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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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)!
So glad to hear it! And the cream cheese tart sounds delicious.
Can yacon syrup be substituted for Bocha Sweet? I don’t have Bocha Sweet.
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.
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!
Thank you!
Can this be freezed?
Frozen? Yes, I have some in my freezer right now.
????
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.
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.
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!
Please read the recipe notes, I discuss this. I cannot use allulose, as it gives me immediate stomach issues.
If I am using the brown sugar only, would I double it or just use the 1/4 cup
You would double it, otherwise it would be much too tart.
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.
Sounds fabulous!
I came here to see if anyone had tried adding gelatin!!! Did you also let it set in a can for added effect!???!?
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.
This is cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries. There is no drying…
Just made this and it is every bit as good as my old standby (pre keto days) Will definitely be making for Christmas as well.
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.
Excellent question! In my experience, Swerve re-crystallizes the more it’s heated. So waiting until it’s lukewarm would be ideal.
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.
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.
Carolyn, where would I find the video for this recipe? Thanks in advance
well it used to be in the body text but now it’s disappeared so I’ve added it to the recipe card.
Cranberry sauce is such a hit at my family’s Thanksgiving table! We’re going to have to try this healthier version!
This has such great flavor!
Thank you for sharing these options!! Cranberry sauce is so good & I love the different ingredients you can add, to change it up!
I am obsessed with this sugar-free cranberry sauce! It’s delicious!
Cranberry Sauce is my FAVORITE! Definitely trying this healthier version!