Properly crisp and delicious, just 1g net carb and ridiculously easy… these homemade keto funnel cakes are bound to take you back straight to your childhood!
Gluten Free & Keto Funnel Cakes
Totally Homemade (& Legit Crisp!!)
Whisk, funnel and fry... that’s it! I’m so psyched to share this fun summer treat with you guys! And for those of you in other parts of the world, funnel cakes are an American treat commonly found in fairs, carnivals and seaside resorts.
And acccording to my internet research, they’re traditionally from the Ozarks… but it looks like they can be traced back all the way to medieval Persia, and were brought to American by Dutch settlers (according to wiki at least!).
Fun fact: Alton Brown (you know, chef extraordinaire!) actually suggests using choux pastry for funnel cakes! So technically you can also make our keto churros as ‘funnel cakes’ in case you don’t have some of these ‘newer’ grain free flours.
How To Make Keto Funnel Cakes
It’s easy stuff guys, no special methodology and you’ll be done in 15 minutes, You simply whisk all the ingredients together, transfer to a ‘funnel’ (I used a disposable pastry bag!) and pipe onto hot oil to get the swirls. That’s it!
For the extra crisp factor?! Don’t freak out… but I threw in a tiny bit of mozzarella cheese! No, you absolutely cannot taste it (I swear!) and it just provides that wonderful crispness that grain free flours lack to achieve. I’ll also add that this is why the recipe has no added salt!
And I repeat, you cannot taste it as long as you use a neutral flavored cheese (the mozzarella cheese from Organic Valley is a bit bland and so perfect for this task lol!). I’ll also add that my assistant* was veeery weary of this and absolutely loved them!
Now, the one key difference to traditional (i.e. gluten) funnel cakes, is that the batter is much thicker; per usual keto-style right?!
This is why I think you’ll be better off piping it in (using a pastry bag or ziplock!) rather than using a traditional funnel. And the swirls come out muuuuch ‘prettier’… I mean, they’re fugly and look like worms, but you catch my drift!
The Flours
To whip up killer keto funnel cakes you’ll need either lupin flour or the fat-reduced almond flour! This is also the first time on the blog that I’m whipping out the lupin flour… and I know this will make many of you suuuuper happy as I get emails about it all the time!
So what is lupin? It’s simply a legume thats ridiculously low carb and calorie! Think just 3g net carbs per 100g (for reference, almond flour is 7g net!!). It’s also a probiotic fiber (i.e. great for balancing out your gut bacteria), and I’m honestly super psyched about this one as it has a lovely taste, great texture and solid nutritional qualities!
My one suggestion is that you stick to this brand for the time being… as others I’ve tried actually leave a bitter aftertaste! And you may also want to avoid it if you’re allergic to peanuts.
And, as mentioned, you can also use the fat-reduced almond flour (remember our pancakes?!*). It has been cold-pressed to remove 80% of its fat, which essentially reduces calorie content by 50% (hooray!) and makes for some seriously fluffy baked goods (double hooray)!
*Yes, this means that lupin flour works ace in our (suuuuper fluffy!) keto pancakes too! Straight sub to the (always sold out) almond one.
Other than that, you’ll still be adding a touch of super fine almond flour and xanthan gum!
The Sweetener
The batter for the keto funnel cakes is very lightly sweetened (and fairly bland solo), think just a couple tablespoons. But this is really to accommodate for the powdered sugar on top!
So to sweeten the keto funnel cakes themselves you can use anything from erythritol (Lakanto is my fav here), allulose and xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!).
And to make powdered ‘sugar’, simply get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered (allulose and xylitol will give the least aftertaste!). Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor.
Or you can always grab a bag of Powdered Lakanto (just keep in mind its twice as sweet).
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
(1g net carb!) Homemade Keto Funnel Cakes
Properly crisp and delicious, just 1g net carb and ridiculously easy... these homemade keto funnel cakes are bound to take you back straight to your childhood!
Ingredients
- 40 g lupin flour or fat-reduced almond flour* see notes!
