These paleo and keto brownies are extra fudgy, super easy, just 5 ingredients and 1g net carb a pop! Now that’s what we call the ideal low carb chocolate dessert! The recipe was first published on January 8th ’18, and has been updated to provide more info on various sweeteners.
The Ultimate Paleo & Keto Brownies 🍫
Suuuper Fudgy!
Ridiculously decadent, suuuper fudgy and intensely chocolatey, these keto brownies are one indulgent low carb chocolate treat. Plus, they’re suuuper easy and with staple (grain-free) pantry ingredients.
And guess what? Just 1g net carb per brownie. (Drumroll please!) 🥁
p.s. these are very chocolatey, as in proper chocolate! So ideal for you dark-chocolate-lovers out there.
Oh, and if you’re into brownies and cheesecake (who isn’t?!), do check out our keto cheesecake brownies based off these guys.
The Origins
This recipe happens to be a keto adaptation based off Alice Medrich’s famous cocoa brownies, incidentally one of the most popular brownie recipes on the web. And the keto result varies little from the original, albeit perhaps a little less chewy and more melt-in-your-mouth sorta thing (courtesy of the lack of gluten).
Fun fact: Medrich’s original recipe called for beating vigorously with 40 strokes (exactly!) to incorporate the batter. Now that’s what we call precision.
A Couple (Very Simple!) Rules
We’ll start with the most important one: do not over-bake the brownies! Timing might just be the most important rule when making any type of brownie, so you don’t end up with a dry and crumbly mess. Keep an eye out for them, and take them out once the center is set and a toothpick inserted comes out moist (but not drenching).
We even prefer to slightly undercook them and chill them in the fridge before cutting. That’s the secret for extra fudgy brownies.
I’ve also noticed that when using powdered erythritol rather than xylitol (my favorite), you also need to decrease the baking time by about 5 minutes as they cook faster.
You’ll also want to use eggs at room temp. Reason being that if your cocoa/butter mixture is not hot enough (and your eggs are very cold), they’ll solidify the butter and your batter will be too thick (doesn’t affect the end results, just annoying to spoon rather than pour!).
And if possible, refrigerate the batter overnight. This is an old Medrich rule, but it does work a charm to get a richer texture (as the flavors have had a chance to mingle). Though if not possible, honestly don’t sweat it– we’ve done them either way multiple times. Just keep in mind that your batter will solidify in the fridge (as the butter sets), totally normal and just pop the baking dish in the oven as is.
The Chocolate
Cocoa brownies are generally regarded as second best to their ‘molten chocolate bar’ counterparts, given that they’re generally more cake-like than fudgy. But that’s most definitely not the case here, as these are some of the fudgiest brownies you’ll ever make.
Albeit ‘healthier‘, as you can control the chocolate and fat input completely, so no added refined sugars, preservatives etc. And of course, cocoa powder is much less expensive than chocolate bars (particularly keto ones!). So think of these keto brownies as wallet-friendly too.
Cocoa or cacao? Both work great, just know that quality really matters here. Our favorite will forever be the Dutch-processed alkaline cocoa Valrhona, known to be one of (if not the) best cocoas in the world. But feel free to use a raw cacao powder (arguably more nutritional perks here), though keep in mind that your brownies will be lighter in color and more reddish in hue. Both are well and good, as long as they’re unsweetened.
p.s. a lightly sprinkle of flakey sea salt works wonders to cut through the chocolate in these guys! And Maldon flakes are the undisputed best, by a mile.
The Flours
This recipe uses almond flour only (💥💃🎆!!). Yup, that’s it! Having said that, you can always sub half of the almond for hazelnut flour (think Nutella), if you wanna spiff things up a notch or give them a little twist.
In terms of brands, for the almond either Anthony’s or WellBees work great. Both are super fine grinds.
The Sweetener
You’ve got a couple options here. Xylitol and allulose (use the higher amount as its less sweet1) have become my top choice (no aftertaste, best and chewier texture), Lakanto (barely any aftertaste, and many of you also love the Golden version), and powdered Swerve (some cooling sensation, but still great). Xylitol takes (much) longer to dry out though so your brownies will be extra delicate (think gooey) right after baking.
If using erythritol in any form, because it needs a little extra help to dissolve than xylitol (and they vary so much from brand to brand because of different fillers and so on!), you’ll want to be sure to use a powdered form. If you only have granular on hand, don’t sweat it, and simply blend it in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until powdered. Easy-peasy!
