In search for a dairy free alternative to fathead dough?! Look no further than these gluten free, paleo and keto bagels with yeast. Soft, chewy and with an awesome taste(i.e. no eggy or cheesy business here!).
Gluten Free & Keto Bagels
With yeast!
These low carb and grain free bagels are pure gold guys! And if you’ve already met my soft ‘n fluffy sandwich bread (or proper cinnamon rolls!), you already know I don’t mess around when it comes to bread.
And these guys right here are no exception. Plus, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to whip them up.
p.s. They’re just 3g net carbs per (full-sized!) bagel. Ideal!
The Deets
Because the keto grain free flours do not cook in water, doing a traditional bagel recipe (i.e. boiling them before baking!) unfortunately just isn’t possible. Still, the results are outstanding.
As you well know, bagels are dense and chewy, so you may want to play around a bit with the rising time to get them denser or lighter. Full disclosure, I prefer to do a bit of a longer rise (about 45-50 minutes); they become a little softer, but the taste with the yeast becomes sooo good.
Still, making these paleo and keto bagels is incredibly simple really. But, like with any yeasted bread, it does require you take care of a few details to ensure the best possible outcome.
In my experience, and unlike our staple sandwich keto bread, these low carb bagels don’t collapse much (if at all!) post bake.
You just must ensure your bagels do increase in size substantially while proofing. They can even double if you let them, but they do become a bit fluffier. And note that grain free yeast doughs do require a little extra warmth. For instance, I place my tray on top of my oven as I heat it up (so my tray gets slightly warm and they rise beautifully). But you must ensure you don’t overheat them or you’ll kill the yeast. Think a warm and humid day at the beach, that’s the ideal temperature.
Shape the dough
Wet your fingertips and shape into rounds, poking a whole in the middle and smoothing as much as possible.
Let it rise
Grain free yeast doughs need a little more cuddling. So find a warm spot and proof the dough for 20-60 minutes (less time for denser bagels, more for fluffier ones).
Bake them up!
Brush with an egg white wash (better browning), sprinkle with toppings of choice (you can’t go wrong with Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel), and bake for about 20-25 mins until deep golden.
The Tips ‘N Tricks
The yeast in this low carb and keto bread ensures a wonderful texture and taste. Check out these tips for best results with grain free yeast doughs!
Weigh your ingredients. This will forever be a staple recommendation for any sort of gluten free baking here at gnom-gnom. As aside from leading to less dirty dishes, it will ensure consistent results time and time again. Remember that gluten free (and particularly keto) baking is notoriously finicky, and measuring by cups is anything but accurate. And if you don’t own a baking scale, measure with cups by dropping the ingredients onto them rather than scooping them out (which often leads to overpacking).
Ingredients at room temperature. Self explanatory really, but incredibly important (particularly for the eggs). If you add cold eggs to the mix your bread simply won’t rise much (if at all).
Proof the yeast. This involves mixing dry active yeast with water that’s just warm to touch (between 105-110°F to be precise) and inulin or an actual sugar (think maple syrup or honey) for 7 minutes until foamy. And before you scream sugar (!!) remember that the yeast will feed on such sugar to emit carbon dioxide, so it doesn’t affect the carb count. And yes, this is a scientific fact.
Avoid abrupt temperature changes and air drafts. Like with any yeast bread, you need to cuddle your dough. Make sure it’s able to rest undisturbed in a warm space.
Baking at high altitude? Yup, so am I (Paola here!!). You just need to up the temperature a bit to seal the rise, and just keep an eye out for excessive browning.
The Ingredients & Possible Subs
These bagels do have a few ingredients, but you’ll find that most are staple paleo and keto pantry ingredients. In the list below you’ll find details on several ingredients and possible subs. This is also perhaps the most forgiving recipe in terms of subs out of all the grain free yeast bread recipes on the site!
Almond flour. You truly need a super finely ground almond flour here, as if you use meal your rolls will turn out dense and oily. Super fine almond flour brands include Anthony’s , WellBees and Bob’s.
Now if paleo, or in keto maintenance, you can lighten up the bread even more by substituting part of the almond flour (3-6 tablespoons) with arrowroot flour.
Flaxseed meal or psyllium husk can be used interchangeably in this recipe, and they both need to be re-ground for best texture. You’ll want to use golden flaxseed meal (we use Bob’s), and regrind the flakes in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until finely powdered. Great way to avoid slimy bread. And for the psyllium husk powder, NOW brand doesn’t turn bread purple.
