Low Carb Salted Caramel Dalgona Coffee
A favorite Starbucks drink is their cold brew with salted caramel cream foam. This salted caramel dalgona coffee reminds me so much of that popular coffeehouse beverage.Dalgona coffee is a creamy whipped coffee drink. It is about 2/3 milk (nut milk or cream for keto versions) topped with 1/3 velvelty coffee foam. The coffee foam in this drink is flavored with a sugar-free caramel syrup and a spinkle of salt.
Instant Coffee
Dalgona coffee foam is made using three ingredients – instant coffee, sweetener and hot boil. It will not work if you use regular ground coffee. Any type of instant coffee will work –
regular coffee or
espresso. Avoid any coffees with MCT oils or creamers in them as well. The fats in the creamers and MCT can cause the whip to fall flat and not retain volume.Sweetener is necessary to help create the foam, so don’t skip on this step. The hot water will help dissolve the instant coffee and sweetener.
Sweetener for Keto Salted Caramel Dalgona Coffee
As mentioned above, the second main ingredient in Dalgona coffee is sugar. It helps to create the foam along with the instant coffee. The Dalgona coffee you see all over the internet has 5 teaspoons of sugar added to the coffee whip! That is 20 grams of carbohydrates!Don’t worry, it’s easy to turn your coffee into a keto friendly salted caramel dalgona coffee by using alternative sweeteners like monkfruit and erythritol. The powdered verisons of these keto sugar replacers work the best sicne they dissolve better. The brands I recommend are
Lakanto and
Swerve.
Milk Options
Most of a dalgona coffee is made up of milk or cream. Traditional whipped coffee uses milk; however, you can substitute with nut milk or heavy cream to make this dalgona drink more keto friendly. I like to use
macadamia nut milk.It is creamy, unflavored and contains very low carbohydrates, but you can use all heavy cream or other nut milks. You could even use half and half (although it is higher in carbohydrates).Other Nut Milk Options:
- almond milk
- cashew milk
- pili nut milk
- hemp milk
Caramel Flavoring
To achieve a caramel flavoring in this keto dalgona coffee, I use a
sugar-free caramel syrup. If you trying to avoid sugar alcohols, you could try using
ChocZero Caramel Syrup. Add 2.5 tablespoons to the instant coffee and it will produce a beautifully whipped coffee. Save 10% off your order with code KETOFOCUS at checkout.
How to Create Dalgona Coffee Foam
The velvetly smooth dalgona coffee foam is made by a whisking action. I recommend using an electric mixer to whip your coffee foam. It will only take a few mintues to acheive a velvety smooth foam. If you don’t have an electric mixer, you can whisk the coffee by hand. It will just take longer – about 8-10 minutes of constant whisking to produce the stable foam.
Dalgona Coffee Variations
There are lots of different Dalgona coffee variations you should try! Try these fun whipped coffee varations: