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Keto Cheeseburger Muffins are savory meat and cheese bites, full of ground beef, melty cheese and green onions. They’re fun to serve with hamburger toppings or condiments. And, everyone will be excited about dinner, or a meaty appetizer!
These are not a bread-y muffin, they’re pure meat muffins with a few ingredients to make them extra succulent.
Keto Cheeseburger Muffins are Low Carb, Primal, GAPS and Gluten-free.
How to serve Keto Cheeseburger Muffins
You can make Keto Cheeseburger Muffins big or small. Choose your muffin pan size accordingly. Then:
- Serve Cheeseburger Muffins with your favorite pickles or homemade probiotic veggie pickles (like these or these).
- Dip them into Keto Ketchup.
- Or, we love them with salad and any other favorite cheeseburger toppings like: bacon, blue cheese and fried eggs.
- As an appetizer, make in mini muffin tins, and serve with warm cheese dipping sauce.
Bites are also GREAT on their own, a cheesy meal in your hand (although they’re a little messy, so maybe a fork)!
Leftovers and snacks
This recipe makes a big batch!
You can freeze any extras, or have them on hand for quick, nutrient dense food!
To defrost, place in the fridge overnight, on the counter for 4 hours, or place in the oven on very low heat to speed things up.
To reheat once defrosted, place in 325 degree F oven for 15 minutes.
Ingredients in Keto Cheeseburger Muffins — egg-free
I made these meat muffins egg-free, not because I don’t personally love eggs, but because a lot of Keto, GAPS and Paleo recipes contain eggs, and some people can’t eat them. So it’s just nice to have some recipes without, for those people. And this recipe doesn’t need them.
I’ve also made this recipe with lots of heavy cream (or probiotic sour cream for the GAPS diet).
You’ll love the tender, moist meat and the fat the cream brings to these delicious morsels!
KETO Cheeseburger Muffins (Primal, Gluten-free, Egg-free)
Equipment
- 1-2 muffin tins (large or small muffins)
- oven
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 cup heavy cream or probiotic sour cream for GAPS
- 1 large Roma tomato or 2 small, diced
- 1 bunch green onions diced
- 7 ounces cheddar , aged for GAPS or a good melting cheese: grate ⅓ of it, and chop the rest into 1 inch cubes
- ⅔ cup nut flour blanched almond flour; also, ¼ cup coconut flour will probably work here too; comment below if you try this
- ½ cup cauliflower rice
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2-¼ teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking soda , sifted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin pans with pan liners.
- Combine nut flour, sifted baking soda, sea salt and black pepper in a medium size bowl. Set aside.
- In large bowl combine: raw ground beef, heavy cream, apple cider vinegar, tomatoes, green onions, cauliflower rice and aged cheddar.
- Add flour mix to beef mixture and stir together well until the meat is well broken up and lighter (not as heavy) in texture. (The baking soda and vinegar will react and create a lighter blend.) Do not over-mix; stop when the mixture is evenly combined.
- Fill each muffin slot in muffin tin only halfway. Then add cubes of cheese, (equally distribute). Top off with remaining meat mixture.
- When scooping meat into muffin tins: Use up to 6 ounces for each Muffin Bite, for larger ones; or 2 ounces for mini Bites. Bake in preheated oven 30 minutes for larger, or about 12-15 for smaller.
- The cream and cheese will bubble out a bit during baking. Serve the Bites over salad greens and drizzle any of the creamy pan juices over your greens. Accompany with pickles and tomato slices, or baby tomatoes. Your salad greens can also be topped with blue cheese, bacon and/or a fried egg for more fun cheeseburger toppings. (Also see the Keto Ketchup link in Recipe Notes below.)
Notes
Here's a Keto Ketchup, if you'd like a condiment for dipping.
Nutrition
Which cheese to use in Keto Cheeseburger Muffins
If you’re looking for the best cheeses for the planet and your body, look for Kerrygold brand or a cheese from France.
These cheeses are often not more expensive, but sometimes they are, because the process of making them is better. The reason to invest that teeny bit extra? These cheeses are the healthiest: They come from cows of A2 heritage, the oldest breed, with a protein in the curd of the milk that’s easier to digest. (You can read more about A2 cows here.)
Pasture-raised
Good quality cheese comes from cattle raised on green pastures. But most cheese that says “Grass-fed” comes from cows raised on grass just briefly, and then moved to feed lots or fed grain.
When consumers think they can’t eat dairy without adverse symptoms, I suggest trying Kerrygold butter first. If you can tolerate Kerrygold butter, it is likely you’ll be fine with Kerrygold cheese. French cheeses offer the same quality: A2 and pasture-raised.
In contrast, American made, grass-fed cheeses are from herds largely of A1 heritage and are much more apt to cause rashes and digestive distress.
