Dreamy decadent fudgy keto brownies made with almond flour and zero-calorie sweetener for a low-carb sultry dessert. This easy recipe comes with a vegan option and is perfect for those who watch their sugar intake or follow a keto diet.
This post is sponsored by Monk Fruit In The Raw®
Oh hey, chocolate lovers, do I have a treat for you?!
If you’re a seasoned veteran of The Roasted Root, you know I have a mega weakness for brownies, but am also careful with my sugar intake.
For this reason, I have been known to develop sugar-free (keto-friendly) recipes that are designed to not raise blood sugar. Just take a looksy at my Low-Carb Peanut Butter Fudge, Keto Edible Cookie Dough, or Keto Coffee Ice Cream for example.
WELL, I finally made it my mission to make a low-carb brownie recipe that is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and also friendly to my blood sugar.
I have included all sorts of adaptations to fit your dietary restrictions – have a look in my Recipe Adaptations section below for a vegan option and more!
Using 9 basic ingredients, we’re whipping out the fudgiest and best keto brownies in all the land. When it comes to sugar-free treats, the biggest question is always what type of sweetener to use.
I use Monk Fruit In The Raw®. Let’s chat about it!
Have you tried monk fruit sweetener? For those of you who are new to it, here’s the skinny:
What is Monk Fruit Sweetener?:
Monk Fruit In The Raw is a is a zero-calorie sweetener, perfect for replacing cane sugar in any of your sweet treats. Monk fruit is native to China and has been used in Chinese medicine for many decades. The sweetener is derived from monk fruit extract, making it a plant-based sugar replacement.
Monk Fruit In The Raw can easily be incorporated into the diet of people with diabetes. Monk Fruit In The Raw contains less than one gram of carbohydrates. If you’ve noticed gas or bloating from zero sugar sweeteners in the past, not to worry, there are no sugar alcohols added. And this is coming from a girl who is super sensitive to sugar alcohols.
Using the Monk Fruit In The Raw Bakers Bag is super easy because it’s a 1:1 conversion. If you’re trying to replace 1 cup of cane sugar, simply use 1 cup of monk fruit sweetener. For best results, it’s recommended to replace half the sugar in your recipe. This allows for proper browning and rising that only sugar can provide.
How to Make Keto Brownies:
Take three eggs out of the refrigerator to bring to room temperature.
Melt the ghee/butter and chocolate in a saucepan on the stove top over medium-low heat. Stir and heat just until mixture has melted, but don’t bring to a full boil. Set aside while you’re prepping the rest of the recipe. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the pure vanilla extract.
Note: As an alternative, you can heat the ghee and chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir well until melted and creamy.
In a bowl, mix together the almond flour, raw cacao powder, monk fruit sweetener, cinnamon, baking powder, and sea salt.
Crack the eggs into a stand mixer (or mixing bowl if you’re using a hand mixer) and beat well until frothy.
Add the melted chocolate mixture and beat until well-combined and a pudding-like consistency is reached.
Leaving the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture until incorporated. Beat at a higher speed until well combined and a fudgy brownie batter is formed.
Transfer the brownie batter to a parchment-lined 9” x 5” loaf pan and smooth into an even layer.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 to 22 minutes. The less time you bake the brownies, the fudgier they will be. Promptly remove the keto brownies the oven and allow brownies to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Add ½ cup sugar-free chocolate chips or chopped nuts
- Add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee for even richer flavor.
- Whip up a keto chocolate frosting for an even sultrier experience.
- Replace the almond flour with 3 tablespoons coconut flour.
- Double the recipe and use an 8” x 8” square baking pan for even more keto brownies.
Vegan Keto Brownies:
Make the recipe vegan by substituting coconut oil for the ghee, omitting the eggs, and add 3 flax “eggs.” To do so, whisk 3 tablespoons ground flax seed in a bowl with 9 tablespoons water. Allow this mixture to sit 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it thickens to the consistency of beaten eggs.