Whey protein isolate ensures a better rise. But since bagels are on the dense side, you can get away with subbing with more almond flour (they just collapse a bit post bake). Keep in mind that this ingredient varies tremendously from brand to brand, and we’ve only tried (and are super happy!) with Isopure’s Zero Carb Unflavored. I’m still experimenting with more subs here, but a few of you reported back successfully back on our soft ‘n fluffy sandwich bread that collagen and hemp pro protein powder worked (I cannot guarantee these subs yet though!).
Xanthan gum. Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like (and your cream cheese, well cream cheese-like). And it’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking. And while we do prefer the results with it, you can sub it with flax.
Gluten Free & Keto Bagels (With Yeast!)
Ingredients
For the keto bagels
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons inulin maple syrup or honey, to feed the yeast
- 120 ml water lukewarm between 105-110°F
- 192 g almond flour
- 42 g golden flaxseed meal or psyllium husk, finely ground
- 20 g whey protein isolate or more almond flour (in tablespoons)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum or 1 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seeds**
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon kosher salt depending on toppings
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 2 egg whites at room temperature
- 21 g extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Topping suggestions
- 1 egg white lightly beaten with a teaspoon of water, for egg wash
- Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel
Instructions
- Our keto bagels use the focaccia methodology (albeit different ratios), but do check out the video below for deets 'n tricks!
- Add yeast and maple syrup (to feed the yeast, see notes) to a large bowl. Heat up water to 105-110°F, and if you don't have a thermometer it should only feel lightly warm to touch. Pour water over yeast mixture, cover bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 7 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly, if it isn't start again (too cold water won't activate the yeast and too hot will kill it).
- Mix your flours while the yeast is proofing. Add almond flour, psyllium husk (or flaxseed meal), whey protein isolate (or more almond flour), xanthan gum, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
- Once your yeast is proofed, add in the egg, egg whites, olive oil and vinegar. Mix with a whisk or electric mixer for a couple minutes until light and frothy. Add the flour mixture in two batches, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. You want to mix thoroughly and quickly to activate the xanthan gum, though the dough will become very thick by the end and form into a round.
- Line a baking tray with a baking mat or parchment paper. Wet your hands (so the dough doesn't stick!) and divide the dough into 8 rounds. Smooth the rounds as much as possible and, using your index finger, make an indentation in the center, stretching out the dough until 'bagel shaped'. Cover with a oiled cling film (saran wrap) and place in a warm draft-free space for 20-60 minutes. You want to do 20 minutes for a denser bagel, and 40-60 for a fluffier one (I personally go for the longer rise as the yeast taste develops much more!).
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C while the dough is proofing. And if you're baking at high altitude, you'll want to bake it at 375°F/190°C.
- Brush with an egg white wash (better browning), sprinkle with toppings of choice (you can't go wrong with Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel), and bake for about 20-25 mins until deep golden. Check in on them at minute 10-13, and cover with aluminum foil if needed.
- Allow the bagels to cool completely for best texture, as the bread will continue to cook while cooling resulting in a better crumb. But if you can't hold your horses, at least give it 15 minutes before digging in (the bagels in the pics were cut just 20 minutes after baking).
- Keep stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple days, giving it a light toast before serving again. These guys also freeze great.
Wow! Thank You for developing this recipe! It really feels and tastes like glutinous bread! This is great!
Hi, do we have to use flaxseed or and psyllium husk? I have discomfort from eating them
Thanks
I’m so sorry, I really didn’t like these. The texture was kind of strange, grainy and mushy, even though they were well baked. Their color was good, and they looked like your pictures, but the taste was way off, the texture was soft, but not chewy at all, and the taste was NOT good. Thanks anyway.
Can you freeze these ? Can you freeze the dough prior to baking ?
Freeze them after Windy!
These are really good! I made with collagen protein vs whey and psyllium, used all same amounts listed ingredients.
I made a batch topped with Everything But the Bagel first and they were good enough to make more! Now Im making a double batch using cinnamon & monkfruit as the topping. It smells so good. I cant wait to try one. I think my grandkids will love them too! Thanks for the recipe, its a keeper.
I made these bagels yesterday. I had one for breakfast this morning, half with butter, other half with LF cream cheese. I didn’t have the everything seasoning, so used a GF onion soup mix and poppy seeds for the topping. Very amazing and I have seven more to have for breakfast later in the week. Thank you so much for these recipes. I made the shortbread and gingerbread cookies as Christmas exchange gifts. My husband’s five year old diabetic niece positively glowed when I told her I had brought her some 1 net carb cookies.
