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…
Melissa says
I must admit that my cranberry sauce is still in the fridge cooling, but I have licked the pot clean so I can say this cranberry sauce is amazing.
I used the Bocha Sweet and Brown Sugar Swerve but left out the cinnamon to suit my tastebuds. Also, I like jellied cranberry sauce so I pureed my cranberries and water in the blender before simmering and added gelatin at the end.
I am not sure I can wait for it to set before eating it, but I do know what will be on my Thanksgiving table, even if I have to make a sexond batch!!
Thanks for the awesome recipe.
Carolyn says
Sounds fabulous!
Becky says
If I am using the brown sugar only, would I double it or just use the 1/4 cup
Carolyn says
You would double it, otherwise it would be much too tart.
Christine says
Hi Carolyn
Have you tried allulose in this recipe? I have baked cakes with success using it.I’ve used in caramel sauce too. It turned out very good! Thank you for all your delicious recipes!
Carolyn says
Please read the recipe notes, I discuss this. I cannot use allulose, as it gives me immediate stomach issues.
Lorraine Gagnon says
Just love cranberry sauce and thought i would have to give it up until i saw your recipe. Definitely will make this. That said, i’d like to know if it can be modified to make it ” jelly-like”
Thanks for all your great recipes.
Carolyn says
Yes, you can probably add some gelatin to make it like the kind from a can. I would dissolve about 1 packet of regular gelatin or 1 tablespoon of grassfed gelatin in 1/4 cup water. Then add into the mixture when you are bringing it to up to a boil. That’s just a rough guess, as I haven’t tried it.
Michelle says
Can this be freezed?
Carolyn says
Frozen? Yes, I have some in my freezer right now.
Maria S Nilsson says
Just made this cranberry sauce to use on Thanksgiving and I might have to make more because I think I’ll just eat it before Thursday! It’s soooo good! Amazing! Thanks for this recipe!
Carolyn says
Thank you!
MaryAnn Parrish says
Can yacon syrup be substituted for Bocha Sweet? I don’t have Bocha Sweet.
Carolyn says
It’s not a good replacement but you could do more Swerve and a teaspoon or so of Yacon. It would have great flavor but would probably re-crystallize.
Steve Warner says
Absolutely amazing! This was my favorite dish this Thanksgiving. I made the option with brown sugar and cinnamon and even my wife, who notoriously HATES cranberry sauce, loved it. Thanks for the fantastic recipe. I’ll be making this again (and likely using leftovers in a creme cheese tart)!
Carolyn says
So glad to hear it! And the cream cheese tart sounds delicious.
Don Watson says
If I’m replacing the swerve with liquid stevia what would the amount of stevia be?
Carolyn says
That depends totally on your liquid stevia and how it measures compared to sugar. The two sweeteners I use measure almost exactly like sugar so if you know how sweet yours is, you can do it that way. For example, many liquid stevia brands are about 1/4 tsp to match the sweetness of sugar.