Easy low carb rolls made with the fathead dough recipe have a great bread-like texture. Make the perfect dinner rolls and sandwich rolls in minutes.
While I was growing, up we had bread with every meal. Sometimes it’s form changed based on where we lived and what was for dinner. We equally liked biscuits, tortillas, bolillos, sourdough bread, crackers, cornbread, muffins and dinner rolls. There were no favorites – it was BREAD after-all. At the time, the concept of low carb rolls was unheard of.
I never subscribed to the “bread with dinner” thinking myself, but I admit to missing the occasional roll. Some dinners are made for rolls; soups and stews come to mind as do pot roasts and entrees served with a delicious pan sauce. These meals need a little “something” to sop-up those lovely flavors.
Thanks to the hard work and creativity of low carb home cooks and bloggers, we have several low carb roll recipes available to us. Some are made with coconut flour or almond flour, other recipes call for psyllium powder, and still others combine separated eggs and cream cheese (like Oopsie rolls and cloud bread). Yes, they are each tasty in their own way, but we’ve made concessions.
But with this recipe, you don’t have to. It is so easy that you’ll have the dough made in 5 minutes flat. And since the rolls bake in 12 minutes, you’ll have great tasting low carb rolls ready for dinner in no time! We can thank the versatile fathead dough recipe and CookysCreations original recipe for our new bread friend.
How to Make Low Carb Rolls
Melt mozzarella and cream cheese together. Add the cheese to a food processor and process with an egg until completely combined. Add the dry ingredients and process again. Freeze for 15 minutes, shape with oiled hands, place on a lined baking sheet and bake. It couldn’t be easier.
[NOTE:] These are not exactly the same texture as real bread rolls, but are the closest I’ve had in years. The protein powder helps provide a really nice bread-like texture. If you don’t have protein powder or don’t like it, try subbing coconut flour or oat fiber (NOT oat flour). Oat fiber is not certified gluten-free so it’s not for celiacs. (UPDATE: A reader let me know that the Trim Healthy Mama brand of oat fiber is certified gluten-free)
Due to nutrient dense ingredients, these low carb rolls are hearty and filling.
Each low carb roll is 2 net carbs!
[This post and recipe may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through a link may result in my earning a small commission.]
Easy low carb rolls made with the fathead dough recipe have a great bread-like texture. Make the perfect dinner rolls and sandwich rolls.
- 1 1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
- 2 ounces cream cheese, cubed
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cup almond flour
- 2 tbsp plain whey protein isolate, (or coconut flour or oat fiber or 1/4 c. more almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda*
Melt the mozzarella and cream cheese together in a microwave-safe bowl at full power for 1 minute. Stir, then heat another 30-45 seconds. Scrape the cheese into the bowl of a food processor and process until thoroughly mixed. Add the egg and mix until blended.
Add the dry ingredients to the food processor and process until thoroughly combined (about 10-15 seconds).
Spray a piece of cling film with oil and scrape the bread dough onto the center of the cling film. It is VERY STICKY. Gently shape the dough into a disk or rectangle and place in the freezer to cool until the oven is ready.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and position the rack to the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment or a Silpat.
When the oven is ready, remove the dough from the freezer and cut into 8 pieces. The dough will stick like crazy to the knife. It's' okay.
Lightly oil your hands and roll a portion of dough into a ball and drop it onto the prepared cookie sheet to flatten the bottom. Repeat the process for the remaining dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or dehydrated onion, pressing gently into the dough to adhere.
Bake for approximately 13-15 minutes. The dough will brown and may split. Enjoy. Keep extra rolls in the refrigerator (or freezer) and gently warm before eating.
Baking powder is not needed in this recipe as the acid in the cream cheese reacts with the baking soda, activating it.
Best Low Carb Keto Psyllium-Flax Bread Recipe
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Norashikin says
Mine turned out perfect! So easy to make and I didn’t make a mess of my kitchen at all. Before I melted the cheeses in the microwave, I greased the bowl with a teaspoon of coconut oil. After melting I mixed all the ingredients with a wooden spoon. No stickiness. As I didn’t have any almond flour, I used only half a cup of coconut flour. The dough can easily be kneaded without any mess at all. I didn’t even use a food processor. That’s all the modifications I made and the buns came out looking beautiful and tasted delicious! Best low carb dinner roll recipe that I’ve tried so far. Thank you!
Kim says
I’m glad they turned out so well. Thanks for sharing your changes. I don’t like to get my hands messy so this is great. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. Have a great night. -Kim
Sandy says
Delicious made like a cinnamon bun. Added vanilla protein powder, cinnamon and stevia. Thank you for this wonderful idea.
