In search for a dairy free alternative to fathead dough?! Look no further than these gluten free, paleo and keto bagels with yeast. Soft, chewy and with an awesome taste(i.e. no eggy or cheesy business here!).
Gluten Free & Keto Bagels
With yeast!
These low carb and grain free bagels are pure gold guys! And if you’ve already met my soft ‘n fluffy sandwich bread (or proper cinnamon rolls!), you already know I don’t mess around when it comes to bread.
And these guys right here are no exception. Plus, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to whip them up.
p.s. They’re just 3g net carbs per (full-sized!) bagel. Ideal!
The Deets
Because the keto grain free flours do not cook in water, doing a traditional bagel recipe (i.e. boiling them before baking!) unfortunately just isn’t possible. Still, the results are outstanding.
As you well know, bagels are dense and chewy, so you may want to play around a bit with the rising time to get them denser or lighter. Full disclosure, I prefer to do a bit of a longer rise (about 45-50 minutes); they become a little softer, but the taste with the yeast becomes sooo good.
Still, making these paleo and keto bagels is incredibly simple really. But, like with any yeasted bread, it does require you take care of a few details to ensure the best possible outcome.
In my experience, and unlike our staple sandwich keto bread, these low carb bagels don’t collapse much (if at all!) post bake.
You just must ensure your bagels do increase in size substantially while proofing. They can even double if you let them, but they do become a bit fluffier. And note that grain free yeast doughs do require a little extra warmth. For instance, I place my tray on top of my oven as I heat it up (so my tray gets slightly warm and they rise beautifully). But you must ensure you don’t overheat them or you’ll kill the yeast. Think a warm and humid day at the beach, that’s the ideal temperature.
Shape the dough
Wet your fingertips and shape into rounds, poking a whole in the middle and smoothing as much as possible.
Let it rise
Grain free yeast doughs need a little more cuddling. So find a warm spot and proof the dough for 20-60 minutes (less time for denser bagels, more for fluffier ones).
Bake them up!
Brush with an egg white wash (better browning), sprinkle with toppings of choice (you can’t go wrong with Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel), and bake for about 20-25 mins until deep golden.
The Tips ‘N Tricks
The yeast in this low carb and keto bread ensures a wonderful texture and taste. Check out these tips for best results with grain free yeast doughs!
Weigh your ingredients. This will forever be a staple recommendation for any sort of gluten free baking here at gnom-gnom. As aside from leading to less dirty dishes, it will ensure consistent results time and time again. Remember that gluten free (and particularly keto) baking is notoriously finicky, and measuring by cups is anything but accurate. And if you don’t own a baking scale, measure with cups by dropping the ingredients onto them rather than scooping them out (which often leads to overpacking).
Ingredients at room temperature. Self explanatory really, but incredibly important (particularly for the eggs). If you add cold eggs to the mix your bread simply won’t rise much (if at all).
Proof the yeast. This involves mixing dry active yeast with water that’s just warm to touch (between 105-110°F to be precise) and inulin or an actual sugar (think maple syrup or honey) for 7 minutes until foamy. And before you scream sugar (!!) remember that the yeast will feed on such sugar to emit carbon dioxide, so it doesn’t affect the carb count. And yes, this is a scientific fact.
Avoid abrupt temperature changes and air drafts. Like with any yeast bread, you need to cuddle your dough. Make sure it’s able to rest undisturbed in a warm space.
Baking at high altitude? Yup, so am I (Paola here!!). You just need to up the temperature a bit to seal the rise, and just keep an eye out for excessive browning.
The Ingredients & Possible Subs
These bagels do have a few ingredients, but you’ll find that most are staple paleo and keto pantry ingredients. In the list below you’ll find details on several ingredients and possible subs. This is also perhaps the most forgiving recipe in terms of subs out of all the grain free yeast bread recipes on the site!
Almond flour. You truly need a super finely ground almond flour here, as if you use meal your rolls will turn out dense and oily. Super fine almond flour brands include Anthony’s , WellBees and Bob’s.
