Keto fathead bagels are a great low-carb substitute for traditional bread. This recipe uses coconut flour fathead dough and is sure to become a regular favorite.
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There is a Fat Head dough craze in the low carb world. And now people are using it to make breads like bagels and rolls!
The first recipe I saw for keto Fathead bagels was a few years ago on a Reddit board. I knew immediately that I wanted to use this recipe and make my own bagels. I love eating bagels as a replacement for bread or even just alone for an easy grab and go breakfast.
What Is Fathead Dough?
This popular low carb and gluten-free dough is made with mozzarella, cream cheese, eggs, and a low-carb flour (like almond flour or coconut flour).
The term ‘Fat Head dough’ comes from ‘Fat Head pizza’, a recipe posted on author/filmmaker/comedian Tom Naughton’s blog. The pizza is named after Naughton’s documentary ‘Fat Head’, which looks at food, nutrition, and health.
The original dough recipe has been adapted for many recipes other than pizza, including low carb breads and pastries.
The fathead dough recipe shown below can be used as a keto dough for other recipes, including loaves of bread, low carb burger buns, or my Keto Cinnamon Rolls.
Tips For The Best Fathead Dough Bagels
I learned a few things after making them. Follow these tips and your bagels will come out perfectly.
- Always weigh the flour, mozzarella cheese, and cream cheese to ensure consistent results. Although there are marks on the cream cheese wrapper for each ounce, it’s not that accurate.
- Add butter because coconut flour requires more liquid. There’s also an additional egg in the batter.
- Duck eggs can replace chicken eggs. Since I’m sensitive to egg whites, I like to use two duck eggs instead of the three large chicken eggs.
- Add seeds to the top for flavoring as well. You can even make your own everything but the bagel seasoning to sprinkle on the dough before baking.
In all, I made about four different versions of the coconut flour bagels. Each time, I weighed the coconut flour and mozzarella cheese to ensure consistent results.
Why You Should Use Coconut Flour In Keto Bagels
A few reasons why I prefer coconut flour in this low carb bagels recipe:
- A little bit goes a long way! It seems to expand like a sponge when absorbing the liquid, so you don’t need as much as you might with other flours. I find I use about ⅓ the amount of coconut flour when compared to recipes with almond flour.
- Coconut flour gives the bread a lighter texture.
- When I made bagels with almond flour, all I could taste were the almonds. Don’t get me wrong, I like almonds, but not as the predominant flavor in bagels. The coconut flour definitely has less of an overpowering taste.
- It’s made from finely ground, dried coconut meat, and has a light but distinct coconut smell and taste.
- I think the coconut taste in coconut flour is much less obvious than the almond taste you get when baking with almond flour.
- Lastly, I like the flour best, which is ultimately why I use it to make my Fathead bagels.
Coconut Flour Fathead Dough Baking Tips
Coconut flour acts differently from other flours so it cannot be substituted at a 1:1 ratio for other types of flour.
If you’re using it as a substitute in your favorite keto recipes, it may take a few attempts to learn how to swap it properly.
Other things to keep in mind when baking with coconut flour:
- It’s not wheat flour. It may look like wheat flour, but it smells, tastes, and acts much differently than wheat flour.
- Very absorbent. Coconut flour soaks up liquid more than other flours do. As a result, you either need to use less flour or more liquid in a recipe for it to work.
- It has a rougher texture. In order to get the lumps out and help it blend with other dry ingredients, you should always sift before using it.
I don’t use the coconut flour pizza crust recipe to make keto bagels because it’s a bit flat. And, I rarely use flax these days. Instead, I’ll use chia seeds or psyllium husks.
If you haven’t been making your own Fathead dough because of the almond flour, you need to give this coconut flour version a try. For those sensitive to eggs, I do have an eggless recipe that uses psyllium husks.
Frequently Asked Questions About Coconut Flour Fathead Dough Bagels
The entire recipe is at the bottom of this post. First, I want to answer a few questions about the recipe.
How Long Can You Store The Bagels?
These low carb bagels can be kept at room temperature for several days. Once the bagels are completely cool, place them into an airtight plastic bag and store it in a cool, dry place.
Keep in mind that the bagels will get harder the longer you keep them.
If you need to store your bagels for longer than a few days, then skip the refrigerator and pop them directly into the freezer. If you refrigerate fathead bagels, they will quickly become hard and stale
Pre-slice each bagel before freezing and then store them in a freezer-safe, airtight bag for up to three months. Frozen bagels do not need to be thawed before toasting.
Which Fathead Dough Tastes The Best?
The YouTube channel Highfalutin’ Low Carb compared this coconut flour bagels recipe to one made with almond flour. Check out the video to see which one is the best and why.
Enjoy this amazing recipe! And please let us know what you think of them in the comments below if you do give them a try!
Other Recipes To Try:
Are you searching for more low carb bread recipes to make at home? Try one of these favorites:
- Keto Flax Meal Bread is packed with protein and fiber and the flax meal acts like gluten so it's perfect for slicing.
