Keto Irish Soda Bread is a delicious low carb, grain-free alternative to the original. This tender almond flour bread has a crusty exterior and sugar-free dried cranberries in place of the traditional currants.
It’s almost March and you know what that means. Everyone starts thinking about shamrocks and leprechauns, and this tender keto Irish soda bread.
What, what? You aren’t laser-focused on minty green keto desserts, corned beef and cabbage, and cocktails made with Keto Irish Cream? Why ever not?
Okay, fine. I get it, St. Paddy’s Day is fun but it’s not the most widely recognized of holidays. But even if you don’t mark the occasion at all, I highly recommend this keto quick bread recipe. It’s delicious any old time!
What is Irish Soda Bread?
Don’t feel put out if you’ve never heard of soda bread. It’s simply a quick bread made with baking soda as the leavening agent, rather than baking powder or yeast.
Many cuisines have their own version of soda bread, as it’s faster and easier to make than yeast-leavened dough. And baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, is inexpensive and easy to procure.
Irish soda bread comes in various forms, but the one that most people know on this side of the pond is lightly sweetened and contains raising or currants.
It’s a wonderful rustic-style bread that has a soft and tender center and a crusty exterior. And that shaggy looking exterior always reminds me of a giant scone!
Ingredients
Classic Irish soda bread takes flour, baking soda, butter, and buttermilk. The acid in the buttermilk reacts with the soda to create little bubbles that cause the bread to rise.
For a keto version, we obviously need to change a few of these ingredients. Here’s what you need:
- Heavy cream
- Apple cider vinegar: this replaces the acid in the buttermilk
- Almond flour
- Coconut flour
- Protein powder: helps to replace the gluten in wheat flour
- Sweetener: just a little adds the right flavor
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter
- Egg whites
- Sugar-free dried cranberries (optional)
How to make keto Irish soda bread
I took my cues for this recipe from one by Ina Garten. Her soda bread takes some egg, which helps give it more structure. I utilized egg whites to make the bread a little lighter as well.
- Sour your cream: Buttermilk is a little too high carb for keto, but adding some vinegar to heavy cream is a great substitute.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: I used mostly almond flour with a touch of coconut flour to get the right consistency.
- Grate in the butter: I love this trick for distributing cold butter throughout dough. I used it in my keto apple scones too, and it gives a more flaky consistency.
- Stir in the egg whites and soured cream: The dough will be shaggy and somewhat sticky.
- Chop the dried cranberries: If you decide to use them, it’s best to chop them up more finely. This gives better distribution throughout the bread, and makes it less likely to tear when you cut into it.
- Form into a loaf: The dough will spread a bit so shape into a high, round loaf.
- Cut a deep X into the center: You may need to wet your knife so it doesn’t stick to the dough too much. The cuts help the center cook through properly.
- Bake 20 minutes: You need the initial blast of heat from the oven to make the bread rise properly.
- Turn off the oven: Let the bread sit inside another 30 to 40 minutes to cook through. If you keep the oven on the whole time, it may brown too much. Once the top is nice and firm, with no sponginess underneath, the bread is done.
- Let cool completely: Keto Irish Soda Bread is very fragile when it first comes out of the oven so let it cool completely to firm up.
Frequently Asked Questions
Coconut flour would require changing the entire recipe, so I recommend using sunflower seed flour instead. You can use it 1:1 to replace the almond flour.
Try using coconut milk in place of the heavy cream.
Absolutely! This keto Irish soda bread does not rely on the sweetener for consistency so anything you like best should work. You can also leave out the sweetener entirely, if you prefer.
This bread is great with anything! I like mine lightly toasted with a little butter. It’s only mildly sweet so it also goes well with soups and stews.
Storage Information
Because it is quite moist, you should store keto Irish soda bread in the fridge, tightly wrapped. It will last for up to a week.
You can also freeze it for several months.
