50+ Awesome Coconut Flour Recipes (gluten and grain free) - Savory Lotus (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to baking with coconut flour? ›

A quick rule of thumb is to swap about 1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut flour for 1 cup of regular flour. Due to its high absorbency, you'll also want to increase the number of eggs. To help you try this unique ingredient, we've rounded up eight of our best coconut flour recipes.

Potential Health Benefits of Coconut Flour

It also contains more fiber and protein than wheat flour. Coconut flour can also help you: Control blood sugar. Because of its lower glycemic index rating, using coconut flour in baked goods instead of wheat flour could help control blood sugar spikes.

Because of its high fiber and potassium content, consuming coconut flour may support heart health by reducing heart disease risk factors. Specifically, research suggests that eating coconut flour may help reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels (13, 15 ).

While you don't have to keep it refrigerated, it is recommended. Its shelf life can be anywhere between 12 to 18 months post-production. Good coconut flour gives off a pleasantly sweet and somewhat nutty aroma (so lovely!). You'll know it's gone bad if it smells sour, musty, or rubbery.

Replacing wheat flour with coconut flour

Cakes and muffins, which need to be light and fluffy, will be very different than something more dense, like cookies. But when working with coconut flour, you always need to decrease the flour and increase the eggs and baking powder.

Coconut flour is rich in dietary fibre, which can help reduce the risk of developing heart disease and lower cholesterol levels. As it is low in carbohydrate compared to flours such as wheat and corn, it is useful for people with diabetes because it has a mild impact on blood glucose levels.

Coconut flour can cause bloating in some people.

Digestive imbalances ultimately have a negative impact on the immune system (the gut is the basis of your immune system). Plus, because it's mostly fiber, some people find coconut flour can irritate the gut if eaten too frequently, or in larger amounts.

Potential Risks of Coconut Sugar

While coconut sugar contains very small amounts of minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, it is still high in calories. You would need to ingest so much coconut sugar for your body to use these nutrients that the calorie count would likely outweigh any nutritional benefit.

Fresh coconut eaten in moderation is a good dietary option for diabetics. In case you don't have fresh coconut, then roughly 28-30 grams of dried coconut is equivalent to a 2-inch square of fresh coconut. Avoid the variety you get from your supermarket's baking section, as it includes added sugar.

To gain most of its benefits, consume one teaspoon of coconut flour daily. Six health benefits of coconut flour include: Lowers blood sugar levels: Coconut flour is highly associated with lowering the risk of diabetes when compared with other flours.

Does coconut flour raise triglycerides? ›

As a rich source of fiber, which helps lower bad cholesterol and triglycerides, flour from coconuts is also known for boosting heart health. In fact, research links high intakes of dietary fiber with a reduced risk of developing coronary heart disease as well as dying from the disease.

Myth: Coconut oil is a heart-healthy cooking alternative.

The reality: Coconut oil has been shown to raise cholesterol levels — the good and the bad kinds — more than other plant-based oils like olive or canola. And in truth, medium-chain triglycerides make up only a small amount of the fatty acids in coconut oil.

Coconut flour can develop a slightly bitter taste when it goes bad, so be on the lookout for that as well. If the best-by-date on a package of coconut flour has passed, it is usually still safe to use the flour. Many people have used coconut flour past the best-by-date with no problems.

Coconut flour is made from coconut meat that's dried then ground into flour. It's a very light and “airy” flour, perfect for cakes, muffins, and breads.

Coconut flour is made from dehydrated and ground coconut. It's great for baking thanks to its naturally sweet and mild coconut flavor. Coconut flour can be used in a variety of recipes as a substitute for wheat flour and is a popular gluten-free and grain-free flour alternative used in baking.

Coconut Flour Substitute

You have to do a little playing around with a recipe if you want to substitute coconut flour for regular all-purpose wheat flour. The rule of thumb is to substitute only 20 percent of coconut for wheat flour. Flour made from coconut becomes dense and soaks up a lot of moisture when it bakes.

Coconut flour has a slightly sweet and nutty flavor, with a hint of coconut aroma. It has a more absorbent texture and tends to create denser, moister baked goods compared to almond flour. Due to its absorbency, coconut flour often requires more liquid in recipes to prevent dryness.

Because almond flour and wheat flour can be exchanged at a 1:1 ratio, you can also substitute coconut flour for almond flour by using 1/4 cup of coconut flour for every cup of almond flour.

Here are some suggestions on what you should do to use coconut flour instead of almond flour: Substitute 1 cup of almond flour with 1/4 cup (1 ounce) of coconut flour, and add one egg for every 1/4 cup of coconut flour used in addition to the eggs called for in the original recipe.