Carbquik substitute

Best substitute

Homemade Carbalose Bake Mix

Use the same amount for Carbquik as the carbquik you are replacing

Best for biscuits

Close match

Carbalose flour plus leavening and fat, which is what Carbquik actually is.

Other carbquik substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Almond Flour Bake Mix
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount using 2 cups almond flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons cold butter and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
The gluten-free route, and the one most keto bakers can assemble from what they have.
What changes
Best for
drop biscuits, pancakes, muffins, cobbler topping, shortcakes
It works, but be realistic about the result. With no gluten there is nothing to hold layers, so cut biscuits will not flake and rise the way Carbquik biscuits do; make drop biscuits instead. The crumb comes out moister, denser and more crumbly, the flavor sweeter and nuttier, and it browns much faster, so drop the oven temperature by 25F. The xanthan gum is what stops it falling apart, and an extra egg white per cup helps further.
3Almond Flour Plus Vital Wheat Gluten and Oat Fiber
Close match
1 cup almond flour, ½ cup vital wheat gluten, ¼ cup oat fiber, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 tablespoons cold butter, used 1:1
The closest texture match without carbalose, because it puts the gluten back.
What changes
Best for
layered biscuits, dinner rolls, pizza dough, dumplings, pot pie crust
This is the blend to use if you care about chew and structure. Carbalose is wheat-based, so the gluten in vital wheat gluten is reproducing the very thing that makes Carbquik behave like real flour, and the oat fiber replaces the bulk without carbs. Handle the dough gently, since too much mixing makes it tough and slightly rubbery. It has a faint wheaty, almost sourdough note, and it is emphatically not gluten-free.
4Lupin Flour and Oat Fiber Blend
Different taste
1 ½ cups lupin flour, ½ cup oat fiber, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅓ cup cold shortening, used 1:1
The lowest-carb blend, with the most bread-like chew of the gluten-free options.
What changes
Best for
keto biscuits, flatbreads, pasta dough, savory bakes
Lupin flour is very high in protein and fiber and almost free of net carbs, and it gives a genuinely bready chew that almond flour never achieves. The trade-off is flavor: it is faintly bitter and beany with a yellow tint, so a sweet pancake made with it tastes savory around the edges and needs extra sweetener and vanilla. Lupin is a legume related to peanuts and cross-reactivity is documented, so avoid it with a peanut allergy.
5Bisquick or Self-Rising Flour with Fat
Close match
Use the same amount for Bisquick, or self-rising flour plus 3 tablespoons cold butter per 2 cups
The straightforward answer if low carb is not actually your goal.
What changes
Best for
biscuits, pancakes, waffles, dumplings, cobblers
Plenty of people meet Carbquik in a recipe without needing it. Bisquick is the conventional equivalent and swaps 1:1 with no adjustment, and it browns better and rises higher. Self-rising flour needs fat cut in to match. Expect a lighter, fluffier, sweeter result and about four times the carbohydrate. Worth noting the reverse too: Carbquik absorbs more liquid than Bisquick, so recipes converted between them usually need a splash more or less liquid.
6Coconut Flour Bake Mix
Taste and texture differ
Use ¾ cup coconut flour, ¼ cup oat fiber, 1 tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, plus 2 extra eggs and extra liquid, for every 2 cups Carbquik
The nut-free option, and the one requiring the most adjustment.
What changes
Best for
pancakes, muffins, drop biscuits, nut-free keto baking
Coconut flour drinks up so much liquid that you use roughly a third of the volume and add extra eggs to hold it together. The result is cakey and absorbent rather than flaky, with a clear sweet coconut flavor that turns a savory biscuit slightly confusing. It is the right choice for a nut-free kitchen and the wrong choice for anything that needs to be layered or rolled. Let the batter rest five minutes before cooking so it can finish hydrating.

What is Carbquik?

Carbquik is Carbquik, sometimes typed Carbquick, is a boxed low-carb bake mix built on carbalose flour, a wheat flour with most of the starch removed, blended with leavening and shortening so it works like Bisquick for keto baking.

Cooking tips

Carbquik is doing three jobs at once, providing the flour structure, the fat and the leavening, so a one-ingredient swap will always fall short. Any replacement needs flour plus baking powder plus cold fat, in about the proportions above.
It is not gluten-free. Carbalose is made from wheat with the starch stripped out, which is precisely why Carbquik behaves like real flour and flakes properly, and also why a celiac cannot use it or any carbalose-based swap.
Carbquik absorbs more liquid than Bisquick does, so when you convert a conventional recipe, add liquid a tablespoon at a time until the dough looks right rather than trusting the printed amount.
It browns much less than wheat flour, so biscuits and pancakes can look pale and underdone when they are cooked through. Brush the tops with melted butter or beaten egg, and go by feel and internal temperature instead of color.
There is a faint bitterness and a bran-like flavor to any carbalose or lupin-based mix. An extra pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sweetener, even in savory recipes, flattens that out noticeably.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the Carbquik out?

No, because it is the entire dry structure of the recipe plus the leavening and fat. There is nothing left to bake. What you can do is pick a recipe built around the flour you actually own, since most Carbquik recipes have a well-tested almond flour or coconut flour equivalent that has already been adjusted for eggs and liquid.

Can I use almond flour instead of Carbquik 1:1?

Not plain almond flour on its own, because Carbquik already contains baking powder, salt and fat. Add 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 tablespoons cold butter and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum per 2 cups of almond flour, then use it 1:1. The result will be moister and more crumbly, and it will not hold flaky layers, so make drop biscuits rather than cut ones.

Is Carbquik gluten-free?

No. It is built on carbalose flour, which is wheat flour processed to remove most of the starch while leaving the protein, so it contains gluten. That gluten is what makes Carbquik biscuits flaky and Carbquik dough rollable. If you need gluten-free, use an almond, lupin or coconut flour blend and accept a softer, more crumbly texture.

What is carbalose flour and can I buy it separately?

Carbalose is wheat flour with most of the starch removed, leaving the wheat protein along with added fiber, so it has a fraction of the usable carbohydrate of regular flour but still behaves like it. It is sold on its own, and if you can find it, making your own mix from it is both cheaper than Carbquik and easy to adjust.

Why are my Carbquik biscuits flat and dense?

Usually old leavening, overmixing, or too much liquid. Baking powder in an opened box of mix loses strength over months, so add half a teaspoon of fresh powder per cup if the box has been open a while. Mix only until the dough just comes together, keep the fat cold, and hold back some liquid, because Carbquik doughs firm up as they hydrate.

Related substitutes

More baking substitutes

Carbquik substitute

Other carbquik substitutes

2Almond Flour Bake Mix

3Almond Flour Plus Vital Wheat Gluten and Oat Fiber

4Lupin Flour and Oat Fiber Blend

5Bisquick or Self-Rising Flour with Fat

6Coconut Flour Bake Mix