Lightly crisp, ridiculously easy and just 1g net carb… these homemade keto funnel cakes are bound to take you back straight to your childhood!
Gluten Free & Keto Funnel Cakes
Totally Homemade!
Whisk, funnel and fry... that’s it! I’m so psyched to share this fun summer treat with you guys! And for those of you in other parts of the world, funnel cakes are an American treat commonly found in fairs, carnivals and seaside resorts.
And acccording to my internet research, they’re traditionally from the Ozarks… but it looks like they can be traced back all the way to medieval Persia, and were brought to American by Dutch settlers (according to wiki at least!).
Fun fact: Alton Brown (you know, chef extraordinaire!) actually suggests using choux pastry for funnel cakes! So technically you can also make our keto churros as ‘funnel cakes’ in case you don’t have some of these ‘newer’ grain free flours.
How To Make Keto Funnel Cakes
It’s easy stuff guys, no special methodology and you’ll be done in 15 minutes, You simply whisk all the ingredients together, transfer to a ‘funnel’ (I used a disposable pastry bag!) and pipe onto hot oil to get the swirls. That’s it!
For the extra crisp factor?! Don’t freak out… but I threw in a tiny bit of mozzarella cheese! No, you absolutely cannot taste it (I swear!) and it just provides that wonderful crispness that grain free flours lack to achieve. I’ll also add that this is why the recipe has no added salt!
And I repeat, you cannot taste it as long as you use a neutral flavored cheese (the mozzarella cheese from Organic Valley is a bit bland and so perfect for this task lol!). I’ll also add that my assistant* was veeery weary of this and absolutely loved them!
Now, the one key difference to traditional (i.e. gluten) funnel cakes, is that the batter is much thicker; per usual keto-style right?!
This is why I think you’ll be better off piping it in (using a pastry bag or ziplock!) rather than using a traditional funnel. And the swirls come out muuuuch ‘prettier’… I mean, they’re fugly and look like worms, but you catch my drift!
The Flours
To whip up killer keto funnel cakes you’ll need either lupin flour or the fat-reduced almond flour! This is also the first time on the blog that I’m whipping out the lupin flour… and I know this will make many of you suuuuper happy as I get emails about it all the time!
So what is lupin? It’s simply a legume thats ridiculously low carb and calorie! Think just 3g net carbs per 100g (for reference, almond flour is 7g net!!). It’s also a probiotic fiber (i.e. great for balancing out your gut bacteria), and I’m honestly super psyched about this one as it has a lovely taste, great texture and solid nutritional qualities!
My one suggestion is that you stick to this brand for the time being… as others I’ve tried actually leave a bitter aftertaste! And you may also want to avoid it if you’re allergic to peanuts.
And, as mentioned, you can also use the fat-reduced almond flour (remember our pancakes?!*). It has been cold-pressed to remove 80% of its fat, which essentially reduces calorie content by 50% (hooray!) and makes for some seriously fluffy baked goods (double hooray)!
*Yes, this means that lupin flour works ace in our (suuuuper fluffy!) keto pancakes too! Straight sub to the (always sold out) almond one.
Other than that, you’ll still be adding a touch of super fine almond flour and xanthan gum!
The Sweetener
The batter for the keto funnel cakes is very lightly sweetened (and fairly bland solo), think just a couple tablespoons. But this is really to accommodate for the powdered sugar on top!
So to sweeten the keto funnel cakes themselves you can use anything from erythritol (Lakanto is my fav here), allulose and xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!).
And to make powdered ‘sugar’, simply get your blender out, make sure it’s completely dry, and process your sweetener of choice until powdered (allulose and xylitol will give the least aftertaste!). Just make sure you wait a few moments for the dust to settle before opening the blender or food processor.
Or you can always grab a bag of Powdered Lakanto (just keep in mind its twice as sweet).
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
(1g net carb!) Homemade Keto Funnel Cakes
Ingredients
- 40 g lupin flour or fat-reduced almond flour* see notes!
- 15 g almond flour
- 2 tablespoons erythritol or 1/4 tsp pure monkfruit extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 6-8 tablespoons water
- 40 g mozzarella cheese very finely grated!**
- avocado oil coconut or lard, for frying
To serve
- powdered erythritol or sweetener of choice!
Instructions
- Mix lupin flour (or fat-reduced almond flour), almond flour, sweetener, baking powder and xanthan gum in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk thoroughly together in a medium bowl the eggs and vanilla extract. Whisk in the dry ingredients followed by the heavy cream and water, a tablespoon at a time. You can play with the thickness a bit, but I found the best consistency to be with 6 TBSP of water (the batter is thicker, but will fluff up nicely in the oil). Mix in the mozzarella and allow the batter to rest while you heat up your oil.
- Prepare your frying station by adding enough oil to make it roughly 1-inch deep, and heat it up to 350°F/180°C. Transfer the batter to a piping bag (or ziplock!) and cut out the tip (1cm or 1/3" wide).
- Pipe into oil in a circular motion and fry until deep golden, flipping it over gently to get both sides. Serve right away with powdered 'sugar'!
I have no idea why I waited so long to try this! When I realized I didn’t have zip lock bags I grabbed a nitrile glove and tied up most fingers and it worked great, haha! This is delicious!! Thanks for another delectable treat!
Is there any recommended replacement for the mozzerella cheese ? My son is dairy free; I’ve had good luck w/coconut creme replacements for heavy cream; but given the wide variety and some ‘icky’ plant based cheeses I was wondering if you had a recommendation.
You know what?? This is amazing!! I’m gonna try this one day! And I got another tip! You can reduce blueberries/raspberries or strawberries with a little bit of sugar substitute over the stove and you get a nice topping just like at the fair! You have made my day!
If I do not use the Lupin flour or low fat almond flour can I just use regular almond flour? And how much would I use if only using regular almond flour?
Once again you hit the mark! YOur recipes are always amazing but the funnel cake is over the top. Really not hard and sooooo good!
Why reduced fat flour? Don’t you want fat in keto.
Can you substitute Peanut butter flour for any of it?
What can I use in place of almond flour . I’m allergic to almond
How much mozzarella cheese in cups please?
I was wondering if instead of making funnel cake could you make zeppole instead. It’s fried dough dusted w powdered sugar
I was wondering if you could make funnel cake sticks/fries with this recipe?