Now if paleo, or in keto maintenance, you can lighten up the bread even more by substituting part of the almond flour (3-6 tablespoons) with arrowroot flour.
Flaxseed meal or psyllium husk can be used interchangeably in this recipe, and they both need to be re-ground for best texture. You’ll want to use golden flaxseed meal (we use Bob’s), and regrind the flakes in your (very dry!) bullet or blender until finely powdered. Great way to avoid slimy bread. And for the psyllium husk powder, NOW brand doesn’t turn bread purple.
Whey protein isolate ensures a better rise. But since bagels are on the dense side, you can get away with subbing with more almond flour (they just collapse a bit post bake). Keep in mind that this ingredient varies tremendously from brand to brand, and we’ve only tried (and are super happy!) with Isopure’s Zero Carb Unflavored. I’m still experimenting with more subs here, but a few of you reported back successfully back on our soft ‘n fluffy sandwich bread that collagen and hemp pro protein powder worked (I cannot guarantee these subs yet though!).
Xanthan gum. Borrowed from molecular cooking, xanthan gum is the binding agent which makes your toothpaste jelly-like (and your cream cheese, well cream cheese-like). And it’s also the most common gluten-replacer in gluten free baking. And while we do prefer the results with it, you can sub it with flax.
Gluten Free & Keto Bagels (With Yeast!)
Ingredients
For the keto bagels
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons inulin maple syrup or honey, to feed the yeast
- 120 ml water lukewarm between 105-110°F
- 192 g almond flour
- 42 g golden flaxseed meal or psyllium husk, finely ground
- 20 g whey protein isolate or more almond flour (in tablespoons)
- 2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum or 1 1/2 tablespoon ground flax seeds**
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon kosher salt depending on toppings
- 1 egg at room temperature
- 2 egg whites at room temperature
- 21 g extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Topping suggestions
- 1 egg white lightly beaten with a teaspoon of water, for egg wash
- Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel
Instructions
- Our keto bagels use the focaccia methodology (albeit different ratios), but do check out the video below for deets 'n tricks!
- Add yeast and maple syrup (to feed the yeast, see notes) to a large bowl. Heat up water to 105-110°F, and if you don't have a thermometer it should only feel lightly warm to touch. Pour water over yeast mixture, cover bowl with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 7 minutes. The mixture should be bubbly, if it isn't start again (too cold water won't activate the yeast and too hot will kill it).
- Mix your flours while the yeast is proofing. Add almond flour, psyllium husk (or flaxseed meal), whey protein isolate (or more almond flour), xanthan gum, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl and whisk until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.
- Once your yeast is proofed, add in the egg, egg whites, olive oil and vinegar. Mix with a whisk or electric mixer for a couple minutes until light and frothy. Add the flour mixture in two batches, mixing until thoroughly incorporated. You want to mix thoroughly and quickly to activate the xanthan gum, though the dough will become very thick by the end and form into a round.
- Line a baking tray with a baking mat or parchment paper. Wet your hands (so the dough doesn't stick!) and divide the dough into 8 rounds. Smooth the rounds as much as possible and, using your index finger, make an indentation in the center, stretching out the dough until 'bagel shaped'. Cover with a oiled cling film (saran wrap) and place in a warm draft-free space for 20-60 minutes. You want to do 20 minutes for a denser bagel, and 40-60 for a fluffier one (I personally go for the longer rise as the yeast taste develops much more!).
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C while the dough is proofing. And if you're baking at high altitude, you'll want to bake it at 375°F/190°C.
- Brush with an egg white wash (better browning), sprinkle with toppings of choice (you can't go wrong with Trader Joe's Everything But The Bagel), and bake for about 20-25 mins until deep golden. Check in on them at minute 10-13, and cover with aluminum foil if needed.
- Allow the bagels to cool completely for best texture, as the bread will continue to cook while cooling resulting in a better crumb. But if you can't hold your horses, at least give it 15 minutes before digging in (the bagels in the pics were cut just 20 minutes after baking).
