This keto cranberry sauce recipe has been in my family for generations. My stepmother taught me the secret to the best cranberry sauce ever years ago, and I am going to share it with you today. Ready for it?
Follow the directions on the back of the bag. Yup, that’s right. The bag of cranberries you just picked up from the grocery store has the best recipe right on it. All you need to do is swap in some keto-friendly sweetener and you can enjoy that tangy-sweet deliciousness.
I have so many delicious Keto Thanksgiving Recipes. From keto stuffing to gooey keto pecan pie, I love creating recipes for a holiday feast that people on a low carb diet can enjoy without worry. And this sugar free cranberry sauce graces my table every single year!
My dad always requested that I make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. He loved it and swore up and down that mine was the best. And I always laughed because he knew full well how ridiculously easy it was. He just wanted me to make it for him.
I think of him with love every single time I make this sugar free cranberry sauce.
What readers are saying
“Absolutely AMAZING!!!! Thank you for such an easy and delicious sauce. I used Allulose and Swerve brown sugar with the cinnamon and it’s freaking delicious!” — Andrea
Reasons to love this recipe
- Classic flavor: It has all the tart-sweet cranberry flavor you expect with no added sugar and less than 2 grams of carbs per serving.
- Thick texture: Over the years, I’ve perfected this recipe so that it has the same thick, syrupy quality as the sugary kind.
- Easy to make: 3 simple ingredients and 10 minutes is all it takes!
- Customizable: I’ve got three delectable flavor variations below.
- Make it in advance: This sugar free cranberry sauce is easily frozen so you can make weeks ahead. Perfect for holiday prep!
Ingredient Notes
- Cranberries: This is the star of the show! You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. I freeze bags of cranberries in the fall so I have them ready for the following year.
- Sweeteners: To get the perfect consistency, you really need a mix of two sweeteners. I use brown sugar replacement and allulose. This gives the sauce a thickness, but also helps keep it from recrystallizing as it cools. Read my guide to keto sweeteners for more information.
- Water
- Other flavorings: citrus zest, cinnamon, lime juice, chipotle powder, vanilla extract, cloves.
How to Make Keto Cranberry Sauce
- Combine the ingredients: Place the cranberries, sweeteners, and water in a large saucepan and set over medium heat.
- Simmer and chill: Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer until almost all the cranberries have popped. Remove and let cool.
Variations
Cinnamon “Brown Sugar” Cranberry Sauce
Use 1/4 cup Brown Swerve in place of the 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.
Tips for Success
Sweeteners: It’s important to understand the role various sweeteners play in making sugar free cranberry sauce. You can work with what you like best and what’s available to you, but you may have to adjust the recipe accordingly.
If you only have erythritol based sweeteners, your sauce will re-crystallize a little as it cools. To avoid this, I recommend using a confectioner’s style erythritol and whisking it in only AFTER you have simmered the cranberries and water together.
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.
Jellied cranberry sauce: Dissolve 1 packet of Knox gelatin or 1 tablespoon of grass-fed gelatin in a quarter cup of water. Whisk this into the cranberry mixture when you reduce the heat to a simmer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can get the same wonderful, thick consistency without sugar. Cranberries contain a lot of pectin, which releases as the berries cook and helps thicken the sauce. But for a more syrupy consistency, I recommend using some allulose or BochaSweet as well. Allulose works really well in this regard.
This keto cranberry sauce recipe has 2.8g of carbs and 1.0g of fiber per serving. That comes to 1.8g net carbs in 2 tablespoons.
Absolutely! I usually do it a few days in advance and just store it in the fridge in a jar. It lasts for at least a week. But you can also freeze cranberry sauce. 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.
More delicious keto cranberry recipes
Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Basic Cranberry Sauce:
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 2/3 cup (157.73 g) water
- 1/4 cup (45.5 g) Swerve Sweetener
- 1/4 cup (50 g) allulose, or BochaSweet
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium low.
- Simmer until almost all the cranberries have popped and released their juices. Remove and let cool.