Keto Irish Soda Bread Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup cream
- 1 ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups almond flour
- ¼ cup unflavoured whey protein powder (or egg white protein powder)
- 3 tablespoon Swerve Brown
- 2 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup butter chilled
- ⅓ cup sugar-free dried cranberries chopped (optional)
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tablespoon melted butter to brush the top
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.
- In a small bowl, combine the cream and vinegar. In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, protein powder, sweetener, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Grate the cold butter into the dry ingredients and stir to distribute. Stir in the dried cranberries, if using.
- Stir in the cream mixture and the egg whites until well combined. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet. With wet hands, form into a high, round loaf. Brush all over with the melted butter.
- Use a sharp knife to cut a large X in the center of the loaf. Place the baking sheet on the second highest rack in the oven and bake 20 minutes, until the outside is turning golden brown.
- Turn off the oven and let the bread sit inside until the top is firm to the touch and not spongy, another 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove and let cool completely before cutting into slices.
Speedwell says
Here in Ireland we don’t put fruit or sweetener in “soda bread” as bread is bread. and Fruit and sugar go in “brack” or “barmbrack” – a lovely cake sort of quick bread, but not the everyday bread we have for breakfast. I’m thinking of making this partly with plain bran instead of the sweet stuff (adjusting the moisture) to make it more like the country “wheaten bread” my family eat with plenty of unbeatable Irish butter. 🙂
Carolyn says
Sounds great to me!
Audrey says
Is the whey protein required? or is there a good substitute for it?
is cream whipping cream?
Is swerve brown essentially brown sugar?
Carolyn says
Please read the blog post as to why protein powder is required. Yes, it’s heavy cream. No, Swerve Brown is not sugar at all…
Stephanie Olsen says
Made this for St. Patty’s Day – OMG, it was insanely good! I couldn’t find dried sugar-free cranberries without paying a small fortune (and wrong time of year for fresh ones) so I dried out blueberries instead – 5 hours in the oven – and that worked great. Thank you so much for this recipe – this will be my new go-to soda bread recipe every March!
J says
I made this for St. Patrick’s Day for my husband who can no longer have traditional version. He loved it! My question is, can I bake it in a loaf pan, or is that not recommended? Thank you for your wonderful keto blog and recipes!
Sparky says
I made this recipe as stated with the exception of currents in place of cranberries. This is the best keto Irish Soda Bread I have tried so far. Thank you for the recipe!
Carolyn says
Thanks!
Terry Z says
I wasn’t sure about the flours since I don’t have good luck with recipes that aren’t traditional BUT this recipe was absolutely delicious!!! I’ve got the second loaf in the oven as I write this- easy to follow, taste’s great and keto friendly!!!!
Carolyn says
Glad to hear it!
Christa says
I made this the other night. I couldn’t find fresh cranberries anywhere, so I looked up what I could sub and it said cherries, so I bought the darker ones, I pitted them and made the recipe exactly as you had it, even with the cherries. This was AMAZING! I will DEFINITELY make this again! My family loved it. I am super excited to find cranberries to try it with those. I KNOW it will be even more DELICIOUS! Thanks for this GREAT RECIPE ????
Amy Taylor says
Since I had to work on St. Patrick’s Day I am making my corned beef and cabbage tonight and made the Irish Soda bread to go with it. Mine came out flat as well but it had a great taste.
ShelBel says
Carolyn I was so looking forward to eating this since my husband made his own traditional “flour” version of Irish Soda bread and his smelled great, sliced perfectly and tasted right. I followed your directions, adding sf dried cranberries and chopped walnuts too. My only change was that I placed my bread (looking exactly like yours) in a cast iron skillet sprayed lightly with oil and placed it in the oven for the 20 minutes at 325, then turned the oven off and left it in another 40 minutes till no longer spongy and let it cool. Came out looking just like yours too. However, it came apart – was crumbly, and I couldn’t make “slices” but only pulled apart sections of the bread. Maybe the extra butter on top was too much (tho I only spread 1 Tbsp). The taste is good but didn’t taste like Irish Soda Bread to us. I’m sorry mine didn’t seem to work out. 🙁
Shel Bel says
Carolyn, I am more stars because after placing the bread in the refrigerator, the colder bread sliced just fine and it had a more similar taste to Irish soda bread! I guess I was just too anxious to eat it the day I made it. Thank you again for this keto option!