- Keep stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple days, giving it a light toast before serving again. These guys also freeze great.
good paleo recipe! I doubled it and got 12 bagels, and they turned out just like the photo
Just a friendly reminder that most people have to learn these “basic” things for the first time at some point in their lives, Mary Berry wasn’t born with whisk in her hand..
There are many kids out there (and even adults) who are just learning the basics, and good on them. And not every country uses the term ‘Cling film’ like us 😘
I find it rather amusing that you actually described what cling film is. I wonder how many bakers do not know that. also how many bakers don’t know why you would wet your hands when dealing with sticky dough. and how many of us do not know how yeast works and that you can use any type of sugar which is consumed by the yeast. it’s also very amusing that your last sentence says that the nutrition facts were based on per bagel. and here I thought there were 190 cal in the entire batch. Silly me.
Lol you really would be surprised! In fact, this has become one of my favorite things of ‘my job’! Teaching folks with no experience in the kitchen how to cook and bake. Let’s just say I’ve been there, and know what it’s like to navigate recipes that assume you know what you’re doing 🤪
Having lived in a country which uses the metric system I now prefer using metric measurements for all my cooking and baking. Even listing amounts in ounces is preferred to cups and teaspoons.
I am a bit stumped though with the 21g of olive oil. Do I weigh the olive oil ?
Thanks ever so much for clarifying.
Yes Loretta! You can weigh anything (even eggs!), and many baking books give absolutely everything in grams for ultra precise baking (I do my best 😅)
Just a friendly reminder that most people have to learn these “basic” things for the first time at some point in their lives, Mary Berry wasn’t born with whisk in her hand..
There are many kids out there (and even adults) who are just learning the basics, and good on them. And not every country uses the term ‘Cling film’ like us 😘
If I use psyllium husk, is it still the same amount of grams as flaxseed meal?
Yes!
What can I substitute the egg ?
Hello!! Could you use this dough as a pretzel recipe?
can I use sugar free maple syrup to activate the dry yeast?
I just made this recipe exactly to the letter … the mixed dough looked just as it does in the focaccia video. My bagels have now been proofing, covered, in a slightly warm place for almost 40 min., and they have not risen at all. I did some research to figure out why, and read that vinegar kills yeast. Hmmm! Wondering what the purpose of the vinegar is in this recipe, and whether it could be the reason me and some of the other reviewers here have had problems with the rise? Thanks!
hi there 🙂
i made these yesterday and liked them other than the fact that they were a bit slimy, just wondering if there is a way to offset that slimy texture.
thanks!
I just made these and they are amazing! I used the flaxseed since I didn’t have the psyllium husk and they are still so good! I have 8 bagels for the next 2 months since I will only eat one on Saturdays. I made mine with cheese and egg sandwich. It is not as chewy as a regular bagel, so if your expecting an exact replica, this may not be the recipe for you. But it makes a sandwich, satisfies my craving and is only 8 total (3net) carbs. Delicious and thank you Paola!
I made the recipe with psyllium because I was out of golden flax. I didn’t get the rise that I was hoping for. I’m an experienced baker, yeast proofed well, I used my regular steam proofing chamber. I measured with digital scale. I’m hesitant to make it again because it’s a lot of investment in the dry ingredients. Is it possible that it was the psyllium substitution?
So delicious! I made these into cloverleaf rolls for Thanksgiving and they are wonderful. Thank you!
These are by far the best tasting “keto” bagels I have made. This has become my go to recipe. All others have been retired. I have a winner!!! I love the fact that the recipe does not include cheese and that it does include yeast. I used to make my own whole wheat bread years ago and this recipe’s flavor reminds me of my bread. My non-keto husband loves these. I wish he didn’’t (lol). It is a lot of work getting all of the dry ingredients together each time I make these but after the first time I decided to “pre-package” 2 extra zip loc bags of the dry ingredients. When it’s time to make these all I have to do is pull the eggs out of the refrigerator to bring to room temperature, proof the yeast, mix the wet ingredients and pour in a bag of the pre-mixed dry ingredients. What a time savor!!! Like big time!! I have also decided to shape them into squares with no holes which makes it like a small piece of bread which can be toasted. Again, these are great and that’s saying a lot coming from someone who used to bake their own bread❣️Thank you for creating this recipe. If I could rate it 100 stars I would.