While on Keto, Primal, Gluten-free and GAPS diets, if you’re trying to improve your health, ingredients and digestion are the foundation of that healing!
What does Primal mean
Primal just means Paleo + dairy.
In our Paleo cafe, we used the word Paleo to describe sandwiches that contained great quality French cheese. The point of Paleo is not to be dairy-free: It’s to get back to older ways of eating, natural foods, raised on the land, with ancient methods and caring husbandry practices.
That should be at the heart of the Keto and GAPS diets, too.
We need to buy what we can afford, but I believe we should budget for the best quality possible.
Is cheese Paleo
Cheese is Paleo, absolutely, if the cows are raised in an environment and mindset of sustainability, and they’re of A2 heritage — and if your body tolerates dairy.
You can read more about why dairy-free Paleo is based on bad science here.
There are, of course, many who truly can’t digest dairy, perhaps about 1/10 of the American population. (The inability to digest dairy is a food intolerance OR a food sensitivity. Read about the difference here.)
But we also have the beautiful Masai people of Africa who are free of modern degenerative diseases, but subsist largely off of dairy.
So if you can tolerate dairy, choose the best, for your health and the health of the planet.
Quality Keto ingredients in Cheeseburger Muffins
The Keto community, especially those who enjoy the diet for the use of weight loss, often buys inexpensive cheeses and cream, dairy that comes from cows in feed lots. If this is you, it may be time to switch.
You didn’t know, but now you do: Cows from feed lots get fed trash (literally), so their dairy is not a wellness food. It may be high in fat, so it helps to produce powerful ketones, but the fat is not good for heart or overall health.
We can help bring change to the world’s food systems in some small way while also improving our health!
linda spiker says
These look amazing Megan! And PS you just educated me on the dairy/paleo thing 🙂
Megan Stevens says
Oh good, Linda, I’m so glad, re the dairy! 🙂 I think there are SO many people out there like me, who could be helped (and not hurt) by dairy, if they only had the good stuff. I’ve seen teenage acne clear up too, when switching to just French cheeses, raw grass-fed A2A2 milk, and Kerrygold– so cool and encouraging!
Joni Jessica says
Omg this looks scrumptious!! Love that it’s individual size and perfect to take to work for lunch!
Megan Stevens says
Yes, great for on the go food. Thanks, Joni!
Kari Peters says
These burger bites are so fun! Cheesy things are always a hit when entertaining and these are definitely going on my appetizer list next cocktail party!
Megan Stevens says
Yay!! So fun! I’m so glad!
Cynthia/What A Girl Eats says
My family would love this! We’re always ditching the buns!
Megan Stevens says
Yes, definitely! 🙂 Thank you!
Carol @studiobotanica says
Love this recipe!! Totally agree re cheese quality making a difference. SO important to spread the word about best choices. Excellent post Megan. Thanks! Also really like that these are bite-sized and NO bun anywhere..
Megan Stevens says
Wonderful. Thank you, Carol! I never needed the bun anyway; it slows my digestion waaay down! I love how meat and fat and veggies digest so efficiently.
Tessa@ Tessa the Domestic Diva says
Oh yes! so many good things happening in these tempting bites! Yum Megan!!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Tessa!
Yvonne Janowski says
These look so yummy! I will try them this week with the coconut flour.
Megan Stevens says
Great Yvonne! I’m so glad! I hope I hear back on how it went! 🙂 Thank you!
Jean says
Oh my, I’m just staring at that cheese pull! Looks absolutely delicious and so great for kids too.
Megan Stevens says
Thanks! My kids DO love these!
leslie-anne says
Wooooooah – these look awesome! I love the odd bit of cheese here and there – so these are definitely getting added to my next family get-together menu.
RecipestoNourish says
These are perfect Megan!!! SO PERFECT!!! Beautiful little bites of goodness and I spy some yummy pickles to go with them. Such a fun feast!
Jane @ Modern Housewives says
Thanks for sharing, the recipe is lovely, I tasted these cheeseburger bites at a friend’s house, and she sent me your recipe, so I can try to make them myself. I can’t wait to try it myself this weekend 🙂
Megan says
Aw, how encouraging. Thank you for sharing your feedback!! I’m so glad you enjoyed them, and I’m happy you have the recipe and plan to make them yourself. Enjoy and best!
Sarah Cummings says
This post has just made me SO hungry haha. Looks amazing! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Megan says
Ha, love that! Thanks, Sarah!
Tracy says
Can you tell me serving size if I make in mini muffin pan? It looks like it is 2 carbs, but for how many mini ones?
thank you!
Megan says
Hi Tracy, sure. This recipe makes about 30 mini burger bites, (and the nutritional information would just need to be divided by 3 for the minis if that’s helpful).