Easy Flaky Keto Biscuits
Published September 22, 2019 • Updated June 11, 2026
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Flaky, buttery keto biscuits made with almond flour and no eggs. I grate frozen butter into the dough and fold it five times to build real layers that pull apart.
Low carb almond flour biscuit recipe
I’ve tested a lot of low carb biscuit recipes over the years, and this keto biscuit recipe is the one I keep coming back to. The layers are real. Not that dense, crumbly texture you get from most gluten-free baking, but actual flaky layers that pull apart. The whole thing comes down to frozen butter and a simple folding technique.
These biscuits use almond flour and coconut flour with no eggs. They rise from baking powder, baking soda, and the acid in sour cream. The frozen butter is what makes the layers. It creates steam pockets in the oven, and those pockets separate into flaky sheets as they bake. I tried softened butter once and the difference was dramatic. Tender, sure, but the biscuit was completely flat.
Hot out of the oven, they’re almost too tender to pick up. I pour sausage gravy right over the top because the gravy soaks into every cranny while they’re still warm. If you want something sturdier, let them cool overnight. They firm up enough to slice in half or dunk into soup. You can also fold in sharp cheddar before cutting for a sausage cheddar biscuit variation that my readers love.
What I love about this recipe is how little it needs. No eggs, no yeast, no rise time. Mix, fold, cut, bake. I can have a batch done in under 30 minutes and they go with just about everything. I serve them alongside chili, with roasted chicken, or just split open with butter and coffee. If you’re building out your baking rotation, my keto tortillas and bread loaf are worth trying too.
These store well in an airtight container at room temperature for about three days, or in the fridge for a week. I actually prefer the texture on day two. They firm up just enough to hold together without losing that buttery flavor. If I’m meal prepping, I make a double batch on Sunday and keep them in the fridge for easy reheating throughout the week.
I’ve had readers tell me their non-keto friends couldn’t tell the difference between these and regular buttermilk biscuits. One reader brought a double batch to a Sunday dinner and her friend, a serious from-scratch baker, pulled her aside to ask about the layers. She didn’t mention the almond flour until the friend was halfway through her second one. That’s the kind of feedback that tells me the technique works.
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Ingredients
1 1/4 cups almond flour -
1/3 cup coconut flour
-
2 tablespoons whole psyllium husk
-
1 tablespoon baking powder
-
1/2 teaspoon salt
-
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
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6 tablespoons frozen unsalted butter
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1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
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1/4 cup sour cream
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1 tablespoon butter, melted
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Mix dry ingredients
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
- Almond flour
- Coconut flour
- Psyllium
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Baking soda
Grate your butter
Using a cheese grater, grate frozen butter into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir to distribute, but don’t mix too much. You want the butter to be in lumps. The more the butter is still intact and not soft or melted, the flakier the biscuit will be.
- Butter
Mix
Add in the whipping cream and sour cream. Stir with a spoon to combine until just incorporated.
- Heavy cream
- Sour cream
Make a rectangle
On a piece of parchment paper, gently mold the dough into a rectangle that is 1 inch tall.
Press and fold the dough
Fold one half of the dough onto itself, hamburger style, and press into a rectangle shape that is 1 inch tall again. Continue to fold and mold into a rectangle shape four more times.
Butter and bake
Using a knife, cut the biscuits into six squares, brush each biscuit with melted butter, and place on a parchment lined baking tray or baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
Let cool
Remove from oven, and let sit on the baking tray for about 5 minutes. Using a spatula, gently transfer each biscuit to a wire rack to finish cooling. The biscuits will be very tender and delicate when they first come out of the oven, but will firm up once they cool. For a firmer biscuit, let sit overnight.
Nutrition disclaimer
The nutrition information provided is an estimate and is for informational purposes only. I am a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.); however, this content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before making any lifestyle changes or beginning a new nutrition program.
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Get My Macros + Recipes →Frequently Asked Questions
How can I make keto cheddar biscuits?
