The Best Keto Croissants Recipe (2021) (2024)

Alright, so straight-up, no sugar-coating or exaggerating, this is the BEST Keto Croissants Recipe you will EVER make. They taste like the real thing.

I'm not kidding when I say, throw out any other keto croissant recipe you have..including my original “Best Keto Croissants” recipe from 2020. These beat all of those by a long-shot.

Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. If you choose to purchase a product through one of these links, I may receive a small commission. This does NOT affect your purchase in any way.

The Best Keto Croissant Recipe 2021

Now I'm not saying my original keto croissant recipe was bad. It was far from it! I was actually super happy with it at the time and that's the reason is WAS called “The Best Keto Croissants”. I've honestly had nothing but positive feedback from that recipe.

Any sane person would probably just stop there and take the win. But I'm sure many of you know by now that I am not one of those sane people, LOL.

If I feel I can still improve on a recipe, than I will. Take my Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie Guide for example, where I baked over 100 different keto chocolate-chip cookies in one day just to figure out which were best. Then proceeded to STILL make another batch after that day that I thought were better. Or the countless versions of snickerdoodle cookies or pizza on my blog, lol.

In all honesty, I feel it's important to constantly improve on recipes because there are always new keto ingredients out there and recipes can easily get out-dated (though I do admit, there are some classics that will forever be good!)

But the key to great baking is constant innovation.

With that said, these croissants contain a newer assortment of ingredients, which some of you may not recognize quite as well as others.

Ingredients In The Best Keto Croissants Recipe

• Vital Wheat Gluten – The base for our croissants. This provides a structure and texture similar to that of regular bread because it is the protein extracted from wheat flour. It is very low carb and of course, high in protein. It is completely keto-friendly UNLESS you have a gluten allergy. You can read more about it HERE.
• Oat Fiber – A very high fiber flour that adds bulk to our recipe without adding a noticeably strong flavour. It's also lower in calories. If you absolutely cannot find this ingredient, you can TRY ground psyllium husks or flax meal as a substitute.
• Lupin Flour – My newest favourite ingredient. THIS is what makes our croissants so soft. Lupin flour is amazing for softening low carb breads and pastries. It is also a high fiber flour. It's not a nut per-say but it is from the legume family so if you have a peanut allergy, try a small amount first if you think it could cause an allergic reaction. This ingredient should not be substituted.
• Coconut Flour – This just adds the last bit of fluffiness and thickness to the dough! If you don't have it, 1 1/2 tbsp or 18g of tapioca starch can also work. You could even give 1 1/2 tbsp or 18g of cornstarch or arrowroot starch a try.
• Allulose – This is my favourite sweetener for breads and pastries! For one thing, it blends super well into them. But it also has this nice, not over-powering sweetness that tastes more natural in breads. You can also use a monkfruit sweetener or swerve but I do think allulose tastes best if you can use it!
• Baking Powder – This is kind of like our back-up. If for some reason our yeast doesn't fully cause the croissants to rise, the baking powder can help! This is also important because keto ingredients tend to need more “lift” than white flour baked goods because keto flours are “heavier” or “denser”.
• Xanthan Gum – You might be able to get away with these without the xanthan gum but I wouldn't recommend it. It helps give chewiness to the bread without adding additional vital wheat gluten.
• Active Dry Yeast – I use dry active yeast and always bloom it before adding it to dry ingredients. I find it works best in keto baked goods this way.
• Inulin – This is a really cool, high fiber ingredient you can use in place of sugar in bread recipes! If you don't have it, you can simply use 1 tsp of sugar in place of it. All it does is give the yeast something to eat so it can activate!
• Cinnamon – Optional, I just like the flavour it adds to the croissant dough!
• Butter – You can use salted or unsalted, just be sure to add a bit more salt if using unsalted!
• Heavy Cream – This helps to give our croissants a richer flavour. You can also use half and half, whole milk or 18% cream if you don't have heavy cream.

