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Every time I see someone post their amazing “elevated toast” on Instagram, I get pretty jealous. While I certainly love how I feel when eating low carb, I also really do miss eating breads, and I don’t always want to shell out $8 for a loaf of keto-friendly bread that makes my intestines weep. So, in order to create my own fun toast, I figured I should also make myself some low carb vegan crisp bread. This recipe makes a really hearty flatbread that is reminiscent of Scandinavian crisp bread (knekkebrød in Norway). It’s perfect as a base for lots of toppings, and really hits the spot.
Update: April, 2023 – I posted this recipe 6 years ago, and it’s still one of my favorite recipes, and is still unchanged from the original. I have updated the original text for clarity and precision, though, and changed the photos so they’re higher quality.
In order to make this recipe as accessible as possible, it’s also totally nut free! This is great for those people (like me) who can’t eat certain nuts, and still want to be able to enjoy some darned flatbread. The recipe itself is pretty simple, and can be used for sweet or savory toppings. Basically, this is the perfect low carb, gluten free, nut free vegan flatbread for breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Notes on Making Low Carb Vegan Crispbread (knekkebrød):
- The ratio of seeds is more important than the actual seeds you choose. The only seed that will really mess up the recipe if the ratio changes too much is the flaxseed. This amount of flax is necessary to create the gel to hold together the crisp breads with the amount of water in the recipe.
- If you reduce the amount of flax, you will also have to reduce the water.
- For all non-flax seeds, you can sub them as you please. So, if you prefer pepitas to sunflower seeds, go for it!
- If you really want to use nuts instead of the seeds mentioned, you can easily sub out any of them for almonds, pecans, walnuts – the world is your oyster.
- These do cook for an incredibly long time, but they need it in order to get crispy!
- While these can keep for up to 5 days, they definitely lose their crispiness. Revive them with a few minutes in the oven, or a toaster before eating again.
- Psyllium husk is truly the magic ingredient here, and this recipe wouldn’t be possible without it. You can omit it, but the crisp bread will be flatter and less crispy – more like crackers.
- These make a truly awesome breakfast with a little bit of hummus and some chili powder. If you like sweeter foods for breakfast, can spread nut butter or coconut on top, and add berries and cinnamon!
- If you really want crackers, cut or break this up into smaller pieces. A serving is 1 ounce/28g!
- While I strive to provide accurate nutrition information, there are variations across brands and types of ingredients. So, if you’re using other brands than those mentioned, your macros may be different. All nutrition info is calculated from the USDA values for each ingredient, unless a brand is specifically mentioned (or no generic listing is available), and are for information purposes only!
Low Carb Crispbread (Vegan, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Keto-Friendly)
Ingredients
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup sunflower seeds raw is best
- 1 cup flaxseeds whole
- 1/2 cup hulled hemp seeds
- 3 tbsp psyllium husk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups of water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Toss all the seeds, salt, baking powder and psyllium husk into a food processor or blender, and pulverize until everything looks like sand. If the seeds start to bind up and form a butter, stop!
- Stir in the water, and mix until a uniform batter forms. Let this sit for ten minutes. Everything will thicken, and become more dough-like.
- Pour the dough onto a cookie sheet that is lined with either parchment paper, or a silicon baking mat. Spread the dough/batter evenly over the pan. It should be about 1/4″ thick all around.
- Bake in the oven for at least 75 minutes. Remove when everything is firm (including the center). If the edges start to darken, remove immediately.
- Once out of the oven, score into 20 equal pieces with a knife or pizza cutter.
- Let the crispbreads cool for about a half hour, and then break apart on the scored lines.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
This looks tasty! Do you know if I can make this without the hemp? I don’t have any on hand.
Hi Tish! You can definitely leave out the hemp. You can pretty much sub in any seed (or nut)! 🙂
any idea how many grams each piece should be?
I just weighed a bunch of them, and they average about 25-30g each!
Thank you. These are great. Poached eggs once again enjoyable.
I’m so glad, Joe! Sometimes it really is the little things in life that make all the difference. I feel the same way about these with avocado and tomatoes. 🙂
This looks so great, but I can’t eat flax. Have you tried it without? Could I maybe sub chia?
I haven’t tried it with chia, but I think it could definitely be done! You could also increase the hemp seeds to 1 cup, and add in a 1/2 cup of chia seeds if you were worried about an overwhelming chia texture/flavor. 🙂
I’m going to give it a try! Thanks 🙂
I only have already ground flax…will this work or will they all apart?
Good question! You should be able to use the ground flax you already have.
sorry **fall** lol, ok..its just that the recipe calls for whole flax seeds but then you do blend them up. I just wanted to make sure if you needed the whole flax to still hold things together as they wouldn’t be as ground up as the pre ground. I’ll try anyways and let you know how it goes!
Haha, no problem at all – it’s always good to ask! I look forward to seeing how it turned out for you! 😀
This recipe is amaaaaaazing! Thank you so much. I have now found a weekly staple in my pantry. Not only do these come out perfectly crispy, with a bit of flake and crumb to them, but they actually TASTE GOOD. I was a little worried when I first made them, the batter won’t be winning any beauty contests and I thought it would be just another sad keto substitute that falls short of the real thing.
BUT I WAS SO WRONG. These actually taste delicious! I’ve fed them to non-keto friends and family who told me they were really good, and they usually never say that about my other imitation foods!
I eat these with everything. Cream cheese and salmon, melted cheddar with tuna, smashed avocado and tomatoes, hummus and asparagus, you name it. They would indeed be amazing with a nut or seed butter spread on top.
