Looking for an easy-peasy (yet absolutely delicious!) low carb treat?! Look no further than these keto peanut butter cookies, with just four staple pantry ingredients (and at 1g net carb a pop)!
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
The Easiest (& Best!)
If you crush on peanut butter as much as I do, then these keto peanut butter cookies are an absolute must! Lightly crisp on the outside with a melt-in-your-mouth center, they’re honestly bound to have you swooning.
Plus, they’re super duper easy to whip up (just whisk!) and they freeze great (both baked and unbaked!).
And, if you’re on the prowl for more excellent peanut butter desserts, don’t forget to check out our one-bowl peanut butter blondies!
The Deets
Classic (you know, sugar!) peanut butter cookies call for a 1:1:1 ratio. i.e. 1 egg for 1 cup peanut butter for 1 cup sugar.
But if you’ve been keto for a while, you’ll likely find one cup of sweetener to be sickeningly sweet. I generally do 1/2 cup… but with the latest batch I think you could even go to 1/3 cup, particularly if you’ve really been limiting your sweet intake.
Now, be sure to check out my ingredient suggestions to ensure you nail these guys!
The Peanut Butter
While I generally favor homemade nut butters, these keto peanut butter cookies are an exception as you really want that creamy smooth texture.
My suggestion is that you go for an unsweetened and salted variety (I really like the 365 brand from Whole Foods).
Whatever peanut butter you decide, just be sure it’s runny at room temperature (i.e. that its natural). You see, the ‘always solid’ varieties have generally had some of the natural fat drained or have added emulsifiers.
The Sweetener
You’ve got options here. I’ve tested them with Lakanto Golden (pictured), xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!) and allulose (just be sure to add 30% more as it’s less sweet!).
Just note that you’ll get slightly different results if you use erythritol vs xylitol or allulose. Least aftertaste will come from xylitol or allulose (though tbh the cooling effect from erythritol is minimal here!)… but the cookies will tend to spread more with xylitol and allulose (and take a few hours to set).
And last but not least, just like with our famous bakery-style chocolate chip cookies, I like to add a hint of blackstrap molasses for that burnt sugar kick (and needless to say, a tonne of umami). It’s just 0.15g net carbs a cookie, but it’s also totally optional!
If using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty!) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 
(The Easiest!) Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/3-3/4 cup golden erythritol I use 1/2 cup*
- 1/2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses totally optional!
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 225 g unsweetened, salted peanut butter **
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt ***optional, to taste
- flaky sea salt optional, to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- Add the sweetener, molasses (optional) and egg to a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer (or whisk!) until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. If using erythritol, keep in mind it won't dissolve completely and that's ok.
- Mix in the vanilla extract, followed by the peanut butter. If you use erythritol, your mixture will be a bit crumbly, worry not! And also note that depending on the savory-ness of your peanut butter, you may need to add a touch of kosher salt at this point (see notes).
- Scoop out the cookie dough, form into rounds and press down with a fork. Place in a prepared tray and freeze for 15 minutes prior to baking.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly golden and set. Feel free to sprinkle with flaky sea salt half way through!
- Allow to cool completely before digging (seriously!), and store in an airtight container for 3-4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
OMG. These are so good. I followed the recipe almost to a T, but did not freeze the batter. I just dropped the baking time to 10 min. The flaky salt is a must. SO rich and delicious. Thanks for this recipe!
Dear Paola, this recipe is perfection.
At first I made it with the almond butter I had on hand and my Keto- family loved them! They gave a sample to their Keto-friend who odered two batches from me for her mom’s birthday with the comment “She won’t believe these”!
Well.. I had to go back to trader joe’s for more nut butter so I got the peanut butter to try this time and am just sitting here amazed at the lovely smooth-delicate-crunch of the peanut butter cookie.
Almond is more dense and hefty but also undeniably outstanding in it’s own way.
So simple and easy to make. Thank you very much💕
I made these today with 365 almond butter (peanut allergy). I included the 1/2 tsp of blackstrap molasses and sprinkled chunky Kosher salt on them when they came out of the oven. The best nut butter cookies I’ve had in decades!
PS: Don’t worry about listing your nut butter in grams. I’m in Canada where we cook bilingual. We still switch from metric to imperial several times a day.
No matter how hard I search, I just can’t find these cookies showing up on My Fitness Pal. I really wish someone would put them in the app, so we can track them in our macros when we enjoy a couple.
