Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 1 hr 45 mins Rest time: 10 mins Total time: 2 hrs 5 mins
Macronutrients per loaf: 184g fat | 128g protein | 0g carbohydrates
Makes: 1 loaf
Make it AIP or Dairy-Free: Use animal fat other than ghee or butter
Make it Keto: Top with lots of fat
Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, this savory, carnivore, beef-based sandwich bread is perfect for sandwiches, spreads, or can be toasted and eaten alone.
What you need to make Carnivore Sandwich Bread [Beef Version]
Ingredients:
- Eggs (ASHLEY20 for 20% off)
- Raw ground beef
- Grass-fed ghee (or butter)
- Sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Equipment:
- 9×5 Bread pan
- Blender or food processor
- Hand mixer
How to make Carnivore Sandwich Bread [Beef Version]
To start – crack the eggs into a mixing bowl.
Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Place the egg yolks in your blender (for later use).
With a hand mixer, beat the whites on high until the mixture is very frothy and you have soft peaks. The mixture should be light like foam with lots of air bubbles.
In a blender, mix the raw ground beef, melted ghee, egg yolks, and sea salt until a smooth paste forms.
With a hand mixer, blend the frothy egg whites and the beef-ghee-egg yolk paste until the mixture becomes smooth like batter.
Pour the batter into your bread pan and bake in the oven for 100-105 minutes at 375 degrees.
Note: You’ll know it’s done when the texture is consistent, grainy, and bread-like throughout. When you cut into the loaf, if it has slimy patches that look like chunks of egg, it’s not done.
Once done, remove the loaf from the oven and allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Slice the loaf into 1-inch thick slices, or whatever size you prefer.
Important: the texture of this bread is similar to egg loaf. To get a crispy texture, I recommend toasting or pan-frying. Scroll up to see photos of the texture of this bread when fresh, toasted, and pan-fried under the “Tips to make the best…” section. If you can tolerate pork, my standard Carnivore Sandwich Bread recipe comes out with more of a natural crisp/crunch (without toasting or pan-frying) that is similar to regular bread.
Meal ideas: Make a Classic Carnivore Club Sandwich, Pulled Pork Sandwich, or toast a slice and top with Strawberry Glaze and Honey Butter or Onion-Free Guacamole.
Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
Tips to make the best Carnivore Sandwich Bread [Beef Version]
- Do not skip any of the steps. In the past, I sometimes would not follow the texture instructions (i.e. beat egg whites until frothy, separate these two ingredients into a separate bowl and mix, etc.) for recipes, and it makes a difference. Each step in the recipe is important for maintaining texture.
- The texture of this bread is similar to egg loaf. To get a crispy texture, I recommend toasting or pan-frying. See photos below. The top slice is toasted, the middle slice is pan-fried, and the bottom slice is freshly baked without alteration. If you can tolerate pork, my standard Carnivore Sandwich Bread recipe comes out with more of a natural crisp/crunch (without toasting or pan-frying) that is similar to regular bread.
Looking for meal ideas for this Carnivore Sandwich Bread? Try these:
Classic Carnivore Club Sandwich
Pulled Pork Sandwich on Carnivore Bread
Toast a slice and top with 2-Ingredient Strawberry Glaze and Honey Butter
Toast a slice and top with Onion-Free Guacamole and an over-easy egg
Carnivore Sandwich Bread [Beef Version]
Carnivore Sandwich Bread [Beef Version]
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- 1 lb raw ground beef
- 1/4 cup grass-fed ghee (or butter)*
- 1.5 tsp sea salt (ASHLEYR for 15% off)
Instructions
- If you’re interested solely in the recipe, skip this bullet point and keep on reading. For those interested in sourcing nutrient-dense food, low-toxic household products, and discounts on brands that may support your AB journey, you may find value in my product guides. Head over to this page if you’d like to check them out. All are free (and always will be).
Start the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Make the batter.
- Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl. Separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. Place the egg yolks in your blender (for later use).
- With a hand mixer, beat the whites on high until the mixture is very frothy and you have soft peaks. The mixture should be light like foam.
- Melt the ghee on your stovetop.
