Gluten-Free Cheese & Bacon Muffins

These easy gluten-free cheese and bacon muffins are moist, cheesy and slightly chewy from rolled oats with smoky bacon, mature cheddar and a delicious honey glaze.

Made without xanthan gum, these savoury muffins use gluten-free rolled oats and defatted almond flour for a tender, slightly chewy texture. They are perfect for brunch, lunchboxes (although they are not nut-free) or snacks-to-go.

I developed this recipe for busy mornings in our house when I want to reach for a quick and easy muffin but also don't really want anything sweet. These are the perfect compromise as they are savoury, stuffed with cheese and bacon. However, they have a nod to sweetness from a dash of honey in the muffin itself and then for the finished glaze. Honestly, the honey is the key to this whole recipe.

Ingredients Needed

Cream Cheese. Using cream cheese adds a lovely baseline flavour with just a slight tang. Use full-fat for the best flavour and texture.

Cheddar cheese. Using a stronger more mature cheddar will give a deeper richer flavour.

Bacon. I recommend using smoked streaky bacon but the choice is yours as these muffins taste good with back bacon too – it just means the bacon bits are a little meatier.

Unsalted Butter. We need unsalted so we can control the salt content of the recipe. Make sure it is at room temperature.

Eggs. This recipe uses medium size, about 60g each with shell (50g each without shell). These are often classified as large eggs in the US. I recommend weighing your eggs to ensure the correct amount.

Honey. You can use your favourite kind of honey and the different types you choose will impart different flavours. It’s such a lovely injection of sweetness in these muffins.

Rolled gluten-free oats. Using rolled oats instead of oat flour gives these muffins a great texture which is slightly chewy and a little nutty.

Defatted almond flour. The high protein content of the defatted almond flour gives the recipe a robust structure. Don’t use regular almond flour (ground almonds) here as you need the ultra fine powdery quality and protein boost of the defatted flour. If you are confused by the different almond flours then see this post >>>Is Almond Flour The Same As Ground Almonds. Note. If you can't find defatted almond flour or you have a nut allergy then you can substitute for chickpea flour (gram flour) which has a similar protein content.

Baking powder. A leaving agent which causes the cake to rise and become light and fluffy. Do check your baking powder is gluten-free before use.

Bicarbonate of soda. Also known as baking soda, this is a white crystalline powder that is commonly used as a leavening agent in baking.

Mustard powder. This helps give real depth of flavour and the powder means it doesn't interfere with the moisture content.

Paprika. It adds a gentle smoky flavour to the muffins.

Variations and Substitutions

Gluten-free flour. I don't recommend swapping out the defatted almond flour for an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend as the finished result is a lot more dry and crumbly. The almond flour gives the muffins their great moist texture. You can use regular almond flour (which is ground blanched almonds) but you will need to reduce the butter to compensate for the extra oil in the flour. However, if you have to avoid nuts then you can swap out the almond flour for chickpea flour (gram flour/ garbanzo flour).

Cheese options. The original recipe uses a lovely mature cheddar for deep flavour but you can switch to Red Leicester which I quite enjoy - particularly the deep orange colour it provides. You could also use gruyere or even goat cheese.

Other ingredient additions. If bacon isn't your thing or you are vegetarian then you can swap it for spring onions, red pepper flakes, sun-dried tomatoes (not the sun-blush ones which have too much oil). A tasty addition would also be a handful of chopped fresh herbs like parsley or chervil.

How To Serve

These muffins are delicious exactly as they are but are also lovely with a good slick of butter.

Also try..

• As an accompaniment to a steaming bowl of tomato soup for a substantial lunch option (a bit more exciting than a cheese sandwich!)
• At breakfast time. Delicious with bubble and squeak or alongside scrambled eggs.
• As an afternoon snack.
• Packed into a lunchbox (although contains nuts so not suitable for school).