These kept crispy and fresh in a container sitting out on the counter for a whole week!
Awww, THANK YOU, Caitlin!! It makes me so happy to hear all of this! It’s definitely my favorite recipe, and I genuinely make at least one batch a week because it turned out so miraculously good!
Oooooh, the cream cheese and salmon sounds so good, especially a smoked salmon… And yes! I’ve been putting so much sunflower seed butter on these, and it’s just as good as you could imagine!
I’m so excited that you like them so much, and thank you for commenting!!
There’s definitely very few voices out there in the blogosphere that develop truly tasty, creative vegan/vegetarian keto recipes. I recommend your blog on the Reddit keto sub because you have some really great, clever recipes. Seriously I appreciate any of the vegetarian voices out there. I’m not veg, but my husband and kids are. It can be hard to make foods all of us can enjoy.
I definitely use a smoked salmon with cream cheese on these. If I’m feeling fancy, I’ll throw on some capers, purple onion, and fresh dill. Takes it to the next level!
Yesterday I also made a “BLT”. I spread some mayo on there (veganaise would work too), cut up some cherry tomatoes, and topped it with some crispy bacon (I’d imagine some tempeh bacon would be mighty tasty) and it was seriously so delicious.
I’m about to make a batch now but realized I’m out of flax. I’m going to try what you recommended above, adding 1 cup of hemp and 1.2 of chia and I’ll let you know how they turn out. Fingers crossed! 🙂
I’m so glad to hear that these recipes are helping you with feeding your family! Thank you so much for the Reddit love – it really means a lot.
Ooooh, I’ve done some variants on that BLT – these things are just so good with tomatoes! I’ll have to try the tempeh bacon, too.
Definitely let me know how your next batch turns out! Good luck!
Just put mine in the oven!! I made a half batch because I’m slightly nervous and the ingredients are a bit pricey. 😀 I did 0.75 cup sunflower seeds, 0.5 cup sesame seeds, and 0.5 cup golden flax seeds. I also added 2 T nutritional yeast but I’m not sure how well the flavor will hold up after baking for 75 minutes. I’m so excited to try them! BTW I am a newly keto vegan and your blog has been so helpful for the transition! 🙂
Ok, I’m back with my verdict – these are freaking AWESOME!!! If anyone reading this is on the fence about making them, just do it! I just had one with some cream cheese, dijon mustard, and Tofurkey deli slices – OMG so tasty. I’m so excited at the possibilities with these! My crisp bread turned out a very pretty golden brown color and a much more uniform color and texture – maybe I ground my seeds a bit longer than you did. Also, I couldn’t taste the nooch at all so I’ll skip that next time. Thank you so much for this amazing recipe, it’s definitely going to become a keto vegan staple in my house! I’m also following you on instagram now – so many great ideas on there! 🙂
Hi Preeya! Thank you so much for the awesome review! I’m so glad you like them. It makes me really happy!
I definitely get lazy with grinding seeds sometimes, and tend to go with a chunkier texture, but the smooth works really well, too!!
Again, thank you so much for the kind words!!
I only have psyllium flakes, not powder. Is there a difference in amount I should use?
Hi Carolyn!! Good question – I have used both flakes and powder interchangeably with great results in this recipe. 🙂
I never leave comments – but these are fantastic!!! New vegan here – and these really are so satisfying and delicious. I followed the recipe and added flavors – onion powder, garlic powder, & Italian seasoning. So delicious!!! Thank you!!!
Thank you so much for the kind words! The Italian seasoning, garlic and onion sounds like an awesome combo to add!
Hi, do they have to be kept in fridge? I’m doing a car ride from Montreal to Vancouver and need to have vegan gluten free food that does not need refrigiration.
Hi Guylaine! They do not have to be kept in the fridge. Have a great trip! 🙂
Hi Liz i tried this recipe and added a handful of walnuts, they are AMAZINGGGG
do you know if I can somehow keep the crisp longer and less brittle? THANK YOU!!!
Hi Crystal, I’m so glad you like them! 😀
I sometimes reheat them in the oven for a few minutes, covered with a damp dish towel and that seems to work. So, basically, just put the ones you’re going to eat immediately in a baking dish, cover the dish with a slightly damp cloth and bake at 300F for around 3-5 minutes and let cool for about a minute. I eat them while still warm. 🙂
I hope this helps!!
I made a version of these tonight with what I had on hand: pecans, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax. I let the dough hang out in my fridge for about 2h (running errands) andit rolled out beautifully between two sheets of parchment paper. I needed to cook a little slower, 325 for about 70 min and 350 for about 15 more. They are aaaahhhmazing and crispy and taste just like Ak-Maks! Thanks for the inspiration!
Can I use xanthim gum in place of the husk?
Super recipe, thank you Liz!!! I used to make knäckebrot (as we call it in Germany) using seeds and a combo of oats/quinoa/millet but I really wanted something low carb/ grain-free. Your recipe hit the spot.
Some ideas to try:
You can skip the pulsing step and soak the whole mix overnight in the 2 cups of liquid. I used water kefir to help predigest the seeds a bit more.
It will come out more like a seed cracker but you can play with the thickness so its more sturdy. It will take about 30-40 minutes to bake so its much faster and still super crispy.
I added 1/4 cup of cassava flour and 1/4 cup water kefir to 2/3 of the dough because I wanted something that looked a bit more like the crispbread without doing the pulsing. Worked brilliantly!
Next time Ill try pulsing the mix in the food processor for a bit AFTER it all soaks overnight to see what its like.