I have tested dozens of keto brownie recipes over the years, trying to nail that perfect balance of crisp edges and a fudgy, gooey center. And THIS is the recipe that I come back to every time. It has everything you want in a brownie, without the sugar, carbs, or grains.
And it is the basis for so many other delicious treats, like Keto Peanut Butter Brownies and Keto German Chocolate Brownies. I mean, why mess with perfection? These keto brownies lend themselves so well to delicious toppings and frostings.
It took some experimenting, but I finally cracked the code to get that chewy brownie texture. The secret is so simple! A little gelatin mixed in with the almond flour and cocoa powder makes them ultra-moist and fudgy.
And they are so darn easy to make – one bowl and 35 minutes to pure chocolate bliss. I guarantee this will become your go-to keto brownie recipe. Top them with a scoop of keto ice cream or a drizzle of keto chocolate sauce for a seriously decadent experience.
Reader’s Thoughts
“This brownie exceeded my expectations of a brownie taste to the max. Most brownies are dry but this recipe takes them to another level and this is one of my favorite keto dessert recipes ever. If your on keto or not you need to make these yummy gooey brownies they definitely will put a smile on your face!” — Melinda S.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- So easy! Whip up this keto brownie batter in one bowl, and they’re ready for the oven.
- Rich flavor: If you’re a chocoholic like me, you will adore the deep chocolate flavor.
- Perfect texture: They have that wonderful chewy, fudgy texture that make brownies so unique.
- Low carb: They are very low in carbs, with only 3.6 grams per serving.
- Make ahead recipe: These brownies store well in the fridge or freezer so you can make a batch and enjoy them at your leisure.
- A crowd pleaser: Readers love them and many people say that no one can tell they are keto-friendly!
Ingredient Notes
- Almond flour: Make sure you are using a finely ground almond flour for the best consistency. But these also work well with sunflower seed flour, for a nut-free option.
- 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.
- Gelatin: I like to use grass-fed gelatin for my 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.
- Sweetener: I recommend an erythritol-based sweetener for this recipe. Using another sweetener will change the texture and consistency. Learn more about keto sweeteners here.
- Chocolate chips: Make sure to choose keto-friendly chips like Lily’s or ChocZero.
- Baking staples: Butter, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, and salt.
How to Make Keto Brownies
- Combine the wet ingredients: Whisk together the wet ingredients, including the butter, sweetener, eggs, and vanilla extract. The sweetener goes in with the wet ingredients to help it dissolve.
- Add the dry ingredients: Mix in 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.
- Thin the batter. 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. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Bake the brownies: Spread the batter in na 8-inch metal baking pan and bake 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 before cutting into bars.
Tips for Success
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. They may also get over-cooked on the edges while the center stays liquid.
How much water you need depends on how absorbent your cocoa powder is. Add a little at a time so you don’t thin out the batter too much. It should be the same consistency as conventional brownie batter.
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. You can also use other nut or seed flours.
- 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 to achieve the best texture. Other sweeteners like BochaSweet and allulose will make them more cakey and soft.
Keto Brownies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter , melted
- 2/3 cup (121.33 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 3 large (3) eggs
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup (56 g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup (28.67 g) cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp grassfed gelatin
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup (62.5 g) water, (as necessary)
- 1/3 cup (60 g) 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditional brownies are not keto-friendly, as they contain plenty of flour and sugar. A conventional brownie has more than 30 grams of carbs! But these fudgy keto brownies are made with almond flour and alternative sweetener, so you can indulge on a keto diet.
This recipe requires a nut or seed flour. However I have a delicious coconut flour brownie recipe, if you prefer to use it.
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.
This fudgy keto brownie recipe has 3.6g of carbs and 2.4g of fiber per serving. 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.
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Hi Carolyn! I would just like to say THANK YOU! This is the first keto brownie recipe that was a success for me! Iv’e been on a hunt for a good tasting desert recipe and I’ve not seen one until now. This was so easy and yummy! My kids love it too! Thank you once again! I’ll make it for Thanksgiving and see if my cousins think it’s any different from the regular brownies that are full of sugar. I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
So thrilled you like them!
Carolyn, these are baking now, and i barely could stop eating the raw batter long enough to stick the pan in the oven.
Question, are your carb counts net or total carbs?
Thanks so much for all your hard work and fantastic recioes.. i have all of your book (except e-books, i keep missing those) and waiting on your bewest book to arrive..3 more days!!
Congrats on all of your success and God bless!
Carb count is total, but not including erythritol because it has zero impact on blood sugar. if you do net, simply subtract the fiber.
how much avocado oil should be used instead of butter? i cant wait to try these!
1/2 cup but you might find you don’t need water.
We made this according to your ingredient list and it turned out to be chocolate soup! What did we do wrong?
Well it’s hard to say for sure. What brands of almond flour and cocoa powder did you use? What sweetener? How big were your eggs?
Ok after reading the recipe, I decided to try it!!
After the brownies are done baking, after they cool for a bit, they are still a bit wet.
