Easy Keto Burger Buns. 0.6g carbs, soft yet sturdy, neutral in flavour, and far better than anything that comes out of a plastic bag, whether keto or otherwise.
They’re incredibly simple to make and as close to real bread flavour and texture as you can get.
You won’t find them stodgy, sticky, or heavy, and they’re also much lighter in calories than the usual keto breads, because they don’t involve nuts, coconut, seeds, cheese, or butter. You can even use them as pizza bases: just flip upside down, top with tomato sauce, cheese and the toppings you like, then grill for 5 minutes.
I am certain that you’ve followed many keto recipes that turned out a disappointment. This is not going to be one of them!
How to Make Easy Keto Burger Buns
This recipe creates 12 burger halves (0.3g carbs each).
In terms of liquids, you’ll need eggs, extra virgin olive oil, a dash of apple cider vinegar, and dairy milk. Arla Whole Dairy Milk has the same carbs as whipping cream, so I highly recommend it (or a similar Lactose-Free dairy milk). Caveat Emptor: I have tested various plant-based ‘milks’, but the results were disappointing, so I strongly advise that you stick to dairy milk.
The bulk (just 15g each) of the dry ingredients consists of lupin flour, bamboo fibre, and whey protein isolate (must be the isolate type – others won’t work). You’ll also need baking powder, baking soda, and xanthan gum.
These ingredients feature in many of my sweet and savoury recipes. If you’re a new visitor or you’ve never used these ingredients before, I should warn you that some of them aren’t cheap. But they will go a very long way, and you can rest assured that you won’t be wasting money on a one-off recipe.
The Method
Whip egg whites to soft meringue stage. Whip egg yolks until pale and creamy, then add liquids. Mix your dry ingredients (sifting lupin and baking powder is essential) and tip them into the yolks. Scoop the yolk mixture over the meringue and combine.
Finally, the most difficult 😉 step: Place 12 well-spaced mounds over a silicone baking sheet and shape them so they’re rounded and flat-ish. The batter is fluffy but sticky, so I use a standard spoon plus a mini silicone spatula to do this. Bake them for 20 minutes.
Your 12 burger bun halves will cool quickly once out of the oven, so they’ll be ready for you to devour before you’ve finished tidying up.
These buns aren’t just great for burgers or sandwich fillings. Try them as mini pizza bases. They bake with a slightly concave bottom, so they make the perfect vessel for tomato sauce, cheese and your favourite pizza toppings.
Enjoy!
Easy Keto Burger Buns
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs - room temperature, 165g net weight
- 100 g whole milk - Arla Lactose-Free Whole Dairy Milk or similar
- 20 g extra virgin olive oil (U.S. option HERE)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar (U.S. option HERE)
- 15 g whey protein isolate (U.S. option HERE)
- 15 g lupin flour * if using Miracle Lupin Flour, add an extra 5g
- 15 g bamboo fibre (U.S. option HERE)
- ¾ TBSP baking powder
- ½ tsp xanthan gum (U.S. option HERE)
- ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (U.S. option HERE)
Instructions
- separate eggs: put yolks in a medium glass mixing bowl and whites in a large one.3 large eggs
- weigh and place dry ingredients into another medium mixing bowl, making sure to sift the lupin flour and baking powder; mix well using a fork or small wire whisk.15 g whey protein isolate, 15 g lupin flour, 15 g bamboo fibre, ¾ TBSP baking powder, ½ tsp xanthan gum, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
- lay a large silicone baking sheet over an over rack and set it aside.
- pre-heat oven to
170 °C static. - using a hand-held electric whisk, whip egg whites to stiff peaks.
- whip egg yolks and vinegar with the same electric whisk at high speed (no need to rinse it first) until pale and creamy; add oil and whip; add milk (cold), and whip again briefly.100 g whole milk, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 20 g extra virgin olive oil
- tip the mixed dry ingredients into the egg yolk mixture and once again whip at low speed briefly to amalgamate (start manually to prevent the powder flying everywhere).
