These keto brownies are super chocolatey, dense, fudgy and rich. Quick and easy to throw together and perfect for when you’re craving nothing but chocolate! They’re also dairy-free, paleo, gluten-free, and made in one bowl!
We’re getting dessert-y all over again today with a SPECIAL brownie recipe. These brownies are low carb and keto in addition to being paleo (as usual!) and let me tell you – it wasn’t so easy to get right.
So why keto, anyway?! For one, as I think I’ve mentioned before my husband Adam has been trying to stick to a keto diet since the beginning of the year. January was great, and then February rolled around (along with his birthday and the Super Bowl) and things got trickier.
I started getting curious and that usually leads to a few experiments. I LOVED the results I achieved with the chocolate chip cookie recipe I posted last week, and brownies were (DUH!) next in line for testing.
The thing with brownies is always getting the texture right. I don’t like cakey brownies, or crumbly brownies so I usually under-bake mine just a bit so they have that extra gooey center that I crave.
Using erythritol as a sweetener definitely made these brownies more prone to over-baking. I was really surprised to find they only needed about 17 minutes (give or take a minute) in a 325 degree oven to be totally done.
So, I dealt with two batches of over-baked brownies. I know, it’s time to get out the violins – poor me. But seriously, even crumbly and a little too hard, I loved the flavor of these, so I knew once I got the baking time/temp right all would be right in the low-carb brownie world.
And here we go – the perfect recipe! These are really simple to put together because we’re really just using the basics. A good cacao powder (or unsweetened cocoa powder), melted coconut oil, eggs and an egg yolk, erythritol, almond flour, baking soda, and salt.
Feel free to stir in some low carb chocolate chips too if that’s your thing. I used Lilly’s brand because I love how they bake/melt/taste!
You can even make it all in one bowl which is always a plus for me! I’m not sure if it’s laziness or curiosity (perhaps both) but I’ve been testing more recipes using just one bowl and finding that it’s totally possible, most of the time. Always good to know if you ask me!
As for the sweetener, I used a granular erythritol but you can absolutely use powdered, since your goal is for it to dissolve/blend in anyway.
I didn’t test these with another low carb sweetener, but I do believe using something like xylitol will change how long and at what temp you’d need to bake them.
Also, if you don’t need these to be keto, rather than swapping sweeteners, I recommend trying out one of my other brownie recipes. If you DO choose to use coconut sugar, I recommend baking at 350 F for at least 5 minutes longer.
I hope you’re ready for the keto brownies that might just change your life! They’re seriously hard to resist, so good luck – let’s grab our ingredients and do this!
Fudgy Keto Brownies {Paleo, Dairy-Free}
Fudgy Keto Brownies {Paleo, Dairy-Free}
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2/3 -3/4 cup Erythritol granulated or powdered
- 2/3 cup coconut oil melted and warm
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk room temp
- 1/2 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup Lilly’s dark chocolate chips divided: 1/4 and 1/4
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F and line an 8 x 8” square pan with parchment paper. Make sure your eggs have been brought to room temp before beginning.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the cacao powder and erythritol with the melted coconut oil until smooth. Add in the vanilla, then whisk in one egg at a time, then the egg yolk until smooth and well combined.
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With a spoon or spatula, stir in the almond flour, baking soda and sea salt until combined. Batter will be thick. Lastly, stir in 1/4 cup low carb chocolate chips, if using.
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Transfer all the batter to prepared pan and spread out to cover the bottom of the pan evenly. A rubber spatula works best for this step. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 17 mins. It’s best to slightly under-bake the brownies since they can quickly become dry and too crumbly if left in the oven too long.
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Place pan on a wire rack and cool completely to room temp, refrigerating to speed up the cooling process if necessary. Once room temp, cut brownies into 16 squares to serve. Store leftovers covered at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze to keep longer. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*To make a chocolate drizzle, melt 1/4 cup low carb chocolate chips with 1/2 tsp coconut oil in a glass bowl in the microwave on increments of 15 seconds, stirring in between, until melted.
Nutrition
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Want More Paleo Chocolate Recipes? Try One of These!
Triple Chocolate Paleo and Vegan Brownies
Fudgy Triple Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownies
Double Chocolate Paleo + Vegan Cookies
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How do you like the Erythritol? I used to get great results with it in my baking when I was doing low carb but then starting having extremely bad GI pain/symptoms. Too much of it in my body is not a good thing as it turns out. 🙁
These brownies look so chocolatey and delicious!
Can you sub coconut flour for the almond flour?
can i replace Erythritol with coconut sugar?
I hate to leave a poor review, but I followed this recipe (with expensive ingredients) exactly and the brownies were still crumbly. I think I’ll stick with paleo recipes. Keto just doesn’t seem to come out well for me.
Sorry it didn’t go well! Perhaps I need to test these again and add notes to the recipe so it produces a more consistent result.
