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.
Liz says
I just made these and the flavor is spot on, I followed the recipe to a T ( baked for 20- knife test) . They came out mushy — still delicious but not portable ( I have to scoop them out ) . What did I do wrong? Underbake? Too much water maybe ? I’m goinng to make them again so any belo would be appreciated!
Carolyn says
Without being in your kitchen, I can’t be sure. Did you use a ceramic pan by chance? Or glass?
Liz says
Yes! I used ceramic, could that be it?
Lori says
Metal pans bake things faster than glass does.
Kristal says
Mine came out mushy as well. The only difference there Knox geletin and Splenda for sweetener? Were those big no-no’s?
Carolyn says
The Knox would be fine but the Splenda? That’s an issue.
Layla says
I made some Keto brownies last year. And they were so bad that it took me 10 months to get up the gumption to try again. I used your recipe Carolyn because I trust you and I’ve tried other recipes by you and had good results. I only made two minors changes, I didn’t have the grass fed gelatin, I only had the Knoxx so I followed the direction of your other readers and added the gelatin to the water before adding it to the batter. No clumping. I don’t like to use all Swerve in my baking, I find I prefer the results if I use have Swerve and half Sola sweetener. So that’s the other change I made. But beyond those slight modifications I was true to your recipe.
I was concerned when I put them in pan as there really wasn’t much batter and when I spread it out it was very thin. I knew I didn’t put much leavening agent in there so I knew they would be very thin. But, I checked the images, and I went along and followed the recipe to the end.
I baked them until they were set at the edges but the center was still soft. And went through the long process of smelling chocolatey goodness until they were completely cooled.
They are not bad. They were not cakey in consistency, but they were cakey in taste, if that makes sense. Not chocolatey enough for me to consider them fudgy brownies, but from my non-keto baking I suspected that might be the case since they only use cocoa powder and no melted chocolate. And despite being completely cool they flaked all over the place and were too tender.
On the plus side, they satisfied the craving and I didn’t have to throw them all away with extreme prejudice like the last batch 10 months ago.
Carolyn says
The batter really shouldn’t be thin on the bottom of the pan… were you using a 9×9 pan, by chance? You can see from the photo that mine are nice and thick.
Also, I have to say that the changes you made may well be part of it. The Knox gelatine would probably be fine but the Sola sweetener may be part of the “flaking” issue and the being too tender.
layla says
Thank you Carolyn. Do you know think I could add a Lily’s Baking Bar, melted to make it more dark chocolatey?
Carolyn says
Sure. The batter may get pretty thick when you add it so be prepared to move quickly!
Vanessa Rauguth says
I just made these for the first time last week and I am making them again tonight already. these are absolutely delicious and I have a hard time not eating more than 1. My bf who isnt lc loved them too. This will be on regular rotation at my house.
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it!
Brenda says
My brownies came out super oily, why do you think this happened?? I followed step by step the recipe.
Carolyn says
What brand of almond flour did you use?
Lark says
Question to the low-carb cooking and eating community here…Erythritol, I used it years ago when learning low-carb cooking. I recall foods made with this ingredient were delicious, but quickly causing quite a bit of abdominal discomfort to the point I began avoiding recipes with this ingredient. I didn’t see any comments that spoke of this. Anyone input on this? Any tips for making great brownies and desserts while minimizing the intestinal gymnastics? Really want to try these brownies, but concerned about the effects of the Erythritol.
Carolyn says
I think you might be getting it mixed up with other sugar alcohols. Xylitol, maltitol, and sorbitol all are know to cause GI distress in large quantities. Erythritol typically does not.
Jennifer Williams says
OMG these are fantastic! and so easy to whip up! I made some other brownies that were “fudgy” and I hated them. These are my new favorite! Thank you!
Carolyn says
I am delighted!
Eva says
Loved this recipe! I added about a 3/4 cup of walnuts and no gelatin. I did have to add about 2/3 cups more of almond flour as my mix was a bit watery. They came out delicious and cake like. I’ll be making this recipe again!
Carolyn says
So glad you like them!
Arlene Garcia says
Love the simplicity of this recipe!! I feel a lot of keto recipes are hit or miss. This was definitely a hit! I was surprised at how easy it was. I made them on Valentine’s day for my boyfriend and he liked them so much that he couldn’t believe they were keto brownies. I will add that I did not have the beef gelatin but I did have the knox unflavored gelatin and they still came out great. I also do like them more on the “crispy” rather than chewy side so I did cook them slightly longer and I loved it. Thank you for this recipe!
Marcie says
Made these tonight but with a few changes. I was concerned they looked dense in the picture so I added 1 tablespoon baking powder and instead of water I used buttermilk. I heard on a show that makes baked goods extra fluffy. Well it worked. They were perfect! (I also used 2 teaspoons vanilla and omitted the chips). Couldn’t be happier. Thank you for a wonderful recipe!
