Keto Focaccia
Published January 26, 2023 • Updated March 13, 2026
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Keto focaccia that's crispy on the outside with a soft, bread-like pull inside. Coated in olive oil and herbs, with dimples that pool every drop right where you want it. Cut into strips and dip into marinara or straight olive oil.
Traditional focaccia has about 37g of carbs per slice. This one has 1.8g. I got there without cheese, without yeast, and without sacrificing the texture that makes focaccia worth eating in the first place. The outside crisps under the broiler while the inside stays soft enough to tear.
The base is blanched almond flour mixed with lupin flour, and that lupin flour is the ingredient I think most people skip. It’s mostly fiber, keeps the carbs lower than using all almond flour, and it adds a subtle cornmeal-like flavor that pushes the bread toward something savory and Italian instead of just another almond flour flatbread. I tested it both ways, and the version with lupin flour wins every time.
Unflavored protein powder and xanthan gum give the dough enough structure to trap air bubbles as it bakes, so you get that light, bread-like crumb instead of a dense puck. The dimples are the other half of the equation. I press them deep, then coat the whole thing in olive oil so it pools in every indent. After 10 minutes at 350 degrees and a quick broil, the top goes golden and the herbs bloom right into the oil.
I make this most weeks. Sometimes I eat it on its own, sometimes I tear off strips and dip them into marinara. It’s the kind of bread that works next to a crustless pizza or a pizza bowl on Italian night, or sliced thin alongside a salad. One reader told me she tried four other keto versions before this one, and this was the first where she wasn’t immediately missing regular bread. Another is on her fourth batch, making it every pizza night with marinara for dipping.
The whole recipe comes together in about 20 minutes. No rising time, no kneading for 10 minutes, no waiting around. Mix the dough, roll it out, dimple it, bake it, broil it. That’s it.
How to make keto focaccia bread
The technique matters more than the ingredients here. I’ve made this enough times to know where it goes wrong.
- Mix the dry ingredients first so everything distributes evenly before the wet ingredients go in.
- Knead with your hands once stirring gets tough. You want all the flour incorporated, no dry patches.
- Roll between parchment paper to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Oil your hands before spreading. Work from the center out and go thinner than feels right. The dough naturally wants to pile up in the middle, and if you don’t fight it, you’ll end up with a thick center and thin edges.
- Press the dimples deep. They’re not decorative. Those indents are reservoirs for the olive oil and herbs.
- Broil for 2-3 minutes max. Any longer and the rosemary burns. Watch it the entire time.
Key ingredients
- Almond flour — the base. Make sure it’s blanched and super fine, not almond meal.
- Lupin flour — cuts the carbs lower than using all almond flour and adds a hint of cornmeal flavor I really like in this bread.
- Protein powder — gives the bread structure and helps it rise. I use unflavored whey, but whey isolate works fine too.
- Xanthan gum — holds the dough together so it doesn’t crumble when you tear it.
- Butter — melted into the dough for flavor. This is where the richness comes from.
- Eggs — two whole eggs plus one egg white for the wash. They help the bread rise and hold its shape.
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Ingredients
1 1/2 cup almond flour -
1/4 cup lupin flour
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3 tablespoons unflavored protein powder
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1 teaspoon baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
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1/2 teaspoon salt
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1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
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2 eggs
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1 egg white
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2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
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1-2 teaspoons rosemary sea salt
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1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Step by Step Instructions
Step by Step Instructions
Preheat oven
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together almond flour, lupin flour, protein powder, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt.
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup lupin flour
- 3 tablespoons unflavored protein powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Add wet ingredients
Stir in melted butter and eggs. When dough gets tough to stir, knead with hands until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted
- 2 eggs
Roll out focaccia dough
Mold dough into a square shape and place in between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll out into a flat rectangle using a rolling pin until the dough is about 1/4 -1/2 inch thick.
Dimples are cute
Brush dough with egg white. Using fingers or the handle of a wooden spoon, make dimple indents into the dough. Sprinkle Italian seasoning and rosemary salt.
- Egg white
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1-2 teaspoons rosemary salt
Bake & broil
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Then move focaccia under the broiler and broil on high for 1-2 minutes until the top of the focaccia is golden brown. Remove. Brush with olive oil and cut into small strips.
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
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 many net carbs are in keto focaccia?
Each serving has just 1.8g net carbs. For comparison, a slice of traditional focaccia runs about 37g. I use lupin flour alongside almond flour specifically to keep the count that low. Lupin flour is mostly fiber, so it contributes structure and flavor without adding carbs.
Can I make this dairy-free?
Yes. I've made it with melted coconut oil instead of butter and it works. The coconut flavor is subtle enough that the herbs and olive oil cover it. Skip the parmesan topping if you go that route, and brush with olive oil instead of egg wash if you're also avoiding eggs (though the eggs are harder to replace for structure).
Can I use all almond flour in this recipe?
Yes, just use 2 cups of almond flour instead of the split. I've made it both ways. The all-almond-flour version works, but it runs a bit higher in carbs and you lose that subtle cornmeal-like flavor the lupin flour adds. If you can get lupin flour, I think it's worth it.
How do I reheat this and keep the crust crispy?
I reheat mine at 350 degrees for 5-6 minutes, then broil for 30-60 seconds to re-crisp the top. From frozen, give it a couple extra minutes before broiling. Never microwave it. I made that mistake once and the texture went rubbery. The oven-then-broil method brings it back almost as good as fresh.
Is gluten allowed on the keto diet?
There are some low-carb flours that contain gluten but have the carbohydrates stripped out. They might not kick you out of ketosis, but I still avoid them. I've found that gluten causes inflammation for me regardless of the carb count, which is why all my bread recipes use almond flour, lupin flour, or coconut flour instead.
Why do you poke holes in focaccia?
I press the dimples deep because they do two things: they keep the dough from rising too fast in the oven, and they create little wells where the olive oil and herbs pool. That's where most of the flavor lives. I go heavier with the olive oil than feels right, and those dimples hold every drop.
What can I serve this with?
I eat it most often with marinara for dipping on pizza nights. It also works torn into pieces alongside soup, or sliced into strips as part of an appetizer spread with things like keto pasta chips and a cottage cheese pizza bowl. I've used thicker slices as sandwich bread for panini-style lunches too.
Crispy bottom, fourth batch. Added parmesan on top this time.
Crispy bottom by batch four. Parmesan crisps where the oil pools, does something good.
Didn't realize the oil was pulling to the edges like that. Makes sense why the parmesan crisped up more there.
Made this over the weekend and the texture was spot on but the bottom stayed a bit soft, does sliding it off the parchment for the last few minutes help get more of that crisp underneath?
Sliding it off works, I do the last 3-4 minutes directly on the rack. Bottom goes from soft to set pretty fast, just keep an eye on the edges.
Makes sense. I kept it on the parchment the whole time so that's probably why.
The lupin flour is doing real work here. Most keto bread goes all the way through crunchy, but this one actually has that center pull. Cut mine into strips for a Rao's dipping situation and the oil pooled exactly where you'd want it. Olive oil on top could've gone heavier, mine felt a little light, but this is the closest I've gotten to actual focaccia texture on keto.
I wasn't sure the strips would hold up for dipping, almond flour bread falling apart in olive oil is a real concern. But the bottom crust firms up enough, and there's more pull to the interior than I expected. I've made enough almond flour stuff to know how it usually goes, so when this held together at the dimples, I noticed.
Protein powder plus xanthan gum is what changed it. Pure almond flour can't hold the dimples through a dip.
Thought the protein powder would make it taste like a supplement bar. It didn't. Soft pull on the inside, and the olive oil in the dimples crisps the edges perfectly.
Unflavored is the key, at 3 tablespoons, it mostly just adds structure.
Pressing the dimples really deep made a difference. I went further than the recipe photos suggested and the olive oil and Italian seasoning pooled right into them instead of spreading across the surface. Also brushed extra olive oil on top the second it came out, still hot. The crust got this glossy, herb-coated finish and cutting into strips felt like the obvious call. Worth it.
That glossy finish only happens with the hot brush. The oil absorbs differently when the crust is still steaming instead of just sitting on top.
Focaccia was the bread I thought I'd just have to say goodbye to on keto. Made this Sunday and when I opened the oven and saw those dimples pooling with the herb oil, I got a little emotional (which I realize sounds dramatic, but anyone who's been doing this long enough gets it). Still working on getting the thickness even, but this is one I'll keep making.
That oven moment gets me every time. Wet your fingers when pressing the dough out, it stops it from bunching and pulling back in the middle.
Before I went keto four years ago, I made focaccia almost every other Sunday. Real Italian focaccia, the kind that takes all day and gets you olive oil on your elbows. I gave it up thinking that part of my cooking life was just done. Made this last week and stood at the counter eating the first piece while it was still warm, and I genuinely teared up a little. The dimples holding the olive oil and herbs exactly the way they should, that crisp bottom with actual soft bready pull inside. The lupin flour does something the all-almond versions I tried before couldn't get close to. Not exactly the same, obviously, but it scratched an itch I'd been ignoring for four years. I'm not giving it 5 stars only because I'm still working on my herb blend (going heavy rosemary, want to try sun-dried tomato next), but I needed to say thank you for this one.
Standing at the counter while it's still warm is the only way. Sun-dried tomatoes pressed into the dimples before the olive oil, they caramelize a little at the edges and hold the brine. Good call on heavy rosemary first.
My wife grabbed a strip before I even got to plate it, straight off the pan, because the smell when that herb top came out of the oven was something else. She doesn't touch my keto experiments usually. Said it looked like the focaccia we used to get at this Italian spot near our old apartment, the kind with the olive oil pooled in every dimple. That's what got her, the dimples. She's already asking when I'm making it again.
Converting a non-keto person is the only metric that matters. Press the dimples deeper next time, the oil needs somewhere to sit.
Made this Saturday alongside soup and my son grabbed a strip off the pan before I even plated it. He dipped it into the olive oil I had out, not the marinara, didn't ask what it was or if it was keto. Says everything. Only thing I'd change is pressing the dimples deeper so they hold more olive oil, but that's minor.
That's the test right there. Doesn't ask, just eats. Your instinct on the dimples is right too - I go as deep as I can without punching through.
Pressed some kalamata olives into the dimples before baking and those little pockets held all the flavor in a way I didn't see coming.
Those dimples were basically designed for this. The brine pools right down into the dough with the olive oil. Trying this next time.
I've tried probably four other keto focaccia recipes. They all had that dense muffin situation where the crumb just doesn't move right. Was skeptical the lupin flour combo would be any different. But the dimples actually pooling olive oil and herbs got me (sounds minor, it's not). Soft in the middle, crispy edges. Holds up as a dipper too. Sticking with this one.
That crumb issue is the lupin flour. Most keto versions skip it and they all land the same way.
The texture on this is genuinely good, crispy bottom with that soft pull-apart inside, and I've tried probably four other keto focaccia recipes that couldn't nail the crumb. The lupin flour is what does it. Also kind of obsessed with the dimple technique, the olive oil pools in them perfectly. One thing I'd change: dial the Italian seasoning back to about 1 teaspoon and let the olive oil do more of the work. The herbs bloomed pretty aggressively in my oven and started fighting the bread. Still, two batches in two weeks. Next time I'm going straight rosemary and Maldon salt and I'm pretty sure that's the version I just keep making.
Yeah, 1 tsp is probably right. They bloom fast with that much olive oil. Rosemary and Maldon salt is where I end up most of the time.
I've made a lot of keto bread attempts and most disappoint me right out of the oven, but the texture here was different from the first bite. The olive oil soaks into those dimples and the herbs come through in a way I wasn't expecting. Already planning a double batch for the weekend.
Yeah, the dimples. That olive oil pooling is the whole thing, go way heavier with it than feels right.
Pressed minced garlic into the dimples before baking and swapped the Italian seasoning for fresh rosemary (had some on the counter), and the smell coming out of the oven was something else. Still pretty new to almond flour dough but it came together faster than I thought it would.
Garlic in those dimples gets basted the whole time in olive oil. Fresh rosemary over dried any day.