- 15 g almond flour
- 2 tablespoons erythritol or 1/4 tsp pure monkfruit extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 6-8 tablespoons water
- 40 g mozzarella cheese very finely grated!**
- avocado oil coconut or lard, for frying
To serve
- powdered erythritol or sweetener of choice!
Instructions
Mix lupin flour (or fat-reduced almond flour), almond flour, sweetener, baking powder and xanthan gum in a small bowl. Set aside.
Whisk thoroughly together in a medium bowl the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the dry ingredients followed by the heavy cream and water, a tablespoon at a time. You can play with the thickness a bit, but I found the best consistency to be with 6 TBSP of water (the batter is thicker, but will fluff up nicely in the oil). Mix in the mozzarella and allow the batter to rest while you heat up your oil.
Prepare your frying station by adding enough oil to make it roughly 1-inch deep, and heat it up to 350°F/180°C. Transfer the batter to a piping bag (or ziplock!) and cut out the tip (1cm or 1/3" wide).
Pipe into oil in a circular motion and fry until deep golden, flipping it over gently to get both sides. Serve right away with powdered 'sugar'!
Recipe Notes
*To whip up killer keto funnel cakes you’ll need either lupin flour or the fat-reduced almond flour! My one suggestion is that you stick to this brand for the time being… as others I’ve tried actually leave a bitter aftertaste! And you may also want to avoid it if you’re allergic to peanuts. (See section on flours for more deets).
Fun fact: Alton Brown (you know, chef extraordinaire!) actually suggests using choux pastry for funnel cakes! So technically you can also make our keto churros as ‘funnel cakes’ in case you don’t have some of these ‘newer’ grain free flours.
**The mozzarella cheese provides that wonderful crispness that grain free flours lack to achieve. I’ll also add that this is why the recipe has no added salt! You cannot taste it (at all!) as long as you use a neutral flavored cheese (the mozzarella cheese from Organic Valley is a bit bland and so perfect for this task lol!).
Please note that nutrition facts were estimated for the batter only (so expect the calorie and fat macros to be higher to take into account the fried oil... but carbs will remain the same!).
Also, you may want to redo the calorie count. There is no way that one funnel cake only soaked up this little fat. Mine was very oily and wouldn’t fit in my macros.
I specify VERY clearly in the recipe card notes that I didn’t take into account for the oil so the calorie and fat macros will be higher. If yours was soggy try a thicker batter and to not cook it too large xo!
I don’t understand – why would you try to reduce fat content in a keto diet? From everything I have read, it is a dangerous thing to do. With low carbs and reduced fat, all you are left with is protein – and consuming too much protein will cause you kidney problems.
So keto is a high-fat, not high-protein (and low-carb, of course) diet.
I am sure this isn’t new to you – so tell me what I don’t know!
Hi Kate! There’s nothing dangerous about removing the fat, remember that Keto is a metabolic state that occurs in the absence of carbs! ALSO (and very important!) you’re frying these in oil… i.e. you’re adding A LOT of fat that way if that’s your concern 😉 xo!
Would I be able to just use almond flour as opposed to the lupin?
These were AMAZING Paola thank you! We’re redoimg them for the 4th!!
I’m so honored, how wonderful to hear Stacey!!
I made these funnel cakes for my entire family. It was loved by all, both keto and non-keto alike! Rather than the powdered sugar I dipped mine in a cinnamon sugar mixture (using xylitol) and it was AMAZING. I can’t believe these are so low carb and so low calorie.
That sounds awesome Kathryn! Sounds like you crossed funnel cakes with churros (and I think I’ll follow suit soon!) xo!
Oh but keep in mind that they’re a bit higher calorie 100! As stated in the notes, I honestly had no idea how to account for the oil in the calculations- so I gave it to you guys for the the batter only (so I’m assuming calories will be around 200-300, but carbs will be still 1g) xo!!!
Mine did not come out quite right. I ended up with a wet, greasy mess. Used the Lupine which I ordered especially for this. It tasted fine (though oily) so I don’t know what I did wrong to end up with a spongy blob of funnel and grease. I made “normal” funnel cakes for kids and they were fine so it was definitely something to do with the mix itself. Might try again.
