These lemon muffins are soft and lemony. The muffins need just 4 ingredients and don’t require any eggs, butter or oil. The muffins take only a few minutes to prepare and can easily be customized.
Lemon muffins on a cooling rack

These lemon muffins are lightly sweet and contain a hidden boost of protein. You can add a lemon glaze on them or leave them plain.

Ingredients

  • Self-rising flour
  • Cottage cheese
  • Lemons
  • Powdered sugar

Self-rising flour: Self-rising flour is a flour blend that already includes a leavening agent and sodium. I like to use self-rising flour because it saves a few extra steps. However, you can also make a homemade self-rising flour blend using all purpose flour, baking powder and salt.

Cottage cheese: This recipe works best with a high protein cottage cheese that contains around 14 grams of protein per 1/2 cup. Also make sure to use 4% cottage cheese because there is no other fat in the recipe. If you use a lowfat cottage cheese, the muffin texture will be chewy.

Lemons: Lemon juice and lemon zest are added to the muffin batter to give the muffins a nice zesty lemon flavor. If you want even more lemon flavor, you can add a lemon glaze on top.

Powdered sugar: Powdered sugar is used to sweeten the muffins. It is also used to make the optional glaze.

How to Make Lemon Muffins

  • The cottage cheese is blended in a high powered blender with a few tablespoons of water until it is fully smooth.
  • Add the blended cottage cheese, lemon juice and lemon zest and stir together until evenly mixed. Fold in the flour and sugar with a spatula until no dry spots remain in the batter.
  • Use an ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into your prepared muffin pan.
  • Bake until the muffins are puffed, lightly golden around the edges and cooked through.
  • Allow the muffins to cool before eating. You can also top with a lemon glaze before serving.

A lemon muffin cut in half

Expert Tips

  • Adding a little water helps the cottage cheese blend until fully smooth. The amount of water needed will vary depending on the cottage cheese brand.
  • Because these muffins have very little fat, they will stick to a muffin pan and regular muffin liners. They will not stick to silicone liners or parchment paper muffin liners. If you don’t have silicone or parchment paper muffin liners, make sure to grease the interior of the muffin pan or grease regular muffin liners so that the muffins don’t stick to the liners.
  • Since the muffins contain less fat than traditional muffins, the muffin crumb is tighter and not as light as muffins made with oil.

Lemon muffins with a lemon glaze

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5 from 4 votes

4 Ingredient Lemon Muffins

These 4-Ingredient Lemon Muffins are low fat, contain a boost of protein and made with just a handful of simple ingredients, and come together incredibly fast—no eggs or oil needed. Bright, fresh lemon flavor makes them perfect for spring or summer, with a soft texture that feels light yet satisfying—an easy, delicious bake for breakfast, snacking, or sharing.
Servings: 10 muffins
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
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Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups (284g) 4% high protein cottage cheese, see note
  • 1/4 cup (2 fl oz/60ml) fresh lemon juice + zest of 1 small lemon
  • 1 1/4 cups (140g) powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups (207g) self rising flour, see note before starting

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a nonstick muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. If you want to use regular muffin liners, add the liners to the muffin pan and grease the interior. It's important to grease regular liners or regular muffin pan because the muffin batter has very little fat, so it will stick if you don't grease. If using a silicone muffin pan or silicone muffin liners, you don't need to grease.
  • Add the cottage cheese and about 2 tbsp of water to a high powered blender and blend until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as needed so no curds remain. If your cottage cheese is too thick to fully blend smooth, add a little more water in (another 1-3 tbsp), until you can fully blend until smooth.
  • Transfer the blended cottage cheese to a large mixing bowl and stir in the lemon juice, and lemon zest until evenly combined.
  • Add the powdered sugar and flour and mix with a spatula until a thick batter forms, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is incorporated and no lumps of flour or dry spots remain. If the mixture feels too dry to come together, add a small splash of water. It's important to use a spatula to mix to prevent overworking the batter. The batter will be thick.
  • Use an ice cream scoop (with 1/4 cup capacity) or use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop the mixture and release into your prepared muffin pans, filling about ¾ full.
  • Bake for 25 minutes, or until the muffins are puffed, edges are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you apply light pressure to the surface, it should bounce back rather than sink in.
  • Let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. If desired, you can top the muffins with a lemon glaze and additional lemon zest. The lemon glaze recipe I used is in the recipe notes.
  • Muffins taste best soon after they have cooled. Store uneaten muffins in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer.

Notes

  • Cottage cheese note: Make sure to use 4% cottage cheese. These muffins don't have any other added fat. I also recommend a high protein cottage cheese, with approximately around 14 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving. I used Nancy's cottage cheese.*
  • Self-rising flour note. There are 2 main kinds of self-rising flour sold in the US. One that is a lower protein (2 grams per 1/4 cup serving) flour and one that has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup (30g) serving). The amount of protein affects how much liquid is absorbed. For this recipe, I tested it with Gold Medal self-rising flour* (regular amount of protein). Please use a self-rising flour with a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup), or make your own self-rising flour with the recipe below.
  • *These product links are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
  • Homemade self-rising flour: Whisk together 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tbsp baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make sure your all purpose flour has a regular amount of protein (3 grams per 1/4 cup). Most brands in the US contain this amount but there are some brands with higher protein (4 grams per 1/4 cup) such as King Arthur Flour and Bob's Red Mill, which will not work well for this recipe. Measure out 1.5 cups for the recipe.
  • Optional lemon glaze:
    • 2 cups powdered sugar
    • 2 tbsp lemon juice, or more as needed
    • 1 tbsp water or more as needed
    • Combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and water and whisk together until you have a smooth glaze. You can add more lemon juice or water to thin out the glaze or add more powdered sugar to thicken the glaze.
    • I dipped the top of the muffins in the glaze but you can also drizzle it on. I also added some more lemon zest on top.
  • Estimated nutrition does not include optional glaze.
Serving: 1muffin, Calories: 146kcal, Carbohydrates: 28g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Sodium: 298mg, Fiber: 0.02g, Sugar: 14g, NET CARBS: 28
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. This is not a comprehensive list of all the nutrients in the recipe (i.e., does not include vitamins, cholesterol, etc). I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
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