Sugar-free Dulce de Leche – it’s a dream come true. Simply use my sugar free condensed milk recipe and you can once again enjoy this amazing Latin American treat on your healthy keto diet. Creamy and rich, drizzle it over ice cream or slather it on cookies.
Remember when I said I had many plans for my sugar-free condensed milk? Well this keto dulce de leche recipe was one of those plans. And now I have plans upon plans, as this little gem is bound for many other recipes.
I first wrote this post back in November of 2012, which seems ever so long ago. It’s about time I gave it a little update and some lovely new photos. And ever since I updated my keto sweetened condensed milk recipe, I knew I needed to re-try the sugar free dulce de leche.
It was even better than I remember. And easier to make, now that I had improved the texture of the condensed milk.
What is Dulce de Leche?
If you are unfamiliar with the deliciousness that is dulce de leche, allow me to introduce you.
The term itself is Spanish, meaning “the sweetness of milk” or “a sweet made from milk”, and it originated somewhere in Latin America, with several countries laying claim to it. Dulce de leche looks and tastes a lot like caramel sauce, but it’s not quite the same in flavor and is made quite differently.
Traditional dulce de leche is made by heating milk and sugar together for a very long time, slowly caramelizing the sugar and reducing the milk to a syrupy consistency.
Another very popular method is to use a can of sweetened condensed milk and simply cook that in the oven or on the stove for several hours.
But we don’t do that sugary thing in the keto diet and we don’t have the luxury of buying sweetened condensed milk in a can. How on earth can we enjoy sugar free dulce de leche???
How to Make Sugar-Free Dulce de Leche
Homemade sugar free condensed milk to the rescue! Yes, you have to make this first, before you can proceed to the dulce de leche recipe. But thankfully that doesn’t take very long and it’s worth the effort, believe me.
Then you simply pour it into a shallow dish and bake it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and it browns up and becomes gorgeously sweet and caramel-y.
But there are a few key things to point out here:
Sweeteners: The best consistency comes from using a combination of sweeteners like Swerve and Bocha Sweet. Just using Swerve on its own means your dulce de leche will re-crystallize somewhat upon cooling.
Bocha Sweet keeps the mixture softer, but you can’t use all Bocha Sweet or it may not caramelize properly. So using half Swerve and half Bocha Sweet is the ideal here. If you can’t get Bocha Sweet where you are, you can use xylitol or allulose.
Water bath: Don’t skip this, as tempting as it may be! The gentle heat form the water bath is critical to the slow caramelization of the milk and sweeteners.
How to Use Dulce de Leche
So once you have this wonderful sweet treat, what do you do with it?
Truly, you can use this wherever you might use any sort of caramel sauce. It’s delicious drizzled over ice cream or used as a topping for cheesecake. It would be absolutely DIVINE on my New York Style Keto Cheesecake.
And back in the day, I made some lovely low carb Dulce de Leche ice cream with salted pecans. I highly recommend!
One recipe that traditionally uses dulce de leche is alfajores. These are delicious sandwich cookies made with a tender, almost shortbread-like biscuit and a filling of dulce de leche.
Did I try my hand at Keto Alfajores? Heck yeah I did! And that recipe is coming soon, my sweet friends. Very soon!
Dulce De Leche – Sugar Free!
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Sugar Free Condensed Milk
- Pinch kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Pour Low Carb Sweetened Condensed Milk into a glass or ceramic baking dish. Sprinkle with kosher salt and cover tightly with foil.
- Place the baking dish inside a larger casserole or roasting pan and fill with water to 3/4 of the way up sides of baking dish.
- Bake 1½ to 2 hours, checking on it every 30 minutes or until condensed milk has taken on a caramel colour and a rich, caramel flavour.
- Whisk until smooth, let cool, then transfer to a glass or ceramic container and store in the fridge.
Marsha Scherer says
I need to use coconut milk of lactose free milk, but do not know what “one recipe” means. Is it 8 Oz or more? Pls clear this up for me..Mimi an anxious to make the key lime pie!
Carolyn says
You need to make the condensed milk, not the dulce de leche, if you want to make the pie. So you should be looking at this recipe instead: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/sugar-free-condensed-milk/ <--- that is "one recipe"
Colleen Knol says
I plan on making homemade Baileys Irish Creme liquor with this! Happy New Year, everyone!
Kay says
The directions of filling the baking dish with water until it’s 3/4 up the sides – can you explain this:
Im using a large glass casserole dish for this. I’m afraid filling it with the condensed milk + enough water to fill it to 3/4 would be TOO much water, and dilute the mixture. Am I wrong? Approximately how much water should be mixed in this?
Thank you
Carolyn says
Please read the full blog post, and then read the directions more carefully. You aren’t adding water TO the condensed milk. You are setting the pan with the condensed milk INTO another pan. And then you are adding water to the outside pan. It’s called a water bath or a bain marie. You should probably not be using a large glass casserole dish for the dulce, since it won’t fit inside another pan.
Theresa says
Any idea on when the alfajores recipe will make it to the blog? I remember the times when I would eat the real ones and I’m absolutely eager and excited to try my hand at making a healthier version. Also, I love this website and all you do, I have been following it for years now. You are an inspiration to my kitchen!
Carolyn says
Definitely in the next few weeks!
M says
who make you belive dulce de leche is mexican cusine? you make alfajores that is an Argentine staple, do not belive all the crap that mexicans tell you.
Carolyn says
No need to be rude. My recipe card only gives me the option of “Mexican” when I put in a cuisine and it was as close as I could get. I clearly state Throughout the whole blog post that it is Latin American… Why malign Mexicans with your comment? What do you have against them?