with and without it, and there's a big difference in flavor. If you decide to skip it anyway, I recommend increasing the vanilla extract from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon.
- It's best to use foil or parchment liners, not standard paper liners. It's been my experience that these muffins sometimes stick to paper liners, even well-greased ones, but they don't stick to greased foil or parchment liners.
- You can store these muffins in the fridge, in an airtight container, for up to 4 days. Gently reheat them in the microwave to take the chill off, 10 seconds per muffin at 50% power. These muffins also freeze well in freezer bags for up to 3 months.
Nutrition per Serving
Disclaimers
Cup measurements refer to the standard American cup, which is 240 milliliters. Most of my recipes are low-carb (or keto) and gluten-free, but some are not. Please verify that a recipe fits your needs before using it. Recommended and linked products are not guaranteed to be gluten-free. Nutrition info is approximate, and the carb count excludes non-nutritive sweeteners. Nutrition info may contain errors, so please verify it independently. Recipes may contain errors, so please use your common sense when following them. Please read these Terms of Use carefully before using any of my recipes.
Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 
Pamela
These were delicious. They were a little dry but I did substitute cream cheese, milk and lemon juice for sour cream. I’ll try them again with sour cream!! Thank you.
Vered DeLeeuw
I'm glad you enjoyed these muffins, Pamela! Thanks for the review.
Paula
Hi, just tried this recipe, adjusted for 9 muffins. Turned out, my disposable aluminium muffin cups are quite shallow, and I managed to get 10 muffins. Used low fat yogurt and 80 grams of sugar. Taste is OK. I baked them for almost 30 minutes, but the inside wasn’t done. I added another 12 minutes, still not done. I wonder why? My oven should be working well.
Vered DeLeeuw
Hi Paula,
If you used regular yogurt (not Greek), that added too much liquid to the batter, causing it to be wetter.
It could also be that the almond flour you used wasn't blanched and superfine flour. This could also affect the muffins' texture.
Paula
Thanks. I did use store-bought blanched almond flour and run it through my power blender once before using it. Maybe the yogurt issue. Thanks for your inputs. Will try again 🙂
Mary
I wonder if by adding sour cream to all almond flour recipes it will give the recipe a lighter texture.
Vered DeLeeuw
Sour cream is a great addition, for sure. I do have recipes such as this almond flour cake that are excellent even without sour cream.