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Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins

4.6 stars, average of 335 ratings

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These pumpkin muffins are some of the best I've ever tasted! I've spent quite a bit of time fine-tuning this recipe. After some trial and error, here is what I realised... If your goal it to make the batter rise resulting in light and fluffy muffins, you'll need to be aware of some basic rules.

Firstly, make sure you separate the egg whites from the yolks. Then after you combine the wet and dry ingredients, gently add the beaten egg whites for a fluffier and less dense texture.

Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins

I've tried an egg-free alternative but I wasn't happy with the result (see photo). Although it's true that eggs can be substituted with a mixture of chia seeds and coconut milk, it didn't work well in this recipe. Substituting eggs with more chia seeds made the muffins too dense and they didn't rise almost at all.

I've tried a nut-free version using coconut flour instead of almond flour. Again, coconut flour made the dough more dense. You could either use just almond flour (like I did in this recipe) or a mixture of almond and coconut flour like I did in these Cranberry & Orange Muffins.

Have any more tips or favourite recipes? Let me know in the comments! :-)

Hands-on Overall

Serving size muffin

Allergy information for Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins

✔  Gluten free
✔  Dairy free
✔  Nightshade free
✔  Pork free
✔  Avocado free
✔  Coconut free
✔  Fish free
✔  Shellfish free
✔  Beef free
Pescatarian
Vegetarian

Notes

  • Recipe can be made dairy-free or coconut-free.

Nutritional values (per serving, muffin)

Net carbs3 grams
Protein7.3 grams
Fat18.5 grams
Calories211 kcal
Calories from carbs 6%, protein 14%, fat 80%
Total carbs6 gramsFiber3.1 gramsSugars1.4 gramsSaturated fat6.3 gramsSodium188 mg(8% RDA)Magnesium54 mg(13% RDA)Potassium178 mg(9% EMR)

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

Dry ingredients:
Wet ingredients:

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 175 °C/ 350 °F. Place all the dry ingredients - apart from the pumpkin seeds - into a bowl and combine well.
    I make my own chia seed meal by blending it in a food processor for just a few seconds until powdered. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  2. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Using a hand beater or electric mixer (I'm using a Kenwood mixer), whip up the egg whites until they create soft peaks. In another bowl, place the egg yolks, melted butter, pumpkin purée and stevia.
    The butter should be melted and cooled (don't use hot). The pumpkin purée and egg yolks should be at room temperature. If you use them straight from the fridge, the butter will clump up. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  3. Process until well combined and start adding the dry mixture - a tablespoon or two at a time while mixing. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  4. Add about a quarter of the whipped egg whites and mix gently. Add the remaining egg whites and fold in the batter using slow setting on your mixer or using a spatula. Be careful not to deflate the egg whites and keep the batter as fluffy as you can. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  5. Line a muffin tray with 12 medium muffin paper cups.. Grease each cup with a small amount of coconut oil or ghee. Spoon the batter into the paper cups and transfer into the oven. Alternatively, you can use a silicon muffin tray or silicon muffin cups. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  6. Transfer into the oven and bake for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, sprinkle with the pumpkin seeds. Place back in the oven and bake for another 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins
  7. When done, remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Store at room temperature for 4-5 days. Place the remaining muffins in freezer bags and freeze for up to 3 months. Enjoy! Keto Pumpkin Chia Muffins

Ingredient nutritional breakdown (per serving, muffin)

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Martina Slajerova
Creator of KetoDietApp.com

Martina Slajerova

I changed the way I ate in 2011, when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. I had no energy, and I found it more and more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

That’s when I decided to quit sugar, grains, and processed foods, and to start following a whole-foods-based ketogenic approach to food.

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Comments (50)

I made these muffins and they were delicious!  I'd like to print off the recipe but somehow I'm not able to. (I've tried 2 different printers and I downloaded it , none of these things worked)  Just wondering if there is something else I have to do in order to get it printed?
Any suggestions would be great.
thanks again for a yummy recipe.

Thank you Teresa! I'm sorry to hear that. Were you able to download the PDF? All of the recipes are PDFs that you can save to your computer. I hope this helps!

Can I use monkfruit sweetener instead of the liquid Stevia? I really hate the taste of Stevia. How much would I use?

Absolutely! It depends on the type of monk fruit sweetener. If it's liquid drops, then same amount as stevia. If it's granulated, then add 1/4 to 1/3 cup or even simply use more erythritol/Swerve.

Do you think I could leave out the Stevia and add additional Swerve/Erythritol? (Any idea how much additional?). Is it enough volume that I would need to replace with extra liquid, or minimal enough that this would be unnecessary?

Absolutely! Sweetener is a matter of personal preference and you can use less or more to taste. And you can certainly use just one type although I'd not recommend using only stevia. It does help add volume and improve the texture but using slightly less or more will have no effect.

Excellent !  I did make one change .... I added the whole 15 oz can of organic pumpkin and the muffins are delicious!

Thank you Rhonda!

Hi Martina,
kind of long time follower of your blog. Today I tried this recipe and I must say after trying one is they are too good. Thank you for your trial and error.

Thank you Aisha!

My food processor could not grind the chia seeds. What will it do if I use them ungrounded?

They may be a bit gritty with whole seeds. I haven't tried using whole seeds but it should work if you don't mind that.

I just made them.  I halved the recipe and only made six.  I just ate one and now I’m sorry I didn’t make a dozen.   Delicious!!  It’s just perfect.  Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

Thank you so much Toine!

