The BEST Low Carb Brownies Recipe
These low carb brownies are just like the traditional brownies my mom used to make (with the help of Pillsbury or Betty Crocker). They are the most like a classic box mix brownie. They are great warm, in between cakey and fudgy, and rich with chocolate. There are also only 2 g net carbs in each brownie in this low carb brownie recipe!
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I love brownies I have over a dozen brownie recipes including Raspberry Brownies, Brownies in a Skillet, Keto Flourless Brownies, Keto Cheesecake Brownies, and a Keto Mug Brownie.
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a guest post so when I saw Hannah’s Low Carb Brownie recipe going viral in the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook group I asked her if I could share it here on Joy Filled Eats. I was thrilled when she said yes! My sweet tooth was also thrilled. There are never too many easy low carb brownies and although this is similar to my Keto Fudgy Brownies it is different enough to warrant its own spot on my blog.
Hannah’s recipe uses cocoa powder as the base whereas my recipe uses melted baking chocolate. That makes her gluten-free brownie recipe more economical if you are on a tight budget. This gluten free keto brownie recipe is also SO easy.
Hannah’s Fabulous Brownies
Hannah: I created this recipe after trying 8 to 10 other sugar-free, low carb brownie recipes that I just didn’t personally enjoy. I really love brownies and I would rather go without than eat something that doesn’t even have a semblance of that “real” brownie taste and texture.
My husband has laughed at me as I’ve been disappointed after trying so many recipes that people said tasted JUST LIKE _____, and I’ve worried that these people either haven’t tasted the real thing in too long or are unashamed liars! I absolutely love these brownies and I am so excited to be able to enjoy them happy knowing they are not bad for my health!
Ingredients Needed
Almond Flour – I prefer almond flour in low carb baking. It has a mild flavor and gives a tender crumb in gluten free brownies, cakes, cookies, and biscuits. It is a good sub for wheat flour on a low-carb diet.
Coconut Flour – Just a little bit of coconut flour goes a long way. Coconut flour helps to balance the oiliness of almond flour since it is naturally drier and absorbs more liquid than other alternative flours.
Sugar-Free Sweetener – I like to use a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. You can purchase this pre-mixed from the Trim Healthy Mama website or mix your own according to my recipe. By using a combination of sugar alcohols and stevia you can use half the amount required of 1:1 sweeteners and regular sugar. If you can’t use xylitol with pets in the house sub in allulose or additional erythritol.
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder or Cacao Powder – I’m currently using raw cacao powder which can be used for cocoa powder. Costco has Navitas Cacao Powder for a good price. I like the flavor in my baked goods. You can use black cocoa powder for an Oreo flavor or dark cocoa powder for a dark chocolate flavor.
Vanilla – Adding pure vanilla extract a standard in any baked good. It brings out the flavor of the other ingredients in the same way a pinch of salt does.
Coconut Oil – I use refined coconut oil in recipes that I don’t want to have a coconut flavor.
Sugar Free Chocolate Chips – You can use any sugar free chips you enjoy. ChocZero now has white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips in addition to dark chocolate and milk chocolate.
The ingredient measurements can be found in the recipe card under the blog post.
How to make Low Carb Brownies
It is easier to make low carb keto brownies than you think! All you need is a medium sized bowl and a whisk or wooden spoon.
First Step: Mix together the liquid ingredients.
Top Tip💡
The most important thing when making these low-carb brownies is to use room temperature eggs and melted coconut oil. If your eggs are cold they can make the coconut oil solidify when you are mixing.
Second Step: Add the dry ingredients. Spread in an 8 by 8 inch baking dish that has been greased or lined with parchment paper.
Third Step: Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the brownie batter.
Fourth Step: Bake. These are cakey right from the oven and get fudgier and fudgier as they cool.
Variations
There are so many choices for my low carb brownie recipe. Here are a few of my favorites:
Sugar Free Whipped Cream – whip up some cream, add a little powdered sweetener and use to top this keto brownies recipe.
Keto Cream Cheese Frosting – make this into a low carb chocolate brownie cake by baking in a round pan and piping on some creamy icing!