- Note: the mixture may be a bit hard to blend due to the meat. I usually have to stop my blender, stir the mixture, and turn it back on 3-4 times.
- Note: if you go through tons of salt in your household like we do, check out this salt purchasing hack that will save you money + make things more efficient. We started this last year, and I'm so happy we did!
- With a hand mixer, blend the frothy egg whites and the beef-ghee-egg yolk paste until the mixture becomes smooth like batter.
Bake the loaf.
- Pour the batter into your bread pan and bake in the oven for 100-105 minutes at 375 degrees.
- Note: You'll know it's done when the texture is consistent, dry, grainy, and bread-like throughout. When you cut into the loaf, if it has slimy patches that look like chunks of egg, it's not done.
- Once done, remove the loaf from the oven and allow it to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Prepare and serve.
- Slice the loaf into 1-inch thick slices, or whatever size you prefer.
- Important: the texture of this bread is similar to egg loaf. To get a crispy texture, I recommend toasting or pan-frying. Scroll up to see photos of the texture of this bread when fresh, toasted, and pan-fried under the "Tips to make the best..." section. If you can tolerate pork, my standard Carnivore Sandwich Bread recipe comes out with more of a natural crisp/crunch (without toasting or pan-frying) that is similar to regular bread.
- Meal ideas: Make a Classic Carnivore Club Sandwich, Pulled Pork Sandwich, or toast a slice and top with Strawberry Glaze and Honey Butter or Onion-Free Guacamole.
- Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
Notes
What I used for this recipe:
Looking for meal ideas for this Carnivore Sandwich Bread? Try one of these:
Classic Carnivore Club Sandwich
Pulled Pork Sandwich on Carnivore Bread
Toast a slice and top with 2-Ingredient Strawberry Glaze and Honey Butter
Toast a slice and top with Onion-Free Guacamole and an over-easy egg
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Ashley Rothstein develops tasty, whole food, animal-based recipes that include a moderate amount of “minimally toxic” plant foods. To fix her own health issues, she bounced around between the carnivore, keto, and paleo diets for a few years. After experiencing and studying each diet philosophy, she learned she feels her best by merging the three and following an animal-based diet. As a glut at heart, she likes to channel her creativity and create meals that are healthy but also satisfy her inner gluttonous spirits.
A great recipe for those carnivore sandwiches, avocado toast or a carnivore hors d’oeuvres. I’ve tried the pork and the beef and next will try with bison and elk. It’s a lot leaner but I’ll have plenty of room for fatty meats like marrow to add. AWESOME recipes Ashley, KEEP THEM COMING CARNIVORE ..!!!
Tried this recipe right after I saw it on facebook. I had some left over beef that I didn’t want to eat on it’s own and fancied a change. It turned out great, very moist and tasty. I had it with butter and cheese. =D I will defiantly be making it again!
Absolutely enjoyed this bread toasted and with butter, heavenly! It’s such a good sandwich base for literally anything you want to add. The only thing I’ll do different next time is maybe just stick with a tsp of pink salt rather than the 1.5 as I felt it was slightly on the salty side for me other than that great recipe and very easy to follow! Keep them coming Ashley
All of Ashley’s recipes are extremely creative, and all fairly easy to follow along with delicious results! Love the beef bread, really cures my desire to eat sandwiches and use my hands to eat food.
Can we use the pork rinds with this recipe? We prepare beef over pork, but don’t mind the pork rinds 🙂
Author
Absolutely! You can use this recipe here, just with ground beef instead of ground pork.
Going to try this, have a question, though have you tried any leavening agents in this to fluff the texture up a bit more?
Specifically, aluminum-free types
Author
Never tried any leavening agents. But would love to hear the results if you end up trying any!
This is a fascinating but confusing recipe to me. Ground beef with egg is basically the foundation for meatloaf—so how does this actually taste like bread?! I’m curious to try but I have to admit, a bit skeptical. 🙂
Author
I don’t claim that this tastes like bread, but toasting it does give it a great bread-like texture. Lots of my readers haven’t had SAD bread in years. The texture of this one (especially if toasted) does the trick for them and allows them to enjoy sandwiches, french toast, etc. again.
just got done making the pork version & it is amazing !!!!!! thank-you !!!!! ✌️one question i have though is the pork rinds what do they do in the recipe & should i consider using them in this one ??? thanks again this was great ….
