Bodybuilder Chicken Protein Bread

This flourless bread is made with chicken breast (or turkey!) and veggies, thrown in a blender! It’s gluten-free, low-carb and low-fat, and a practical and effortless way of consuming your proteins: The perfect keto bread for a bodybuilding diet!

This recipe is made with whole chicken breast (you can use leftovers), veggies (you have a few choices) and Parmesan cheese. If you eat carnivore, go check out my recipe for carnivore chicken flour bread, that uses just chicken flour and eggs.

Slices of keto protein bread.

Do you miss bread on keto? 🙋‍♂️ Are you sick and tired of chicken breast and whey protein everyday after gym? 🙋‍♀️ If you are either looking for the solution to these problems, you’ll be happy to know that after some testing struggle I found the definitive answer:

This blender chicken bread is the perfect recipe if you are living a keto lifestyle and sorely missing bread, and found that most keto diet bread recipes are just too caloric and not all that great.

I call it The Flourless Chicken Breast Bodybuilder’s Blender Protein Bread. Sorry for the mouthful. Let’s call it FCBBBPB 😁

Slices of keto bread made with chicken.

How does the keto chicken bread taste like?

If I said it doesn’t “taste like chicken” at all, I would be lying. So, let’s get this out of the way:

This keto blender bread will have some chicken taste, and specially smell, because it is mainly made of chicken breast, after all. If you make it with turkey breasts instead, then expect the taste to be a little more pronounced.

Whichever is your poultry of choice: this bread has a proper, real bread shape and texture, different from so many other keto bread recipes out there. You know the ones I’m talking about, with tons of egg whites or cream cheese.

This keto protein bread is savory and tastes good by itself, or with butter, cheese and ham. It’s very nice toasted as well, and if you’re a fan of avocado toast on keto, congratulations. That being said, I’ll state the obvious: I wouldn’t recommend it for PB&Js or for spreading keto Nutella on.

I wanted to create here an easy keto bread recipe that’s actually low fat. Crazy? Not so. I like to have my fats on top of my bread, not in it. I want to actually feel the decadent texture of the melted cheese, of the smooth cream cheese and the sultry salty butter all over my tongue, please.

Some may say they can’t lose weight on a keto diet. Well, poop to that. How dare they make a fathead dough bread or pizza and then top it up with another brick of cream cheese and a pound of mozzarella and say the keto diet is to blame their lack of 6-pack abs. It’s not. It’s the amount of calories they are eating in the wrong places.

Slices of low-carb flourless gluten-free bread.

Test kitchen: Keto chicken bread in 6 variations

I took some time testing to reach the best blend of ingredients, as there were so many combinations that could work. I experimented with the ratios, and which fillers to use. I did not want to add in any flour, so I used vegetables for bulking up and trying to add lift to the heavy chicken, as well as psyllium husk, in an effort to improve this keto bread texture and fluffiness.

Below are some pictures and descriptive results from the 6 most interesting variations of the recipe. Have a look if you’d like to see how the different recipe ideas fared. If you want to go straight to the best keto bodybuilding chicken bread formula, just scroll down.

1. Keto chicken only bread: No vegetables added

Comparison of bodybuilder chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

The chicken only keto bread is viable: it’s sliceable and surprisingly doesn’t have a too chickeny taste – thanks to the addition of Parmesan cheese. It is the third best bread on this list, behind the ones that include lettuce and cabbage, respectively.

The reason why the chicken only keto bread falls behind isn’t the taste, but the texture: the heavier dough doesn’t rise as much. The addition of vegetables lightens up the batter and makes the keto bread fluffier, and fluffier = better in my dictionary.

2. Keto zucchini chicken bread

Comparison of bodybuilder chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

Zucchini has being showing up in a lot of recipes, and I could not leave this keto darling untested. But the results were really disappointing. Zucchini might be great in cakes, but the same reason why it is so made it for a poor addition to bread: excess moisture.

The zucchini keto bread turned out wet and crumbly, structurally too weak for buttering. I don’t recommend using it at all. It made for a sad, sad loaf.

3. Keto cabbage chicken bread

Comparison of bodybuilder chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

Cabbage worked well for this keto bread texture, but it tasted funny. I don’t know how to explain this, as I absolutely love cabbage in all its forms – specially sauerkraut – but I think the taste just didn’t match my keto bread expectations. Still, it is the second best bread on this list, only behind our favorite, the keto chicken and lettuce bread.

4. Keto lettuce chicken bread

Comparison of bodybuilder chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

This is the absolute winner keto chicken bread, and the recipe you will see on the recipe card below this post. I chose lettuce because of its bland flavor and ease of use – you don’t have to chop lettuce, just throw the whole washed leaves in the blender. I used iceberg, a white lettuce commonly used in sandwiches and burgers, so it’s a flavor that doesn’t “fight” with bread, like cabbage did.

The addition of lettuce added the needed bulk and lift to our keto chicken bread, with virtually no extra calories, tastes or smells. It is the softest loaf of the bunch.

5. Keto chicken bread without psyllium husk

Comparison of bodybuilder chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

You can try to bake this keto bread without psyllium husk if you don’t have it or if you have an allergy to it, but there’s no denying that psyllium husk improves the texture of the bread by a lot.

Compare the pictures above with the lettuce chicken keto loaf, at number 4: the psyllium is the only difference. You can clearly see that the lack of it made the crumb tight and the bread is less tall and fluffy.