Oh no Jessica I’m sorry to hear! By any chance was your batter too wet? The batter is a lot thicker for these than traditional funnel cakes. It happened to me in the first try and they didn’t cook all the way through inside (so they were wet, like you mention) xo!
Could you give the name of the lupin flour you prefer, when I click on your site words, nothing happens.
Thanks
It’s the Lupina one Michelle! Xo!
Boy am I going to try these!!!! I’ll feel like I’m at the fair!!
LOL that’s exactly what we all felt over here! Took me back to my childhood in a heartbeat 🙂
That looks sooo gastronomically good. LOL I like the word cause it sounds better than Intestinally LOL plus gastronomically sounds more like it has to do with the stomach than with food.. I have a strange sense of the funny, please bear with me. :X
When I read intestinally I thought you were avoiding it because it reads like intestines… and well, funnel cakes look a bit wormy lol! But I also didn’t even know that was a word, clearly not my first language!
I wonder if this recipe can be used to make Hush Puppies?
I actually had to google these because in my world, Hush Puppies were my favorite brand of shoes when I was a kid lol! BUT maybe! I see that they are fried balls made with cornmeal… but I’m not sure what they’re like!
Are they crisp? Soft? A bit like cornbread?
I wonder if you added just another Tbsp of coconut flour for the texture if it would be something more like the consistency of a hush puppy? Sounds like an amazing opportunity to try it out 😉 My hubs loves hush puppies and misses having them periodically. Great idea!!
Ooooh! I do like coconut flour in ‘corn’ things… but I don’t really like it fried so I’m not sure?
The fat-reduced Almond flour you recommend is still unavailable on Amazon. I left a message for them to contact me when it becomes available when you posted your other recipe using that flour, but, I checked again today and it is not in stock. Very disappointing.
I know man! But that’s not fault (I didn’t deserve the 1 star rating lol!!). That’s why I made these with Lupin flour instead (as in don’t shoot the messenger!) 😉
No offense meant to you at all!! I just did the one because I haven’t tried the recipe. LOL!! I should have left it unchecked….so sorry, Paola.
Lol no need to apologize 🤣
I was more like…please go leave that 1 star to Sukrin for not restocking that almond flour 😅
Ronalyn…I ran into the same problem as you did. By luck one day, in the peanut butter isle at Walmart, I saw they were selling an unsweetened powdered almond butter, but in actuality its just defatted almond flour. The brand is Barney Butter. The only ingredient is blanched almonds. May this could working for you if your local Walmart sells it.
Bruce THANK YOU!!! I just saw on amazon that there are a couple brands selling it too so def going to test it!!
No problem.
Girl! Omg! That looks AMAZINGGG!
Question, though…
How much does the fat-reduced almond flour change the look/texture/taste (opposed to the lupin flour)? With keto, I try to stay away from all legumes, so the almond flour would be my option.
Hi Sara! Both work great honestly- lupin just tends to fluff up a bit more. Alternatively, you can whip up our keto churros with the choux pastry too (I used that one for the donut holes too!) and just pipe it as funnel cake (I mention this in the notes, but this is Alton Browns preferred method- I just wanted to give a quicker option here!). xo!
Why the requirement for fat-reduced almond flour, if one doesn’t have Lupin? Is it a dietary goal of reducing the fat in the recipe or does the fat in almond flour adversely affect the recipe results?
Hi Millie!! It’s not a dietary requirement, it’s a baking requirement here. Regular almond flour ends up wet inside in these type of baked goods (same with the pancakes!!!) xo!!
Great recipe, throw a few berries on top like they do at the fair. Heaven!
Yesssssssss!!!!
You want come here and help me pick my jaw up from the floor Paola??? 😲🤯
I cannot believe I get to have funnel cakes back in my life!!! I didn’t even get to enjoy them as much as I wanted pre-keto! Now they’re healthy…ish??? I can treat myself when I feel like it without the guilt??? 👼👼👼 Oh my!!!!
I knew you were going to live this one Lisa! Soooo fun right?!!! Xo!!
Do you think you could use Carb-Quick flour?
I’ve honestly never tried because I believe it has viral wheat gluten right?