Kim says
Sounds wonderful, Sandy thanks so much for sharing your additions! Have a wonderful day. -Kim
Sara says
Wow this is such a great recipe. Such good dinner rolls. Mine do not look like your pictures, but still very good. I do not have a stand mixer or processor, so I just hand-mixed. It came out really well. I cannot believe this does not have
wheat. It tastes like a normal dinner roll. Thank you so much. Next time I’ll try without melting the cheese as suggested by a commenter.
Kim says
I’m glad you like the rolls, Sara. I tried making the recipe without melting the cheese and they are more biscuit-like. The texture is just a little different. However, you may like it. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Have a great day. -Kim
Sara says
If it’s going to be like biscuits, I don’t want to try it.(Although I don’t know what American biscuits’ texture is. In Australia, biscuits are cookies) I would rather stick with what worked for me.
Cheers
Kim says
Okay. Sounds good, Sarah. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Enjoy the rest of your week. -Kim
Nicole says
Hi Sara, In America biscuits are like our scones. Hope that helps. And I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thanks Kim for a such a resourceful and helpful site,
Nicole
Jayne says
I doubled the recipe and shaped the dough into 8 hamburger buns. They came out great!!!! Burgers again!!! My husband is a diabetic and he’s so happy to have sandwich rolls again.
Kim says
Fantastic, Jayne! -Kim
Anna says
I love this recipe! I do have a question: How big should they be? The first time I made it, I got six timbit size rolls (timbits in Canada I guess would be the same as US donut holes). I also made hamburger buns, but only got three decent size buns. Four would be pushing it, unless I make sliders.
The only change I made was using the extra almond flour suggested instead of the isolate. I have whey protein powder, but not the isolate. I didn’t know if it would be the same.
Going to try it without melting the cheeses first. The mozza gets wrapped all up in weird, hard to clean places in the food processor!
Kim says
Hi Anna. I would suggest that you use LESS almond flour. It sounds like there may not be enough moisture. I always fluff up up my almond flour before measuring, so you might be using more almond flour if it’s compacted before use.
Also, Whey protein powder should work just fine as long as there isn’t any casein in it. Casein reacts with milk proteins and gets really thick. The rolls are small – as dinner rolls should be, but they should be bigger than doughnut holes! lol.
Don’t make it without melting the cheese first. You will have a biscuit type dough instead. I have been doubling the recipe and using my stand mixer. I think this is my favorite way now. The cheese still gets wrapped around the paddle and I have to scrape it off, but it is easier to clean that than the inside of my processor blade.
One more thing, try using 1 tbsp of baking powder instead of the soda. If that baking soda isn’t fresh, it just doesn’t work as well.
I hope these tips help.
-Kim
Florence says
Pls is cheese OK for low carbs,
I notice anytime I added cheeses Tony recipe I added waist and hips
Kim says
Yes, Florence, cheese is okay for low carb diets. However, some people are sensitive to dairy and do better with out it. I would limit heavy cream to 1 ounce (2 tbsp) and cheese to 2 ounces a day and see what happens. Each roll has about 1 ounce of cheese in it. If you are still having problems then either give up dairy for a while or check to make sure you are in nutritional ketosis. Have a nice day. -Kim
TeeDee says
Thanks so much for this low carb bun recipe. I just made them yesterday for supper and they’re scrumptious! I actually took a chance and made them the way someone in the comments mentioned: I didn’t pre-melt the cheeses, but simply added them to the food processor as is. They turned out beautifully…small, uniform holes, nice rise and appetizing color. I put some dehydrated onions in them and gently rolled them in sesame seeds for great taste and crunch. Thanks again, Kim! 🙂
Kim says
That’s awesome, TeeDee. I’m glad you were brave enough to experiment with the recipe. I’m almost afraid to, lol. Elaine usually has great ideas on that kind of thing. Thanks for taking the time to comment and to share your new technique. Have a great day. -Kim
Tracie says
I made these today and they were amazing! They tasted (and had consistency of) a biscuit. I will definitely make these again!
Kim says
I’m glad you liked the recipe, Tracie. Have a wonderful week. -Kim
Teri says
These are the best low carb rolls, I make a double batch and they last me a week.
I do have a question: mine don’t rise or very very little. They are dense which is fine, and don’t look at all like the pictures. The pictures bring to mind a crunchy roll more like french bread mine are definitely like a softer dinner roll.
Any suggestions?