ChocZero Peanut Butter or White Chocolate Chips – sub in a sugar-free chocolate chips in a unique flavor.
Ice Cream – who can resist a brownie sundae. I love these with my low carb keto coffee ice cream.
Peppermint – around Christmas I just love mint chocolate. Add 2 teaspoons of mint extract to turn these into peppermint brownies.
Common Questions
Are these fudgy or cakey?
These are very similar in texture to box mix brownies. To me, these are the most similar to box brownies than any other keto brownies I’ve tried. Using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate really makes them taste like the good ole’ family-sized fudgy brownies from a mix.
They are unbelievably delicious but a little cakey when they are still hot from the oven. They do become fudgier when cooled. My preferred method of eating these is to chill them overnight in the baking pan (use parchment paper!) or an airtight container and then warm up individual squares. This is the way to get fudgy keto brownies!
Can I use a baking mix for low carb brownies?
No. Baking blends really do NOT work here. It needs to be this specific combo of almond and coconut flours to get that almost real brownie taste and texture!
What sugar-free sweetener can I use for Low Carb Brownies?
This recipe is very versatile. You can use erythritol, xylitol, THM Gentle Sweet, THM Super Sweet, or a blend of erythritol and monk fruit sweetener like Lakanto.
I always use my sweetener blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my keto diet recipes except for times a powdered sweetener works better, like in icings.
Can I use butter instead of coconut oil?
Yup! If you prefer butter works fine in this recipe and any of my other keto brownie recipes that call for coconut oil. I use salted butter and melt it first.
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The BEST Low Carb Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup coconut oil melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 1/3 c cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup sugar-free chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Start by whisking the room temperature eggs and then the melted coconut oil and vanilla together with the warm water, this will prevent an undesirable texture from the coconut oil resolidifying during the mixing process.
- Once the wet ingredients are all stirred together, add the cocoa powder, sweetener, salt, almond flour, coconut flour and baking powder.
- Whisk together and spread into a greased or parchment-lined 8×8 pan.
- Lastly, sprinkle the chocolate chips on the brownies and bake 20-30 min. The time on these seems to vary quite a bit.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published November 10, 2016. Revised and Republished April 5, 2024.
Can any of you hazard a good temperature and time in the oven to make these in a donut pan?
350 and I would start checking them at the 15 minute mark.
These were so good! Ate one right out of the pan and can’t wait to have another!😍
I only have stevia. Am I able to substitute that instead of erythritol?
No, I don’t think using just stevia would work in this. Sorry!
Super good brownie. Even the non keto members of my family couldn’t get enough. My 7 year old thought they were a little too coconuty. But the adults all loved them. Making them again tonight. I’m gonna try avacado oil. See how it goes.
I would try butter flavored or refined coconut oil. You won’t get a coconutty taste with either or those. I’m not sure about baking with avocado oil.
Thank you for this great recipe. Since starting Keto I have been unable to find a good brownie recipe. I’m glad I spent time searching for this one because it tastes like the brownies I’ve always known. So thank you for sharing your talents with everyone!
I made this yesterday for the 2nd time. They really are good! However, I added extra cocoa this time, and I haven’t dug into these yet but just licking the batter spoon told me that was a good move (and yes, I know you’re not supposed to lick the spoon but I couldn’t resist an early taste test!). I’m making a batch of these for my BFF for Valentine’s day in a couple of weeks.
Have any of you tried reversing the almond and coconut flour amounts to see how it turns out? It’s just that almond is more expensive than coconut flour.
Almond flour and coconut flour both behave differently. You couldn’t just reverse them or the brownies would be too dry. You could try reducing the almond flour by 2 tbsp and adding a extra 1 tbsp coconut flour. If that works try a little more the next time. Then you won’t end up wasting a whole batch 😉
If I sub butter for the coconut oil would I leave out the water?
Thanks
Michelle
These taste ok. I actually had the recipe from when it was shared as an fb post first. But they always come out super dry and cakey for me, never fudgey and certainly never looks anything like in the photos here. I try taking them out much earlier and they are still super dry. They’re just ok. And I agree with a previous review that the ingredients are listed out of order and the directions would be easier to follow if everything was combined properly with the dry ingredients combined then mixed together with wet. I will try maybe one more time, subbing coffee for the water to boost the flavor, but so far I’ve made these several times now and have decided they’re just not very good.