While the flax egg mixture is sitting, melt the coconut oil and chocolate bar together in a saucepan. Stir the remaining dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
Whisk the flax “egg” mixture into the saucepan with the melted coconut oil and chocolate.
Pour this mixture into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.
Transfer to the parchment-lined loaf pan, bake, and enjoy!
Coconut Flour Keto Brownies:
Make this recipe using coconut flour instead of almond flour by replacing the almond flour with 3 tablespoons of coconut flour. Proceed as normal for the rest of the recipe!
Serve with Vanilla Keto Ice Cream for a real good time!
Fudgy Keto Brownies
Ingredients
- 10 Tbsp ghee see note*
- 1 2-ounce bar baker's chocolate, or dark chocolate
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs at room temperature, see note**
- 1/2 cup super fine almond flour see note***
- 5 Tbsp raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup monk fruit sweetener
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 cup sugar-free chocolate chips optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9” x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Add the ghee and chocolate bar to a small saucepan and heat over medium-low. Stir occasionally until mixture has melted. Immediately remove from heat and set aside to cool. Once cool, stir in the pure vanilla extract.
- While the chocolate mixture is cooling, prepare the rest of the recipe. Add the eggs to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until very frothy. Note: you may also use a mixing bowl and hand mixer.
- In a bowl, stir together the almond flour, cacao powder, monk fruit sweetener, ground cinnamon, baking powder, and sea salt.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into the mixer with the beaten eggs and beat until a creamy, thick pudding-like mixture results.
- Beat in the flour mixture until well-incorporated and a thick brownie batter is formed.
- Transfer brownie batter to the lined loaf pan and bake on the center rack of the preheated oven 18 to 30 minutes, until the center has puffed up and is showing small cracks. Note: the brownies will not appear “done” after 18 to 20 minutes, but rest assured, they are!
- Allow brownies to cool at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Beware! Monk Fruit In The Raw is mostly erythritol which can cause serious problems for some people. Bloating and gut inflammation are very common issues. Some research finds cardiac issues.
This does tend to taste somewhat bitter even though I used a baking bar with a little sugar, added stevia glycerite & some cane sugar. Chocolate just tends turn put bitter without lots of sugar. I know many don’t like stevia, but I’ve found that stevia glycerite causes most people to not taste the stevia so much. I like stevia (high grade) but many don’t.
Hi there! I appreciate the feedback 🙂 I think I must have high tolerance for dark chocolate because I haven’t gotten a bitter taste out of these brownies, but I’m a super dark chocolate eater. I appreciate you sharing your feedback, because I know there are others who would prefer a sweeter/less bitter flavor.
Granulated monk fruit or powdered monk fruit? Thank you 😊
Hi Marea! Both will work, but I use granulated monk fruit sweetener 🙂 Enjoy!
I made the brownies Feb 15th, and the texture was better than other keto recipes, but the Monk Fruit Sweetener that is mixed with other sweeteners was not sweet at all! I had pure monk fruit sweetener before, and it was very sweet. Could be my baking chocolate was too bitter. Anyway, I may try swerve next time, and less baking chocolate. Meanwhile, perhaps if I frost them with a keto friendly cream cheese frosting they will taste okay!
Hi Judy!
I have found sugar-free sweeteners vary in sweetness too. I use Swerve quite a bit, and think that may be a great option for the next round! Hope you enjoy the current batch with some frosting! xoxox
Hello- I made these last night and while they did turn out pretty good, the sugar didn’t seem to dissolve, is that normal? I used lakanto monk fruit sweetener And followed the recipe exactly, except for the bakers chocolate part because I didn’t have any, so I added a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the melted butter. The fudginess is on point and so is the flavor, it’s just the crunch from the sugar crystals that throws me off. Any ideas as to why that happened or how to avoid in the future?
