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!
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.
Hi, if you are using butter instead of coconut oil, do you still add the warm water? I have monk fruiit allulose crytallized sugar replacement (Besti. Brand) how much do i use here? Can’t wait to make these. Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes.
Yes, you would still add warm water. I would try the same amount of that sweetener. If you things very sweet you can go up to 1.5 times the amount listed. I personally find under sweetening baked goods is better than over-sweetening them.
Thanks! Have a wonderful weekend!
I’ve tried several low-carb/keto brownie recipes. This recipe is hands down the best. For my cocoa powder, I used mostly a dutch cocoa and topped it off with some black cocoa powder. Fudgy and delicious. Thank you!
I’m not avoiding sugar, so I’m wondering if these would work with regular sugar? And if so, how much do you think I would use? Or, would coconut sugar work as a substitute? Those are the two I have on hand since I’m not avoiding sugar and don’t want to purchase sugar substitutes I might not use in the future. Thanks.
I’m sorry but I don’t test my recipes with regular sugar. I think it would work but can’t guarantee it. You can try the amount listed.
I love this recipe. I use Swerve and am wondering if I should use granular or powdered? Thank you for giving us so many tasty recipes.
Hi Debbie, the sweetener I use is granular but either will work.
Made these brownies today and they were amazing! I used coffee instead of water and dark cocoa powder in place of regular. I have tried many low carb brownies but none of them have ever tasted even close to the real thing! Thanks Taryn for the awesome recipe, I’ll definitely be making these again!
Love brownies and love this low carb option! YUM!
These have such a great texture and really do a great job of mimicking the real deal in a healthier way!
I REALLY REALLY wanted to love these. Brownies are my obsession!! Papa John’s Hershey brownies and the Betty Crocker Triple Supreme box mix are literally the best things ever! I saw this recipe and since they said this was close to the box mix I was super excited!
I made the them exactly as written bc I am not a baker. First out of the oven I tasted and had hope. The edges were slightly crisp and soft and kind of gooey in the middle. They still had a weird texture ( gritty ) and slightly bitter aftertaste. I waited until they cooled and tried a little more. Now they were super crumbly and dense and still bitter. I refrigerated them as directed in hopes that would be the key to this amazing brownie, but no, they are still slightly bitter and dense and not very brownie like in texture or flavor. I even tried them in ice cream and they were terrible . It’s going in the trash. I’m really sad!!!
These have gotten dozens of great reviews but they are still sugar-free and use alternative flours. If you are expecting them to be exactly like a white flour and sugar brownie you probably have your hopes too high, to be honest. But when those other brownies aren’t an option these are a great substitute. The grittiness is from the sweetener you used. You may prefer a powdered sweetener in the future. Keto baking has a learning curve. I’m sorry you didn’t like them.
I am updating my review as I keep trying different parts of the batch. I WANT THIS TO BE AWESOME! I am trying to manage expectations as well! The middle is WAYYYYYY better. The edges are normally my favorite part of a brownie but in Keto baking it’s just not good. Is it box mix, no but it’s not terrible. If I could figure out a way to make them less bitter and more sweet I would be super happy! Any suggestions?
Which sweetener did you use? That is the most important part for bitterness when baking. I find certain stevias just plain gross.
Erythritol, granulated. I feel like the almond flour and sweetener is where I am getting gritty from. I can handle the grit but need to counter the bitter. I am thinking a frosting so I don’t have to waste this batch.
My suggestion is to turn them into truffles. I once made brownies that had okra in them and I could taste the okra in every bite. I saved them by making them into truffles. https://joyfilledeats.com/fudge-brownie-truffles/
Ok ok! I know now why this are great! I have literally been eating these every day since the first day. They def get better and better as they stay in the fridge. I made some quick icing and added some SF whipped cream. I also noticed that my edges are REALLY dark. I think I waited too long for the center to set and I shouldn’t have! These are pretty great. Thank you so much for responding, I am going to look into a finer ground almond flour and powdered sugar next time!
If I did a double batch could I bake in a 13×9 pan? If so how long would you suggest?
Yes, probably 5-10 minutes longer.
Ummm WOW!! These are absolutely delicious! I’m obsessed, and they were so easy to put together. I found them to have a very fudgy texture, but I took them out of the oven right before it would have been “done done” (which I do with all my baked goods). I didn’t do a tooth pick test, I just waited until there was no more wetness on top if that makes sense. I also ate it while it was hot, soooo it might still change in texture after letting it refrigerate. Total cooking time was around 26-27 minutes. I also used coconut oil because I’m DF, they did have a slight coconut taste because I used unrefined, but I didn’t care. Will definitely be making this again!
I’ve tried so many terrible low carb brownies that I gave up and quit trying for almost a year. But, I’ve had so much success with your other recipes that I came out of brownie hiatus and gave this one a try. I think they are truly delicious and have that box brownie taste I actually love! I’m so excited and appreciate you developing this recipe. It’s a keeper and my “go to”.
My only question is how do you keep from eating the whole batch in one sitting? 😋
Yummy!
These taste amazing, but they crumble very easily. Fine if your eating with ice cream, but difficult if just cutting and eating.
Did you chill them? They hold together (and taste even better) after chilling. My photos are after chilling and warming the brownies.
How do you know when there done?
They are done when they no longer jiggle a lot if the plan is lightly shaken. Check around 20 minutes. The center will probably still jiggle a lot. Check again every few minutes until the center is just set.