And one more thing to keep in mind, is that a few of you who have used erythritol (Swerve in particular) report back periodically that your batter ends up thick. This seems to be improved by microwaving rather than using a water bath, and using powdered rather than regular. Though there seems to be no hard rule here. Doesn’t seem to affect much the taste in the end, so just spread the batter rather than pour it in. But if you’re finding your brownies feel too thick, simply add in an extra egg (just don’t over-whisk or they could become more cakey).
Fun fact: it might also be my taste buds here, but I’ve noticed that stevia-based sweeteners (such as Pyure) don’t work so great when chocolate is involved as the aftertaste is accentuated. So I cannot recommend enough that you don’t use stevia-based sweeteners here.
Oh, and if just paleo or gluten free (or not restricted by sugars), simply sub 1-to-1 with coconut or regular sugar.
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty!) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
And… the video story!
(1g net carb!) Suuuper Fudgy Keto Brownies
Ingredients
- 130 g unsalted grass-fed butter or 8 TBS coconut oil + 1 TBS coconut cream if paleo
- 140-200 g xylitol allulose (use higher amount), powdered erythritol or coconut sugar if paleo*
- 80 g cocoa powder **
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs at room temperature***
- 70 g almond flour
To garnish
- flakey sea salt optional (but highly suggested!)
Serving suggestions
- unsweetened macadamia milk nice 'n cold!
Instructions
- See recipe video for guidance!
- Position a rack in the lower third of your oven and preheat to 350°F/180°C. Line with parchment paper the bottom and sides of a 8x8-inch baking pan. Set aside.
- Add butter, sweetener, cocoa powder and salt to a medium heatproof bowl. Melt over a water bath whisking constantly (or use the microwave, in small increments). You'll want to heat it up until most of the sweetener has melted and the mixture is well incorporated (note that erythritol, unlike xylitol, won't dissolve much at this point). Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly.
- Add one egg at a time, whisking well after each one until completely incorporated. The texture should appear smooth, with all the sweetener dissolving into the mixture. And if using erythritol, and your batter ends up too thick, you may want to add an extra egg. Just be sure not to over-whisk, or your brownies could end up more cakey rather than fudgy.
- Add the almond flour, whisking vigorously until fully blended (about a minute).
- Bake for 15-25 minutes (we do about 23 with xylitol and 17 with erythritol), or until the center is just set and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out moist. This really does vary (a lot!!) from oven to oven (think convection etc), so give them a check from minute 15 the first time around, and remember that you'll brownies will continue to cook while they cool.
- Sprinkle with flakey sea salt (optional) and allow to cool completely on a rack. Lift brownies using the edges of the parchment paper and cut into desired size (we do 16!). To get extra clean edges, place in the freezer for 10 minutes prior to cutting.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
could i sub monkfruit sweetener in for the xylitol?
If it’s an erythritol monk fruit blend like Lakanto then yes- you need a sugar alcohol as base
I was very careful and weighed everything. They are definitely the best recipe I’ve tried but they don’t look like yours. Mine are very smooth on top so makes me wonder if they taste different as well. I did use raw cacao powder. Could that be it?
I’ve made these a number of times with both butter and coconut oil and they always turn out great. These also work very well with sunflower seed meal (ground from raw sunflower seeds in the coffee grinder I use to grind flax meal as well) in place of almond flour for those with nut allergies, or who want a cheaper alternative to almond meal. I’ve found that sunflower meal can sometimes change a recipe completely in terms of flavor, but not here! Just wanted to share that this sub works out for these brownies 😄
Thank you for your recipes, Paola – I love your blog. I tried making these tonight and failed to get the crusty, broken top you have in your photos. Mine, while I’m sure is very tasty, is very cake-y and sponge-y. I used xylitol and baked for 20 min. Any recommendations for what I can look out for next time?
So good! My only change was using salted butter. I filled 12 paper liners in a regular muffin tin, and 10 min to absolute perfection! Thank you!
Hi there! I am in the middle of making these & only have salted butter. It sounds like you also used salted butter. Did you also still add the 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt?
I would skip it hope! xo!
Will do! Thanks so much for the quick response, Paola!!
Hi Paola
Is there a tweak u know of to make them less of a fudgey brownie but more cakey or chewy?
Thanks!!