What’s the exchange between erythritol and stevia? I feel like that much stevia in anything would be pretty much unbearable? (An 8th of a teaspoon is so much in my coffee) sorry; I’m super new to this stuff so if you’ve answered this question 100 times, I apologize.
These are very tasty just out of oven. I did have to cook for about 30 minutes before the top quit jiggle ing and I have the issue with all paleo baking. So they may be crumbling when cool. I also added 8 drops of stevia to the erythrytol . Any thoughts on why my baked goods take significantly longer than recipe calls for? This is for other people’s recipes also. If it’s still jiggling I am afraid to call it done. However first brownie a perfectly tasty treat.
My daughter and I made these as my first dessert since starting keto. Ours came out tasty, but crumbly, just like you said. They still satisfied my sweet tooth. Note: we used coconut flour because that’s what we had on hand.
Unfortunately coconut flour doesn’t sub in well here because it’s so different from almond flour. I typically need to use 3-4x the amount of almond flour as I would coconut flour. Glad you liked the flavor and definitely try them with the almond flour!
My husband and I are on a low carb diet. We absolutely love your brownie recipe. Although I baked them in an 8″X 8″ glass dish.
Sounds great! Happy you enjoyed!
I think 325 F is too low a temperature for these brownies. Came out very gluey and the erythritol did not incorporate well.. was a total disaster
I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of the sweetner and OMG! so yummy!
Thank you for this post this is really amazing and helpfull
https://healthyfitness.co.in/healthy-eating-on-a-budgethealthy-food-no1-tips-by-healthyfitness/amp/
Made them last night! Super easy Keto recipe, we undercooked them and they were fabulous!!! I just wish I would have thought to whip up some sweet cream to go with them?Only one problem, recipe needs to be doubled, everyone wanted seconds??
Is it possible to use liquid erythritol?
HI.. I made the brownies- and followed the recipe to a tee.. triple checked.. even cooked them for 21 minutes- and it is more like a soft goopy cake that you kind of have to eat with a spoon. It tastes great- but decently not like a brownie that you can cut and pick up with your hands. What went wrong? Is 2/3 c coconut oil correct? Thx debra
Hmm not sure! I actually had issues with them being more dry/crumbly than I wanted. Seems like one of the ingredients was a bit off but not sure which one. The coconut oil is correct. It also might just be an oven timing issue and they needed to be baked longer. If you try a second time I’d say leave them in closer to 25-28 minutes.
Ahh… once refrigerated, voila.. cuttable, delicious brownies.. fudgey indeed!
I used xylitol instead instead of erythritol, but the cooking time should have been less.. however.. once I put in fridge overnight- easily cuttable into squares and yummy!
Also put in the chocolate chips and then on top also.. tastes great!
I have made many beautiful moist recipes that are gf. This was not one of them. I am not sure why but they just crumble, and are not the best tasting either.
Dumb question, is it 2/3 melted coconut oil, or 2/3 cup of room temp coconut oil that you then melt…?
I’ve been following you on IG for some time and all of your recipes are incredible. This one might be my favorite-they are SO GOOD!
Can I substitute egg yolk with something vegan friendly?
I love this recipe I make it all of the time!
Very delicious
I made these I changed it a little bit. I used grounded up GF rolled oats in place of almond flour 4 oz applesauce in place of egg and coconut sugar in place of Sugar replacement it was so good. I put em in the fridge after I let em cool and surprisingly they are so delish cold!! The chocolate chunks cold omg it’s amazing thanks for the recipe even tho I changed it a bit. FYI I can’t have nuts or eggs
I LOVE this recipe!
Licking the batter was irresistible too. It alone was thick and had that delicious gooey texture with a sweet satisfying taste.
I only swapped two ingredients because it was what I had on hand…..Olive oil instead of coconut oil & SmartSugar (coconut blend) by Miss Jones Baking Co. That’s it!
I followed everything else and it was DANG good!! The outside texture had a slight crisp and the inside was so soft which means perfection to my taste buds. I baked this in my corning ware dish within my toaster oven. It bakes pretty quickly so I’m glad I took that route (My salivary glands were a little impatient).
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. It makes eating healthy rewarding! <3
Yum! Looking forward to baking these tomorrow using Lakanto’s blend of monk fruit & erythritol. Any guidance on how to adjust the baking time for this? (It’s the only low carb sweetener I have in my pantry right now, but I have plain erythritol on order for next time).
Update: I made the brownies! And woah… they’re VERY sweet. I opted for the smaller amount mentioned (2/3 cup) but I think the Lakanto brand of blended monk fruit + erythritol that I used was overpowering in the sweetener department. Even my BF who eats sugary treats all.the.time found them sickly sweet. I’m not even sure what to do with the rest of the pan, but since the ingredients were so expensive, I suspect we’ll eat smaller portions over the next few weeks!
I love your recipes and have your cookbook. Erythritol bothers me. Hiw can u substitute Lakanto ? Do you know?
Definitely make sure your eggs are room temp, lol. Fantastic low carb brownies. If you follow her instructions, under baking them is the key to keeping that moisture.