- pour yolks mixture over whipped egg whites, detach the balloon whisk and combine manually while retaining air - N.B. the best way to do this is to tilt the bowl away from you, then - starting at the farthest point - use the balloon whisk to swipe down > across towards you > up above the mixture > over the far end and down again, while rotating the bowl; this circular motion retains and injects air, and can be done quite fast once you master the action.
- using a flexible spatula, place 12 well-spaced mounds of the mixture over your baking sheet and flatten them a little so they’re not piled up high.
- bake at centre level for 18-20 minutes.
- remove from oven and set aside, untouched, for 10 minutes, then remove the silicone sheet and leave them on the rack to dry further.
Notes
Nutrition
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These look great and I can’t wait to try them. I fell off the ketovore wagon a good 6 months ago now, and my distended stomach bloating and joint pains have returned. I am now back on ketovore and after 3 days feel so much less heavy and bloated. Can’t wait to try these; I was the poster/reader who bought a silicone bun tray and used that with your other brilliant Carnivore bread recipe, as we liked the bread in buns in our house.
This will be my next adventure in keto/carni bread making; thank you!
Still need to adapt the original carnivore bread into a flatbread (got delayed as my mixer broke a while back but have replaced it now, plus fell off the wagon).
Becky
Hey Becky, thanks for leaving your feedback – much appreciated.
I strongly recommend that you use a silicone sheet or baking paper for these. All you need to do is drop heaped spoonfuls, top up with excess batter, then lightly spread as shown in the photos. I often spread them into squares when I’m planning to put them in the toaster for toasted sandwiches. A little tedious, but it works perfectly well, without needed moulds.
For Flatbread, my original Carnivore Bread recipe wouldn’t work very well. Instead, check THIS ONE out.
I was excited to try these, but lupin for us a no for me as it raises my blood sugar to much. Darn it!!
Hi Jeani, that’s a pity, ’cause if you tried these buns you wouldn’t be able to live without a constant supply of them, lol!
Are you sure lupin flour, with its ultra-low carb content, raises your blood sugar? Or could it be some other ingredient that you mixed lupin with in a previous recipe you made? After all, it’s impossible to ingest lupin flour on its own.
I just cannot imagine how, metabolically speaking, such a low carb ingredient would spike sugar levels.
I can’t figure out why my batter looked more like runny pancake batter than dough. I have read and reread the recipe and I followed it exactly. I really want this to work so please let me know if there are any commonly made mistakes that make the dough too runny to use.
Hi Melanie. I bake these every week and I have never ended up with a runny batter. Here are some tips that may help:
Measure everything in grams over metric scales.
Make sure to whip your egg whites to meringue stage.
Maybe use less milk (try half).
Fold your egg yolks mixture into the whipped whites bit by bit, instead of all at once (I combine them in one go, but it might be helpful if you don’t).
Don’t make substitutions, as different flours have different absorption properties. If you use melted butter instead of oil, the mixture will deflate and become a runny batter.
Let me know how it goes. If you could email me with photos of each stage, I would be able to visualise where the problem is and help you further.
I tried again and I had much better results. I had added the ingredients in the wrong order. FYI, I added nutritional yeast, a tiny bit of salt to the recipe and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top. They came out great and were delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Yeeeeyy! Well done for re-trying. I have 100% faith in my recipes, so I knew you would succeed! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
You will be ecstatic after trying these buns. I’ve made them hundreds of times and they never disappoint.
I’m excited to try this recipe. Just wondering if I could use heavy whipping cream & add some water or even use half & half. It’s difficult to find a low carb milk in my area. Thank you for your recipes & any help you can provide!
Hi Lisa, using cream will change the texture and affect the rise, but you might want to try 1/2 heavy cream + 1/2 water for the closest result.
I’m not familiar with half and half, as it’s not available in the UK. Assuming it’s lighter than heavy cream, I would suggest mixing 2/3 with 1/3 water.
This is another tour de force Antya!
I ate two buns halves with butter and cheese as soon as those little beauties cooled!
Love how brown and how soft they turned out. Just like proper buns. I’ll try to make them double size next time – ooh and what about focaccia!? So many options, so few eggs in the fridge…
PS for those substituting milk with cream, the following worked for me:
75g water + 25g cream (35% fat)
Cheers Vicki
Hahaha, I see you’re on a roll (no pun intended) 😂