Although I’m a diehard fan of your bakery style chocolate chip cookies, I didn’t love this recipe baked. However, I tried one uncooked, but frozen out of the freezer and it was amazing. I now make this dough into cookie shapes, stick them in a freezer bag and keep them in the freezer and never cook them. I just take them out and eat the frozen cookie dough whenever I want something sweet. The firmness is perfect. Might be weird but it’s really good!!
I was ok until you slipped the gram measurement for the peanut butter.
I’m in the US and we do cups. I’ll try to figure it out I guess.
At the bottom of the recipe there is an option to use US measurements or metric. The peanut butter is 1 cup
there are US measurements under the recipe for pple who dont use metric
At the end of the recipe she has US Cups and metic choices. Just click it to use US
Click just under the recipe it will have US measurements.
Hi Betty, If you look at the bottom left of the recipe you will see Metric and US Cups, just change it to US Cups.
I suggest buying a digital food scale. They are very reasonable on Amazon. Baking requires more exact measurements which is why weighing vs measuring is more ideal.
These are the peanut butter cookies you’ve been looking for! I have one cold from the fridge (I made them last night) in my mouth as I type this and it’s a wonderful thing <3. I went with 1/2 cup erythritol and went 50/50 golden granulated and regular powdered but made no other changes. Phenominal! They are VERY sweet on my keto sensitized palate and I'll be reducing the sugar next time (very very soon) so that I can make these more of a fat bomb treat than a dessert because they are just that good!
This is by far the very best keto recipe peanut butter cookies I have ever tasted she knows exactly what she’s doing she’s a scientist obviously and I bow at her feet
My son and I made the peanut butter cookies tonight really enjoy the recipe. They were really good .
Thank you
Your thoughts…can one use natural almond butter instead of peanut butter? Also if I was using coconut sugar would you suggest 1/3-1/2c? Coconut sugar is lower on the glycemic index, it is comparable to 1/2 the glycemic index as granulated sugar, so if using 1/2c coconut sugar it is as if you were only using 1/4 c.
Do you think I could use Monkfruit for the sweetener? If so how much should I use?
I always use Monkfruit sweetener when I make these. I use 1/2 cup and they turn out perfect.
Hi Ryan! By monk fruit sweetener (given the amount that you suggested), I’m guessing you mean Lakanto’s erythritol sweetener with monk fruit? xo!
I’m excited to try this recipe. I don’t think I’ve ever commented but I would like to share that lots of your recipes are hits in my home. I’m sorry your sciatica flared but I know you’re happy to be on the mend. Thank you for blessing us with your knowledge and talent.
🙂 Krista
Okay, I made these and they were a big hit in my home. I added 6 sugar free Lily’s semisweet chocolate chips to each cookie and they were excellent! We liked them raw & frozen (like a fat Bomb) as well as baked. Thanks again for the great recipes!
I’m still in the process of making these cookies. I followed the directions and preheated the oven as step one. By the time I finished preparing the cookies on the tray, my oven was ready. Then I read the directions to freeze for 15 minutes!! I had to turn off my oven so as not to waste electricity and heat up my kitchen unnecessarily. The oven shouldn’t be turned on until the cookies go in the freezer. 🙁 That would be plenty of time to preheat. (And yes, I do need to read directions more carefully before I start. )
Every time I use Lakanto my recipe is very crystallized. The cookies feel like I am eating raw sugar after they are cooked. Any idea what I am doing wrong or is this how it is supposed to taste?
I have a question, do you have to use the sweetener? Can you use just the peanut butter. I’m hoping that Smuckers natural PB is a good one.
Smuckers is plenty salty, and, really, you can do whatever you want, it is your kitchen… unsweetened and savory peanut butter cookies would be yummy with jam, or ham, or sandwiched with vanilla ice cream… 😃😘❤️
After baking my 20th batch of these peanut butter cookies, I just stopped keeping track. It has to be somewhere around double that many batches by now. There were a few months where I was baking 3 batches per week. Without a doubt, the best Keto friendly cookie recipe I’ve ever tried.
Absolutely amazing!! This cookie is easy and very delicious.
Everyone in my house is counting carbs for one reason or another and your website is a God send to us. Hubby is diabetic but thriving and tells everyone it’s due to me making great stuff with YOUR recipes.
Glad you’re healing. Will add you to my prayers.
Thank you Pamela- that means a lot on a v personal level 🙂
Just made these! Added some chocolate chips and used chunky peanut butter. fabulous!
