Did you know coconut is technically a fruit!?
This means it is very low in anti-nutrients and doesn’t require soaking, like all grains, nuts, and seeds.
What’s also special about coconut?
Coconut flour is the only low-oxalate, GAPS-friendly flour!
This is a major boon to my family! In addition to following GAPS, 2 of us are on a low-oxalate diet. As a result, we do most of our baking with coconut flour. And I have come to enjoy it more and more as I have healed.
Coconut Flour Is Unique
Unlike nut flours, it absorbs liquid well. And unlike glutinous flours, it is not sticky.
It is also fairly bland, albeit with a mild coconut flavor. People who don’t care for coconut still eat coconut flour baked goods without complaint.
It is made from the fiber leftover from making coconut milk. This is then ground to a powder. At this point, most of the oil is gone.
A Few Warnings
Coconut flour has a high fiber content. If you have an irritated gut, this can make constipation and diarrhea worse.
Although conventional wisdom touts fiber as an aid for constipation, many people experience the opposite problem. They keep increasing their fiber and wondering why their problems are getting worse! (Believe me, I know all about this.)
Also, keep in mind that coconuts are often processed with nuts, which can be an allergy concern.
And finally, if you’re on GAPS, remember that baked goods, fruit, and other “treats” should be kept to 20% or less of the diet. In other words, don’t get carried away! Continue to focus on the healing foods like broth, meats, veggies, and ferments. Add baked goods as an occasional treat.
Cooking & Baking With Coconut Flour
In many recipes that call for wheat flour, coconut flour works just as well! These can include coating fried chicken or browning a roast. Use it in the same ratio as the original recipe. You may have to accommodate a bit of extra sweetness to your recipe.
Although I don’t like to use coconut flour to thicken gravies and sauces (I think it makes a gritty texture), some people do. If you want to try it out, know that coconut flour is much more absorbent than wheat flour. Start with about 1/4 as much and work up from there.
When baking with it, use quite a bit of egg! I have yet to come across egg-free coconut flour recipes. The eggs bind the ingredients together and provide moisture.
Don’t cut back on fatty or liquid ingredients — such as coconut milk or yogurt — in baked good recipes. This will result in dry or crumbly baked goods.
Coconut flour absorbs more liquid than other flours — but not as quickly. It takes a few minutes. So, if making a recipe that seems too thin, give it 5 more minutes to thicken up before adding more flour. If you still need to add more flour, do so in very small amounts at a time. Remember, coconut flour is 4x more absorbent than wheat flour!
If you find the texture of coconut flour baked goods to be dry (as I do), try using dates as sweetener! My friends and family don’t notice the dry texture like I do, but dates help a lot, in my opinion.
Converting Recipes To Use Coconut Flour
Usually this is very hard to do. In most cases, it doesn’t work. Your best bet is to find recipes that call for coconut flour in the first place.
However, the ideal wheat flour recipe to convert is one that calls for a lot of eggs. Take out the wheat flour and replace it with coconut flour to 1/4 of the original amount of wheat flour. That may work!
Choosing Coconut Flour
There are several brands of coconut flour available. I have used the Coconut Secret, Tropical Traditions, and Wilderness Family Naturals. They have all worked equally well for me.
Although I have not used every brand in every recipe, they all seem to work interchangeably.
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My Favorite Coconut Flour Recipes
Here are some of my favorite coconut flour recipes.
- Candida Diet Pancakes {made with coconut flour!}
- Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies
- No-Bake Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Bites
- Grain-Free Mixed Berry Cobbler
- Grain-Free, Maple-Pumpkin Chocolate-Dipped Cake Pops
- Grain-Free Salmon Patties with Lemon Sour Cream
- Paleo Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Grain-Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
Do you know how to bake with coconut flour? What are your favorite coconut flour recipes? Let’s make the comments a great resource for finding recipes!
New to our GAPS series? Get up to speed by browsing past posts in this series or reading what the GAPS diet is. Also, check out our previous post A Primer: Baking With Almond Flour.
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Thanks for the article and recipe links! I’ve just started using coconut flour in the last year. This is my favorite recipe so far. I make it for church and even the non-health-food people love it! They have no idea how good for them it is. 🙂
http://ournourishingroots.com/yellow-coconut-cake-with-cocoa-buttercream-frosting/
I love how coconut flour baked goods taste good to everyone!