ShelBel says
Correction – I “added” more stars…
Carolyn says
Glad that worked!
Carmella Goodman says
I’m so sad! I’ve never made Irish soda bread before and I was so excited to find your recipe. I followed it to a tea and it came out like a pancake. I don’t know what I did wrong, at least it smells wonderful. I’m sure it’s going to taste amazing, just doesn’t look at all like yours. When I read the fifth instruction and it says placed a baking sheet on the second highest rack in the oven and bake for 20 minutes does that mean second highest from the bottom or second highest to the top? That could be my problem my mom and I thought it meant up to the top.
Carolyn says
It’s the second highest… which means the second highest from the top. But I have no idea how to help you since you don’t indicate what, exactly, went wrong.
Carmella Goodman says
This Irish soda bread was amazing. My entire family loved it and said I must make it again. The only problem I had was that it turned out flat. Sounds like I had it in the right place in the oven according to your reply. Thank you for your quick reply and for your amazing revokes. I’ve made many and love them all. ????????
Victoria says
Mine came out a bit flat and crumbly. Not sure where I went wrong. Any suggestions
Carolyn says
What almond flour did you use? And did you use the protein powder?
Toni says
I’ve been keto for a very long time. I am accustomed to the taste of sugar substitutes, as well most keto replacements. I have very low expectations about keto breads and sweets. I followed the recipe to a t. It looked great, it smelled great… it tasted like ammonia. I couldn’t swallow it. I can’t imagine what went wrong.
Carolyn says
Okay it wouldn’t be the sweetener (not enough of it). I think it’s either your baking soda or your vinegar. Or very possibly something had gone off (the almond flour or the whey? Hard to say). Since no one has mentioned this issue so far, I can’t help but think that one of your ingredients was off.
Patty says
This is a wonderful recipe. I substituted caraway seeds for the sugar free cranberries (my mom always put caraway seeds in her Irish Soda bread) and it was fabulous. thank you for sharing this
Heather Iger says
Did not have plain protein powder but had vanilla. Was a little worried so added a wee bit extra salt. Didn’t have any cranberries. Omg its fabulous. Thank you!
Leslie says
I can’t wait to try this!
I am allergic to eggs however.
Can you suggest any substitutes?
Thanks for all of your great recipes and knowledge!
Carolyn says
Sorry, I really can’t advise.
Monika says
Hi Carolyn! I am very excited to try your soda bread! Pre keto I always used sour cream in my recipe. Do you think if I added about a half cup it would be ok? Thanks for everything!
Carolyn says
I honestly can’t say without trying it myself but it’s quite wet so you need to reduce other liquids.
Rina says
Amazing bread! I didn’t add cranberries, but it’s great without. Made this bread already couple of times and even 2 for our good friends. Thank you very much Carolyn!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear that!
ChapelHillBetsy says
I made this today and OMG! it’s so good! I can’t wait to have another slice with butter. The only place I deviated is that I used Sukrin Gold because I didn’t have Swerve Brown, and it still came out great! This will go into regular rotation. Thanks for another wonderful recipe!
Robyn Shanahan says
Brilliant recipe. So delicious.
Suzanne Wynn says
I’m making this TODAY! And I can’t wait. Just wanted to be sure, hopefully, of the egg whites needed to be room temp? You didn’t specify (and you’re REALLY good about that kinda stuff) so I’m assuming not. Thank you so much for this and all the hard work you do. I always know I can count on your recipes.
Betsy says
Love this keto version of Irish Soda Bread! Is it even St. Patrick’s Day without the Soda Bread? Well, yes, I guess it is… but I would sure miss it if I didn’t have it! This is a great recipe! So perfect for maintaining that low sugar lifestyle and still celebrating with good cultural food! <3 <3 <3
April says
I loooooove Irish soda bread. Trying to eat less carbs these days, and this bread was perfect!