The best sugar free cranberry sauce, with 4 delicious flavor options. It’s the perfect keto side dish for all of your holiday celebrations and goes perfectly with turkey or ham.
I love the holidays and I have so many delicious Keto Thanksgiving Recipes. From keto stuffing to the best keto pecan pie, I devote huge amounts of time every year to creating recipes for a healthy and keto-friendly holiday.
And this keto cranberry sauce has been in my family for generations. No really! My stepmother taught me the secret to the best cranberry sauce ever years ago, and I am going to share it with you today. Secret family recipe. You ready?
It goes like this: Follow the directions on the back of the bag.
Now, over the years, I’ve put my own little spin on it. Which really means just subbing keto friendly sweeteners for the sugar listed on the bags from every major cranberry producer out there.
Yes, my friends. That is all you need to do to make the best sugar free cranberry sauce. It’s seriously as simple as that. But there are also plenty of delicious ways to flavor the basic cranberry sauce recipe, and I’ve got several great ideas for you so read on.
Can cranberry sauce be made without sugar?
That would be an emphatic yes, my friends. Don’t believe me? Watch my video to see just how easy it is to do. I make a delicious keto Cinnamon Brown “Sugar” Cranberry Sauce that makes my whole house smell like Thanksgiving.
Basic fresh cranberry sauce consists simply of 3 ingredients: Cranberries, water, and sweetener. You can replace the sugar listed in most recipes with any sweetener you like best.
The best sweeteners for keto cranberry sauce
A few tips depending on what sweeteners you plan to use. If you use all erythritol based sweeteners, your sauce may re-crystallize somewhat as it cools. To avoid this, I recommend using the powdered version and whisking it in only after you have cooked the cranberries and water.
If you prefer to use something like stevia extract, I recommend reducing the water by about half, so that you have a thicker sauce. Concentrated stevia and monk fruit extract have no bulk so they don’t help thicken your sauce at all.
My personal preference is for a combination of Swerve and Bocha Sweet, since the Bocha Sweet helps keep the sauce from re-crystallizing. It also helps make it more syrupy and thus more like conventional cranberry sauce.
Other flavors of sugar-free cranberry sauce
Basic cranberry sauce is delicious as is. But it’s also really amazing with some added flavors.
Cinnamon “Brown Sugar” Cranberry Sauce
Use 1/4 cup Brown Swerve in place of the regular granular Swerve. Then add 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon along with the sweeteners. This might be my favorite cranberry sauce variation yet!
Orange Clove Cranberry Sauce
Add 2 tsp orange zest and 1/4 tsp ground cloves along with the sweeteners. If you prefer, you can use 1/2 tsp orange extract in place of the zest. Smells like an old-fashioned Christmas!
Chipotle Lime Cranberry Sauce
Get a little Southwestern flare by adding 1/2 tsp chipotle powder, 2 tbsp fresh lime juice, and 1 tsp lime zest along with the sweeteners. A nice change from the traditional sauce.
Can you make keto cranberry sauce ahead of time?
Honestly this is my favorite Thanksgiving side dish to make ahead. I usually do it a few days in advance and just store it in the fridge in a jar. It will be fine for up to a week.
But you can also freeze cranberry sauce too. Again, store in a glass jar and be sure to give it a little head room as it will expand as it freezes. It’s good for up to 2 months.
And truth be told, the sugar free cranberry sauce I made for this video is now hanging out in my freezer, waiting for the holidays to roll around…
More Delicious Keto Cranberry Recipes
- How to make Sugar-Free Dried Cranberries
- Keto Cranberry Cobbler
- Keto Cranberry Cheesecake
- Keto Cranberry Biscotti
- Cranberry Shortbread Streusel Bars
The best sugar free cranberry sauce, with 4 delicious flavor options. It's the perfect keto side dish for all of your holiday celebrations and goes perfectly with turkey or ham.
- 8 ounces cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup Bocha Sweet (see recipe notes)
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Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low.
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Simmer until almost all the cranberries have popped and released their juices. Remove and let cool.
Using a second sweetener such as Bocha Sweet, allulose or xylitol will ket your cranberry sauce from recrystallizing upon cooling. If you can only use an erythritol based sweetener (Swerve, Lakanto, etc), then use the powdered version and add it only AFTER you have cooked the cranberries and water and they have popped.
Jennifer says
Cranberry Sauce is my FAVORITE! Definitely trying this healthier version!
Anna says
I am obsessed with this sugar-free cranberry sauce! It’s delicious!
Kristyn says
Thank you for sharing these options!! Cranberry sauce is so good & I love the different ingredients you can add, to change it up!
Pam Dana says
This has such great flavor!
Katie says
Cranberry sauce is such a hit at my family’s Thanksgiving table! We’re going to have to try this healthier version!
Nikki says
I can’t wait to try this. Question- is there a reason to use both swerve and bocha sweet? (I understand why we are adding the Bocha Sweet just wondering if the swerve adds anything to the table other than affordability) Is there any other benefit to using swerve rather than all Bocha Sweet.
Carolyn says
You could use all Bocha Sweet if you want but they don’t have a brown sugar version. The Swerve Brown adds more sweetness and more flavor.
Swerve is still by far my favourite sweetener to bake with. Bocha Sweet is great in more liquid applications like this one but it tends to make things TOO soft. Meringues don’t crisp up and ice cream stays like soft serve. Brownies become cake-y, cookies never crisp. So I mostly use it for keeping ice cream soft and sauces like this from recrystallizing.
Nada says
Hi….I can’t wait to make this cranberry sauce. I only have Swerve. Question: do I add the Swerve powder right after cranberries done popping while mixture is still hot ….or do I let it cook down first and then add the sweetener…? Sorry, I am new to Keto cooking and just learning how to best use sweeteners.
Carolyn says
Excellent question! In my experience, Swerve re-crystallizes the more it’s heated. So waiting until it’s lukewarm would be ideal.
Cheryl says
Love this! How do you dry them to use in baking? And do you sweeten them before drying? Hubby loves cranberries, but gave up his favorite Trader Joe’s brand.
Carolyn says
This is cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries. There is no drying…