Sounds like a match made in heaven Tuti!!
That’s exactly what I did! Yum!
Just made these PB cookies & taste was fine. Unfortunately, the cookies “crumble” apart. Only had Swerve for sweetener & used 1/3 cup (as I don’t like its aftertaste). Do u think this would have made them dry? Baked exactly 12 minutes & were soft when came out – Hmmm
Paola,
You are a blessing and definitely missed when away! I make so many of your recipes. Glad to hear you are on the mend. You are in our thoughts and prayers.
Paola, loved these ! Went rogue and ate the first one warm because I just couldn’t wait. Numbers two and three were fully cooled…but just barely.
I only had Jiff Natural peanut butter in the house….and chunky style at that. When it was mixed (used a combo of xyletol …no pups in the house…and tagatose) it wasn’t quite firm enough to drop as mounds. I added about 1 1/2 -2 Tbs inulin powder (zero carbs plus gut healthy fiber) until it felt firm enough to scoop out. And ta da….worked GREAT. Did the salt flakes as your suggested….the only bad thing about that is it made them absolutely binge worthy.
And let me add my well wishes to that of the others….so glad you are feeling better and on your way to recovery. We would miss you so very much if you were not to return.
Paola:
These cookies are amazingly delicious. Once again I have to hide them from myself or else my husband’s lunch will be cookie-less! Crispy outside and tender and chewy on the inside… since my scoop is small, I made 23 cookies and oops – now there are 21 cookies left. Fortunately, at just .6g net carbs apiece, I haven’t blown my budget for the day.
I made a fat head pizza crust so, except for adding toppings and baking some more, I’m done in the kitchen….oh yeah, the sink is full of dirty cookware so off I go.
Thank you for another great recipe Paola♥️
Hi Paola, I just made these and they are delicious. I actually ran out of peanut butter and didn’t want to make any, so I did 1/2 peanut butter and 1/2 almond butter and they are ver good.
Ooooh that’s so good to hear Susie! Thanks so much for reporting back! xo!
Made them with allulose and they’re AMAZING!!! I used 1/2 cup and might go up a bit more for the kiddos next time but for me they were perfectly sweet.
On another note I saw in the comments that you took some time off for health? Is everything OK? We surely missed your terrific recipes and trust you’re on the mend, you’ll be in our prayers daily. The whole fam sends our love Paola and we’re so grateful for your delicious food that allows us to be sugar and grain free as 3 of us have Celiacs! You’re a blessing for the community 🙂
Rosie that’s so wonderful to hear! I love allulose 🙂
And re-my health, thank you so much for your prayers and good wishes. I am on the mend, but I suffered an injury to my sciatica back in June (and it got really bad in December)… essentially bed rest and wheelchair, but I’m slowly getting back on my feet! Big kiss!
Yummmmmmmm!!! Can’t wait to make these!! So glad your back Paola!
Awww thank you so much Holly, slowly but surely getting back on my feet ;)! Hope you love them! big kiss!
I’ve tried a similar recipe for these using just plain erythritol and then ended up with PB cookies that have a “cooling effect” in the mouth (from the erythritol). Does this golden erythritol sweetener cause that same cooling effect?
IMO with Lakanto it’s very slight (I’m suuuuper sensitive to it). If you were to go down to 1/3 cup I think it would disappear (you would lose some sweetness of course, could make up for it with a tad bit more monkfruit!
Alternatively there’s always allulose (zero GI, pet friendly, no gastric upset and tastes just like sugar) xo!
Hi, I’m glad you are back, my prayers are with you
Thank you Susie, that truly means a lot! Big kiss!
Can’t wait to make these!!!
Hope you love them Patti!!
Would love to try this using unsweetened natural almond or sunflower butter. Do you think it’ll be ok? Thanks!
Yeah def! Obviously taste will be different, but I can see almond working great 😉
Paola, do you think that the 365 brand of Almond Butter could be used in place of Peanut Butter, to make a variation of Almond Cookies? Thanks for your time!
Hi Raven! I haven’t tried myself, but I don’t see why not! I feel like the almond cookies would be awesome with some chocolate chunks/chips 😉 xo!
YOU’RE BACK!!! Hope your healing and on the mend Paola, you’ve been missed 🙂
Awww thank you so much Claire! Slowly but surely getting better thank you!! ps. I missed you guys so much too! Life is def not the same without cooking, sharing and chatting with y’all 😉 big kiss!