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 (200 g) almond flour, (200g)
- 3/4 cup (136.5 g) Swerve Brown
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) baking soda
- 1/4 tsp (0.25 tsp) salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 tsp (0.5 tsp) vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (90 g) sugar free chocolate chips, divided
- 1/4 cup (29.25 g) 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 1/2 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.
Video
Nutrition
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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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!
I am always happiest when we win over one of the keto-skeptics!
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!
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!
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!
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. 🙂
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!
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?
Don’t add anything else, simply make it with less sweetener. More almond flour will mean a completely different consistency.
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?
In this case, I think it would make them cake-y. I’ve found that it sometimes does when added to recipes.
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.
That’s fabulous!
My daughter and I made these today! Oh my goodness! My husband and son even liked them! Thanks for all you do!
So glad to hear it!
You were right, Carolyn. These are by far the best keto/low-carb chocolate chip cookie I’ve baked, and I’ve baked a ton. And as you said, I’ll never need another chocolate chip cookie recipe! I followed the recipe exactly, and they looked just like the picture– and are absolutely delicious. I cannot believe how perfect they are. And thankfully, even if I eat two tonight (how can I not?), I’ll still be within my macros. Woohoo! Thank you for your dedication to your craft!
P.S. There is this magic moment — about 7-8 minutes out of the oven in my kitchen — where the cookies have cooled enough to hold their shape, but are still warm and melty and extra chewy. Ohmygosh.
Oh yeah… the sweet spot.
I am THRILLED!
Love, love, love these cookies! I happened to make them the same week I made your peanut butter mousse. What a happy coincidence. I had the idea to smear a dab of the mousse on the cookie as I snacked. Oh, my! So delicious. I made another batch of both today but made the cookies smaller. They’re very filling. The recipe yielded 22. I made little sandwiches with the cookies, using the mousse as the filling. Popped them in the freezer and can’t wait to pull them out when I need a sweet snack. Thank you for all of your fabulous recipes!
My husband had mentioned that he was craving chocolate chip cookies and I remembered seeing this recipe and thought I would give it a try! They were super easy to make and turned out delicious! He asked me twice, “are you sure these are keto”? That is high praise! They were chewy and the texture was very close to a non-keto version. I used pecans instead of walnuts. Will definitely be making again. Thank you for your recipes. I know they will always turn out great.
That’s fabulous, thank you!
Hi Carolyn
We really love these cookies (my hubby misses cookies so he’s thrilled). I would like to add some peanut butter to these cookies, but I’m not sure how much I would use or if I would mess up a delicious cookie. Do you have any thoughts on adding peanut butter?
Thanks so much!
I honestly cannot advise without testing. Peanut butter changes the consistency of cookie dough tremendously.
For the first time, I tried my hand at making homemade, keto chocolate chip cookies!
I’ll admit, I overcrowded the cookie sheets (I didn’t expect them to spread). But these cookies taste amazing! I had 2…which was one more than I should have had, but I dug in not expecting much. When I realized how DELICIOUS these cookies actually were, I made a glass of vanilla almond milk, and sat down to enjoy the second one. I’m going to freeze the rest. I will know next time to allow them more space. But seriously…these are excellent! And they took no more time to make than regular chocolate chip cookies. Wow! I’m blown away!
I am so glad! Yes, they do spread a bit, which is I think one of the things that makes them so like conventional chocolate chip cookies!
I, like another commenter, tried so many keto chocolate chip cookie recipes the past few years and none of them wowed me. I made this one yesterday and absolutely LOVED them! Perfect taste and texture. Thank you so much Carolyn!!!!!
I am making these today, and I noticed that when I used the slider tool to double it, the measurement for the almond flour did not double along with the other ingredients. Thank goodness I looked at the flour after I weighed the 200 grams, and thought “that can’t possibly be 4 cups”. You may want to fix that. 🙂