You could simply cooking them a bit longer first, or add 10-20g more almond flour xo!
thank you! i made one batch exactly like your recipe and they were absolutely delish! im going to try make a second one now with toasted pecans, a little cinnamon and vanilla extract and add a little baking powder to make them more cake-like and 10g more almond flour as well! lots of tweaks, i hope it works out! i ran out of xylitol at the 130g mark so i had to sub in 30g of swerve 🙁 the mixture was way less velvety and thicker. its sitting in the fridge overnight now and i hope its gonna work out.
Amazing amazing recipe, it was so delicious, I had the same problem with the batter being too dry , I used 170 g powder sukrin gold. Before baking however I added 1/4 cup water and the consistency was somewhat close to the Video. They turned out really similar to your images as well. 🤤 thanks for this amazing recipe
Hi. Thank you for this comment. Same problem happened to mine. I added water (1/2 cup) and it worked well. I used erythritol and exactly the same as the rest of the recipe.
sooo good and fudgey this is a real
winner!!
I’m so confused, mine turned out really bitter. Could it be my sweetener? I use something called steviosa. It’s stevia and erythritol.
Hi Mai! DEF! There are warnings throughout the post and recipe notes not to use stevia-based sweeteners 🙁
I used the Total Sweet xylitol and the carb count for everything was 11g net carbs EACH?! Cut into 16 as per your recipe…. how did you calculate 1g net carbs please?
They are delicious though!
Thanks xo
Hi Ellie! Keep in mind that sugar alcohols are not regular carbs (they go undigested through your tract), so it’s common practice to subtract them (there are several resources to read about it online) xo!
Hey Paola, I was wondering about this as well – would you be able to link some of your resources on xylitol because I’m reading stuff that says the net carb count per 100g is like 60-75g? And since I love these brownies sooooo much, I don’t want to have to stop making them..
Thanks
My mom, who doesn’t even like brownies (or chocolate), actually liked these. I just finished making my second batch, but this time I swirled natural, no sugar added, peanut butter into the batter before baking.
These brownies were SO delicious. I had missed baking now that I’m following keto and your website has brought back my love for cooking and baking.
Looks incredible, could you convert the grams to tablespoons and cups?
Thanks!
Just click on US Cups below the ingredients Susan! xo
That only works online view. When you click print, some of the ingredients go back to metric. Super frustrating…
It’s a known issue with this recipe plugin Dawn, I’m trying to work with the developer to see if we can have both when printing xo!
p.s. please keep in mind the blog is a one-woman-operation, so give this gal a break as I truly do my best to give you guys all this free content 😉
Hi, I made these and they are very tasty. However, the texture was a bit weird, almost like gelatin. It was fudgey but very dense, and I only cooked for 15 minutes. Perhaps it got too hot at the melting stage? I did use confectioners swerve. Thank you for this recipe!
It actually sounds like they probably needed a bit longer in the oven to get more bite in them xo!
As a baker and connoisseur of all things sweet, being on a keto diet has been a struggle for me. So much time and money wasted on bad recipes that just don’t work. I only discovered your blog about a month ago. Being keto is suddenly so much easier with the help of your AMAZING recipes! So far I’ve made the waffles, chocolate chip cookies, and now these delicious brownies. You are officially my go-to food blog, so please don’t ever stop creating wonderful content!
But let’s get to the brownies – I just finished eating my first piece and let me just say that this is the best keto dessert I’ve ever made! My mom who is not low-carb or sugar-free tried a piece and loved them too! This recipe is definitely a keeper.
I followed your recipe pretty much exactly as written. I used 140g of powdered Lakanto and that was a perfect sweetness level for me. I also used Dutch processed cocoa. After I added the almond flour, the batter was quite thick, so I added 1/4 cup of almond milk. After that the batter was a perfect thick pouring consistency and looked exactly like “normal” brownie batter. I baked them for exactly 20 minutes. Taste-wise, they are absolutely delicious, dark, decadent and soooo fudgey! The only real difference I noticed between these and “normal” brownies are that they weren’t chewy, but that’s to be expected with the lack of sugar and gluten. I expect using xylitol would help with that, but I can’t tolerate xylitol sadly. Very very small price to pay in my opinion!
THANK YOU for all that you do! I’ll be making these brownies again and again. 🙂
Have you had any experience baking with Lupin flour. I picked up a bag in Germany.
You’re the second person to ask me today! I JUST bought some yesterday, so I’ll begin to experiment (I’m excited because I heard it’s a lot like garbanzo, and that’s an awesome one to work with) xo Ellen!
Looooooooooooooooooooooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee these brownies!!!!! They are so yummy! I end up using salted grass-fed butter since I couldn’t find it unsalted at my store and they still turned out puuuuuurrrrrfect!
Hi there! It sounds like you used salted butter instead of unsalted. Did you also still add the 1/2 tsp Kosher salt in addition to the salted butter? (I am in the middle of making them right now & not sure what to do…)
Thanks!
Not sure where I went wrong. Had it in the oven for 15 min, but it was already to much. It became more like a dry chocolate cake, still good but not fudgy. Weighed all ingrediens and used Xylitol.
So strange Sonja! Could your oven be running at a higher temp? Did you use a different mold? Can’t think of a reason for this tbh!
How are you calculating only 3g total carbs? I’m doing the math and getting 9 per brownie.. I used swerve erythritol that is 3g per tsp (32 in 2/3c), almond flour that is 6g per 1/4c (18g for 3/4c) and then my cocoa powder is 3g total per tbsp so for 11 is 33. So 96+18+33=147 147/16=9.2 approx… so what am i doing wrong? Even -fiber it’s still like 7g 😥
Hi Chelsea! It’s just common practice to leave out the sugar alcohols as they’re not ‘regular carbs’ (unless you have a fancy section for sugar alcohols, which our plugin doesn’t have). xo!
Okay I will have to check that out, thank you!!!
This is the best keto brownie recipe I’ve ever made! I used a brownie pan and ended up with 12 brownies. While that makes them slightly higher in carbs, I think they’re the perfect size.
Wow, these came out perfect! Look and taste like the real thing! Forgot to put salt in mine but it didn’t matter. I’ve had trouble with keto baking before and expected some sort of after taste, chalky or otherwise, but nothing of the sort. Will make again!
I’m new to your website and want to bake the Super Fudge Keto Brownies. I confused on the measurement for the sweetener. It’s printed as “2/3-1 cup xylitol”.
Does that mean it’s 2/3 to a cup of sugar or is it 1 & 2/3 cup of sugar?
Thank you
Hi Evelina, welcome! It’s a guide for sweetness (explained in the section on sweeteners). You’ll want to use 2/3 cup if your taste buds are keto adapted to less sweetness, or 1 cup for regular sweetness xo!
This would have been a great explanation in the ingredients, not in the comments. Just saying.
It already is (MULTIPLE times). Just saying 😜
I made these this afternoon and they are delicious. I added 1/2 tsp. of vanilla and the taste is right on.
I really want to make these for our trip to the lake tomorrow. Quick question….is the butter supposed to be cold or room temp? I’m assuming cold, since it doesn’t say, but I wanted to be sure!
You’re going to melt it yeah so it doesn’t matter 😉 xo!
I’m refrigerating the batter over night. How long should I wait between taking i out of the fridge and putting them in he oven?
No need to wait Sio, can go straight in! xo
Hi!
I was wondering if you can use unsweetened cocoa powder instead? I’m out of regular cocoa powder and want to make these right now!
Hi Kylie, I’m not sure what you mean? Regular cocoa is unsweetened in my book, and these use regular unsweetened variety 😉 xo!
I made these as is and they turned out perfectly!
Since then I’ve had to change to an AIP diet. I was wondering if cassava flour would work in place of almond?
Thank you!
Awesome Kristian! I cannot guarantee the outcome as I haven’t tried it myself, but I have made them in the past with Teff, gluten free flour mixes, garbanzo and they turn out well too. You may want to increase the amount by 10 grams xo
Thank you for this recipe!
I just made a batch following your instructions and it turned out perfectly.
Sooo delicious
I accidentally bought the Anthony’s unblanched almond flour. Do you think this will make a difference in these brownies? Does blanched vs unbalanced make a difference, in general, when baking? I plan on baking in a 9×9 and using them for ice cream sandwiches. I can not wait!
Hi Kimberly! It does make a big difference with keto baking, but in these brownies you should still get good results (albeit maybe a bit grainy in some bits). You can also use it for ‘graham cracker’ pie crusts (check out the key lime pie on the blog) xo!
I tried making this, and I followed the instructions, but after trying to melt the ingredients, it doesn’t come out nice and goowy. It’s all stuck together? What am I doing wrong?
Wow, these are fantastic! I’m not really even a huge brownie person, but these are delicious 🙂 Turned out perfect the first time!