These easy one-bowl keto brownies have a secret ingredient to make them extra fudgy and chewy. This might just be the ultimate keto brownie recipe and no one can tell they are low carb and gluten-free. At less than 4g total carbs, you can dig in with gusto!
Remember some time ago when I promised to bring you more basic keto recipes on this blog? Well these super fudgy keto brownies are part of that promise.
I love baking more elaborate creations and proving to the world that the keto diet it anything but restrictive. But sometimes I forget that simple and straightforward can be just as delicious.
So let’s skip the fancy stuff and get down to basics again!
Why you’ll love this recipe
The secret to the perfect texture is the addition of a little gelatin. I figured if it helps make my keto ginger molasses cookies chewier, it couldn’t hurt to try adding it to brownies, right?
And it really works! These keto brownies have all the best features you’re looking for, with a dense, rich texture and a slightly crackly top. They’re incredibly easy to make too. It takes a single bowl and 35 minutes from start to finish.
And readers swear that no one can even tell they are keto. I call that a win.
Ingredients you need
- Butter: Use unsalted butter and make sure to let it cool a bit before adding the sweetener and eggs.
- Sweetener: I recommend Swerve or another erythritol-based sweetener for this recipe. Using another sweetener will change the texture and consistency. Learn more about keto sweeteners here.
- Eggs: Large eggs are the standard for baking.
- Vanilla extract: Vanilla always brings out the chocolate flavor.
- Almond flour: Make sure you are using a finely ground almond flour for the best consistency. I also have a coconut flour brownie recipe, if you prefer.
- Cocoa powder: I prefer Dutch process cocoa powder when baking keto brownies. It has a deeper, richer chocolate flavor, but you can use natural cocoa powder if you prefer.
- Grass fed gelatin: Grassfed gelatin is the best choice for this and other keto recipes, but you can use Knox gelatin. Use 1 envelope for the brownies and make sure you add it along with the dry ingredients. You can also omit it completely but the brownies will be less chewy.
- Chocolate chips: Make sure to choose keto-friendly chips like ChocZero!
- Pantry staples: Baking powder and salt.
Step by Step Instructions
1. Whisk together the wet ingredients, including the butter, sweetener, eggs, and vanilla extract. Sweetener goes in with the wet ingredients so it dissolves better.
2. Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, gelatin, baking powder, and salt and whisk until well combined. Always add the gelatin powder with the dry ingredients before adding any water so that you don’t end up with blobs of gelatin in your brownie batter.
3. Stir in the water a little at a time to thin the batter to a thick but pourable consistency. You may not need the full amount of liquid to thin the batter – it depends on your cocoa powder and how absorbent it is. The batter should be the consistency of conventional brownie batter. Stir in the chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if using.
4. Spread the batter in a greased 8×8 inch metal baking pan and bake at 350ºF 15 to 20 minutes. If you prefer cakier brownies, continue baking for another few minutes until the center is fully cooked through. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan.
Recipe Tips and FAQs
This is a basic keto brownie recipe that you can customize and add your own fun twists to. Try these delicious ideas:
- Stir in ½ – ¾ cup chopped walnuts or pecans.
- Use brewed coffee instead of water to enhance the chocolate flavor. Or add some espresso powder for a mocha flavor.
- Add some different flavors of keto chocolate chips, such as white chocolate, peanut butter, or mint.
- Add some keto chocolate frosting or chocolate ganache.
- Drizzle with some keto caramel sauce for a decadent treat.
Use a metal baking pan. Ceramic and glass don’t conduct heat as efficiently as metal, so they will take much longer to bake through and firm up properly.
For fudgy keto brownies you will need almond meal, swerve sweetener, butter, eggs, cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips. My secret ingredient to making these brownies chewy is the addition of grass fed gelatin.
This brownie recipe is tested with almond flour and you can not simply swap out with coconut flour. You can, however, substitute with sunflower seed flour for a nut-free version.
For one 2-inch square, these keto brownies have only 1.2 grams of net carbs. Best of all, they taste as good as regular brownies, so you won’t miss the carbs at all.
Store the brownies in a covered container on the counter for up to 4 days, or in the fridge for a week. They can also be frozen for several months. Store them in an airtight container to avoid freezer burn.
Swaps and substitutions
- Dairy-free Option: Substitute the butter with melted coconut oil, ghee, or another liquid oil.
- Nut-free Option: You can use sunflower seed flour for nut-free keto brownies. Replace the almond flour cup for cup.
- Egg-free Option: I have not tried to make these keto brownies egg-free, but a few readers had good luck using flax seed meal and water.