I've had readers try this and it works great. Add about half a cup of shredded sharp cheddar and a teaspoon of garlic powder to the dry ingredients before adding the butter. One of my readers did exactly that and said they came out buttery and flaky with a nice cheese pull. I'd also brush the tops with garlic butter before baking. It's basically a cheddar bay biscuit at that point.
Are these biscuits gluten-free?
Yes, completely. I use almond flour and coconut flour instead of wheat flour, so there's zero gluten and it's grain free. These flours are my go-to for low carb baking because they keep things tender without the graininess you get from some other substitutes.
How many carbs are in this keto biscuits recipe?
Each biscuit has 4.7g net carbs and 10.8g total carbs. I kept the count low by using grain-free flours as the base with no added sugar. Pretty easy to fit into my daily macros even if I have two.
Can I freeze these biscuits before baking?
I've done this and it works well. Cut the biscuits, brush with butter, then freeze them on a parchment-lined tray until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag and they keep for about two months. When you're ready, bake from frozen at 400 degrees and add 3-4 extra minutes to the bake time. I wouldn't freeze the raw dough before cutting because the texture changes.
How do I reheat leftover biscuits?
I wrap mine in a damp paper towel and microwave for 20-30 seconds. If I want to bring back some of the fresh-baked crispness, I pop them in the oven at 350 for about 5 minutes after microwaving. I've also reheated them in an air fryer at 300 degrees for about 3 minutes, which gives the outside a nice crunch again.
Why are my biscuits coming out flat?
Almost always the butter. If it's soft or room temperature, it melts into the dough before the oven can turn it into steam. That steam is what creates the layers. I freeze my butter for at least 30 minutes and grate it so I'm not handling it too much. The other common issue is skipping the fold step. Those five folds are what builds the layers. Without them you'll get a tender biscuit, but it'll be flat.
Can I use ghee or coconut oil instead of butter?
I haven't tested coconut oil in these, but ghee should work since it behaves like butter when frozen solid. The key is that whatever fat you use needs to be frozen so it creates steam layers in the oven. For the sour cream, I'd try full-fat coconut cream. The acid in sour cream helps activate the leaveners, so I'd add a small splash of apple cider vinegar to the coconut cream to compensate.
Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
You can, but I reach for sour cream every time. I tested a batch with full-fat Greek yogurt and the biscuits still rose and held their layers, but the tang came through sharper and more sour than I wanted. Sour cream has more fat and a rounder flavor, so that's what I stick with. If Greek yogurt is what you've got, go full-fat and the dough will still come together the same way.
Can I add herbs or bacon to these biscuits?
I've tried rosemary and garlic, and both work. Fold dried herbs into the dough right after adding the cream and sour cream. For bacon, I cook it crispy, crumble it small, and fold it in the same way. I keep add-ins to about a quarter cup total so the dough structure holds up. My favorite combination is sharp cheddar with crumbled bacon.
my mom kept pulling the layers apart one by one
Made a batch and a half Monday, two per bag in the freezer. Reheated at 350 for eight minutes with turkey sausage this morning and they held together perfectly. 4.7 net carbs each. That's the whole point of making them ahead.
What clicked for me on this recipe is the heavy cream and sour cream together. Most keto biscuit recipes use one or the other, and the dough ends up either too stiff to fold properly or too wet to hold its shape. Here the fat content does something that makes the dough workable without overhandling, and the five folds actually build separate layers rather than just pressing everything into a mass. Mine have also held up better at room temperature than anything I've tried with almond flour alone, which usually turns dense once it cools. The carb count is under five grams per biscuit, lower than most comparable recipes I've tested. Three batches in the last month and I keep going back to this one.
I've made probably every keto biscuit recipe that shows up in search results and they all have the same problem, the dough bakes up too dense and crumbles instead of pulling apart. The grated frozen butter is what fixes it, and I haven't seen another keto biscuit recipe that actually does this. You can see the little butter flecks in the dough before the first fold and you already know it's going to be different. Five folds in and they come out with real layers, the kind where you can pull the biscuit open and see the separation. No eggs, which I think is also why other versions have that gummy center even when they're technically done. Two years keto, this is the one.
Batch seven, and I still do a little victory lap every time those layers actually pull apart.
Brought these to a spring dinner and the store-bought rolls sat completely untouched next to them, which tracks once you see how the fold-and-press layers actually hold up, though I'd probably add a pinch more salt next time.
Ha, store-bought rolls never win that battle. The extra salt is a good call - I've been doing a pinch of flaky salt on top right before they go in and it pulls the butter flavor way forward.
Had zero business attempting these as my first keto bake but did it anyway. Grating frozen butter felt insane, but those layers actually pulled apart. Would coconut cream work instead of heavy whipping cream?
Should work. Fat content is close enough that the dough will come together the same way. You'll get a faint coconut flavor but with all the butter in here it mostly disappears. Same 1/2 cup.
One thing I learned the hard way: grate the butter as frozen as possible right before mixing. Mine started softening halfway through and the layers barely showed up. Straight from freezer to grater, no sitting on the counter.
Warm butter just disappears into the dough. No separate pieces, no steam, no layers. I grate mine straight from the freezer and don't let it sit at all.
Biscuits were the one thing I couldn't figure out after going keto. Tried two recipes before this. Both crumbled apart when I pulled them. Grating frozen butter into the flour seemed like extra work at first, but that's literally the whole trick. First batch came out with actual layers, the kind you can peel back. I ate one over the sink before I even plated the rest. Haven't done that since I stopped eating carbs.
Over the sink before plating, I get it. And the five folds are half the reason those layers peel back like that, not just the frozen butter.
These are freaking good. Cannot believe I pulled them off on my first try. I genuinely struggle with anything more involved than scrambled eggs. The grating frozen butter step is fiddly if you rush it (I clumped mine and had to start over), so go slow. Once I got that right, the layers actually pulled apart the way biscuits are supposed to. Fair warning: the psyllium husk smell right out of the oven will throw you, but it fades within a couple minutes and they taste nothing like it.
That smell gets everyone the first time. Gone in two minutes. And good call starting over on the butter - clumped pieces just bake in instead of steaming.
Added shredded cheddar to the dry mix and the layers came out way more defined. Did not expect that.
The extra fat in the cheese, that tracks. I throw in a teaspoon of garlic powder too when I go the cheddar route.
On my sixth batch now, and I stopped rushing the folding after batch three. Four folds and they're fine. All five and the layers actually pull apart like they should.
Stopped rushing the folding is the whole trick. Four is fine but five is where you see what the recipe is actually doing.
Made these on Sunday and my daughter, who has turned her nose up at every keto thing I've put in front of her, picked one up, pulled it apart, and said 'Mom, why does this taste like a real biscuit.' I wasn't expecting that from her, or from the recipe honestly. The folding step felt fussy as a beginner but the layers actually separate when you break one open, and that's what she noticed too.
Ha, that reaction. Five folds feels unnecessary until you break one open and see exactly what she noticed. She got there fast.
The layers are real, you can actually pull them apart like a proper biscuit. Only note: the folding step needs a lighter touch. I pressed too hard trying to get a clean rectangle and compressed the layers right out of it. Go gentle and the flake shows up.
Rough edges are fine, the shape doesn't matter. Light pats, not pressure. The layers are already built in, you just can't squash them back out.
I've made these six times now and I finally feel like I've got the folding technique down. The five folds really do build actual layers, the biscuit pulls apart instead of crumbling, which I didn't expect from almond flour. Somewhere around batch three I stopped second-guessing the frozen butter step and just trusted it, and that's when they started coming out right. These are firmly in the Sunday dinner rotation.
Batch three is usually when it clicks. Those five folds look optional until they aren't.