Can I use fresh yeast instead of dry and how much?
Oh my goodness!!! These turned out AMAZING! I’ve been Keto for 8 months and finally found a bagel & bread recipe that is close to the real deal. Thank you so much for the time & effort you put into these recipes. Your waffle recipe & buttercream fat bombs are amazing too 🙂 Can’t wait to try more!
That’s wonderful to hear Nikki! Thank you sharing 🙂
I made them as directed, and sadly, they didn’t turn out. I proofed my yeast, and it was frothy and bubbly. I let the bagels rise for 60 mins, then gave them another 15 mins in hopes that they would rise, to no avail. I baked them anyway, but they were dense and wet in the middle.
I likely will not make these again.
I made these bagels in strict accordance to your recipe . I bought fresh yeast and “Everything but the bagel” seasoning and weighed the dry ingredients, as I do with everything I bake. They came out exactly the way you described, including looking like your photo, and were so good I could hardly believe it. If people follow your recipe without subbing anything, make sure their yeast is fresh,weigh and measure the ingredients carefully, make sure to let their dough rise in a warm environment and follow your instructions for shaping the bagels, I can’t think of any reason they won’t get similar results. Thank you for developing this wonderful recipe.
Hi,
I want to try these out and want to buy all the ingredients needed. Your link for the Inulin is for powder and not maple syrup. Does this matter?
Thank you
Made these today and I am very happy with them. The dough was a little wet but they still turned out just fine. Will adjust with more almond flour next time. Now on to the cinnamon rolls! Thank you for your hard work.
I have made these a couple of times and they are amazing. A lot of work, yes, but SO WORTH IT! They came out perfect and delicious. I froze half after cutting in half and they were so easy to just pull out of the freezer, toast up and off we go! Actually, I love all your recipes.
Can anyone who has made and ate these tell me if they made you bloat from the yeast? I tend to be really allergic to some foods and im worried about using yeast in a bread recipe, and how it will effect a ketogenic diet.
Hi Jennifer,
When I started Keto, my allergic reactions are amplified so I can really tell when I’m allergic to something. I am not allergic to yeast but I am super allergic to psyllium husk (which I replace with more flax). A great way to tell if you are allergic to something before you have it is have someone muscle test you, which involves someone testing your resistance on an outstretched arm on it’s own, and then again while you hold the food in your other hand. My doctors have been using this method for years and works well. You can also Google it to find out more:) Hope this helps.
Well, I made these and they smell great! But they came out black and I don’t mean burnt. They changed into a black color, they also didn’t rise. I am scared to know what I may have done wrong, lol. Still excited about them!
I’ve made things that went a bit “colourful”and my daughter told me it is the virgin olive oil. I tend to use macadamia oil in most things as it is colourless. Interested to see what Paola says. Good luck 🙂
The color change is probably from the brand of psyllium husk. Some of them turn your baked goods dark purple. Doesn’t affect the taste, though. Not rising probably means your yeast died or was old.
I used a “donut baking pan” and let them rise in it. The bagels became so nice and round. AND I am going to stress, if you tried this recipe without the whey protein and had no rise… get some and try again!!!! Totally different result 😉
Thank you for your comment! I just made these awesome Bagels & decided to skip the whey protein and they didn’t rise very much. Will be sure and use WP next time.
These turned out perfect! Did half with everything seasoning and other half without for peanut butter! Thank you!
My pleasure!
Looking forward to making these but a little confused about using more almond flour in lieu of Whey Protein isolate. It reads (in tablespoons) and I don’t know how many tablespoons to use. Can you give the measurement in grams or number of tablespoons. Am I looking for a particular consistency or texture? Thanks much and LOVE your site!
I can’t wait to try this recipe and so happy it doesn’t have a ton of mozzarella cheese. I I have all the ingredients including the salmon so I can’t wait till morning.
These are really good. I was so glad to find your site and all the non-fathead dough recipes. Even my husband, who hates substitute anything, declared these good. The only step I overlooked was grinding my flax seed meal a bit more (and on the first round, which was still good, grabbed the regular flaxseed out of the fridge by mistake). I mixed my own everything bagel topping. These toast well, although take a bit longer than a regular bagel. People at work ate them up. We have breakfast treats every Thursday morning and I’ve been a bystander for a year and a half. Your Cinnamon Rolls are next on my list!
