Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I’ve never been a huge St. Paddy’s Day fan (although I did consume my fair share of green beer in college), but the one thing I love most about this time of year is the abundance of Irish Soda Bread.  A couple of years ago I shared the Englishman’s Irish Soda Bread, last year I posted my Gluten-Free Irish Soda Bread, and this year it’s all about the Paleo Irish Soda Bread.

I’m not going to lie, when I first heard of Paleo Irish Soda Bread I was a bit skeptical.  I’ve tweaked a lot of recipes to make them paleo-friendly, but Irish soda bread seemed like a daunting task.

The first recipe I stumbled upon came from Elana’s Pantry, and since I’m such a huge fan of her Paleo Bread, I figured I’d give her recipe a whirl, with a few minor tweaks here and there.  The end result?  A delicious Paleo Irish Soda Bread that is dangerously addicting.  Seriously though, I’ve made the loaf three times now since we are plowing through it at a rapid rate.

I added ground flaxseed to my version to give it a nuttier texture, but if that’s not your thing, you can refer to Elana’s version which uses almond flour only.  Paleo or not, you need this bread in your life.

Paleo Irish Soda Bread (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup almond flour

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

2 large egg whites

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup raisins

2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.  Line a square baking pan with parchment paper.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl add your almond flour, ground flax, baking soda and salt.  Mix all ingredients together until well combined.

Add your egg whites, honey, almond milk and vanilla to the bowl and continue to mix.  Gently fold in your raisins.  The dough will be nice and sticky.

Place your dough on your baking sheet and roll into a ball – you might need to wet your hands or add some flour to them to work with the dough.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes.  The bread will have a nice golden crust when done.

Remove your bread from the oven, let cool and enjoy.  I personally enjoyed mine with a cup of tea for breakfast, and have found that jam and butter make a wonderful soda bread topping.

I will say the paleo Irish soda bread has more of a scone-like texture than traditional soda bread, but it’s still just as delicious.  It has a nice buttery taste to it, even though there’s no butter in the recipe!

Who says Paleo Irish Soda Bread has to be for St. Patrick’s Day only?  This is one recipe I’ll be enjoying all year round.

What’s your favorite St. Patrick’s Day recipe?  Share in the comments!