Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 40 min Rest time: 10 mins Total time: 1 hr
Macronutrients per muffin: 4g fat | 2g protein | 18g carbohydrates
Makes: 12 muffins
Make it AIP or Dairy-Free: Use animal fat other than ghee or butter
Make it Keto: Top with lots of fat
Bakery-style but without the flour, these muffins are sweet, moist, and melt in your mouth, with a lemon-blueberry combo that is tangy and sweet.
What you need to make Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients:
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Eggs (ASHLEY20 for 20% off)
- Grass-fed ghee (or butter)
- Pitted dates
- Lemon (juice and zest)
- Blueberries
- Sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Equipment:
- Blender or food processor
- Mixing bowl
- Paper cupcake liners
- Lemon zester
How to make Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Start with the prep work:
Soak the dates in a bowl with water for 1-2 hours.
Melt the ghee on your stovetop.
In a blender, mix all ingredients except for the fresh blueberries and lemon zest until smooth.
Pour the batter into a mixing bowl. Fold in 1.25 cups of blueberries (set aside 1/4 cup for now) and the lemon zest.
Pour the batter into the paper cupcake liners in your cupcake pan. Fill the slots all the way to the top.
Take the 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries you set aside and place 4-5 of them on the top of each muffin. The goal is for the blueberries to sit on the top of the muffin instead of sinking into the batter so they pop out while baking and create a beautiful muffin.
Now – bake the muffins!
Bake the muffins at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Tops should be golden brown when done.
Allow them to rest/cool for about 10 minutes, then enjoy!
Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Tips to make Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins
- Make sure you soak the dates, melt the ghee, and blend the batter until it’s smooth. If you skip any of these steps, you may end up with chunky and uneven batter.
Some more of my favorite sweet eats:
Blueberry Beef Liver Pancakes with Honey Butter
Beef Liver Pancakes with Strawberry Glaze
Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Flourless Lemon Blueberry Muffins
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 2 tbsp grass-fed ghee (or butter)
- 4 eggs
- .5-1.5 cups pitted dates (less or more depending on your preferred level of sweetness; .5 for mild, 1 for average, 1.5 for very sweet; I used 1.5 cups)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tbsp lemon zest
- 1.5 cups fresh blueberries
- 1/2 tsp sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Instructions
- If you’re interested solely in the recipe, skip this bullet point and keep on reading. For those interested in sourcing nutrient-dense food, low-toxic household products, and discounts on brands that may support your AB journey, you may find value in my product guides. Head over to this page if you’d like to check them out. All are free (and always will be).
- Note: This is probably my strangest recipe. For some people, the muffins hold together, and for others, they fall apart. I’m not sure why. A little soggy/moist is normal, but the muffins should be fully formed so you can pick them up without them breaking. I’ve made this recipe about 4-5 times myself. The muffins have held together every time, so I am always puzzled when I get feedback from someone saying the muffins fell apart. If your muffins don't hold together, consider cutting the applesauce in half. You could also add plantain flour or ground pork rinds as a binder to firm up the texture.
- Note: If you liked this muffin recipe, click here for more animal-based muffin recipes.
Make the batter.
- In a blender, mix all ingredients except for the fresh blueberries and lemon zest until smooth.
- Pour the batter into a mixing bowl. Fold in 1.25 cups of blueberries (set aside 1/4 cup for now) and the lemon zest.
- Pour the batter into the paper cupcake liners in your cupcake pan. Fill the slots all the way to the top.
- Take the 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries you set aside and place 4-5 of them on the top of each muffin. The goal is for the blueberries to sit on the top of the muffin instead of sinking into the batter so they pop out while baking and create a beautiful muffin.
Bake the muffins.
- Bake the muffins at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Tops should be golden brown when done.
- Allow them to rest/cool for about 10 minutes, then enjoy!
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
What I used for this recipe:
Looking for other dessert ideas? Try one of these:
Blueberry Beef Liver Pancakes with Honey Butter
Beef Liver Pancakes with Strawberry Glaze
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Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.
Absolutely loved it… I would go a little less on the lemon zest but that can also just be my taste
Just made these yummy muffins, and they stayed together. I didn’t have blueberries so i used a mix of blackberries and finely diced pineapple. The perfect dessert for the hardcore caenivore.
These muffins were a hit in my house! They’re flavorful and packed with goodness that you don’t have to feel guilty about. I even altered the recipe a bit with Ashley’s help and made a banana nut version, which was also delicious. Thank you for this treat, Ashley!
Author
So glad the banana nut version came out as well!
These are SOOO good!!! Work really great to pack in my son’s lunches for school!
These are AMAZING! Delicious, satisfying, perfectly sweet and tart. Everyone in my family got hooked on them.
Ashley, these were very tasty. My only concern was that they were a bit soggy at the bottom as if they didn’t “set” properly. I baked for 40mins as instructed and left in muffin tin for 10mins then added another 10 mins when I noticed they were soggy at the bottom. Any thoughts?
Author
A little soggy/moist is normal, but they should be fully formed so you can pick them up without them breaking. You can try adding 1 bag of crushed pork rinds to firm them up a bit or cut the applesauce in half.
Thanks Ashley. Your recipes are amazing!! We have been eating them as dessert with plain Greek yogurt so being a bit soggy doesn’t matter. I think of them more as being in between mini egg flans and tarts -but whatever, they are delicious and add variety on an Animal Based WOE. Will try using less apple sauce in future.
Same for me! Have you tried them again with less applesauce?
Hello Ashley
would frozen blueberries work?
Merci
Author
Hi! Yes. I find that fresh has more flavor, but frozen should work. I recommend thawing them out before baking.
thank you for your response just made them but found fresh organic blueberries.
and they are very good xox merci
Do you have a substitue suggestion for the applesauce?
Thanks!
Author
Beef flour and pork rinds are the first things that come to mind. Any flour would do. Leaving the applesauce out altogether may work too.
I think the issue for some folks is probably the cook time. I’ve found that most recipes include a time range for cooking. With my oven, I always have to cook at the high end of that range. I started testing these muffins at 40-minutes in, but sure enough, they weren’t (mostly) set until 60 minutes. I think next time I would use less applesauce. I already used slightly less lemon juice. And, of course, I would cook them for 1 hour. They taste great with some ice cream on top!