Cassandra, mine are more cake-like than brownie-like too, but I’m just going to enjoy it as chocolate cake! I added extra cocoa to bump up the flavor and it worked. Also I figured out I was using too much sugar and mine were too rich, so next batch I’m going to reduce the Pyure sugar (it’s a stevia + erythitol blend; we don’t have the exact sugar mentioned in the recipe around here) I’ve been experimenting with. It’s still an outstanding recipe; I think some of us just need to tweak ingredients.
Do any of you have a good low-carb chocolate frosting recipe???
I used the ganache/fudge icing from the Little Debbie recipe and it turned out amazing! I didn’t use any sweetener in the topping because I’m really sensitive to the taste and I like dark chocolate. I used half 85% dark chocolate, and half 72%. This ups the carbs a bit of course, but if you plan your macros for the day around them like I do, you should be able to have a couple, and the icing is worth it. (I may have recently figured out a way to have four of them in one day lmao. I hope my calculations aren’t way off.)
You are such a negative Nancy. You give me a head ache just listening to you.
Hi I am baking for a type 1 diabetic. What kind of sugar will not spike blood sugar. I gave used stevia in the past for baking but i,see u said that won’t work. First what is the difference swerve or puree dont know how to spell second one. Does erithinol spike blood sugar I see u recommend that. I think it has carbs? What would u recommend.
I am not a doctor or very learned about diabetes. I do know some people have blood sugar spikes from sugar alcohols like erythritol and xylitol and some do not. I suggest checking with your own doctor.
Do these have a “coconutty” taste with the coconut oil? I don’t love coconut oil taste with chocolate, so just curious. (Though I love mounds, go figure! lol)
It’s very slight. But you could always use refined or butter flavored coconut oil to avoid that completely!
These were DELICIOUS, but they just completely fell apart and had to be eaten with a fork. I wonder if the differences in results are because of different brands of ingredients? I used Anthony’s blanched almond flour, but I’m not positive what kind of coconut flour I had.
Did you let then cool first? Or chill them? They get more fudgy and hold together better after chilling.
Mine were very crumbly too. I was thinking it was due to my ingredients as well. They are definitely headed in the right direction. I will see how they are after cooling.
I made these for the first time last night. Love the flavor and the texture. They turned out moist and stayed together well. They are good warm and still good and fudgy cold the next day! By far the closest in flavor and texture to a non on-plan brownie I’ve tried.
I’m so glad you liked them Megan! I use them as a base in my raspberry cheesecake brownies. Those are my favorite!
I made these yesterday and they were awful. Fell apart, very dry and no taste. I had to put whipped cream on them to get anyone – even my grandkids – to eat them. Waste of expensive ingredients. Will not make them again.
Hi Judy, I’m sorry you didn’t like the brownies. I have gotten dozens of great reviews on this recipe. Did substitute any of the ingredients? I’d like to help you troubleshoot to figure out why they didn’t work.
I made them exactly as per the recipe. I haven’t had much luck using either coconut or almond flour in any baking except biscuits. Don’t know why! We live in southern Alberta, Canada so maybe the altitude is messing with it? Thanks for your reply. Appreciate it.
Yes, I think it was the altitude. I’ve had that affect these brownies before.
Is this a cake texture or a brownie? I’ve been eyeballing many of your brownies- including the little Debbie ones. Do you have one to suggest for a brownie texture/ taste?
Brownie texture! I am not a fan of cakey brownies so all my brownies are fudgey. 😀
I can’t find a fudgey- gooey brownie. Is giant more cake- like?
Thank you for making this recipe available! I was really wanting chocolate and brownies sounded good so I made these. I didn’t have any baking chocolate or chocolate chips so, while still warm from the oven I made a bit of thm hot fudge sauce to drizzle over. Happy Camper here!! 🙂
That sounds great! Which fudge sauce did you use?