This is the only keto chocolate chip cookie recipe you will ever need. These tender low carb cookies are so good, no one will believe they are completely sugar-free. With only 2g net carbs per serving.
Rest assured, my friends, that I don’t dare call these the best keto chocolate chip cookies without good cause. I have been working behind the scenes for a long time to perfect this recipe.
And I am finally satisfied enough to share these amazing almond flour cookies with you. They have quickly become one of my favorite keto desserts and I think you will feel the same way.
Why you will love these keto cookies
It’s true that I have quite a few keto cookie recipes, including another for low carb chocolate chip cookies. And it’s a very good one, that has a wonderful crispy, chewy texture thanks to the inclusion of shredded coconut.
Why did I feel compelled to create a new recipe? Well, times have changed and so have keto sweeteners. And sugar-free chocolate chips have some a long way as well. We have much more choices for ingredients than we used to.
So I played around and experimented, and I hit upon the perfect ratio of butter, almond flour, and sweetener. These gluten-free cookies are so soft and tender, with a slight chewiness. They are sweet without being too sweet, and they use standard keto pantry ingredients.
And they take only 35 minutes total time, start to finish!
Ingredients
The base recipe for these keto chocolate chip cookies is quite similar to my keto snickerdoodles, with a few notable exceptions. It doesn’t take any collagen or gelatin, and yet still ends up soft and chewy. Here’s what you will need:
- Almond flour
- Swerve Brown
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Egg
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
- Sugar free chocolate chips
- Chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
How to make perfect keto chocolate chip cookies
I worked hard on this recipe and tested it multiple times. Here are my best tips for getting it right:
- Start with good almond flour: This recipe won’t work with coconut flour, and you need a finely ground almond flour for the best consistency. You may be able to use other nut or seed meals but the texture won’t be as fine.
- Weigh the flour if possible: In testing this recipe, I found that right around 200g of almond flour was just right.
- Use Swerve Brown: This is hands down the best brown sugar replacement and critical to the cookies. I make note of alternatives in the Frequently Asked Questions but I can’t guarantee the same taste or texture with other sugar substitutes.
- Baking soda, not baking powder: This makes a big difference, as it allows the cookies to spread more during baking. They also brown more nicely and become softer and puffier.
- Add melted butter: Rather than creaming the butter with the erythritol, you stir melted butter into the dry ingredients. It’s easier but it also gives them a chewier texture.
- Make them a little bigger: You can make smaller cookies and get 24 (serving size is 2), but they aren’t quite as impressive looking. I found that making 18 larger cookies (serving size = 1) made them deliciously soft and satisfying. It also allowed me to add more sugar-free chocolate chips and some chopped nuts.
- Bake until just golden: The cookies will be very soft when you take them out of the oven, but they will firm up as they cool.
- Let them cool completely: Do not even THINK about picking them up until nice and cool, or they will be a hot mess. Delicious, but a mess nonetheless!
Frequently Asked Questions
As I mentioned above, you can’t use coconut flour, but other seed meals may work out alright. Sunflower seed flour is your best option, but you will need to add a tablespoon of lemon juice to offset the green reaction.
You can but you need to understand that it will change the outcome. If you can’t get Swerve Brown, then I recommend using granulated erythritol with two teaspoons of molasses to get the right flavor. It will only add 0.5g of carbs to each cookie.
If you wish to use allulose or BochaSweet, your cookies will come out much softer and more like cake. And allulose has a tendency to brown very quickly.
Read more about keto sweeteners and how they differ.
These are big, thick keto chocolate chip cookies, so yes, a serving is only one. If you wish to make them smaller so you can enjoy two, please do so. But keep your eye on them as they will bake more quickly.
I really love the dark chocolate chips from ChocZero, but Lily’s are great too. You can also use mini keto chocolate chips to get better distribution, if you prefer.
Store your cookies in a covered container on the counter for up to 5 days, or in the fridge for up to 10.
You can also freeze them, both before and after baking, for up to 2 months. Make sure they are tightly wrapped up to avoid freezer burn.
More delicious chocolate chips recipes
- Keto Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Homemade Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
- Keto Cookie Dough Easter Eggs
- The Best Keto Blondies
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Pecan Bars
- Easy Chocolate Chip Mug Cakes
Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour (200g)
- ¾ cup Swerve Brown
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup butter melted and cooled
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup sugar free chocolate chips divided
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325F and line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. (Use 2 baking sheets if yours are small, don’t crowd the cookies).
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, Brown Swerve, baking soda, and salt.
- Stir in the egg, butter, and vanilla extract until the dough comes together. Stir in half of the chocolate chips and the walnuts, if using. Roll into 1 ½ inch balls.
- Press the balls down to about ¾ inch thick with the palm of your hand. Don't press down too much as these cookies will spread a bit on their own. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies.
- Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until puffed and golden brown around the edges. They will still be very soft. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the pan.
Raechel says
Awesome cookies! I have made these twice now. I made the last batch to take on a camping trip and they held up perfect, and tasted great for days.