Thank you for all your great recipes! I haven’t made these yet, so I can’t rate them. I don’t have problems with gluten, and was wondering if I could sub in Vital Gluten for xanthan gum, and if so, how much would you recommend?
Hi, I just found out I can’t tolerate yeast. Can I sub baking powder?
Unfortunately its a different process Joy!
These are my absolute favorite keto bagels! So many others use the typical fat head dough which gets boring since it’s always the recommended go to “bread”. I could care less for it. So after trying this recipe, I am blown away how yummy it is and it has the perfect bagel texture. Paola has definitely knocked this one out of the park. I used psyllium husk since I don’t care for flax seeds and it makes the dough sticky and slippery so you have to work fast at that point. Other than that, I love this recipe. It does require a tad bit more ingredients than other recipes out there but it WORTH IT!
Recipe worked perfectly even though I may have left the yeast to proof just a bit longer (oops). I’ve been GF for years and years but keto only for a couple of months, and baking is my thing so I’m trying any and all recipes I can find. While I really enjoyed these, they definitely are definitely not bagel like so I’m a bit sad. I far prefer fathead dough “bagels” but I may work with this recipe for rolls or bread as it is tasty and I do have a need for lactose free recipes.
Hi,
Does it matter if we use active dry yeast versus instant yeast? The recipe says active dry yeast, but the link is for instant yeast. I noticed that in the bread recipe as well. I used active dry yeast that I had on hand but I need to restock on my yeast and wondering if it mattered which type I buy.
Thanks!
I made these bagels today and they are just heaven. I did not have whey protein powder so I used 20g coconut flour instead. I let the dough rest for 45 minutes and after they bagels cooled down they had almost the same texture of our bakery bagels.
I think people have to realise that this is Keto and Keto dough is not the same as regular dough when made with normal wheat flour. The texture with almond flour is always wet sticky and therefore is best to either wet or oil the hands before working with the dough.
Can I use instant yeast?
What if I only have instant dry yeast?
This is my fav recipe for bagels. Any tips on how I could turn it into a loaf of bread? I love dense breads and I think it would be awesome!
Hi. Why are my bagels brownish grey?
Certain brands (or batches) of psyllium husk could give it this color Betty. Alternatively, did you use golden flaxseed or regular? xo!
My earlier comment was deleted for some reason. This didn’t yield 8 servings. It barely made 4 and they are not large. Is this what happens when you replace the xanthan with flax/psyillium. I hope this comment doesn’t get deleted just because i’m not singing the recipe’s praises and have a genuine question.
Your comment didn’t get deleted My… it went to spam for some reason (I don’t delete comments, I just sometimes take too long to moderate hundreds of them!)
This barely yielded 4 bagels. At 8, she must have been making mini-mini bagels. These 4 aren’t even that big.
I thought the same thing but if you follow the instructions and then let them sit for 90 minutes they’re massive. My first batch was like mini bagels. Second batch sat longer and they are huge.
Do you think I could use this dough to make pretzels??
Not really Veronica (at least not if you want them to taste like bagels). Working on one though 😉
Ok bummer… I will hold off until you create the pretzels for us. Cannot wait to try a pretzel recipe!!
So my bagels didn’t rise at all. Do you know what the problem could have been? Does the plastic wrap need to wrap the entire cookie sheet so no air touches the bagels are they proof?
Inulin is a fibre and most drug stores have it where you would find laxatives such a metamucil. Good luck
Just made today, pretty much as per recipe but used collagen instead of whey protein and they puffed up perfectly, looked exactly like your picture. They were great – I mean they don’t even remotely compare to a hot Gryfe’s bagel from the oven (for anyone living in Toronto) but considering I haven’t have a bagel in a year – they were YUMMY! Thank you for the recipe and excellent detailed instructions, details, time and effort! Much appreciated.