I have experimented before with not adding psyllium to my favorite blender muffin recipe, and found the same results: the without psyllium keto muffin counterpart was denser, wetter – not as in nicely moist – and it seemed to rise less, with an uneven crumb. In short, if you can, don’t omit it.

6. Keto chicken bread without chicken!

Comparison of bodybuilder flourless chicken keto bread recipe results with different ingredients.

This was really just a test, and I didn’t expect anything good to come out of it. But if you come from a scientific background you’ll understand why I had to do it: I needed to see exactly what the chicken was bringing to this blender keto bread, in terms of structure and flavor.

Surprisingly, it also became “bread”: it had a bread shape (thanks to the pan), we could slice and butter it and it held together pretty well. But it didn’t taste like bread, more like a cheesy omelet – as most keto bread recipes out there do, anyways. Not bad by any means, but it can’t really be called bread. At least I could confirm: the dryness of the chicken breast meat is what gave this keto recipe the “real bread” texture.

How to use chicken for baking

You should use skinless chicken breast only, not thighs or any other parts. The unappetizing dryness of this cut is exactly what we need to make the bread believe it’s flour.

You can use frozen chicken breast, and just boil it in water with salt, or roast it in the oven. You can even use the microwave: it doesn’t really matter, as you’re gonna blend the meat into oblivion anyway. It’s also OK to use leftover chicken (that’s what I used the first time).

Just remember that the chicken is the main ingredient here, so the taste of whatever spices were it will heavily show in the bread. This can be good or bad, of course. A butter chicken keto bread doesn’t sound like a bad idea, does it?

How to make keto chicken blender bread

Quick and easy, no dough working and no waiting: Everything is done in a blender! Because you’ll need to blend the chicken breast until its utter destruction, a high powered blender is your best friend here.

For the flavor, starting with a fairly bland, bodybuilding style chicken breast, a good combination I found was Parmesan, garlic and leek. In one of the test subjects I added mustard seeds, and in other some chili flakes… If nothing else comes to your mind, start with my suggestion and then experiment to find YOUR favorite flavor.

After you bake this keto bread a couple of times and get the hang of it, why not try and vary the vegetables as well? If I’ve learned anything from all this testing, is that even if something doesn’t come out perfect, it’s still edible, even pleasantly so, and a great way of using up left over vegetables. If you can find a even better combination than I did, please share it in the comments below so I can try it too 😊


Slices of keto protein bread.

Keto Bodybuilder Chicken Protein Bread

4.87 from 30 votes
Keto, gluten-free, low-carb and low-fat high protein no-knead easy blender bread! And you can make it with chicken or turkey leftovers! This one ticks all the boxes 🤩
Author: Pris Frank
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Breakfast, Side Dish
Cuisine Low-carb
Servings 2 6 oz (170 g) loaves

Equipment

Ingredients
 

  • 6 oz (170 g) cooked skinless and boneless chicken breast (or turkey) about one medium size, roughly chopped
  • ½ cup (45 g) grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2.5 oz (70 g) cos or iceberg lettuce (3 to 4 leaves) or other veggies, see Notes
  • 3 large eggs
  • ½ tablespoon olive oil
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon whole psyllium husks
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

Optional, for flavor:

  • 1 tablespoon chopped leek
  • 1 garlic clove

Instructions
 

  • Fill the blender jar with the eggs, salt, oil, chicken pieces and garlic clove, if adding. Blend on high until the chicken pieces are completely pureed.
  • Add the psyllium husks, lettuce, Parmesan and baking powder and continue blending. If you see powders sticking to the walls of the jar, stop the blender for a moment to scrape them away with a spatula and mix with the batter. The batter should be completely smooth, to get the best bread crumb texture.
  • Pour the bread batter on buttered loaf tins, and bake on a preheated oven at 365 °F / 185 °C for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaves are golden.

Notes

I made this in 2 mini loaf pans (5″x3″), and each bread weighted 6 oz / 170 grams. You can bake this in one medium loaf pan, or you can easily double the recipe to make a larger sandwich loaf. You’ll need to extend the baking time accordingly.
You can use veggies other than lettuce, like cauliflower, cabbage or zucchini. The color, flavor and texture of the bread will vary. Please see post for ideas.
Make sure the Parmesan is the dry, powdery one (Kraft style). Do not substitute for other cheese.
Keep leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Nutrition

Serving: 1half loaf (3 oz / 85 g)Calories: 178kcalCarbohydrates: 2.52gProtein: 20.55gFat: 9.9gFiber: 1.77gSugar: 0.2gNet Carbohydrates: 0.45g
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and let us know how it was!

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33 Comments

  1. You are right Curtis, it’s better to keep it in the fridge to ensure it will stay fresh. Unless you are just going to eat it all on the same day, then it’s okay to leave on the counter. Thank you for your comment!

  2. 5 stars
    I am making this today, however with it having chicken in it, I’m not sure if it should be left at room temperature or refrigerated. I will put it in the fridge to be safe, but curious if that’s needed?
    Thanks for the recipe!

  3. Hi Sari! I think you could try using whatever your go-to baking egg substitute is. I know it’s possible to use them successfully in many baking recipes, but I haven’t tried myself so I cannot say for sure if it would work or not. Worst case scenario, I think the texture might be off, but the taste would probably be okay. I hope it turns out fine 🙌 good luck!

  4. Thank you so much for sharing your experience Marguerite! I always feel so happy when I hear back from someone that enjoyed my recipes 🙂 It really makes my day!

  5. 5 stars
    I made this bread two days ago using ground turkey breast. I made eight muffins, and they were delicious! I will make this bread again this week.

    Thank you for the recipe.

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