Hi Lena,
Perhaps a different sweetener, like Swerve or Truvia would work better for less of the crystal effect. I didn’t notice that when I made them using monk fruit sweetener, but sugar-free sweeteners do have a tendency to act differently than regular sugar and are more difficult to dissolve. In any case, try the brownies with Swerve next time and see if that helps! xoxo
The article says Monk Fruit in the Raw contains no sugar alcohols, but the website cited above, https://www.intheraw.com/, says that it contains erythritol. Erythritol is considered the best-tolerated sugar alcohol, but I don’t feel well after consuming it. Can you suggest how to modify the recipe for a sweetener that is just monk fruit? I think one would need to use a lot less, because it is very sweet.
Amazing! My first time trying Monkfruit or a keto recipe. I would bake it a little longer but even the batter was so good!
I’m so happy you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for the sweet feedback! xo
I used regular eggs and select harvest USA almond flour
I gotcha! I’m not familiar with that brand of almond flour, so it could be that we used different almond flours. I use Bob’s Red Mill’s Super Fine Almond Flour. My other thought is the brownies may have needed longer in the oven. Bake times can vary depending on elevation, so my guess is they may have needed another 5 minutes or so to fully set up. Nevertheless, I’ll retest the recipe and see if I get your results 😀
Soooo idk what I did wrong but on the bottom layer of the brownies was this light brown spongy layer that was flavorless on it’s on. Boyfriend wasnt crazy about them and neither was I. After we scraped off the spongy layer and added ice cream (keto ice cream for me) it was doable, however I dont think I’d make again it used almost my whole bag of monk sweetner. Is their bigger bags you can buy or something?
Hi Ellie!
A couple questions – Did you use regular eggs or flax eggs? If you used flax eggs, did you wait long enough for the flax “eggs” to thicken (they should be the consistency of normal beaten eggs)? What brand of almond flour did you use?
My monk fruit sweetener comes in a large bag so for me the recipe doesn’t use a full bag. You can also replace the monk fruit sweetener with any type of zero-sugar sweetener you prefer, such as Truvia, Swerve, etc.
I used a Lily’s dark chocolate bar in this recipe and was so excited. The smell, the texture — very much “real” brownies. But when I took a bite, I got a cooling sensation in my mouth. I’ve heard of this with some sweeteners, but hadn’t experienced with the monk fruit I’ve been using or the occasionally squares of Lily’s here and there. Maybe it was a byproduct of baking? Great recipe, just be careful what sweetener you’re using.
Hi Abbey, I’ve noticed the cooling sensation with some sugar-free sweeteners too. This is great advice 😀 xo
After cooking for 22 minutes and cooling for 40 minutes, these were liquid in the middle. Super chocolately and very tasty, but not cooked. The only cooked bits were the edges. I trusted the part of the recipe where it said “they will look undone, but rest assured they are.” Maybe the baking time is a typo?
Hi Carol,
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that! It could be our oven settings are different. I would say bake them longer – give it an extra 5 minutes, then turn off the oven and allow the brownies to sit in the still-hot oven for an additional 10 minutes. See if that does the trick! Hope it turns out better on the next go-round. xo
Did anyone figure out the macros for recipe? I usually sail right by recipes that dont have em posted but really wanna make these.
Macros? The recipe is posted. Google is a tool everyone can use. Let us know when you figure it out.
This recipe is literally a miracle! I have made 4 other batches of keto brownies this week from 3 different recipes and thought I was doomed to deliver sad grainy mud piles to an event. But these look like brownies!!! And taste like brownies!!!. The only changes I made: subbed coconut oil for ghee, added 1/2 tsp espresso powder, and a little extra salt. Otherwise filled the instructions exactly and they came out perfectly. Thank you so much for this killer recipe!
Hi Julia, Thank you for sharing this sweet recipe! I am looking forward to making your super high fat ketogenic vanilla ice cream and these keto brownies.
Have you formulated the macros for the brownies? If so, could you please post them?
Thank you!