I’ve been experimenting with psyllium husk for the past couple of weeks and I’m so impressed with it! If you don’t know what it is, it’s a form of fiber made from the husks of the Plantago plant’s seeds and it’s most commonly known and used as a laxative. However, it’s become quite popular in low carb baking and cooking as it acts exactly the way gluten does, as glue.
If you’ve ever tried baking with gluten-free flours, starch-free flours to be exact, you’ll notice that baked goods don’t always hold together and can fall apart easily. By adding psyllium to the batter, it acts as glue and makes the starch free flours stick together. Psyllium husk powder can also be used to thicken sauces, gravy or soups, but it does have a gelatinous feeling to it. When baking with it, most recipes will call for eggs or egg whites and/or hot water. The hot water helps the psyllium activate and activates its ‘glue’ properties.
I heard about psyllium a while back and slowly have been experimenting with it, but not very much as it’s pretty hard and expensive to get in Japan. When I first created this recipe, I had originally added flax seed meal to the batter, but it tasted horrible. My boyfriend thought it tasted like tofu! So I decided to skip on the flax, and made him taste again and he didn’t know it wasn’t wheat buns! These buns were so fluffy that we couldn’t tell they were low carb and gluten-free! I will definitely be experimenting with it more and making more baked goods with it because it’s just awesome! We all know it can be quite challenging to find gluten-free baked goods recipes that are also low carb, so this psyllium husk is definitely a life-savour!
I decided to make these buns for our Christmas dinner this year and they were a huge success! They go really well with different types of food, slabs of butter and are the perfect dinner rolls. They are also great for sandwiches or as toasts! For this recipe, I used refined coconut oil, but make sure you use coconut oil that doesn’t taste like coconut or else it will have a huge coconut taste! It usually says ‘refined’ or ‘expeller pressed’ on the jars for those that don’t have a coconut taste!
Keto Psyllium Buns
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp boiling water
Dry Ingredients
- 100 g blanched almond flour
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp black sesame seeds
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 2 tsp sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp black chia seeds
- 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Wet Ingredients
- 1 egg
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 tbsp refined coconut oil melted
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
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In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients with a whisk. In a separate bowls, mix the wet ingredients. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula.
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Slowly pour in the boiling water and continue mixing. The dough will be quite thick and expand a little as it absorbs the water. Separate the dough into 5 and form 5 balls with your hands (the batter is pretty sticky). Place the balls over parchment paper on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes. Take out and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You cannot substitute the psyllium husk powder.
**Make sure to use REFINED coconut oil and not the normal extra-virgin kind.
***If you double the recipe, you may need to add 1-2 tbsp of hot water to the batter.
****All of our ovens are different, so if you find yours to be too moist, just add 5 more minutes in the oven, or cook them at 190C/375F instead for 30 minutes.
Thank you for this great recipe! I have made any and all kinds of low carb rolls, bagels, breads in my search for a decent alternative and this one was one of the best! I used Trader Joe’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning since I’m pretty sure all of the sesame seeds are covered in there, lol, and doubled the amounts. I froze the rolls right away and pulled a few out this morning to toast up for breakfast and they toasted up SO WELL! They had a nice little crust on them, chewy center and the coconut oil gives them a buttery texture as well. These were NOT EGGY and I loved that 🙂 I used the NOW brand psyllium husk powder and gave them an extra grind before using them. The rolls were not purple going into the oven, but they did come out that way – it doesn’t bother me though and they taste amazing. Great job!
Any feedback as to how it would go with flax eggs, as I’m vegan?
Hi sorry! I haven’t tried making it with flax eggs so I couldn’t tell you if it works!
HI there I have made these a couple of times and they are easy and yummy! I do have a question though – mine are more of a tea biscuit texture and the ones in your pic look more like traditional bread. I used gluten free oat flour instead of almond flour could this be why?
Thanks!
Lisa
I think that could be why since oats are less fatty than almonds. I haven’t tried with oats though because they’re too high in carbs, So I can’t be certain. But you should try the almond version! It’s yummy 🙂
Hi Mira. Thank you for the post. I’m wondering if anyone has made extra and frozen these buns to consume during those hectic weekdays?
I’ve done it. I slice them first and freeze. Microwave them a few seconds and toast them.
I live in Ecuador and cannot find almond flour, any suggestions on substitutions?
Any other type of nut flour will work.
I am really looking forward to trying these but I am allergic to almonds. I need to sub Brianna Thomas’s baking mix, or use oat flour. Hoping my tries are edible. Thank you for creating & sharing this recipe!
Are you allergic to all nuts or just almonds, because any other nut flours will work. You could also try sunflower flour.
Has anyone substituted the eggs with flax eggs, for allergy reasons, and been successful?
These buns tasted awesome after they cooled. I used Now brand psyllium husk powder and they turned lavender in color. I’m not sure why.
That’s actually really interesting! Most brands of psyllium turn purple (nothing to worry about), but the NOW brand is known for NOT turning purple, which is why I recommend using that one. So I’m also wondering why your buns turned purple!! So weird! Maybe it was affected by another brand of the other ingredients you used…
I made these with the following modifications, and they are fantastic!
Additional 100 grams almond flour (get a food scale-well worth it with LCHA/Keto flour measures)
Total of 2 T. Chia seeds
Total of 2 T. white sesame seeds
FOR HONEY WHEAT FLAVOR – 2 drops Ez-Sweetz OR 2 t. granular sweetener (so good)
Subbed coconut oil for Light Extra Virginia olive oil
1 additional egg white
1 T. additional psyllium husk powder (b)ought mine at Target
**Omitted garlic
Bake at 375F for 35 minutes. Enjoy!
Sounds delicious! I’ll have to make some your way too!
So, I LOVE these, but I’m wondering where all the fat comes from? 20g?
Almond flour has 51g and coconut oil has 42g, plus a few grams for the other ingredients making it 20g per bun.
Just wondering what difference it would make in the recipe if i used the unrefined coconut oil instead of the refined? Would the recipe not work? Any way to substitute it with anything else?
Thanks
Hi, the only difference is that it’s going to taste like coconut, whereas refined coconut oil doesn’t have any flavours.
I was wondering if I could use Olive Oil instead of coconut oil?
You can use any type of oil you wish, it will just have an aftertaste 🙂
It’s the same. Just will taste like coconut if you use unrefined coconut oil.
1. Do the seeds serve any purpose other than flavor? I do have chia, but not the others. What about garlic powder?
The reason I’m asking is I think they’d be awesome for meat and cheese sandwiches or hamburgers, but for a peanut butter sandwich the garlic or seeds might not be the best flavor combo. 😉
Hi,
Nope they are not needed. Just in there for flavour.
Thank you for the quick answer! I will try them both ways!😊
Hi Mira. Just tried the buns and the recipe is so simple! I didn’t have any seeds or ACV, and had to run the psyllium husk thru my nutribullet to make the powder, and they still came out fab! Just scoffed one straight out of the oven with melted butter and a slab of mature cheddar, absolutely yum!! Many thanks for the recipe!
Great!! I’m happy they turned out delicious 🙂 Thanks for commenting!!