Thank you for your adventurous baking spirit!
First of all, let me say, you are a GENIUS! To make a firm dough, without the disgusting fathead method, is marvelous. Secondly, ( and this is in NO WAY a criticism of your recipe!) I cannot use psyllium (it makes me itch), I prefer guar gum instead of xanthan, and I can not abide the taste of flax. So, of course, I had to play with my food (I always do), and adapt your recipe to go along with the loss of those three things. I’m not allergic to gluten, so I used 42 g. of that. It still was too wet, so I added a couple of Tbs. of coconut flour, and two tsp. of guar gum. After proofing and baking, I realized it was still too wet, because I ended up with a very good facsimile of a rather flat hard roll, but not a bagel. Not your fault, of course, since I only used part of your recipe. But I’m going to try it again, doubling the gluten, and leaving out the coconut flour, because though I don’t necessarily dislike the flavor, it didn’t taste like it belonged, changing the bread feel and bite. I also will add more salt, because it tastes as if there’s none in it, though I put in 3/4 tsp. Who knows if I’ll end up with anything that tastes like a bagel, but as I said, I do like to play with my food. This first try made really good toast, though, and will make good hamburger buns. It lost its rise after I put it in the oven (dough was just too wet), but even if I only end up with bread instead of bagels, thank you soooooo much, for the inspiration!
Hi there! I’m making these as we speak. I didn’t have the xantham gum or the whey protein so I had to substitute with what you suggested. I used two cups of almond flour and when I started to add everything together, the dough was like. Thicker pancake dough, and Did not “become very thick and round” so I had to add a little more almond flour. Do you have any thoughts on why my dough didn’t get very thick when I was mixing? My yeast was bubbly and I mixed all those ingredients until light and frothy. I don’t know where I went wrong!
Can these be piped into a donut pan?
Don’t see why not!
Hi Paola,
I’m just curious, if you use 1/4 cup of arrowroot flour in any of your bread/bagel recipes, what does that do to the carb count? I thought I read in one of your recipes that there was an alternative to the arrowroot flour that did the same but without the added carbs but I can’t find it….maybe it was wishful thinking….
Thank you again for your time and your recipes!
Hello, just wondering if there is a difference between using regular ground flax and golden flax? I can’t find golden anywhere. Thought I’d ask before ordering online. Thanks!
Hi Julie! Yeah, unfortunately they behave like completely different ingredients (be sure to buy the golden meal!) xo!
I made these without xanthan or whey powder and while they didn’t rise up (more like out), they were delicious! Planning on ordering some xanthan powder for next time. Should the dough be pretty wet when shaping? I’m not sure what happened at the end
Hi Jennifer! The difference in texture was definitely because of the xanthan gum 😉 xo!
These are INSANE!!! So so good. I have no idea how you came up with this recipe but it is utterly fabulous. I made 6 pretty big bagels and could’ve probably let them rise for a full hour instead of 40 minutes but they came out great nonetheless. I also used brown flax meal instead of golden because it’s all I had but it worked great (kinda like a whole wheat bagel instead of your lovely golden ones). Thanks so much, this one’s a keeper!
Awesome to hear Sarah!! And yup on the regular flax, but in my experience it also gave them a denser (and slightly slimy?) texture 😉 xo!
Hi – I just made these and were great. However they were Overpowering of yeast taste or maybe apple cider vinegar? 1 tablespoon of yeast right? And mine took a bit longer to rise . I proofed them for over an hr. They did rise but feel like should of more. Are these smaller bagel size? Do they not rise as much as say a regular bread? I bake homemade Italian bread yearly so I know how to make bread and do yeast. However not so sure about gluten free stuff 🙂 they were also dense not fluffy. And I didn’t have the protein powder and added more blanched almond flour. Said believe 1/4 cup done by teaspoons or tablespoon. So I added more almond flour. I did however kinda pack alomond flour a bit. As I did with ground golden flax seed. Should I have not packed flours down, however I didn’t do it much say as adding a packed brown sugar .
Thank you 🙏🏽 😉❤️
Can’t wait to try these, but I have a question. And I know I’m being super picky here. Isn’t whey from dairy? Paled says no to dairy. I also have a dairy allergy so wondering if anyone has now tried this with a non dairy protein isolate
Can I use granulated monk fruit sweetener instead of maple syrup?