I was a little intimidated by the egg-whites step only because I am still so used to "normal" baking which doesn't often need it. However, I followed along exactly (adding just a tiny bit of maple flavoring and a pinch more pumpkin pie spice to really give them an autumnal kick) and I just finished making these... can I just say thank you? The house smells so nice right now! I tried a little corner off of one of them as they're cooling and I was impressed with how the almond flour actually compliments the pumpkin and gives a rich hearty flavor I really like (I'm not always fond of almond flour baking). I am so excited to spread butter on one (or 2) of these at breakfast time tomorrow and will definitely be making them again, just for the house smells alone. 😊

Thank you so much, I'm happy you enjoyed!

One of the things I’ve been missing most on Keto, is muffins for breakfast. These were easy to make and so delicious. My mom who hates to try anything “diet” took a bite from my muffin and said they were so good and she wanted some to take home. Thank you for this recipe. Looking forward to making may more on the future!!

Thank you for your lovely feedback!

Wow! These muffins hit the perfect spot on this chilly fall day. Thank you!!

How long will these be good for?  Have you tried freezing them?

I keep mine in the fridge (up to 5 days) but you could leave them on the kitchen counter (up to 3 days). Yes, you can freeze them too (up to 3 months).

Hi, what can I use instead of a nut flour?

How about sunflower seed flour (ground sunflower seeds)? You could use coconut flour but you'd have to increase the amount of liquid ingredients, and the texture will be different.

Thank you for the yummy recipe.  I just made these muffins and they are delicious.  I will make them again. Did you list a calorie amount, I did not see one?  I'm tracking my food and it would help.
Thanks again!

Thank you Nancy! Calories are listed in the table - one muffin has 211 kcal.

Just a quick question about the butter...is it salted or unsalted? Thanks, Jasmine

Hi Jasmine, it's unsalted and I use it in all of my recipes. It just made me realise that I should probably include it every time. Thanks 😊

These came out great. The batter seemed too liquidy when I poured it in the muffin pan but it ended up being the perfect texture for muffins

Great! Glad you liked them 😊

I just finished a batch of these and wanted to share a couple of variations I made, in a small part by accident.  First, I failed to notice the chia seeds were to be ground and had dumped them into the dry mix. Then I hadn't noticed initially in the instructions that the egg whites had to be separated & beat til stiff.  I don't have hand mixer so I figured, what the heck, just mix the eggs all together.  Lastly, I found a Baby Cakes machine at Good will (brand new in the box!) and opted to use that to cook them in.  Since they didn't rise a lot I was able to fill the resevior to the top. They  came out WONDERFUL! Granted, this is only my second experience with low-card bread like foodstuffs so I didn't know what to expect, but my fiancée and I love them.  
Just thought I'd share in case anyone else encounters what I did or needs to simplify the process.  One day I'll get a hand mixer and see how they are supposed to turn out 😉  Thank you for sharing these wonderful recipes!

That's great Cheryl, I'm glad that they still come out great - thanks for sharing it with us! They were probably not as fluffy but I bet they were still delicious 😉

Glad I am not the only one who did that, lol.

Hello! These are so great - thanks. I've only ever eaten pumpkin in savoury dishes previously but you have made me understand why Americans rave about their pumpkin based desserts!

Thank you Amelia! I'm glad you liked them 😊

Hiya can you make these without the sugars in stevie etc?

You can use just stevia but only small amounts. Too much stevia would give the muffins a bitter aftertaste.

Can you not put in the sugars - I don't fancy starting to go sweet again ? Not sure how things will taste without adding the sugar - would love to try but was not sure
Thanks

I use just small amounts of Erythritol (zero carbs, no effect on blood sugar and completely natural) - I'm not sure about kipping the sweeteners altogether but that depends on your palate 😊

Did you try it?

thanks - I have not purchased any sweetners and I was hoping to find a muffin recipe without them - being pumpkin is sweet I was hoping to do without - I might try and let you know 😊 Thank you

Please do! 😊

I was trying to ask Sarah.... Did you try it?

Hello! I'm making this as we speak and I think that there is an error in the number 2 of instructions. It says, "...whip up the egg whites until they create a soft peak. In another bowl, place the egg whites, melted butter, pumpkin purée, and stevia." Is it supposed to be place the egg yolks in another bowl? I was confused when I moved on! excited to see how they turn out! Hopefully I didn't ruin them too much by just using egg whites 🙈

Thanks for spotting that! I just corrected it - it was supposed to say " In another bowl, place the egg yolks,..." Sorry about that, I hope they turned out well!

They did! They were delicious still! 😊 Great recipe!

Thank you Emily!

Hmm, I've been wondering about baking with ground chia seed lately. Mainly as an alternative to flax seed meal because I'm not wild about the hormonal effects of flax. That means I dismiss a very large number of recipes out of hand.
Having used the ground chia do you have any thoughts about how it behaves similarly/different to flax?

It can be used as an alternative but it doesn't behave exactly the same way but they are similar - both can be used as egg substitutes. Chia seeds absorb a lot more water so when you use it instead of flax, you'll have to use less of it or add liquids. Also, adding some psyllium hush powder may be an option - but again, you'll have to add more liquids and it depends on what you want to achieve.

My current muffin recipe is almond flour and coconut flour but it's a bit more dense than I really want. I was thinking about cutting back on the pumpkin or adding ground chia because there's lots more moisture in it than this recipe. Probably will try separating the eggs and whipping the whites first.

I think that it may be better if you use just almond flour and whip the egg whites separately. Chia seeds won't make the muffins rise more - I use them because they add a nice texture - moist and rich but quite different from coconut flour. Let me know how they turn out! 😊