- Alternate Sweeteners: I highly recommend an erythritol-based sweetener, such as Swerve or Lakanto, to achieve the best texture. Other sweeteners like BochaSweet and allulose will make them more cakey and soft.
More delicious keto brownie recipes
If you love brownies, I have the ultimate list of the best keto brownie recipes. Some of my personal favorites include:
Fudgy Keto Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter melted
- ⅔ cup Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup almond flour about 50g
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon grassfed gelatin
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water (as necessary)
- ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips, sugar-free optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease an 8×8 inch metal baking pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sweetener, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Add the almond flour, cocoa powder, gelatin, baking powder, and salt and whisk until well combined. Stir in a little water at a time to thin the batter to a thick but pourable consistency. Stir in the chocolate chips, if using.
- Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are set but the center still seems a tiny bit wet. If you prefer cakier brownies, continue baking for another few minutes until the center is fully cooked through.
- Remove and let cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.
Nikki says
These are incredible! I can’t eat chocolate ????, so I subbed carob powder instead and used milk instead of water to offset the dryness of the carob. I know it changes the carbs a bit, but that’s okay for me. They came out so fudgy and amazing!
Violet says
about the wetness a few people mentioned, mine came out wet and unappetizing the first time. i had to bake them for another 15 minutes to get them to set. it was, however, not a flaw in the recipe. with my cocoa powder, i didn’t need 1/4th cup of water. while i added it slowly, i didn’t need the full 1/4th cup. i made them again today, and this time i added only 1/8th cup of water. and they were perfectly fudgy, no wetness. i baked them for 22 minutes at 350. and my aunt who *dislikes* chocolate tried the brownies and went back for extras. they were fantastic.
so if yours are too wet, one possibility is you added more water than was needed.
Carolyn says
Actually it often has to do with people using a ceramic pan, rather than a metal one. It makes a big difference.
Michaelene K says
Can this recipe be doubled and used in an 11X13 pan? I don’t have the metal pan noted but would like to try making them (and get the right consistency). I’d prefer not to by an additional pan and these look delicious!
Carolyn says
You need to do the math… 8×8 is 64 inches, 11×13 is 143 inches – so it’s more than double the size and your batter will be thin so it will cook faster.
Krista says
I’m so excited to have found your blog! I am a newly diagnosed diabetic with a big sweet tooth so you’ve given me a lot of hope!
I made these tonight, I didn’t have any gelatin so I just made them without it. Something really weird happened. The eggs seemed to sink to the bottom and I ended up with a thin layer of eggs with brownies on top. The brownie part is super tasty so I’m excited to try these again but I’m wondering what might have gone wrong?
Carolyn says
Oh my, I don’t know. I’ve never heard of that. What kind of cocoa powder and sweetener did you use?
LORI BALESTRIER says
Hi,
Just wanted to say I have been keto for 2 years . I just made these and your chocolate chip cheesecake bars
AMAZING. Also let me say i have been doing all kinds of pancake recipes and stumbled on yours this morning.
Absolutely the best i have found my favorite part is no cream cheese they fluffed and looked and tasted just like regular pancakes ,THANK YOU THANK YOU. Which is the reason i wanted to try more of your recipes .I most definitely will
be bookmarking your page :)!!!!!!
Lucy says
I didn’t have gelatin but it didn’t need it. It’s yummy and I may eat the whole thing by the end of the day!!
Victor says
I’ve tried some of the popular keto brownies popular on Google and they were all crumbly. Tried this one as it was suggested on Reddit.
Finally – it doesn’t crumble to pieces like the others, unless you warm it up. I found that anywhere from room temp and below, I could grab and bite it without it falling to pieces, this was a huge step forward! However, after giving it some warmth in the microwave, it did become quite crumbly.
The only thing I changed was instead of powdered gelatin, I bloomed 3 sheets of gelatin, rung the water, and microwaved for 10 seconds into liquid – I found that 3-4 sheets is about the same as a tbsp. of gelatin powder.
As someone who still eats regular brownies… while these weren’t identical to their flour counter parts, I really enjoyed the texture and flavor and definitely put them on par with the fancy Ghirardelli brownies and a bit better than regular cheap boxed brownies.
Overall, really solid recipe that doesn’t crumble like the competition, replacing the popular keto brownie recipe you find on your first google search with this one in my recipe book 🙂
I look forward to any comments you have!
Marlies Veulemans says
Hi, i just bought your book. Do i use the red or green gelatin powder for the recipient, for chewy keto brownies ?
Carolyn says
The green can is collagen, not gelatin. So the orange can…
Emily Johnson says
The best low carb brownie recipe! I’ve made this one multiple times. I’m currently waiting for a ChocZero order to arrive – can’t wait to try it with white chocolate chips!