- Keto Coconut Flour Pumpkin Bread has a nice and soft texture with the comforting pumpkin flavor you love.
- Coconut Flour Keto Cornbread is perfect to enjoy with some low carb chili or as a side dish to your fresh salad.
- Peanut Butter Keto Chocolate Chip Muffins taste like a peanut butter cookie - but without all the carbs.
- Coconut Flour Banana Bread is light with a slightly sweet flavor. You will love this bread for sandwiches.
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Recipe
Keto Bagels - Coconut Flour Fat Head Dough
Video
Ingredients
- 60 grams coconut flour about ½ cup
- 2 teaspoons baking powder use a little more to help get a better rise
- 250 grams mozzarella cheese shredded (about 2-½ cups)
- 55 grams cream cheese 2 ounces
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoons butter melted (add a bit more if needed and use unsalted to reduce sodium)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mix coconut flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Melt mozzarella cheese and cream cheese in microwave on high power for one minute. Stir. Place back in microwave on high for another minute. Stir.
- Using hands or dough hooks, mix in beaten eggs, butter, and coconut flour mixture until a dough is formed. Dough should be a bit wet and sticky. If dry, try adding in another egg or more butter.
- Divide dough into 6 pieces and roll out each piece connecting the ends to form a bagel shape. Dough is easier to work with if hands are wet.
- Place bagels on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for about 12-16 minutes or until lightly browned. Put in low temp oven in the oven after cooled to achieve hard tack consistency
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
Notes on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Copyright
© LowCarbYum.com - Unauthorized use of this material without written permission is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes. Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
First Published: August 7, 2017... Last Updated: October 14, 2020, with additional recipe information and enhanced photos.
Denney Sweeney
I love the way this dough comes together, by far the easiest fat head dough I've tried. I wanted to make slightly smaller portions so I divided the dough into 8 bagels, and lowered the oven temp to 375 degrees, this is where I might have gone wrong as my end result was a very flat (as a pancake) bagel. I will try this again, still divide into 8, but go with the higher oven temp as stated in the recipe. I just find 6 bagels to be a bit much as I like to eat them with eggs. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Kathy W
Made this recipe. The bagels are cooling. The only difficulty I had was rolling the dough into a”log” to form the bagel shape. I did wet my hands which helped somewhat. Will be taste testing later.
kasha
Has anyone tried this at high altitude? I'm in Santa Fe at 7500 ft. Can you suggested adjustments? Thanks SO MUCH!!!
Azanna
When I change the recipe to metric, it goes to 2 Tsp baking powder, but goes back to 2 tbsp when I change to US customary! Which is it???
Lisa MarcAurele
It's 2 teaspoons but you can up it a little for a lighter texture.
Tracey
Made exact recipe. Pleasantly surprised. Found on youtube. Not like real bagels but thats to be expected. Used everything bagel spice. Tried half with butter, half with cream cheese. The combo of everything bagel spice and cream cheese really pushed it toward a bagel experience. Two thumps up!
Efrat
Hi! Thank you for the recipe.
Just made this bagels (watched it on ‘highfalutin low carb’:)
I used 3 eggs and the dough was really thin (couldn’t make a bagel shape)
Tried adding more flour and even psyllium hask but it didn’t work… next time I’ll try adding only 2 eggs- any other suggestions?
Thank you in advance ????????
Lisa MarcAurele
Unfortunately, the absorbency of coconut flour can vary and some brands aren't absorbent at all. You should try less eggs and add a little more coconut flour if needed.
Wendy
Making this tonight . The yeast is this only for flavor? Debating Should I add it ?
Lisa MarcAurele
Yeast is optional for flavor.
John MacMillan
When specifying metric units, the temperature should change to Celsius.
Lisa MarcAurele
I can put that on my list of things to add. It would need to be manually added in the directions as it's not part of the algorithm that does the recipe conversion.
Linda Wolfe
I tried the recipe today , my dough was dry so I added the extra egg like you suggested in the notes .it came out great . I live in my RV and travel for work so I used my toaster oven to bake it in. I made a double batch, some with the everything bagel spice and some with cinnamon and Swerve brown sugar. It came out just slightly brown and delicate inside. thanks for a great recipe.
Robert stone
Why does the dough break apart when trying to roll it out?
Lisa MarcAurele
If your dough is breaking apart, the cheese has cooled too much or there isn't enough liquid in the dough. Some coconut flour is more absorbent than others so that could be the issue.
Serena Dallas
Omg! Found your site via Highfaluten and it did not disappoint. Made exactly according to recipe making sure it weigh and sift all dry ingredients. What a difference. My first taste was well beyond my expectations. Thank you fir all the work you did to create this. I am a new convert to coconut flour and you made it taste so good!
I have a combo Ninja blender and processor and I used the pulse setting to incorporate all ingredients what a difference that made a well (and easier clean up). Final tip I have is roll all the dough into a log then cut like a sushi roll. Then you can get even sized bagels. (I also ended up with 8 bagels at a good size with a lower carb count! Win/Win).
Lisa MarcAurele
Thanks for sharing your tips for making the coconut flour bagels!