Tools I Used To Make The Best Keto Croissants Recipe

• Parchment Paper – I prefer this to making the croissants on a counter for easy clean-up!
• Large Silver Baking Sheet (you can use any kind of baking sheet, silver baking sheets just help to prevent the bottom of the croissants from browning as quickly)
• Canned Olive Oil or Butter Spray for greasing
• Non-Stick Rolling Pin
• Pizza Cutter (Super helpful for cutting dough neatly!)
• Silicone Brush (for brushing croissants with egg)
• Plastic Wrap (To wrap up your dough while it chills)

Tips For Making The Best Keto Croissants Recipe

• When first forming your ball of dough, remember not to over-mix and cause the butter chunks to melt. You want to use your hands to get everything to stick together as best as you can without smushing the butter!
• When you first roll out your rough dough into a rectangle, it may not be perfect because the butter is still chunky. This is okay! Simply push messy edges back into the dough and continue with the rolling and folding process. It will smooth out as you go.
• As I mention in the full recipe, your dough may become difficult to roll out because of the gluten. This recipe doesn't give a lot of resting time as to speed up the croissant-making proces. So if you can't roll the dough out anymore, roll it out as much as you can, wrap it in saran wrap and let it chill for 30min – 1 hour to give the gluten time to relax, then try rolling it out further. You can also break the dough into two halves and roll it that way to make it easier.
• This recipe makes quite large and filling croissants if you make 7-8 (one sliced with filling could easily make a meal!) Even small croissants are quite filling because of the protein and fiber content in these keto croissants, compared to regular traditional croissants, so just keep that in mind when shaping them!
• When proofing these croissants, be sure to keep them at a relatively “normal” temperature. Slightly above room temperature is OK. But remember, this means they will rise FASTER so you may need less rising time in total. These croissants will NOT double in size but rather grow slightly about 1.25 to 1.5x in size. This is NORMAL. 1 hour to an hour and 20 min is plenty of rising time! Too much proofing can cause the butter to melt out of the croissants when baking. They will still be tasty but will flatten slightly (I'm telling you this because it's what happened to my first batch! LOL)
• Bake these croissants until golden brown. If the tops brown very early on, be sure to cover the croissants with some tinfoil and continue baking them at a just slightly lower temperature until cooked through.

How To Store The Best Keto Croissants / Re-heating Instructions

• You can store these croissants at room temperature in a ziplock bag for up to 3 days (after that they just lose a lot of their freshness).
• For the best results, I recommend freezing these and removing only the ones you want when you want them! I take one out of the freezer every morning and microwave it for ~25s on a plate until warm. You can also let it thaw at room temperature or re-heat wrapped in tin-foil in a 350*F oven just until warm.

*New* Get Your Customized Keto Diet Plan For 1$

The Best Keto Croissants Recipe (2021)

Serves: 7-8 large croissants (or 12 small croissants)

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp warm water, 30ml (NOT hot)
• 2 tsp active dry yeast, 8g
• 2 tbsp inulin, 14g
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp vital wheat gluten 100g
• ~1/2 cup allulose, 75g (or 1/4 cup of a sweetener that measures like sugar)
• 1/3 cup oat fiber 42g
• 1/3 cup lupin flour, 32g
• 1 tbsp coconut flour 8g
• 1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional, I like the flavour it adds!)
• 1/4 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter)
• 1 cup cold salted butter, 250g
• 6 tbsp cold water, 90ml (add a touch extra ONLY if needed)
• 7 tbsp cold heavy cream, 105ml
• additional vital wheat gluten for flouring surface
• 1 whole egg + 1 tbsp water for brushing

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, add the 2 tbsp warm water, yeast and inulin and use a fork to gently stir everything once. Cover with saran wrap and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together all of your dry ingredients including; vital wheat gluten, allulose sweetener, oat fiber, lupin flour, coconut flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, cinnamon and salt.
3. Next, chop the cold butter into rough small chunks (they don't have to be even) and add them to the bowl.
4. Use a fork or dough blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients and make the pieces smaller. (I like to use the end of the fork to poke down on the pieces. This may take a bit. Don't worry about the pieces being perfectly small!)
5. Once the pieces are about the size of mentos as I like to say, you can then add the cold water and heavy cream, along with the yeast mixture from earlier (which, should now be quite foamy).
6. Stir everything until the dough starts to come together, then use your hands to form a rough ball. Our goal is not to fully blend the dough, but simply to get it to stick together in a ball shape with chunks of butter still easily visible. Add an extra tablespoon of cold water only if needed.
7. Next, wrap your large ball of dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for 30min.
8. After 30min you can un-wrap the ball of dough and place it on a greased and lightly vital wheat gluten-floured surface. (I prefer to use two pieces of greased and floured parchment paper for this). If not using parchment paper on the bottom, at least use one piece on top of your dough. This will prevent the rolling pin from sticking to the dough.
9. Roll the dough out length-wise to get a long rectangle. Fold one side of the dough inwards, then the other like folding a brochure or letter. Gently push any rough edges in to straighten out the shape of your dough. Then turn it 90*. flour the surface and top of the dough again and repeat the first step of rolling it out into a long rectangle..then again fold it like a letter. Repeat this process 4-5 times in total. Your dough may get tough to roll out. If this happens, simply refrigerate and cover the dough for another 30min – 1 hour to allow the gluten time to relax.
10. After these initial 4-5 folds, refrigerate your dough for 30min. Then repeat for 2 more folds or just until your butter is almost completely blended and streaky rather than chunky. Again, if your dough is super tough, just roll it out as much as you can, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate, then continue to roll after 30min.
11. Once you are down with rolling and folding, make sure your dough chills for at least 30min prior to the next step.
12. Take your dough out, un-wrap it and slice it evenly in half. Re-wrap one half and place it back in the fridge for later.
13. Roll out this piece of croissant dough again, but this time, width-wise AND length-wise to create a large thicker rectangle.
14. Make sure your dough gets about as thin as you can get it. It will likely be about 1/4 of an inch thick (basically thin but still easy to pick up without breaking).
15. Cut any weird un-even edges off your rectangle using a sharp knife or pizza cutter (save the dough!) Then for LARGE croissants, cut the rectangle diagonally from one corner to the other into 2 long triangles. For SMALL croissants cut the original rectangle of dough into 2 smaller rectangles by slicing down the center, then slice those 2 rectangles into 4 triangles.
16. Use the left-over scraps to form one final large croissant by placing the pieces of dough together and rolling them out to form another rough long triangle. (Or form 2 more croissants if making smaller croissants).
17. Take the triangles and using a knife or pizza cutter, slice just a bit up the middle of the short FLAT side of the triangle (see photos). Then pinch the corners of this side and gently pull them apart slightly (again, see the photos). This just helps our croissants look prettier after rolling them up. Roll the croissants from the bottom (cut-side) up to the very tip of the triangle, then gently press the tip of the triangle into the dough to help the croissant hold together. Don't worry if it's not completely sticking just yet. Repeat this process for all of your croissant triangles.
18. Place finished croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet spaced evenly apart. Remove your second-half of the dough from the fridge and repeat this same process.
19. Once you have all of your croissants on a parchment-lined baking sheet, whisk together your egg and water until smooth, then lightly brush all of the croissants with the mixture. Cover your croissants with plastic wrap (you can tent your plastic wrap by using small up-side down cups in the center of your tray to prevent the plastic wrap from sticking to the dough at all). Then let the croissants rise for ~1 hour – an hour and 20min in a draft-free space around 75° to 80°F, DO NOT put them somewhere particularly warm. If you let them rise past this time, the butter may melt. Also note these croissants will not double in size but rather grow just slightly (about 1.25 to 1.5x in size).
20. During the last 20min of rising, pre-heat your oven to 375*F. Place your oven rack on a the highest setting if your oven tends to brown more from the bottom-up, place the rack on a lower or middle shelf if it browns more from the top-down.
21. Very gently brush the croissants with a touch more of the egg mixture IF they seem dry (note – this will cause MORE browning so be careful not to put too much).
22. Bake the croissants for ~20min or until a golden brown colour. Keep an eye on them. If you find the tops browning too quickly, cover them with tin foil part-way though and keep baking them at a slightly lower temperature to fully cook the centers. (Note – even if the centers come out soft, they do set-up a bit the day after).
23. Place the finished croissants on a plate to cool slightly, then serve warm with butter and jam or whichever toppings you prefer. I hope you enjoy the best keto croissants recipe!

Nutrition for 1/8th of recipe (1 large croissant): 311 calories | 27.9g fat | 2.9g NET carbs | 11.7g protein | 5.7g fiber

You can store these croissants at room temperature in a ziplock bag for up to 3 days (after that they just lose a lot of their freshness).

For the best results, I recommend freezing these and removing only the ones you want when you want them! I take one out of the freezer every morning and microwave it for ~25s on a plate until warm. You can also let it thaw at room temperature or re-heat wrapped in tin-foil in a 350*F oven just until warm.

Other Similar Recipes You May Like:

*New* Get Your Customized Keto Diet Plan For 1$