Roberta Worley says
Pre-keto, I found ‘the best brownies ever’ on An Italian in My Kitchen. They were made with 100% unsweetened cacao and they were outstanding and super fudgy as you have described yours.
Since I’ve been on keto and even when I was doing Paleo post Whole30, it seems that most baked goods contain almond flour. I’ve never even heard of sunflower flour. Is that something I can make at home?
Although I have Trader Joe’s 100 percent unsweetened cacao chips, do I have to add them? Will it change the brownies’ consistency or fudginess if I do?
Thank you!
Carolyn says
Here’s how you can make your own sunflower seed flour https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/how-to-make-your-own-sunflower-seed-flour/
You can leave out the chips if you don’t want them.
Chad Martin says
Taste is great! Glad I made them. Mine did turn iut more cakey then chewy. I used Knox gelatine instead and Hershey cocoa other than that followed the recipe even the metal pan! Still good and will be making again.
Carolyn says
Might be the Knox gelatine. I don’t really use it… Also you can bake them a little less if you want them super fudgy.
Tyra says
I love getting your recipes and videos in my inbox! Today I decided to try your brownies! I doubled the recipe, added nuts and Lilly’s, then baked in a 9×11 pan. I baked for 25 minutes in a metal pan…perfect!
Whitney Holmes says
PMS cravings had me going bananas and on the salty/sweet war path! I made it per the recipe, except for using allulose instead of swerve. I added Lilly’s dark chocolate chips, topped with some of your chocolate frosting and a little whipped cream…OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!! So much dark chocolatey goodness!!! I’m fairly new to low carb baking, but have always been a big baker so it’s been so fun discovering your recipes. I also made the Italian cream cake today and will dig into that in the morning. Thank you so much for putting out recipes that are easy to follow and my non keto family members are loving!
Cate says
My experience was/is great! I used: only 2 tbsp of powdered monk fruit/stevia blend that’s available at grocery stores here,6 peewee eggs, almost 1/4 cup of water (although I probably didn’t really need that because it wasn’t a stiff batterwithout the liquid) and 1 pkge of Knox gelatin added in with the dry ingredients. Because I used a smaller round pan the brownies were a bit higher than yours were. So I baked them for about 30 or 35 minutes. They turned out cakey, of course, but I expected that.
I tried the brownies before they were totally cooled, well they were almost cool. lol. I just couldn’t wait! About a third of the pan somehow disappeared! I don’t know HOW that happened… winks.
The flavour is awesome, even with these changes. I’m going to try them again with no added water and baking them for a shorter time, just to see if I can get them to come out more like brownies than cake. But I gotta say… I thoroughly enjoyed them the way they are!
Thanks so much for sharing so many of your recipes with all of us. I’m a new Youtube subscriber today.
AngelaB says
I probably shouldn’t have read this recipe. I was then compelled to follow it to the letter. Having done so, I became instantly addicted to these brownies. Not only me! I shared them with my husband, whose overactive sweet tooth gave a hearty approval stamped with “More Please”. Then I made a pan for my daughter and son-in-law. More brownie addicts were born. So now I can enjoy my (ok, *your*) lovely brownies without fear of judgement from the family.
They are the perfect combination of chocolatey yumminess and chewy gooey texture—just as brownies were meant to be. This recipe is a masterpiece! Thank you SO much!!!!!
Carolyn says
I’m so glad to hear it 🙂
Valorie says
I don’t know if my
Comment went through so I am rewriting this again. I have made these brownies several times and I thoroughly enjoyed them every time!! I want to use some expresso powder in them, suggestions on much I should use?? Thank you so much for this wonderful ???????????????? recipe!! ????????
Carolyn says
A teaspoon or two should be good.
Valorie says
I misspelled my name lol!! Sorry it’s Valorie not Balorie!????
Balorie says
I’ve made this a number of times and I really love them! I wanted to try and add some
Expresso powder, any suggestions on how much I should use? Thank you so very much for this wonderful ???????????????? recipe????????
Nan says
Carolyn, you have a ridiculous number of comments here but I just HAD to add mine…
What a fantastic recipe! I’m made these for clients this week (I’m a personal chef) and some of my clients are Keto. I took a chance on these and they are nothing short of perfect! I doubled the batch, used Swerve Confectioners (I always use this for baking) and added 1T of coconut flour because I’m at high altitude.
PERFECT! My keto girls are going to be so happy!
Thank you, thank you! Nan
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it! Thanks for wading through all the other comments to leave one…
Shery says
Carolyn,
Would I do 1/2 cup avocado oil in place of the butter ?
Carolyn says
Sure!