For those following a ketogenic diet, finding satisfying and delicious treats can sometimes be a challenge. Thankfully, peanut butter, with its high fat and protein content, is a perfect fit for the keto lifestyle. This article explores a variety of keto-friendly peanut butter recipes, from mousses and cookies to bars and even homemade peanut butter, ensuring you can enjoy tasty treats while staying within your carb limits.
Keto Peanut Butter Mousse
This creamy, airy keto peanut butter mousse recipe is incredibly quick and easy, requiring just five ingredients and only five minutes to whip up. With its impossibly silky, fluffy texture and deep peanut butter flavor, this low-carb peanut butter mousse is irresistible. Piped into pretty dessert cups, this keto mousse has enough "wow" factor to be served at a dinner party, making it a go-to sugar-free dessert for short-notice guests.
Ingredients:
- Smooth peanut butter (room temperature is best)
- Mascarpone (or cream cheese)
- Heavy cream (whipped to soft peaks)
- Powdered sweetener (monk fruit sweetener blend, powdered erythritol, xylitol, allulose, or Swerve confectioners)
- Vanilla extract (optional, but recommended)
Instructions:
- Add the mascarpone or cream cheese, sweetener, peanut butter, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Mix with an electric mixer to combine. If your peanut butter is unsalted, add a pinch of sea salt.
- In a clean bowl, whip the cream until just below stiff peaks.
- Fold the whipped cream through the peanut butter mix until combined and smooth.
- Spoon into a glass or use a piping bag.
Tips and Variations:
- Dairy-Free: Use dairy-free cream cheese and whipped coconut cream instead of heavy cream.
- Make Ahead: This recipe can be made a day or two ahead and stored in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Crunchy Peanut Butter: While possible, using crunchy peanut butter may make it difficult to use a piping bag.
- Lighter in Calories: Replace the cream cheese with Greek yogurt.
Storage:
- Refrigerator: Keto peanut butter mousse stays fresh in the fridge for up to 6 days in an airtight container.
- Freezer: Pipe leftovers into an ice cube tray and freeze to make fat bombs. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
These quick and easy keto peanut butter cookies are ultra-soft, chewy, and absolutely impossible to resist! Requiring just a few basic ingredients and no flour or sugar, they might just become your new favorite cookie recipe! Since the recipe is egg-free, you can eat the raw cookie dough while you bake, and if you’d prefer no-bake peanut butter cookies, it’s fine to skip the baking step completely.
Ingredients:
- Peanut Butter
- Powdered Erythritol or Monk Fruit Blend
- Salt
- Baking Soda
- Milk of choice
- Optional: Pecan Flour, Sunflower Flour, Cashew Flour, or Coconut Flour
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a mixing bowl, stir dry ingredients very well to ensure that the salt, sweetener, and baking soda are evenly incorporated.
- Stir in the nut butter and milk of choice to form a dough.
- Roll into cookie dough balls, place on the prepared baking sheet, and press down with a spoon or fork.
- Bake on the oven’s center rack for 10 minutes. The cookies should still be underbaked and delicate when you remove the tray from the oven.
Tips and Variations:
- Flour Substitutions: If you prefer to use pecan flour, sunflower flour, or cashew flour, these would likely work fine. If substituting coconut flour, use much less, adding just enough to form a dough, because coconut flour absorbs liquid like a sponge.
- Sweetener Options: For sugar-free cookies, either powdered erythritol or a powdered monk fruit erythritol blend will both work well here. If you don’t need the cookies to be suitable for a low-carb or ketogenic diet, regular powdered sugar is also fine to use.
- Three-Ingredient Cookies: Stir together 1 cup peanut butter, 1/2 cup granulated erythritol or sugar, and 1 egg or chia egg. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Stir all ingredients to form a batter, shape into cookies, and bake on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 10 minutes.
Storage:
- Leftover cookies can be stored in a plastic container for soft and chewy cookies or in a glass container for crispy cookies.
Keto Peanut Butter Balls
These 4-ingredient keto peanut butter balls are super easy, keto-friendly, and tasty! They offer a lightly sweet peanut butter delight. These easy low carb peanut butter balls are made with only 4 ingredients, and the instructions are just as easy.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Natural, Creamy Peanut Butter (a simple and yummy 1-ingredient peanut butter with no added salt, sugar, or oils)
- Coconut Flour (the key ingredient to this keto peanut butter balls recipe)
- Low Carb Keto Chocolate Chips or Mini Keto Chocolate Chips
- Keto Maple Syrup
Instructions:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add peanut butter, coconut flour, and keto maple syrup.
- Using a fork, stir until well mixed. Then, use a rubber spatula to fold until well incorporated and thickened.
- Fold in low carb keto chocolate chips.
- Using a small or medium cookie scoop, scoop and drop peanut butter balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spaced evenly apart.
- Enjoy!
Storing Notes:
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. On Day 1, bites will be soft and moist.
Freezing Instructions:
- Store in an airtight container in the freezer for 1-2 months.
Keto Peanut Butter Cups
These melt-in-your-mouth Keto Peanut Butter Cups require only 3 ingredients and are a recipe for the whole family. By swapping sugar for low-carb erythritol and using sugar-free chocolate and no-sugar-added nut butters, you can enjoy your own peanut butter cups without any added sugar! With this recipe, you can make your own keto-friendly almond or peanut butter cups with only 3 ingredients: sugar-free chocolate chips, Swerve confectioners (or other powdered sweetener), and your nut butter of choice.
Read also: Creamy Keto Dessert
Ingredients:
- Sugar-free chocolate chips (Bake Believe or Lily’s)
- Swerve Confectioners (or other powdered sweetener)
- Nut butter of choice (peanut butter, almond butter, or macadamia nut butter without added sugar or oils)
Equipment:
- Silicone mini-muffin pan (or regular-size silicone muffin pan or muffin tin with liners)
Instructions:
- Melt chocolate chips over a double-boiler. Stir until completely melted.
