Amazingly doughy and fragrant keto bagels are made with the miraculous fathead dough. Ready in just 30 minutes, they will blow your mind!
I used to mourn my beloved weekend morning ritual of a toasted bagel, a thick layer of cream cheese, and a potent cup of coffee. 🥯☕
No more! These fathead keto bagels are AMAZING. They are soft and doughy, and they taste just wonderful. This is truly a miracle dough and I am so grateful for discovering it.
What inspired these low carb bagels
I made them for the first time after using Fathead dough to make empanadas. The dough was so lovely, so golden and flaky and fragrant, that I just knew it would make amazing bagels.
So I went into the kitchen and started experimenting. I quickly found out that to make keto bagels with fathead dough, I would need to add more almond flour than I used for the empanadas. The empanada dough was extremely sticky. There was no way I could shape it into bagels.
I also learned that to get lovely, puffy bagels, I would need to add a leavening agent to the dough. So I added some baking powder.
It took a few tries, but it was well worth it. I now have a wonderful bagel recipe that my family really enjoys.
The ingredients you’ll need
You’ll only need six ingredients to make this tasty recipe – don’t you love recipes with a short ingredient list! Here’s an overview of what you’ll need (the exact measurements are in the recipe card below):
Shredded mozzarella. I use the bagged pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella.
Cream cheese. Use full-fat cream cheese, not reduced-fat.
Almond flour: An excellent flour substitute that baked exceptionally well. Blanched finely ground almond flour works best. I don’t recommend using a coarse almond meal in this recipe.
Baking powder. Make sure it’s fresh!
Egg. One large egg is all you need.
Sesame seeds. Optional, but I think they make the bagels look amazing! You can also use Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel seasoning.
How to make low carb keto bagels
The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below. Here are the basic steps – it’s surprisingly easy:
1. You start by microwaving the mozzarella and the cream cheese until melted. Then stir them.
2. Add the almond flour, baking powder, and egg and quickly mix to form a dough.
3. Briefly knead the dough, then divide it into six equal parts. Roll each part into a log, then shape into a bagel.
4. Dip them in sesame seeds, then bake them for about 15 minutes at 350°F.
Do they taste like the real thing?
Sadly, no. They are incredibly good, but they are different than regular bagels. Without gluten and yeast, it’s obviously not the same.
This is also true for other fathead-dough-based foods. So these keto soft pretzels are just wonderful. But they do not taste like real pretzels.
How many carbs and calories are in a keto bagel?
As you can see in the nutrition info below, each of them has 280 calories, 8g carbs, and 4g fiber.
So while they are excellent in terms of their carb content, they are fairly calorie-dense, as are most almond flour baked goods. So I view these bagels as a weekend indulgence, not as something to eat every day. Certainly not if they displace more nutritious foods such as seafood and vegetables.
What about leftovers?
These keto bagels are best enjoyed warm and fresh. If you have any leftovers, freeze them right away, as soon as they are cool. Thaw them gently in the microwave.
It’s best to freeze them because they don’t keep very well in the fridge. They tend to deflate when stored and lose their fluffiness.
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Keto Bagels
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella (6 oz)
- 1 oz cream cheese, cubed
- 1 1/2 cups blanched finely ground almond flour (6 oz)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (gluten-free if needed)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds, or any other topping
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the mozzarella in a medium microwave safe bowl. Top with the cream cheese cubes. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir, then microwave for 30 more seconds.
- Stir again, and add the almond flour and the baking powder. Stir to incorporate as best as you can – dough won’t come together yet at this point.
- Add the egg, mixing it in with a rubber spatula and then with your hands. Work quickly, kneading the dough well before it cools and making sure it’s completely uniform.
- Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. I use my kitchen scales to make sure the bagels are all the same size.
- Knead each part briefly, then roll into a 7-inch log, starting in the middle and rolling outwards, as shown in the video. Press the ends together to shape into a bagel.
- Dip the tops of the bagels in the sesame seeds.
- Arrange the bagels on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until golden brown and fragrant, 15-17 minutes.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, Reader's Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens.