These keto peanut butter cookies are flourless low carb cookies made from five things: 1 cup natural peanut butter, ¾ cup erythritol or a monk fruit blend, 1 egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla, and ¼ teaspoon baking soda. They take 15 minutes from bowl to tray and make 16 cookies with crisp edges and soft, fudgy middles.
The one thing that decides how they turn out is the peanut butter. Stir the jar all the way to the bottom before you measure, and the dough comes out thick, sticky and ready to roll without any flour.
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- Yield: 16 cookies, about 1½ tablespoons of dough each
- Time: 5 minutes to mix, 9 to 11 minutes in a 350°F (175°C) oven, 10 minutes to set on the tray
- Carbs: the recipe card lists 5 g carbohydrates and 1 g fiber per cookie, with 1 g sugar
- Spacing: 2 inches apart on parchment or a silicone mat; they spread only a little
- Equipment: one bowl and a sturdy spatula, no mixer
- Keeps: up to 5 days airtight at room temperature
Which Peanut Butter Keeps Them From Spreading?
Use a creamy natural peanut butter with nothing but peanuts and salt on the label. It has no added sugar, which matters on keto, and it gives the dough its body because there is no flour to do that job.
Natural peanut butter separates, though, and that is where most batches go wrong. Oil from the top of a jar makes thin, greasy cookies that run on the tray. The dry paste at the bottom makes a stiff dough that crumbles after baking. Stir the whole jar until it looks like one smooth color, then measure.
Sweetened commercial peanut butter brings sugar back in, so it is not a good fit here. If you want the regular sugar version, my 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies are built for that.
Granular or Powdered Erythritol for Peanut Butter Cookies?
Both work, but they give different cookies. Powdered erythritol, or a powdered monk fruit and erythritol blend like the one in the photo, melts into the peanut butter and gives a smooth, fudgy bite. Granular erythritol does not dissolve fully in a dough this low in moisture, so the cookies feel sandy, and by day two little crystals can turn the centers crunchy.
If granular is all you have, blitz it in a blender for about 30 seconds until it looks like powdered sugar, then measure ¾ cup. A monk fruit blend also softens the cool, minty feeling that plain erythritol can leave on the tongue.
Stirring Keto Peanut Butter Cookie Dough by Hand
Put the peanut butter, sweetener, egg, vanilla and baking soda in one bowl and stir with a spatula. For the first 30 seconds it looks loose and shiny. Keep going, and within a minute it tightens into a thick, sticky dough that pulls away from the sides.
Do not add anything to make it less sticky. That stickiness is the egg and peanut butter binding together, and it is what holds the cookie in shape once it hits the heat. If it is too tacky to roll, wet your hands lightly or give the bowl 10 minutes in the fridge.
Rolling 16 Cookie Balls and Pressing the Crosshatch
Scoop about 1½ tablespoons per cookie, roll it into a ball, and set the balls 2 inches apart. A level cookie scoop keeps them the same size, so they all finish baking together.
Flatten each ball with a fork, then press again the other way for the crosshatch. These cookies hardly spread, so the shape you press is the shape you get. Dip the fork in a little powdered sweetener between cookies and it will not stick and tear the tops.
Soft Centers or Crispy Edges: Baking Keto Peanut Butter Cookies
Bake at 350°F for 9 to 11 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. The centers will still look soft and a little underdone. That is right. The egg and peanut solids finish setting as the cookies cool, so leave them on the tray for at least 10 minutes before moving them to a rack. Lift one early and it breaks in half.
For crispy keto peanut butter cookies, press the balls thinner, to about ⅓ inch, and bake the full 11 minutes. Keep them in the fridge afterwards. Cold, they snap more and taste even more of roasted peanut.
Flat, Crumbly or Gritty Keto Cookies: The Fixes
- Flat and greasy: the peanut butter was oily from the top of the jar or warm from the cupboard. Chill the next tray of dough for 10 minutes and stir the jar fully.
- Crumbly after cooling: dry peanut butter from the bottom of the jar, or the cookies stayed in past 11 minutes. Pull them while the centers still look soft.
- Broken when lifted: moved too soon. Give them the full 10 minutes on the tray.
- Sandy or crunchy centers: granular erythritol. Switch to powdered or blitz it first.
- Cooling aftertaste: plain erythritol. A monk fruit blend is milder.
Keeping and Freezing Low Carb Peanut Butter Cookies
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. They stay soft there. In the fridge they get firmer and chewier, which I like with a cup of coffee.
You can also freeze the shaped dough balls and bake a few at a time straight from the freezer. No thawing needed, just add about 1 minute to the bake.
Keto Peanut Butter Cookie Questions
How many carbs are in one keto peanut butter cookie?
The nutrition on the recipe card lists 5 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber and 1 g sugar per cookie, based on 16 cookies. Check how your own sweetener brand counts its carbs, since labels differ.
Can I make them without sweetener?
The ¾ cup of sweetener is part of the structure, not only the taste. Leaving it out gives a softer, oilier dough that spreads more and a cookie that tastes like plain peanut butter, so I keep it in.
Can I use almond butter instead?
Yes. The flavor turns milder and the texture a little more cake-like, with less chew, but the method stays the same. Stir it as well as you would peanut butter.
Do these keto peanut butter cookies have cream cheese?
No. This recipe has no cream cheese and no flour of any kind. The egg and peanut butter hold it together on their own.
More Low Carb Bakes to Try Next
If these are on repeat in your kitchen, the next batch could be keto brownies or a bowl of keto chocolate mousse. For a fridge snack, try cream cheese keto fat bombs, and for a chocolate cookie, my sugar free chocolate cookies. When you want a cookie built on almond flour instead of peanut butter, my almond flour cookies are the one to bake.
Baking for people who are not counting carbs? The peanut butter blossom cookies and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies use real sugar and flour. Pin this recipe to your keto board so the 16 cookie batch is easy to find, and tell me in the comments which sweetener you used.
Keto Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
These keto peanut butter cookies are flourless low carb cookies made with natural peanut butter, erythritol or a monk fruit blend, one egg, vanilla and a little baking soda. They take about 15 minutes and make 16 cookies with crisp edges, soft fudgy centers and a fork crosshatch on top, at about 5 g carbs per cookie. The dough holds together without flour because the egg binds the peanut butter, so stir the jar fully before measuring and let the baked cookies set on the tray for 10 minutes. Use them for a keto dessert, a low carb lunchbox treat, or crumble them over keto ice cream. Almond butter works for a milder cookie, and they keep 5 days airtight.
Ingredients
- 1 cup natural peanut butter (creamy, unsweetened)
- 3/4 cup erythritol or keto-friendly sweetener (such as monk fruit blend)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- PREHEAT THE OVEN: Set your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat to prevent sticking.
- MAKE THE DOUGH: In a large mixing bowl, stir together the peanut butter, erythritol, egg, vanilla extract, and baking soda. Mix until the dough is thick, sticky, and uniform. A spatula or spoon works well—no mixer required.
- SHAPE THE COOKIES: Scoop about 1.5 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll each portion into a ball using your hands and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
- PRESS WITH A FORK: Gently flatten each dough ball and use a fork to press a criss-cross pattern into the top. This helps shape the cookie and gives it a classic look.
- BAKE THE COOKIES: Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. The centers will appear soft but will firm up as they cool.
- COOL COMPLETELY: Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. This helps them set without breaking.
Notes
Use natural peanut butter with only peanuts and salt, and stir the whole jar before measuring: oil from the top makes flat cookies, dry paste from the bottom makes crumbly ones. Powdered erythritol or a powdered monk fruit blend gives the smoothest texture; blitz granular erythritol in a blender first. The cookies look soft when they come out and firm up as they cool, so leave them on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze the shaped dough balls and bake from frozen, adding about 1 minute.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 109Total Fat 9gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 6gCholesterol 12mgSodium 90mgCarbohydrates 5gFiber 1gSugar 1gProtein 5g