Video
Notes
Storage Information
Store the sauce in the fridge in a glass jar for up to a week. You can also freeze the sauce for up to 2 months. Remember to leave a little head room in the jars for the sauce to expand.Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
Please note that I am not a medical or nutritional professional. I am simply recounting and sharing my own experiences on this blog. Nothing I express here should be taken as medical advice and you should consult with your doctor before starting any diet or exercise program. I provide nutritional information for my recipes simply as a courtesy to my readers. It is calculated using MacGourmet software and I remove erythritol from the final carb count and net carb count, as it does not affect my own blood glucose levels. I do my best to be as accurate as possible but you should independently calculate nutritional information on your own before relying on them. I expressly disclaim any and all liability of any kind with respect to any act or omission wholly or in part in reliance on anything contained in this website.
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Love this recipe, I add a little fresh Meyer lemon juice and rind. I make up several jars and use it as jam throughout the year on cottage cheese and yogurt. It reminds me of lingonberry jam which I love. Thank you for all the recipes you develop, you are amazing!
One thing I’ve always done when making cranberry sauce is to set aside 1/3 to 1/2 of the cranberries and add them to the mixture when it’s almost done. By doing this you have some texture. I like a few drops of the Penzey’s orange extract (it has the best flavor IMHO), and sometimes I’ll add in a small handful of chopped walnuts. Yummy!!
This is delicious! Thank you for the recipe. After being in the fridge for a few days I noticed mine started to crystallize a bit. Is there a way I can fix it to remove the crunchy crystallized bits and salvage the rest of the recipe? It’s so delicious it would be a shame to throw it out.
Did you use both sweeteners or only erythritol?
Only erythritol. I’m in Canada and can’t get alulose, sadly.
WE LOVED IT 🥳
I need help … When making my Keto Fruit Cake ~ I live in Canada and can’t get Allulose. When making the Sugar-Free Mincemeat Meat when the recipe asks for Allulose should I use LAKANTO Granular or Powdered (Monkfruit Sweetener with Erythritol)?
Kind Regards,
Linda MacKay
Powdered would be best.
I made this last week for Thanksgiving and it was an absolute hit. My daughter’s father-in-law was speechless. He couldn’t tell the difference.
Thanks for all you do!
I made this yesterday for thanksgiving and it turned out perfect. I bought the cranberries and noticed that they were 12 oz. so I just doubled the sugars and used 3/4 cup of water because that was what the recipe on the package said to use for water. This is so fabulous and this morning I put it on top of the L-Reuteri yogurt that I made using Dr. Bergs and David Williams recipe on youtube. So this adds a nice sweet taste to the yogurt. So thank you for this recipe and your hard work making all of these fabulous recipes, I will make this as a staple in my fridge for use with the yogurt.
Thanks so much!
my absolute favorite make it twice every year .. I like the orange and clove version…. excellent…
This is not unlike what my mother used to make. I use Smucker’s sugar free raspberry jam instead of sugar. Maybe not quite low carb but good and it’s hard to eat a lot of cranberry sauce!
How would I make the jellied version?
Please read the Tips section.
Hello Carolyn!!
Can you explain why the two different sweeteners? Also you say one can add zest, spices, etc, but can you give some suggestions as to the amounts? I know I often do overkill with the spices.
I just bought your holiday cookie book! I can’t wait to make the Spritz cookies-have missed those on the Keto diet.
If you read the full blog post, I explain why I use two different sweeteners.
So easy, and absolutely delicious!
I’ll making this every year!
Thank you for this recipe!
In fact I am using all of your Thanksgiving recipes this year for tomorrow’s dinner!!!
When it comes to sweeteners, you say:
Sweeteners: To get the perfect consistency, you really need a mix of two sweeteners. I use brown sugar replacement and allulose.
In the recipe, under ingredients, it shows swerve and allulose, nothing about brown sugar. Bocha Sweet is an alternative. I was just wondering why you didn’t include the brown swerve as an ingredient.
So far I have tried the first two variations. I thought orange clove would be my favorite but I also love brown sugar cinnamon. I can’t wait to try chipotle lime!
Great to hear!
I have made regular cranberry sauce in the oven instead of the stove top. It was easy, put everything in a pan, cover with foil and walk away. Could you possibly cook this in the oven instead of the stove top. It would be less time consuming. Thank you.
My guests could not tell it was sugar free. My husband actually prefers this version over the full sugar.
Delicious!
Me too!
I am so glad!
My favorite sugar free recipe yet! I do add 1 tablespoon brandy because we are Italian and that’s the way it done (lol)
That’s a great idea!
Ohhhh! Fun idea!