Patty . . . .I saw site and raed ypur comment that “People who don’t care for coconut still eat coconut flour baked goods without complaint.” . . . .Sadly that everybody does not include me. I have tried making bread with coco flour and I just can not get over the sweet coco flavor. I have tried reducing the flour, adding in some flavors (herbs, garlic, onions etc) to negate the coconut but all I end up with is a bread that is flavored that with onion, garlic, rosemary etc still with an after taste of coconut. For some reason that flavor bugs me. If you gave me a coconut cream pie or a macaroon years ago I would have loved it but the flour in bread is just off putting to me. Any ideas or recommendations to get around this or am I just stuck ? I would prefer a less expensive alternative than almond flour so I can bake breads more often. Thanks
Have you tried mixing coconut flour and almond flour? I actually make some great Keto cookies and it calls for 3/4 cup coconut flour and 1/4 cup almond. I barely taste the coconut.
Are you aware that both dates and almonds are extremely high in oxalates? Caution needed!
Thank you, Patty. My first attempt at baking with coconut flour was a disaster! I made banana bread and substituted the coconut flour measure for measure. It was SO DRY!! I made a vanilla pudding and poured it over the broken up pieces… This is just what I need.
So glad it was helpful for you!
HI PATTY. I BAKED A COUPLE OF CAKES WITH THE COCONUT FLOUR AND THEY WERE AWESOME…..UNTIL….I TOOK THE OUT OF THE OVEN. YOU GUESSED IT, THEY FLATTENED. I WAS DEVESTATED. HOW DO I KEEP MY CAKES FROM “FALLING” WITH THE COCONUT FLOUR??
Great post. I am sad that I don’t really use much coconut flour anymore since eggs started giving me awful stomach aches six months ago. Like you said, there are few egg-free coconut flour recipes!
Thanks for the primer on coconut flour. I will still use it mixed with other flours but I am so very allergic to gluten, dairy, and eggs so using only coconut flour won’t work for me. It was nice to read about having to use eggs to get it to work so I know where the problem lies for me.
I was so sad to read that you haven’t come across any egg-free coconut flour recipes. I’m intolerant to eggs, currently on GAPS and low oxalate diets and was hoping for ideas for occasional treats. If you come across any egg-free coconut flour recipes, please post!
Sally
I have found a few egg free coconut flour recipes…
http://thecoconutmama.com/2012/08/coconut-flour-cookies/
and http://paleoparents.com/featured/banana-pumpkin-pucks/
are the first couple that come to mind… searching coconut flour and egg free recipes isn’t helping much sadly and I haven’t tried either recipe but looking for something to help me adjust as I start the autoimmune paleo protocol (though the second one has dates so a bit on the high sugar side for what I’m looking for)
Sorry to be coming late to the party, but I have a question I am hoping you can answer. My kids and I LOVE coconut flour muffins (among other coconut flour goodies) so I make them all the time. However, I can’t for the life of me figure out how to make them so they come out of the pan whole. I grease the pan, but the bottom third or so still sticks to the pan. Of course they still taste yummy, but I would be embarrassed to serve them to guests 😉 I prefer to be able to use the paper muffin cups for ease of clean-up, but when I use those I end up throwing half of the muffin with the paper. Can you help me? Thanks so much!
Hi Rachel,
You are right it does tend to stick. I personally use the papers. I’m not sure what you are greasing your muffin cups with but I personally find that lard and palm shortening work better than coconut oil. You could also try flouring them like you would for a cake. It may also depend on your muffin cups themselves. My cast iron ones stick terribly no matter what I do.
Try silicone baking forms. The silicone muffin cups should work for you. I have made coconut break in a silicone loaf pan and didn’t have problems with it sticking.
You can often use applesauce instead of egg.
Here’s a helpful post: http://www.livingwithout.com/issues/4_7/cooking_with_coconut_flour-1955-1.html
I’m trying to cut back on grains in my diet. no health concerns, just thought i’d try it out. anyway, i’m doing some research for baking alternatives… i keep seeing that coconut flour needs eggs. I was wondering if anyone had tried substituting the eggs needed with a 1/3 cup of the oil of their choice, or a 1/3 cup applesauce for each egg that the recipe calls for. I’ve used both in a pinch in traditional wheat flour based recipes. thought i’d throw the suggestion out there for those with egg sensitivities.
