My popular keto cheese bread is baked in a skillet for an easy low carb side dish. Deliciously tender and with a crisp topping of cheddar cheese, it has only 2.6g net carbs per slice!
You may have noticed that I have been updating a lot of older posts lately. I am working hard to provide more user-friendly content that answers your most pressing questions. I want my keto recipes to be as accessible as possible to everyone.
And this fabulous Keto Cheese Bread deserves such an update. I first created it way back in 2012 and it became an instant hit. It remains extremely popular to this day, and it’s the perfect bread to pair with Keto Beef Stew or Chicken Enchilada Soup.
Did I mention that it also makes the BEST Keto Thanksgiving Stuffing?
Why you will love this easy cheese bread
This might be the easiest keto bread recipe you will ever make. One bowl, one hot pan, pop it in the oven, and you’re done!
Low carb quick breads like this make your keto life so much tastier and more interesting. It’s a rustic-style recipe , with a moist but shaggy texture and a deliciously cheesy flavor.
Baking bread in a skillet also produces a unique crusty exterior. The key is melting the butter in the skillet as the oven preheats. This allows the batter to start cooking as it hits the hot pan.
Adding shredded cheese to the top of the bread and baking it at a high temperature also creates a crusty, cheesy top. It’s absolutely divine with a little butter melting on top! My whole family adores this bread.
Many readers use this recipe in place of cornbread. It’s certainly good that way, although I do have a recipe for keto cornbread as well. Both are delicious in their own special way.
Reader Testimonials
“Very easy to make and I loved the firmness once it’s out of the cast iron skillet. Too many Keto breads are wimpy and fall apart. Not this one. Definitely making this again.” – Peg
“Made it for your sausage stuffing recipe but SO fell in love with it– absolutely divine!!!! The bread is so buttery and the texture— oh yum. I will be making it frequently. And so quick. Thank you!!” – Kristin
“Great bread to have with soup or salad. I have even used it for breakfast with eggs. Another recipe keeper!” – Patricia
Ingredients you need
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- Butter: Adding a tablespoon of butter as the skillet heats up creates a wonderful, crispy crust. The bread batter also takes melted butter.
- Almond flour: This is an almond flour based recipe and it won’t work with coconut flour. But if you need to be nut-free, you can try using sunflower seed flour. Remember to add a tablespoon of acid like lemon juice so you don’t get the green reaction!
- Flax seed meal: I love using some flax seed meal in this recipe to create a coarser texture that resembles rustic breads. You can use more almond flour instead but it’s not quite the same.
- Cheddar cheese: You can’t have keto cheese bread without plenty of cheese! Feel free to sub your favorite here.
- Eggs: This bread really needs the eggs to hold together properly and make it rise nicely.
- Almond milk: You can actually use any thin liquid here so feel free to sub in water, or a mix of water and cream.
- Pantry staples: Salt and baking powder.
Step by Step Directions
1. Heat the pan: Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Add the butter to a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and place in the oven as it warms.
2. Prepare the batter: In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, flax seed meal, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese. Stir in the eggs, melted butter and almond milk until thoroughly combined.
4. Add to the pan: Remove the hot skillet from oven (remember to put on your oven mitts), and swirl butter to coat sides. Pour batter into pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheddar.
5. Bake the bread: Bake 16 to 20 minutes, or until browned around the edges and set through the middle. The cheese on top should be nicely browned. Remove and let cool 15 minutes.
Expert Tips
I approach baked skillet recipes with a little trepidation, as inevitably someone tries to pick up the hot skillet with their bare hands. After being burned (literally!) a few times, I now always leave the oven mitt draped over the handle when the skillet is out of the oven. You can also get silicone handle covers that stay on both in and out of the oven.
Be sure to choose a 10-inch oven-proof skillet. It doesn’t need to be cast iron, although that’s the best way to get a nice browned crust on the outside. Allow the butter to melt in the pan as the oven heats up. This helps grease the skillet and create that delicious crust.
I love the combination of the almond flour and flax seed but if you don’t want to use flax, you can use another half cup of almond flour. The bread turns out a touch more crumbly that way so you may want to add half a teaspoon of xanthan gum to give it a bit more structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are any number of keto bread recipes out there, and many keto breads you can purchase in stores or online. But you do need to read the labels and look at the ingredients. Many “keto breads” are actually quite high in carbs and may not be suitable for your diet. This keto cheese bread has only 6.6g of carbs per slice and 4g of fiber, so it has 2.6g net carbs per serving.
Choose a cheese that can be grated easily so that they can be incorporated into the batter. Firm cheese like cheddar or mozzarella work well, as do gruyere or Monterey Jack.
Store this bread on the counter in a covered container for up to 4 days or in the fridge for up to 10. It can also be frozen for several months. Wrap it up tightly to avoid freezer burn.
Great for keto stuffing!
I have turned this easy keto bread recipe into Thanksgiving stuffing numerous times and it always gets rave reviews. The trick is to dry the bread out very well in your oven the day before. Then proceed with the usual stuffing ingredients and bake.
Even the non-keto eaters love it. Many readers have said that my low carb stuffing recipe disappears before the high carb versions!
More Keto Skillet Recipes to Try:
Keto Cheesy Bread
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter for the skillet
- 2 cups almond flour
- ½ cup flax seed meal
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese divided
- 3 large eggs
- ⅓ cup butter melted
- ¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Add the butter to a 10-inch oven-proof skillet and place in the oven as it warms.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the almond flour, flax seed meal, baking powder, salt and 1 cup of the shredded cheddar cheese. Stir in the eggs, melted butter and almond milk until thoroughly combined.