Erica B says
These are deliciously dense, indeed, as they’re supposed to be! A real, dense, slightly chewy brownie, not a cake-like brownie. ????
Carolyn says
So glad you like them!
Julie Ortega says
I made this recipe just now. These are bomb! I had been making another keto brownie recipe from a different site thinking that it was the best it was gonna get to a real brownie but these ones actually taste like real brownies! Even my family loved them and they usually hate my low carb baking. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Melanie says
These brownies tasted great! I had tried one recipe before and had tossed it out. They were moist and definitely curbed my sweet tooth. I did mix one packet of unflavored Knox gelatin to 1/4 cup of water and mixed. I then added 2 tablespoons of gelatin to the mixture. I ended up having to bake for a bit longer (26 mins at 350 degrees) but they still came out wonderful.
Carolyn says
Glad you liked it!
flowerpetal85 says
Can I use erythritol instead of swerve? Maybe I’m just more sensitive to it but I feel like swerve has an after taste….
Carolyn says
That should be fine.
Alondra says
These are amazing. I made them last night. I followed the recipe to a T, but I had to bake them about 15 minutes longer than the recipe said. Who knows why, but they turned out delicious and the texture is perfect. I have followed you for years. I have all your cookbooks. Keep rocking it, because you are amazing! Thank you for all of your hard work!!
Susan says
These are a game changer! Loved the taste and omg so fudgy! Only issue I ran into was they deflated after coming out of the oven so became very thin. Not that it’s an issue because a little square goes a very long way but wondering if you may have any idea why they sank?My baking powder should be okay and I even found grass fed gelatin at my local grocery. Followed the ingredients to the letter.
Thanks for any input you can offer!
Carolyn says
What size pan did you use? They aren’t huge anyway but I used 8×8 and a 9×9 would make them thinner.
Susan says
I used an 8×8 pan. I will have to try these again and perhaps buy a new baking powder just in case- Either way thrilled to have found your recipes! This one is a keeper!
Carolyn says
Weird. I used 8×8 too and they puff up but not that much, and they shouldn’t sink too much at all. In fact, I just made another batch yesterday for a friend. Did you use gelatin too? What brand?
Barbara Harris says
I made the one bowl brownies from your dessert cookbook. They were great, as is. I see from this recipe that I can sub melted butter. Can I sub walnuts for chocolate chips.
Now to my biggest question, my daughter n law sent me a huge bag of Bulletproof collagen protein powder, can I use it whenever Way protein is listed. If not what am I suppose to do with it? She add it to her morning coffee, but I have not problem getting enough protein, so I’m just looking at it on the shelf .
Carolyn says
Sadly, no. You can’t use collagen in place of whey in most recipes because it makes them gummy rather than helping them rise. I have trouble getting them to cook through, when I’ve tried it. But the collagen is so great for other things. I have some no bake recipes where it helps hold them together.
Yes, you can replace the walnuts with chocolate chips.
Brenda says
Good to know on the collagen with no bake recipes. Thx!
Kelly Charbula says
Can I sub Truvia for Swerve? I’ve made several of your recipes without adjusting the amounts and they were too sweet. Swerve did not agree with me when I tried it.
Carolyn says
The reason it’s too sweet is that Swerve measures like sugar whereas Truvia is 2x as sweet as sugar. You need to cut back to HALF the amount.
Andrea Sherman says
I just made these yesterday and they are delicious>. Not sure what I did, but after cooking for 20mins, mine where not done. I had to do an additional 20. I must have done something wrong.
Carolyn says
You’re not the only person to say this. A few questions: What sweetener, what cocoa powder and what pan did you use? Did you use a ceramic pan by chance?
Andrea Sherman says
I used Swerve granular and Ghirardelli premium baking cocoa. Yes I used a ceramic pan! This is my first recipe as I only started low carb a week ago
Carolyn says
Okay so I *think* it’s the ceramic pan that’s the issue. I need to test this out myself but I always use my metal pans for these brownies. But I’ve been reading up on the science of baking for a big keto baking book I am writing and the pan material can make a huge difference.
Andrea Sherman says
Thanks so much! I will try a metal pan. Btw,just received your cookbook????
Bev says
I made these Fudgy Keto Brownies tonight. These were amazing!!! My husband is a big dessert guy and he loved them❣❣❣
Carolyn says
Hooray!
CJ says
Thank you for the great recipe! I made the brownies and they were soooo delicious! I really appreciate you for helping me to meet my weight loss goal by providing such wonderful recipes. If I could never have a delicious treat, I don’t think I could do it. Your books and recipes are truly helping me make progress while still enjoying food. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Carolyn says
I feel much the same way, although my goals aren’t weight loss. 🙂 Thanks so much!
Vhm says
These are THE BOMB. I used Knox gelatin mixed with the water. No clumping. I included the Lily brand Chips and added one half cup chopped pecans. Yummalicious!