C Abbott says
Perfection!!
Ruthie Current says
This recipe is awesome, however, I used a whole bag of Lillys Chocolate baking chips and I used chopped pecans instead of walnuts.
I pressed the batter in a square baking dish, and when cool, I cut it into brownie size squares. Absolutely delicious!
My daughter is diabetic and I gave her one and it had no effect on her blood sugar, and she was elated that she could have a sweet treat and stay on track with her Doctors.
Thanks so much for sharing these recipes with everyone.
Sincerely,
Ruthie
Carolyn says
Glad you enjoyed it!
Susan Foster says
Oh my!! These were the best keto chocolate chip cookies!! And so easy to make…no mixer! I used my cookie scoop and got a lot more cookies but that’s not a bad thing! Thank you so much for the recipe. So many times you spend a small fortune on ingredients and find you will never make that again. Not so with these!
Ester says
I just made these chocolate chip cookies. They are awesome. I think I’ve found my new desert.
Carla says
You were not kidding when you said this the only chocolate chip cookie recipe we’ll need! These are to die for! Turned out perfectly! So soft and chewy. Yum! Can’t wait to deliver some to my keto friends tomorrow! 🙂
Karen says
Loving these cookies thank you so much! I was wondering if you knew whether they could be made with coconut oil instead of butter? Karen 🙂
Carolyn says
They should be able to but they may not spread quite as nicely. There is just a thing that butter does in baking that other oils can’t do…
Judy Black says
I’ve been using monkfruit for my husband’s iced tea which he likes. In cookies, it’s a bit weird so I’m going to try the Swerve you have in this recipe. I need to use up regular chocolate chips I have. Would they work ok in this recipe? Thanks!
Karen L says
The best low carb cookies I’ve made, delicious ????
Krista says
This is the third keto/low-carb choc chip cookies recipe I’ve tried and WOW!! No comparison with the other two; super delish!! Even the dough tastes great! 😉 Thank you so much.
Carolyn says
That’s fabulous to hear!
Carmen Salome says
I made these today and cant believe how good they taste.
Carolyn says
So glad!
Lisa Wagner says
I’ve tried other keto cookie recipes and this by far is the BEST! The thing only thing I modified was to brown the butter and add a bit more pecans. Thank you!
Carolyn says
So glad!
Lisa says
My husband doesn’t care for most keto desserts but I was in the mood for something sweet so I made a batch of these cookies (adding in optional pecans).
After dinner the Mr. decided he wanted to try a cookie because they looked and smelled so good. He loved them! (As did I). He couldn’t stop talking about what an excellent cookie it was.
So thank you, Carolyn, for the work you put into your recipes. It really does matter to those of us who need options to control our blood sugars. Love your recipes!
Carolyn says
I am always happiest when we win over one of the keto-skeptics!
Dana says
These are the best Keto Cookies! I’ve tried other highly rated keto cookie recipes and none of the others would hold together like these; the others also had a very grainy texture. This cookie held together, had the consistency of a chewy non-keto cookie and was very tasty too! I used a two tablespoon cookie scoop and it made 15 cookies which spread to three inches each after baking. I also included walnuts in mine. Highly recommended!
Michele says
These ARE the best! I’ll be using the base of the recipe to make other flavors of cookies too. So happy you created this!
teri herbert says
can you explain cookie scoop sizes? What do you recommend? OXO comes in small medium large and i’ve yet to figure out how that translates to 1″ or what you recommend. Any help would be MOST appreciated. LOVE all you do!
Carolyn says
I know! There’s no standardization. For these, I usually just usually scoop with a spoon and roll into 1 1/2 inch balls. I am eyeballing it, of course. I have two cookie scoops, one which would be much too big and one much too small for these cookies. One holds only 1 tbsp and another holds 4 tbsp. I think if you were using one that was 2 tablespoons, it would work well enough.
How to tell how many tablespoons your cookie scoop hold? Take a tablespoon, fill with water, transfer to your scoop. Repeat until the scoop is full. 🙂
Stacey says
Oh my goodness these are by far the best keto cookies I’ve ever made! I had another one I’d make regularly but these are much better!
We have been keto for 3 years and trust me when I say do yourself a favour with this delightful treat! Definitely going to be a new regular goodie I will make time and time again!
Faline says
I love these, but am finding them nearly too sweet, can I add more almond flour and less sweetener to retain the recipe bulk, but make it less sweet?
Carolyn says
Don’t add anything else, simply make it with less sweetener. More almond flour will mean a completely different consistency.
Dmarie says
These are fantastic-thank you once again! You mention not needing to add gelatin to make them chewy, so I have to ask, what do you think would be the result if it was added?
Carolyn says
In this case, I think it would make them cake-y. I’ve found that it sometimes does when added to recipes.
Stephanie Deal says
I made these for Easter and not only were they so flipping easy, but they were delicious. I had 4 people at my brunch who are type 1 diabetics and they loved them. Thanks Carolyn for another stellar recipe.
Carolyn says
That’s fabulous!