- Remove the hot skillet from oven (remember to put on your oven mitts), and swirl butter to coat sides. Pour batter into pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup cheddar.
- Bake 16 to 20 minutes, or until browned around the edges and set through the middle. The cheese on top should be nicely browned. Remove and let cool 15 minutes.
Deb K says
OH MY — this is fabulous!! I used bacon drippings melted in my skillet instead of butter as a tribute to my old cornbread days — wow, this is just SO good!
Pat says
Hope you will see this post from a 2012 recipe ? I would like to know if I sub THM flour for the almond flour would that work? If so what amount would I use?? Thanks for all your great recipes!
Carolyn says
I think it will be much drier. You probably want to use a little less, like 2/3 the amount.
Pat says
Ok thank you very much for the reply! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Tracey says
Well I used coconut flour, and just like you said, it was awful, dry crumbly …a mess, however I do think I can salvage it for the stuffing! I might just add more butter to make it moist, what do you think?
Carolyn says
Sure, it might work for stuffing! 🙂
Tracey says
Not sure why, but the mixture seemed really dry before I put it into the oven, checked all my measurements and they seem right, the only difference is, I used coconut flour instead of almond, I did add more coconut milk to make it more manageable, do you think the finished product will be ruined?
Carolyn says
Yup. Sadly, I do think it will be awful. You cannot replace almond flour with coconut flour directly. You should have used only about 1/3 the amount and a few more eggs. They just don’t translate well to each other.
Shannon says
My in laws will be visiting soon and I’d like to try this on them through a stuffing recipe. After making this, would you recommend leaving it out overnight (or in the fridge?) and then the next day cubing it and putting it in the oven at 175 for 3 hours? Just wasn’t certain about the timing/process…
Carolyn says
You can make it and it can sit out for a few days. I make some and we have it one night with soup and then it sits on the counter (covered with foil) for a day or two.
Julie B says
Oh I made this tonight and it was incredible! Instead of melting the TBSP of butter in my skillet I used Fatworks Beef Tallow but then used butter in the recipe. Sooo moist and delicious – I finished my kids pieces and husbands – ha!
Paula bryson says
Is there a sub for the flax meal? I don’t care for flax or chia, too slimy.
Carolyn says
It’s not slimy in this but you can sub more almond flour.
Diane Markey says
Thank you. That was going to be my question, as well. Would you say 1/2 c of additional almond flour?
Carolyn says
Yes.
Linda says
Best low carb bread I have made. THANK YOU! It really is incredibly delicious. I may have a hard time not eating the whole thing in one evening.
Star Uy says
Thank you so much for this recipe! Found it on Pinterest, made it tonight and it was a hit! I actually halved the recipe and made the bread in to a deep dish pizza crust – it was amazing!! It will definitely be a staple in our house now!
Carolyn says
Sounds great!
MLS says
Hi Carolyn! This looks so amazing! I want to make this recipe ~4 days before I serve it (due to time constraints:) ). Would you recommend freezing it in the meantime? And do you have any tips on the best way to reheat it in the microwave?
Thank you so much!
Carolyn says
I’ve never frozen this, I’m afraid. If you can, I wouldn’t reheat in a microwave but instead in a toaster oven or big oven.
Carolyn says
What can I use instead of almond flour? My husband is allergic to almonds.
Carolyn says
Sunflower seed flour.
patti says
I have made this in connection with the stuffing you have it a recipe with. Looking forward to making this just for a meal.
patti says
I think I made a mistake!?? How are you supposed to cool the bread? In pan or out of it? I tried turning it upside down over cooling rack fresh out of the oven and it fell apart pretty badly. Assuming I was supposed to wait for 15 min and then remove? Upside down or in wedges?
I am trying to make the stuffing that uses this recipe and hope that the “cubing” instructions for drying are not essential to still being able to use this?
Carolyn says
You simply let it cool in the pan and cut wedges right out of that. Your stuffing should be fine, though.
patti says
Thanks, Carolyn. I appreciated the quick response. Lesson learned and onto the stuffing!
Lynne says
I don’t care for almond milk. Would I be able to use heavy whipping cream, which I do use for my coffee? Or regular milk (which I would have to buy, as I don’t drink it, and I don’t generally bake, so I don’t have any around.)
Carolyn says
Do half whipping cream half water.
Molly says
I don’t have an oven safe skillet. Would a pie dish work ok?
Carolyn says
You bet!
Margaret Brewer says
Can this be frozen
Carolyn says
I’ve never tried but I can’t see why not!
Liza Armstrong says
Hi!
I’ve never cooked with almond flour before, how do you measure it. Is it lightly sifted, lightly packed or tightly packed? By volume would be easier for me.
Thank you.
Carolyn says
I simply scoop and level. No packing.
Lynne says
I don’t use almond milk. The only “dairy” I use is heavy whipping cream in my coffee. Is there something I could substitute?
Carolyn says
Half cream, half water.
Joe says
Thanks for posting this recipe. I’m trying to figure out whether I made an error when cooking it, though. Your recipe says to “pour the batter”. First, when I combined all the ingredients, I did not have a pourable batter. It was very dry and clumpy. Is the consistency supposed to be like dough or more like a pancake batter? It’s entirely possible I just messed up, but I wanted to confirm before I try it again. The flavor was great, but the end result was brutally dry.
Thanks again!
Carolyn says
“Pour” may be a “poor” choice of words. It’s thick, but not like dough, more like between batter and dough. You typically have to spread it in the pan. But it should not be “brutally dry”. I think either you measure something wrong, or you were using almond meal, not almond flour.
jan says
This was just as good the second day! Very nice texture. Thanks
Carolyn says
Glad you liked it. It also makes great stuffing if you cube it and dry it out in the oven for a few hours.