Author
Sure thing! I made a beef version of the bread recipe because lots of my readers don’t do pork and I received many requests for a pork-free variation. I personally think the bread is better with the pork rinds…they give it more of a bread-like texture (especially when toasted). If you’d like to try the beef version, go for it, but I personally like the pork version way better.
I’ve made this once and froze the cut loaf for when I’m in the mood for a “toast”. Today I made it again with duck eggs, I’m sure excited to see what it tastes like!!!! Thank you.
I just made this recipe, and I thought it was supposed to be a grainy texture? It came out like a quiche rather than like a bread. Followed all the instructions, what would make it like an eg sponge, rather than a bread consistency?
Author
Hmm, the only thing I can think of is that it didn’t cook through fully, but if you followed the instructions, it should have cooked through. I will say that the texture should not be exactly like bread as it is a flourless mixture, but it shouldn’t be like a quiche. I’m thinking that it didn’t cook through for some reason as when it’s not cooked through, there are eggy patches and it’s not as dry. Did you use a 9×5 pan? To salvage this batch, you can pan-fry the pieces to dry them out and crisp them up. Put a little bit of fat in the pan (I use ghee or butter) and bring to medium heat. Pan fry them like you would french toast pieces.
I just made this and have a question. I put the yolks in the blender and then added my block of meat. ( square shape from butcher box). It was very difficult to blend. I think I blew out my motor. Should I have broken up the meat before blending? Maybe add that step? Thx
Author
Hmm, I’ve never had to break up my meat much. I usually just break it in two so it fits in the blender. It can be a bit hard to blend and sometimes I have to stop the blender and shake it up. I’ll make a note in the recipe.
I have the same issue as the other user above with the blender, it started making a horrible smell So I transferred the contents to my food processor with better success. Mine looks nothing like yours though? There is absolutely no nice puffy rise like your pictures show? I did pulse the egg whites in with the food processor, and I don’t believe I overdid it? I might give it a go again and hand fold them in as suggested.
Hey Ashley, excited to try this. What fat % is the meat at though…5, 10, 15%? I think that would affect the outcome wouldn’t it?
Author
Most of the fat will cook out of the loaf, so if you want the least amount of fat left over, go with the leaner meat. Either way, you can save whatever fat cooks out if you want.
This was really good. I did add the pork rinds in the beef recipe and I would never guess it had ground beef in it. Rose nicely and had crispy crust (I used 73/23 ground beef). Will keep this r scope on hand.
I love the recipe but I made some alterations. First, I doubled the recipe and used a 5×7’ish pan. Next I used a hand mixer in a big bowl to blend the yolks, butter, meat and salt. Adding a little meat at a time was better than the blender and I didn’t lose so much product. Then I beat the egg whites in another bowl until stiff peaks formed, and then added the egg white mixture a little at a time to the beef mixture until it was all incorporated and then blended until fully mixed. The end product had more of a sandwich height like regular square bread. lastly, since the mixture was at the top of the pan it received better golden crust/color.
Hey. I can’t do ghee nor butter. If using animal fat, should I use the same amount specify in the recipe? 1/4 cup?
Author
Yes.
Even if this recipe turns out ok, which so far it’s looking like it will. Aestheticly at least. The mess it made & the 2 blenders that have been ruined in the process are not worth it. I had no idea that the ground beef would be like trying to blend cheese. I burned up 1 blender, even though I was very careful & made sure to stop & occasionally stir the mixture, as suggested. I even divided it into another blender to help things along. Thankfully half the mixture blended enough before it killed my 1st blender, so I was able to finish in a food processor. But now during clean up, I see that the sinew has wrapped around the base of the blades & I can’t for the life of me get them all off. My last ditch effort will be taking a flame to it otherwise I’ll have to throw it out. Thankfully it rinsed off everything else easily with hot water. Even if this is the most delicious thing my husband has ever tasted, I won’t be making it again.
This was so delicious. It really did taste like I was eating bread. I pan fried a couple slices and added a pinch of cinnamon and it tasted like French Toast.
