These Keto Fathead Bagels are the best keto low-carb bagels with a crispy crust and a chewy, dense crumb. Bonus, this fathead bagel recipe makes 12 easy keto bagels that freeze very well to make-ahead your breakfast with only 3.6 grams of net carbs per bagel.
No, a regular bagel recipe is not keto-friendly. It’s made of all-purpose flour and sugar. As a result, one bagel is very high in carbs, with about 48 grams of carbs per bagel.
However, you can make your own easy keto fathead bagels at home using this recipe.
Fathead dough is one of the easiest ways to make keto bread, keto cinnamon rolls, or pizza crust. Fathead dough is made of only 3 simple ingredients: eggs, shredded mozzarella cheese, and cream cheese.
Sometimes a keto flour like almond flour, coconut flour, or psyllium husk is added to give texture and density to fathead keto bread.
To make the best keto fathead bagels, you must add some keto flours to recreate a chewy, dense crumb similar to regular bagels.
The ingredients you need to make this keto bagel recipe with a delicious crispy crust and chewy, dense crumb are:
You can melt shredded mozzarella and cream cheese over the stove, over medium heat.
However, you must use a non-stick saucepan to prevent the cheese from sticking to the side and bottom of the pan.
Stir constantly with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon until fully melted.
Finally, transfer the melted cheese into a large mixing bowl. Make sure the bowl is not too cold, or the cheese is going to harden fast. You would struggle to combine the dry ingredients into it.
Now that you have prepared the melted cheese, stir in all the dry ingredients: baking powder, almond flour, psyllium husk, and salt.
Finally, add the beaten egg on top of the flour and start stirring with a silicone spatula.
Note that you must add the beaten eggs on top of the flour. In fact, adding the beaten eggs in direct contact with the melted cheese mixture would cook the eggs and create lumps into your fathead dough recipe.
To avoid that, always add the dry ingredients between the melted cheese mixture and beaten eggs.
It is difficult to stir the ingredients, so I recommend using your hands to create a consistent dough. Start mixing with the spatula, and when it starts to be difficult to stir, use your hands.
First, generously oil your hands with coconut oil or olive oil.
Then, squeeze and knead the dough quickly until all the ingredients are well combined and come together. The dough is going to harden as you go but might be a bit sticky. That’s normal.
Finally, when the dough is consistent, and no lumps of cheese or flour can be seen, slightly rub the dough ball with a teaspoon of oil and chill.
You can also add all the ingredients into a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a stand mixer. Both options turned out great and actually are faster to create fathead dough.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and chill 8-10 minutes until the dough is soft and not sticky.
Remove the dough from the fridge and place the dough ball onto a greased piece of parchment paper. Then, divide the dough into 12 equal portions of 64 grams/2.2 oz each.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Then, roll each ball into a cylinder.
Finally, gather the cylinder’s extremities and pinch to stick together and form a bagel shape with a hole in the center.
There are many ways to decorate bagels. First, you can brush the top of each bagel with egg wash. To do so, beat 1 egg with 2 tablespoons of heavy cream or almond milk and use a pastry brush to brush the top of each bagel.
I recommend brushing the top of these keto bagels with melted butter or light olive oil. This technique avoids the eggy taste in your bagels.
Finally, sprinkle and gently press sesame seeds or any bagel seasoning on top of each bagel.
Place the baking sheet in the center rack of a preheated oven 350F (180c).
Then, bake the bagels until the outside is golden brown and crispy. It usually takes 25 minutes to crisp.
Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack until it reaches room temperature. They will crisp with time.
These fathead bagels must be chilled or frozen. In fact, the dough contains cheese and eggs, so it won’t store more than 24 hours in the pantry.
I recommend placing the keto bagels in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Otherwise, freeze and thaw the day before on the kitchen countertop at room temperature.
The next day, slice the keto bagel and bring it into a bread toaster to add crispiness.
You can use these keto fathead bagels as a sweet or savory base. I always recommend slicing the bagels and toasting them in a bread toaster to add some crispy texture inside.
Then, spread or fill with some of my favorite keto toppings and food combination below:
Each of these keto bagels weighs 64 grams/2.2 oz and contains only 3.6 grams of net carb.
In fact, on a keto diet, you don’t count total carbs, so even if one of these keto bagels contains 6.5 grams of total carbs, you must take away the 2.9 grams of fibers that are not assimilated and won’t impact your ketosis. Read more about this in my guide on how to start the keto diet.
Yes, you can replace the eggs in fathead dough with an egg replacer. My favorite option is flax eggs. To replace the 2 eggs in this recipe, whisk the ingredients below into a small mixing bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes until gooey and an egg-like texture form.
Finally, add this mixture into the recipe as an egg replacer.
Yes, you can make nut-free keto bagels using this fathead bagel recipe. However, don’t use coconut flour to replace almond flour.
As I explain in my keto baking tips, you can’t replace keto flours without drastically changing their ratio. In fact, coconut flour contains 4 times more fiber than almond flour. It is a high water-absorbent flour, and you need only a tiny amount to reach the same texture as the almond flour keto-based recipe.
Instead, use the same amount of one of these flours to replace almond flour:
You must use hard shredded cheese to make fathead dough. You can’t use soft, fresh mozzarella that is high in moisture.
Of course, you can use other cheeses than hard shredded mozzarella, but keep in mind that different cheeses might add a strong cheese flavor to your food. That’s why I recommend mozzarella in this bagel fathead dough recipe. It doesn’t add any cheese flavor at all.
This said, if you want to make savory, cheesy bagels, other cheese options are:
Yes, you can add many flavorings to this fathead bagel dough to add some sweet or savory flavor.
For sweet keto bagels, add to the dough:
For savory keto bagels, add:
If you don’t work fast or didn’t melt the shredded cheese and cream cheese long enough, it can harden very fast. This makes it difficult to knead the dry ingredient into the dough.
To fix this, microwave the dough for 15 seconds or bring the bowl with the dough over a bowl full of boiling water.
The warmth from the water bowl will transfer to the dough, gently softening the dough. It makes it easier to knead and bring together.
If your fathead dough is too sticky, chill the dough for 5-10 minutes in an oiled bowl.
Then, rub your hands with oil before working with fathead dough. Use a light flavor oil like light olive oil or refined coconut oil. Rub the dough ball with oil and as you go to avoid the dough sticking to your fingers.
If you still can’t work the dough properly, add some extra almond flour 1 tablespoon at a time but don’t go over 1/4 cup!
If you miss bread on your keto diet, I have plenty of keto bread and buns recipes for you to try, including some without eggs or cheese if you prefer a dairy-free keto bread option:
Made these keto bagels? Share a comment or feedback below. I love to hear what you have to say about my recipes.
XOXO Carine
The recipes, instructions, and articles on this website should not be taken or used as medical advice. You must consult with your doctor before starting on a keto or low-carb diet. The nutritional data provided on Sweetashoney is to be used as indicative only. The nutrition data is calculated using WP Recipe Maker. Net Carbs is calculated by removing the fiber and some sugar alcohols from the total Carbohydrates. As an example, a recipe with 10 grams of Carbs per 100 grams that contains 3 grams of erythritol and 5 grams of fiber will have a net carbs content of 2 grams. Some sugar alcohols are excluded because they are not metabolized. You should always calculate the nutritional data yourself instead of relying on Sweetashoney's data. Sweetashoney and its recipes and articles are not intended to cure, prevent, diagnose, or treat any disease. Sweetashoney cannot be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or advice found on the Website.
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I really want to try these bagels; however, I do not like cream cheese, sour cream or yogurt. This recipe calls for cream cheese… can I exclude it or replace it with something else?
You need cream cheese in this recipe, it won’t work without it
Cannot wait to try these! They look delicious!!!
Hello,
I have few questions.
1. I have donut pans can I use those to bake the bagels?
2. I have psyllium husk but, I don’t want purple bagels (not my first time baking keto) can I mix this with something like xantham gum or guar to lighten the color? Perhaps use one of those instead?
3. Can I add yeast for flavor? I know they won’t rise.
Thank you
Yes, you can bake them in a donuts pan. You must use husk and replace by xantham gum or it won’t work. Not all husk brands turns food purple, you have to give it a go to leanr from the brand you bought. The color won’t impact taste or quality. You can add 1 teaspoon of active dried yeast for flavor. ENjoy,
love them
Hi! Can i use vegan cheese?
No, this recipe is not vegan friendly and it won’t work with vegan cheese or vegan cream cheese.
Hi,I just made these bagels and they are awesome! Great texture, chewy, and so good. I have never made anything keto before but with these recipes I will! Thank you!
Will these bagels hold up as hambruger buns?
Sure