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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Made this for thanksgiving as I always do and it was a big hit with non keto peeps. It’s so good!!!
I love that you have a keto recipe for cranberry sauce, can’t wait to try it!!
I made this for Thanksgiving. It’s so good. I’m so grateful for your recipes. You bring a little normalcy back to the lives of a couple of diabetics.
I did cinnamon, vanilla and orange…yum! so good. thank you for all the work you put in! It makes it so much easier for me to follow the keto lifestyle!
I made this several times, straight up. This year I added orange extract and brown sweetener. My family and I love your recipes. I am also making your Rosemary Walnuts, Pumpkin Pie (crust burnt in the oven) and caramelized Brussel Sprouts, Thank you so very much for the wonderful recipes!
I made this last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas. OMG my I had just been diagnosed with Type 2 and LOVED it. (My wife did, too.) The cranberries were on sale at Walmart. We froze 2 packs for later. We were so upset we had not bought more. It is even a wonderful jelly/jam for Keto toast. BTW since we have been getting your emails daily, the change in my my diet helped bring everything under control. 4 months later, the doctor said there was no sign. I still stays on your recipes. We even bought some of your wire bound books. Now our helper is reading them because she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. OK. Back to the Cranberries. ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL. I must have 10 packs of cranberries in the freezer for this year and will be making soon. The recipe is so simple and delicious. It basically makes cranberries a delightful condiment. I even put it on low carb or Keto ice cream. Thank YOU!
I can’t wait to try this! My son loves Cranberry sauce, and I am trying to make sure he gets less sugar. Thank you!!
What happens if I skip the allulose. Don’t have any and can’t mail order it right now
Please read the blog post as I already discuss this. Thanks!
could I use liquid allulose?
I think that would work in this sauce.
How much liquid allulose, would you recommend?
I really don’t know. I don’t use it much. You will need to experiment!
Any chance there is a “jelly” cranberry recipe also? My sister has gestational diabetes and she prefers the jelly type and I was hoping to make her some of her favorite options for Thanksgiving. Thank you for everything you do!!
You can try adding some gelatin! 🙂
Maybe with the gelatin strain it first
This is one of the best sugar free cranberry sauces I have tried. I believe it is the combination of swerve and allulose rather than using just one type of sweetener. Most of the fresh cranberries come in 12 oz. packages that I used and I didn’t increase the sweeteners. It was still sweet enough for us. This is back on our menu for this Thanksgiving! Thanks for the excellent recipes!
Great to hear!
Hope you see this. They have to replace the gas lines in our building so we have had no stove/oven now since June and will not have until after holidays. I’m attempting to do Thanksgiving this year without the stove or oven. I actually air fried turkey breasts last 2 years and it was amazing so no prob there. And we do the cauliflower mash with microwave, so yay! But I can’t make the usual cranberry sauce on stove. I found a recipe for a cranberry relish that is all fresh/raw. Basically cranberries, orange and sugar in food processor, then chill. If it’s not cooked at all, should I still do the Swerve Brown or granulated + Bocha Sweet? Or do I need to adjust sweeteners since it doesn’t cook? Need your pro advice, pleeeeze!! Thx.
Actually I recommend getting a small electric element to cook on. A single burner will be so useful!
I love this recipe! Making two batches so that I can have jam and ice cream!!
Yum!
great recipe. My friends and family love the orange clove version. It smells so good.
I made a big batch of it, four bags of berries. Once cool, I put enough for three or four servings, into ziploc bags, freeze it and then put several bags together for gifts. They can have cranberry sauce any time they like then.
I may have commented previously, and oh well, here’s another comment. I could eat this (and have) by the spoonful, it’s that amazing. For a tangy sweet treat today, I enjoyed keto sea salt almond flour crackers with a dollop of the basic cranberry sauce recipe on top. It’s also a delicious keto ice cream or yogurt topping! Oh, and there’s also the vanilla cupcakes topped with cranberry sauce and keto whipped topping…I could go on and on!
Great recipe!!!
Oh you gave me an idea! I bet it would be good over cream cheese!
Yes!
LOVE this! I made the orange / clove version and it was a hit at Thanksgiving! No one knew it was sugar-free. I loved it so much I just made another batch just to have in my fridge as a sweet finish to dinner. Thank you!!!