Don’t you cook the meat before blending it?
Author
Nope.
Please ignore my previous post. I have no idea why autocorrect was that bad.
I followed the instructions, but when I pulled my loaf out of the oven a cross section revealed two layers: a top that tasted like bland meat loaf with a dry bready texture and a thin bottom that tasted like egg whites with a fleshy texture. I think my egg whites somehow separated from the other ingredients as the bread baked. How does one avoid this? I’m not really sure why it happened – I didn’t try to alter the recipe. I used 23% fat ground beef.
Author
Hmm, that’s a good question. I’ve never received feedback of this nature, so this is new. My first thought is that maybe it wasn’t blended fully, but even if that was the case, the separation is odd as I would think that there would just be an uneven texture, not two different layers. Have you tried the recipe again? Curious to know if it happened a second time.
So the cook time says 1.45 but the recipe says 100-105 mins?
Author
Where are you seeing 1.45 and 100-105 minutes? I see 1 hr 45 min cook time on the recipe page and 2 hrs 15 min total time.
“Bake the loaf.
Pour the batter into your bread pan and bake in the oven for 100-105 minutes at 375 degrees. “
BTW, that’s actually the same amount of time…
I see the 100-105 minutes too …. hmmmm
Thank you for this recipe! Reading over the comments, I like the comment suggesting using a hand mixer for the whole recipe. Might be a good excuse to buy a hand mixer! I did use a blender for the first mix, very carefully, stopping frequently, and it came out well blended, but, I overmixed the egg whites as I used and immersion blender! lol… I also found it a bit salty and will reduce the salt to 1tsp.
I had to say thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! I made a different version of carnivore bread that pre cooked the beef – each slice is like eating a hamburger! This is a million times better!
while the jury is still out on the taste (it’s still in the oven! 🙂 ), i wanted to add my comment about having my blender motor burn out as well. I also notice that the connective tissues of the beef were wrapping around the blender blade base (which may have contributed to the burn out. I did break my into small sections and did have a lot of trouble getting the mix to move in the blender. I wonder if you’ve ever tried slightly warming the meat (not cooking, but just enough to get the fat to melt a little? also have you have any experience using a ninja bullet to do this part? Next time i may try to add the white froths in small amounts to small amounts of the beef and yolks, and see if this doesn’t take the load off. Sadly, That will have to wait for a new blender though. I’m still eager to taste this once done, and will be back to comment then.
followup review/comment: I followed all instructions, I cooked the loaf for the time suggested. I was surprised that mine did not rise at all, (considering others said their rose!) in fact it shrunk – and the fat it was swimming in had to be drained, and the loaf grease had to be sponged off with paper towels. that was disappointing. It might be helpful if you were to provide either a video or a series of process pictures in the making as i wasnt sure if i blended enough (my prior post – i too had my blender burn out on me – smoking- and sinew wrapped blade as well!) or beat eggs enough, or over beat eggs and meat together, etc. All that being said, the taste and texture were fine and i would love to make it again if i can get beyond the process issues. any suggestions would be helpful. thank you for this !
I processed it well and was uniform when I put in bread pan but it came out like meatloaf in middle and egg like at ends like it separated. What did I do wrong?
Not sure what I did wrong. Mine definitely was more like a meatloaf than a bread. Didn’t look anything like your pic. Ate it like a burger without the bun and was fine, though not what I was hoping for. I might try the pork recipe just to see, but sad it didn’t really work out.
Author
It is possible that it may have needed to bake longer as every oven is different. Also, toasting the slices give it more a bread/toast feel. Was the consistency egg-like in the center? That’s usually how you know if it needs to bake longer. It does come out somewhat like a meatloaf, but it should be more bready/dry than moist and meaty.
Mine is fresh out of the oven. Absolutely the WORST!!! Total waste of 8 eggs 🙁 Inside is rubber – I only know that because it fell open – I did NOT cut it open.
No, just no. I do not like leaving a bad review, however, this was meatloaf, but with a terrible flavor. All the work and the excitement leading up to this and it was not bread in any way shape or form. It is sliced meatloaf at best and it doesn’t taste nearly as goodas meatloaf. In fact, we threw it all out. I felt the directions to a tea. I hope no one else has the results I did that. There was nothing I could’ve done differently.