Would putting them in the fridge after be a good idea? To help solidify the entire brownie pan??
If you want them more firm, the fridge would be fine.
What would make them salty? U didnt call for unsalted butter so I’m thinking she may have mismeasured. Us she used Lakanto. I did see others do that & were fine.
Excited to make these brownies! Ok, so I can skip the gelatin? Since I’ve began Keto I find myself running to the store daily either for eythritol, psyllium husk, protein powder etc etc… all I want is something sweet to make!!! Also, can I use Stevia powder instead of Swereve? Any help would be appreciated and glad I found your blog ♥️
You can skip the gelatin but they won’t be as chewy. As for stevia, I don’t recommend it with chocolate, it’s very bitter. And in this case, it may change the end result because Swerve is a bulk sweetener and stevia powder is not.
Hi there. I made the skickerdoodle blondies yesterday, and these brownies today. While the taste is amazing, both of them were not set. I checked the temp in my oven, and I cooked both recipes 5-10 minutes longer when they didn’t appear that they would firm up. Any suggestions? I used all ingredients in the recipes.
Not sure what to say. They set fine for me (obviously) and the majority of the readers who’ve tried them. Any chance you are using extra large eggs? If not…then keep baking until set. That said, you risk drying them out too much if you keep baking. I prefer my brownies on the fudgy side.
Same here. I had to bake for a total of 30 minutes to get to the doneness stated in the recipe. They were not overcooked. I just figured itsadofference in ovens and popped them on for a bit longer, checking periodically. I also did use “jumbo” eggs, so that could possible be the cause. Otherwise all was fine!
Yes, larger eggs would DEFINITELY contribute to this. Glad they worked out though. In baking, you should almost always use large eggs and if you can’t then you cut down the amount of eggs. In this case you would use 2 jumbo eggs to match the 3 large eggs from the recipe.
I didn’t use extra large eggs, as I only ever buy large. However I DID add some water to thin them out, so maybe that was it. I just made them again and they are currently cooling on the counter. This time I didn’t thin them out, and I used Swerve confectioner’s sugar. They already look much more like a “traditional” brownie, so I’m anxious to give them a try.
I made them today and I highly recommend all of you reading this to try it this is awsome thnx for the incredible recipe
I have been keto for almost 4 years now (125lbs gone!), and have baked many keto treats. This brownie is not only my favourite keto brownie recipe out there, I think it may be my favourite keto dessert recipe, period. Yes, it’s THAT good. Tastes exactly like the real deal. Pop them in the fridge and they take on the consistency of cosmic brownies! This recipe is a game changer.
Congrats on your amazing weight loss!
These brownies are an absolute game-changer. The taste is incredible. But the texture! The mouth-feel is so fudgy and amazing. I brought a few when I visited my dad, a diabetic. He LOVED them and couldn’t tell they were sugar-free (and flour-free, for that matter.) He even called me the next day to ask if I left any there (no, because we ate them all!) One note, because cocoa powder is the largest ingredient, the better the cocoa powder, the better the brownies. I used half Hershey’s and half extra dark French cocoa powder I got at a gourmet store. Totally worth it.
I am SO delighted to hear that! I agree, good cocoa powder is a must.
I made these for the first time today and they turned out GREAT! I’m controlling my diabetes through diet alone and your recipes really help make that possible. My mother is pre-diabetic, so I am taking this batch (minus one piece that I sampled, ha ha) when I visit my parents this weekend in the hopes of convincing her that healthy treats can be tasty and easy to make 🙂
I wonder how well these freeze. Hmm, will have to experiment with that…with the next batch, this one will be devoured quickly, I’m sure — thanks for another favourite, can’t wait for your book on soups to come out!
This brownie is my first keto dessert ever – and it’s a winner. Mine was oddly more on the airy side at first (Too much mixing? Baked too long?), but became nice and dense after a night in the fridge. You have a new fan (especially after reading your perfect response to the earlier comment – thanks for being a blogger with integrity).
Thanks, Jennifer. What brand of gelatin did you use? Not sure that would be the issue but I am curious if it is.
Knox Gelatine – the only gelatin I could find in my supermarket. Btw, I made another batch and forgot baking soda that time and they turned out fudgy. Also delicious!
Can I sub for coconut flour? I want to make these for my diabetic grandmother but she’s allergic to almonds.
You can but I am not quite sure what the consistency will be and you will only need about 3 tbsp of coconut flour. Your other option is sunflower seed flour.
I made these to bring to a tailgate/birthday celebration today. Everyone there was blown away by how good they were! Perfectly moist, great texture and great flavor! Thank you for the wonderful recipe! Can’t wait to try them with the salted caramel version next.
So glad you like them!
HI CAROLYN!
I HAVE ON HAND ONLY THE 9 UNCH SQUER PAN. I BONT WANT MY BROWNIE WOULD BE TO THIN.
WAHT CAN I DO?
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
If that’s all you have, just make it in that and set the timer for 5 minutes less. Watch carefully and take them out when they seem right. They will be thinner, there is nothing you can do about that.