- Spread about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate into the bottom of each cup of your mold. Cover the bottom completely with chocolate and also the sides halfway up.
- Place the pan into the freezer for 10 minutes until the chocolate is solid. (Place the silicone pan on a metal tray or cutting board to make it easier to handle/carry.)
- Stir nut butter with sweetener until smooth.
- Add a dollop of nut butter into each cup. Smooth out the top and freeze again for about 15 minutes until the nut butter feels firm.
- Rewarm chocolate if necessary (in case it's not melted anymore). Spread about 1 teaspoon of chocolate over the filling, all the way to the sides.
- Freeze for another 10 minutes.
- Remove cups from molds.
Tips and Variations:
- Nut Butter: For this recipe, you can use peanut butter, almond butter, and even macadamia nut butter. Pick a nut butter without any added sugar, and if possible without any added oils. Oils in nut butter are often unhealthy vegetable oils.
- Molds: Silicone molds work best, like this mini-muffin silicone pan.
- Sweetener: Use Swerve Sweetener Confectioner to sweeten your nut butter. You could also use powdered erythritol or another powdered sweetener.
Storage:
- Store the cups in the fridge to keep them from melting. If you want to store them long-term, place them in an air-tight container in the freezer. Move them to the fridge when you are ready to consume them.
Keto Peanut Butter Bars
These easy keto peanut butter bars are the ultimate low-carb treat! They are ridiculously easy to make. The recipe calls for peanut flour, which gives the bars their unique texture. Peanut butter powder and PBFit are essentially the same thing and work just as well. Just make sure that whatever you choose does not contain any added sugars.
Ingredients:
- Melted butter
- Melted peanut butter
- Sweetener
- Vanilla
- Salt
- Peanut flour
Chocolate Glaze:
- Chopped chocolate
- Butter
Instructions:
- Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with wax paper or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine melted butter, melted peanut butter, sweetener, vanilla, and salt.
- Stir in peanut flour until the dough comes together (it will be like a dough, not like a batter).
- Press the dough firmly and evenly into the prepared baking pan. To really get it even, cover it with more wax paper or parchment paper and use a flat-bottomed glass or measuring cup to press.
- Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, and add the chopped chocolate and butter. Stir until melted and smooth.
- Pour over bars and use a knife or offset spatula to spread to the edges.
- Cut the mixture into equal square pieces.
Tips and Variations:
- Flour Substitutions: You can use almond flour, but it has a higher fat content than peanut flour, so you will need more of it to achieve the same dough-like texture. You will know you have the right consistency, no matter what flour you use, when the dough holds together and really feels like cookie dough. Actually, the consistency is more like play dough.
Storage:
- It is recommended to store them in the fridge in a covered container, so that they don’t get overly soft. They do stay firm at room temperature for a few hours, if you don’t live in a hot climate. They can last up to 3 weeks, if properly stored and refrigerated.
- To freeze, wrap up the bars tightly in plastic wrap, to avoid freezer burn.
Homemade Keto Peanut Butter
Making your own Homemade Keto Peanut Butter is so easy! You control the ingredients and the texture. This homemade peanut butter calls for roasted peanuts, some MCT oil (optional), and some low-carb sweetener, (also optional).
Ingredients:
- Roasted peanuts
- MCT oil (optional)
- Low-carb sweetener (optional)
Instructions:
- Using a good food processor, and a high-powered blender, process the peanuts to a sandy consistency.
- Add 1 tablespoon of oil (if using).
Tips and Variations:
- This recipe can be used to make any nut butter. You can make the butter half peanut and half another nut, or entirely from another nut.
- Chocolate Peanut Butter: Add 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to this recipe.
- Maple Peanut Butter: Combine peanut butter on pancakes and waffles and then drizzle them with maple syrup into one.
- Spicy Peanut Butter: Omit the coconut oil and add 3 tablespoons of chile oil and 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
Storage:
- This peanut butter can be keto at room temperature in a cool dry place, but the oils from the peanuts can cause it to go rancid, so if you don't eat a ton of peanut butter in your household, it is suggested to store your peanut butter in the refrigerator, where it will keep up to 3 months (or longer).
- It should keep for a week or two if stored in an airtight container in a cool dry place. It will last 3 months (or longer) if stored in the refrigerator.
- If your peanut butter has gone rancid, it will smell sharp, soapy, or bitter.
- You can either freeze it in small freezer-safe containers or in ice cube trays for small amounts you can add directly into smoothies and sauces.
Other Keto Peanut Butter Recipes
- Keto Nut Butter Cookies: These can be made with any peanut butters. Stir all the ingredients in a large bowl until the mixture becomes smooth yet thick. Place the ball on a baking tray with a baking sheet on top and flatten twice with a fork in a cross shape. Bake the cookies for around 12 minutes and let them cool before serving.
- Keto Peanut Butter Brownies: Mix the almond flour and the sweetener in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into a baking tin lined with baking paper that is either 8x8 inches or 5x9 inches. Bake for around 15 minutes and let them cool before serving.
- Keto Peanut Butter Treat Balls: Combine all the ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Use a measuring spoon or roll small pieces in your hands to create ping pong-sized balls and put them on baking paper.
The Keto Diet and Peanut Butter
A keto diet is any diet that keeps you in ketosis. The food itself is not “keto” because anything in tiny quantities will not kick most people out of ketosis. Peanut butter is actually quite a low-carb food choice.
Read also: Peanut Butter Powder Nutrition
Read also: Peanut Butter Keto Recipe