Coconut flour recipes really, really need eggs, not pureed beans, applesauce, egg substitutes. It really needs real eggs to work. I am allergic to eggs also and am trying to find and create bread substitutes with no flour of any kind. The cauliflower pizza crust is awesome and my normal family and friends love it so much they use it just because it taste great and is much healthier for us. I use cheddar cheese and triple garlic and spices it and we love the recipe. I have a gluten free pancake recipe that no one knows it’s not GF but bread has been a total disappointment so far. I’m using recipes that require no gluten at all for our main meals. It’s helping to just avoid the gluten issue. Where 1/3 of our family is GF and the rest love gluten and can have it. I have 43 no gluten recipes so far. We just have a few gluten recipes I have to adapt as they are family favorites.
Can you share those recipes? Cauliflower crust?
I love coconut flour! I use it mostly in coconut flour pancakes! I can’t tolerate gluten 🙁 so using coconut flour instead of wheat flour is the perfect alternative 🙂
I find that excessive fiber is a problem when not enough liquids are consumed.
what a great site this is.
Is it possible to use coconut flour for Doughnuts? Our main problem when we use coconut flour is its texture and the amount of fat absorbed after frying. Can you please help me?
When using coconut flour you need to use eggs and lots of them. You might also blend in other flours with it but I’ve used it straight but doubled my eggs to get it to work. Good luck! I know how frustrating experimenting to get the right flour blends can be. I haven’t made my lovely yeasted donuts yet. Probably won’t until this Fall. Let us know how it works out and what is the winning combination for you donuts!
dear cherlynn,
I have a recipe for a flat bread which uses coconut flour, psyllium, coconut oil and hot water and not one egg. it rolls like a wrap and I cut it up into squares and toast it to enjoy with my eggs. if anyone wants the recipe without or with my modifications I would be pleased to share.
regards,
james
Yes I would like your flat breads recipe & thank you for sharing it.
i would love the flat bread receipt i am also gluten free (newly)
thanks
I am new to GF and would love your flat bread recipe.
how can i get your flat bread recipe wuith cocanut flour and no eggs
how can i get your flat bread recipe wuith cocanut flour and no eggs
Kerry Ann Foster and Brittany Angel have some great coconut flour doughnuts. No yeast needed, but you do need a donut shaped pan. I found this article searching for a better way to keep them from sticking. Right now I grease the heck out of the donut pan and use a rubber spatula to wiggle them loose.
have you tried almond flour? it gives more of a flakey crumbley consistancy than coconut flour does, which i find to be more moist and chewy. perhaps a blend of the two will give you your desired results.
I love coconut flour! I like it better than other gluten free flours because it’s low in carbs and really healthy. It doesn’t have added chemicals like others contain 🙂 I love using it to make coconut flour pancakes, and muffins 😀 I recently used it to make pizza, and it’s like a whole new world! Ha! Great post, nice to know there are more people supporting the coconut flour community 🙂
dear pancake girl,
would you share your coconut flour pizza recipe?
thanking you in advance,
regards,
james
Hey James! Just check out the link attached and you can find the complete recipe + instrcutions! 🙂
dear pc,
thanks, will try,
james
I want to make suet dumplings with coconut flour does any one have a recipe or the ratio of suet to coconut flour. Wheat flour is two to one but I’m trying to stay low carb.
Hi Terry,
We asked for recommendations on the Facebook page. You can follow the thread here: https://www.facebook.com/gnowfglins/posts/915205821851768
Hi Wardee,
I love your website and everything you are teaching at your School. I was just browsing through this page and thought you’d like to know that the links pointing to the recipes are broken (the pages are not found). I would love to have access to these recipes, they sound very yummy.
Thanks a lot!
Thanks for pointing that out, Marcia! I’m afraid I can’t correct the original links — the website seems to have disappeared. However, I’ve linked to many more recipes calling for coconut flour here on Traditional Cooking School that you may find helpful. 🙂
Haniya, TCS Team
I am trying to start a coconut flour sour dough starter.
Any advice or successes?