My practice is to follow a recipe as given the first time. Ashley had mentioned (January 3, 2025 / 4:46 pm on the pork bread version;
“I don’t have a target temperature, but the next time I make it, I’ll take note of the finishing temperature and circle back.”) she would look at temperatures the next time she made this. I’ve done that and you will see numbers below in this missive.
I mostly did follow the recipe as provided. The difference is I used my stand mixer for the egg yolk, ground beef, ghee, salt initial mixing. A stand mixer generally has more power than a blender. The original recipe suggested blender use may be problematic as evidenced by line 5; (Note: the mixture may be a bit hard to blend due to the meat. I usually have to stop my blender, stir the mixture, and turn it back on 3-4 times.).
Each item was mixed as added to the stand mixer; i.e. egg yolks mix thoroughly before adding the ground beef. That was mixed completely before adding the ghee. That concoction was mixed and then the salt was added and the mixing continued for another minute.
The egg whites were whipped to soft peaks with a hand mixer. I then added the egg whites into the egg yolk/beef mixture and folded them in with the stand mixer paddle. Because of the loose texture, the bread kneading attachment did not seem appropriate.
Grain based breads tend to be cooked at 185-190 F internal temperature. Recommended internal temperatures for an egg based quiche are 165-185 F. Meatloaf recommended internal temperatures are 155-160 F. Looking at all these numbers suggested we are may be overcooking this loaf and suggest a VERY well done meat loaf. Considering all that, the temperature for pulled pork is in the 200 F range. Yes, the meat is brown all the way through but that high a temperature is not without precedent in meat cooking I’ve done.
The question then arose, what about the internal temperature of something cooked primarily with egg whites as the matrix. Looking up angel food cake (also using egg whites whipped to soft peaks) I learned a recommended internal temperature is about 206 F. As that is our matrix for this item, the higher temperature I attained makes more sense. I then elected to decide I was finished when the internal temperature reached 206 F rather that relying on a time limit and possibly cutting into a loaf that, as was written in the recipe; “ When you cut into the loaf, if it has slimy patches that look like chunks of egg, it’s not done.”
As cooking times can vary from oven to oven, I elected to put a thermometer in my loaf when I started.
At 45 min – 155 F
At 55 min – 161 F
At 75 min – 195 F
At 100 min – 199 F Top is crispy
At 115 min – 199 F
At 130 min – 199F
Out of oven on cooling rack. Room air temperature – 66F
+10 min – 194 F
+ 15 min – 188 F
Agreed, I did not continue until 206 F. As the temperature had been stable for quite some time, and recognizing that I had reached a plateau and then 206 F was reachable, I elected to discontinue and bring the loaf out of the oven.
Result. The outside is crispy and brown. The inside is very eggy, quick-like in texture. And saltier than I would like which is unusual for us and we tend to use a lot of salt on things. The eggy texture suggests it needed to cook longer. Perhaps actually reaching the 206 F would make a difference but I had to make a decision and so I did.
I did fry a slice in a skillet to see if it was different. Basically, not so much. No fat is needed to be added as the slice has plenty of lubrication of its own.
Next time I would make the pork version and see what the addition of the ground pork rinds would do. I use them routinely in the other carnivore bread I make. This one, if I repeat it will have the ground pork rinds and salt will be reduced to 1/2 tsp. (It’s always easier to add salt than take it out). I’d also use a thermometer and let the loaf cook until 206 F was reached.
Another consideration would be to whip the whites to stiff peaks as we would when making a meringue. This medium may allow for more air to be retained and offer a more substantial medium for holding the egg/beef mixture in suspension.
All-in-all, it’s a start. It’s a lot harder to create than edit. Thank you Ashley for your creation. I’ll be back with further experiences.
Mine is just fresh out of the oven. Horrible. Inside is rubber. Didn’t rise any. Followed the recipe to a T. What a WASTE of 8 eggs!!!! I’d post pics of it, but I don’t see where I can do that 🙁 Extreeeeemely dissappointed!!!