Kim says
I’m glad you like the recipe, Teri. My rolls are soft and dense, too. You can try using 1 tbsp of baking powder and just a little more almond flour (maybe 3 Tbsp) if your rolls are spreading out too much. Also, I rolled the dough into balls and just gently let the balls of dough fall onto the cookie sheet to flatten the bottom just a bit. It was only from a few inches above the sheet pan. I love that shot of the roll where it looks like French bread, but that was where the cheese was stringing while the roll cracked in the oven. It was no purposeful trick. I’m sorry if it was misleading. Enjoy your rolls and have a great week. -Kim
Teri says
Thanks for the response Kim,
I’ll try the baking powder just to see what happens. Will let you know.
I like them alot even if they don’t get crunchy. Bread of any kind is what I miss the most so will continue making them either way. Looking forward to trying more recipes.
Deborah says
These make the BEST buttery crispy breadcrumbs!!!
I was so impressed with these rolls and made a big batch and froze the leftover ones to use as I needed.
Today saw recipe for a wonderful summer squash casserole….great low carb dish except that it called for crushed Ritz cracker for the topping.
So I grated half of one or my leftover FatHead rolls and tossed the crumbs with melted butter in the pan I had sauteed the onion and sqush in. Toasted them a tiny bit in the skillet (golden with bits of brown) before topping the casserole with them.
Bingo!
This the first time since going on low carb that I have had crispy bread crumbs on top of anything…..and they were GREAT. Wonderful light summer dinner with some sliced tomatoes.
Kim says
How innovative you are, Deborah. I love this idea and will have to try on my fall casseroles! Thanks for taking the time to share what you did by leaving a comment. Have a great week. -Kim
TeeDee says
Thanks for mentioning the ‘bread crumb’ idea, Deborah; I’ve been wanting to make one of my recipes that uses crumbs on top, but kept putting it off. These will be perfect 🙂
Grety says
It is better with oat bran or coconut flour than with whey protein powder. This dough can also be used as a pizza crust. These buns have a better taste than those with many eggs .
David Flores says
I made these today and used dehydrated onion flakes as well as rosemary flakes. My wife is so impressed she wants to try keto. She also let me purchase unflavored whey protein isolate so I could improve the texture.
Thank you Kim
David
Kim says
Oh, good. I’m happy you and your wife are enjoying the rolls. Have a wonderful weekend. -Kim
Chris says
I just made these and they are the closest thing I’ve tasted to real (wheat) bread. Would it work to freeze the dough in roll size servings and freeze on a cookie sheet? That way I could take out what I need for a meal and bake those.
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Kim says
Although I haven’t tried that, Chris it sounds like it might work. I would instead use 2 tsp of baking powder instead of the soda and thaw a bit before baking or they may burn on the outside and not cook on the inside. That’s just a guess though. -Kim
Danie says
Can this recipe be used for making bread? And if so, what would be a good pan size to use?
Kim says
I’ve been experimenting with a bread recipe using this dough and it needs a lot of tweaking. It even rises with yeast but it doesn’t taste very good – kind I’ve sour and cheesy. -Kim
Adele says
HI. Do you have a photo of a cut roll, so that we can see the texture inside?
Thanks
Kim says
Adele, I just added a photo of the inside of the roll to the post. I didn’t originally include it because it is a little blurry. -Kim
Julie says
I have an egg intolerance. Could I leave the egg out? Or do you have a recommendation for something to replace it with? Thank you!
Kim says
What a great question, Julie. I bet you could add a flax egg or even soak 1/4 cup of ground pork rinds in a combination of heavy cream and water. Let it get moist and thick and then add it. The egg acts as a binder and I think either of these two choices would work but I would mix with the mixer just a tiny bit longer to make sure the meatball mixture is thoroughly combined. -Kim
Olivia says
Does the baking soda leave that burny sensation on the tongue with these? I usuakky avoid it as I don’t like the taste.
Kim says
No it doesn’t, Olivia. The recipe only calls for 1/2 teaspoon where similar recipes using baking powder call for 1 tablespoon. There is no burning sensation. -Kim
Sandy Munn says
The Trim Healthy Mama Oat Fiber is certified gluten free.
Kim says
Sandy, thanks for letting me know. I will add that to the post. Have a great day. -Kim
Melissa says
Oh my! I think I’ve died and gone to low carb heaven! If you haven’t tried this recipe, you don’t know what you’re missing!
Kim says
Thanks, Melissa. I love the fathead dough recipe. I made the rolls into bagels and enjoyed them all week. Have a wonderful week. -Kim
Deborah says
AMAZING !!!! I gave tried Fat Head pizza crust and was not thrilled….felt it was too tough if rolled thinly enough.
THESE however are unbelievalbe. Fluffy and very very breadlike. These need more than just 5 stars……any such thing as 5 STAR+ ?
I am a salt addict so for me they need a tiny pinch more salt (and maybe even 1 tsp of vinegar to get a bit more flavor into them as you do for the psyllium bread).
I did the sesame seeds on top (found rolling the top of the raw dough onto the seeds worked better than trying to sprinkle them on top) but next time going to try your idea of dried onion flakes.
I wonder if they would work as well in a larger size for a hamburger bun….4th of July is in 3 days so may give it a shot (fingers crossed).
So good Kim. Thank you !!!
Deborah says
Just saw your earlier note that these do work for buns / sandwich rolls. So hamburger buns it is for the 4th picnic.
Thanks again. Your timing is PERFECT!
Kim says
Great! Glad you saw it! Enjoy!
Kim says
I’m so glad you like the recipe. Yes, it makes good hamburger rolls. I will do a post on it later this month, but I already responded to a comment yesterday about how I do it. This makes great bagels, too. It makes 8 mini, 6 breakfast sandwich sized or 4 large bagels. It makes 5 hamburger rolls.
Ryan Luedecke says
Love that the prep time (before baking) is only 5 minutes on these. Great recipe, Kim. Thanks for sharing.
Kim says
You’re welcome, Ryan. Enjoy the recipe.
Ellen says
I made these last night. They are easy to make and delicious.
Kim says
So glad you liked the recipe, Ellen. -Kim.
Cindy Ortega says
Thank you! Thank you! I just baked this recipe and let me tell you they came out so good and delicious better than regular bread, even my husband love it. I just made some little changes. I add the shredded Mozzarella and cream cheese without melted, so it was not necessary to put the dough in the freezer. Instead of protein powder I used psyllium husk fiber and 1/4 cup of egg whites, instead of one whole egg. Thanks to you I am not going to miss my bread on keto any more. ( I really like the almond flour from Costco it is super fine ground and not too expense)
Kim says
I love how you made it your own, Cindy. It’s such a forgiving recipe. I haven’t seen the almond flour in Costco, but Wellbee is a good choice on Amazon for those who don’t have a Costco. Thanks again. Enjoy your week. -Kim
Deidre says
Hi, these sound and look fantastic. Can’t wait to try them. I’m looking for something for work lunches. Do these need to be warmed before eating?
Kim says
You can make them bigger for sandwich rolls, Deidre. Just flatten them a little. They don’t have to be warned but the texture is better at room temperature or just barely warmed. -Kim
Ben says
Can’t wait to try some of these recipes ! They sound. Wonderful ! Thanks !
Kim says
Great, Ben. I hope you find some you like. Enjoy your weekend. -Kim
Kim says
THANK YOU THANK YOU! These are awesome! Best low carb bread I have ever made. Can’t wait to use them to sop up some good gravy! Thanks again Kim
Kim says
You are very welcome. I’m happy you liked the rolls. -Kim
Susan says
This looks to be an awesome recipe and I would like to try it. Soon. Can you suggest an alternative to almond flour? My husband is deathly allergic to it?
Kim says
Susan, there may be a fathead dough version that uses all coconut flour. I haven’t checked one yet. You may want to try ground sunflour seed flour – the rolls will probably turn green, but will still taste good. -Kim
Tracie says
This bread looks amazing! i will defiantly be making it and will post my thoughts on @working moms get fit. I cant wait to try it. thank you for sharing
Kim says
Thanks, Tracie. I hope you enjoy it. Have a great weekend. -Kim
Carole says
What brand of shredded mozzarella and plain protein isolate do you use?
Kim says
Hello Carole. I just used the cheapo store brand mozzarella and I always use Isopure zero carb protein isolate. You can also sub 1 T of oat fiber 500 instead of the protein isolate if you don’t have it. Enjoy the recipe. -Kim
Shell says
I just tried this recipe, and have to say, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I didn’t have whey protein, or mozzarella, so i subbed tasty shredded cheese and soy protein powder, it’s worked just fine! And tastes reeeeeally good with butter, straight out of the oven! Loved the cheesy aftertaste!
Thank yoy so much, again!!!
This Will be MY go-to bread for everything!
Kim says
I’m glad the recipe worked for you with your subs, Shell. The fathead dough recipe is so forgiving. Try rolling it into snakes and making bagels. The recipe makes 4 huge bagels, 6 normal sized or 8 breakfast sandwich sized bagels. Enjoy! -Kim
Shell says
Sounds delightful! Thanks for the tips. Just had one for lunch, re-heated in the oven and loaded it up with butter and vegemite…
I’m pretty sure my eyes rolled into the back of my head with shear pleasure!
Kim says
It’s nice to be able to enjoy a roll every once in a wile. Butter should be required! I’m glad you enjoyed your vegemite roll. Enjoy your weekend! -Kim