Homemade sugar free marshmallows are easy to make and so fun to eat. These keto friendly treats are perfect in hot chocolate and delicious on their own. And they are almost completely carb free! You’re going to love this keto marshmallow recipe.
Why, why, WHY haven’t I tried homemade marshmallows before? Seriously kicking myself. Hard. Ouch! That hurt.
No really, I am absolutely astonished at how easy it is to make sugar free marshmallows, and I can’t believe I waited this long to try my hand at it. Especially since so many of you have been asking me for a recipe for a very long time.
The truth is that I don’t like marshmallows all that much. Let me rephrase that. I don’t like conventional marshmallows all that much and I never have. I find them way too sweet and lacking in any flavor. And the packaged sugar free marshmallows on the market are kind of scary.
Maltitol, and sorbitol, and sucralose, oh my! Causing you to run to the toilet multiple times after eating. I am not kidding.
Don’t go there. Just don’t.
But now you don’t have to, because this homemade marshmallow recipe will blow your mind. It’s so easy to make and I have to say, the results are absolutely wonderful. And delicious!. I love them, my kids love them, and I even put them into a fudge I was taking to a Christmas party. It was met with enthusiastic approval by all who tried it.
Seriously, I am just so excited about this. It opens up a whole new world of delicious keto desserts, and I have lots of plans for these homemade marshmallows.
Homemade Marshmallow Recipe Inspiration
I don’t know what inspired me to finally give marshmallows a go but once I made up my mind, I did a fair bit of recipe research. I honestly had little to no idea what marshmallows were even made of, besides copious amounts of sugar.
Turns out that many conventional marshmallows are made with both sugar and corn syrup, which clearly isn’t an option for those of us on a keto diet. But I did come across several recipes that were corn syrup-free. This is the regular marshmallow recipe I decided to follow, in terms of the overall method method. Her instructions were clearly written and easy to comprehend.
Once I realized that marshmallows are basically just gelatin, water, and sweetener, I was eager to try them. I’ve seen some keto recipes that use egg whites and I didn’t want to go that route so I took my chances on the gelatin only version.
However, I did a couple of things differently. I used a bit more gelatin and quite a bit less sweetener than the recipe called for. Conventional marshmallow recipes call for 2 cups of sugar and I used what amounted to 1 ⅓ cup of sweetener.
And it worked like a charm! Hooray! I think I liked them so much more than regular marshmallows because they are less tooth-achingly sweet.
How To Make Sugar Free Marshmallows
I’ve made these several times already and I learned a few things along the way. So I figured I’d pass these tips on to you.
- Combine the gelatin and half of the water and let it “bloom”. Grassfed gelatin brands like Great Lakes or Vital Proteins doesn’t need blooming the way regular gelatin does but in this recipe, it actually helps to allow the gelatin to combine properly with the syrup.
- Also remember that gelatin and collagen are NOT the same thing. Collagen will not work in this recipe because it does not have the gelling powder of gelatin.
- You need a combination of sweeteners for the “sugar” syrup. Erythritol based sweeteners such as Swerve will recrystallize if used on their own. And sweeteners like Bocha Sweet or allulose will leave you with a goopy mess that may not firm up properly. So using them in combination is best. I used half Swerve Confectioner’s and half Bocha Sweet. Although I haven’t tried it, you can probably use allulose or xylitol in place of the Bocha Sweet.
- Use a stand mixer for whipping the mixture. This allows you to pour the syrup slowly into the gelatin as you whip. It also needs whipping on medium high speed for quite some time so a stand mixer means you don’t wear out your arms!
- Work quickly once your mixture is thick and white. Very quickly pour it into the prepared pan and spread it. If you wait too long, it starts setting and you will get a lumpy glob that you can’t spread or smooth out.
- I learned this the hard way. The second time I made them, I waited too long, thinking that the mixture needed to be like whipped cream or egg whites and stand at stiff peaks. I ended up with a glob that I had to re-warm to spread out.
- You CAN actually save it if this happens. I simply re-warmed the whole thing by putting the pan in a 300F oven. Once it began to melt again, I could spread it out more easily.
- Even if you line your pan with parchment, grease the parchment. It will help a lot when you go to get the marshmallows out of the pan and cut them up. The bottom will be quite greasy but it dries out overnight.
- Conventional marshmallow recipes tell you to dust them with cornstarch and powdered sweetener. But I found that if I just left them exposed to the air overnight, they firmed up and dried out enough so that the surface was no longer tacky at all.
- Use whatever flavoring or extract you desire. The peppermint was fabulous but I’ve also made them with vanilla and it was delicious too.
One more little note: If you care to dip them in chocolate or put them in fudge, freeze them for a few hours first. They won’t freeze rock hard but it does allow you to dip them or combine them with warm chocolate, without having them melt into goo.
I have yet to try roasting them. But just you wait until next summer!
Ready for the best sugar free marshmallow recipe?
Sugar Free Marshmallows
Ingredients
- 1 cup water , divided
- 2 ½ tablespoon grassfed gelatin
- ⅔ cup powdered Swerve Sweetener
- ⅔ cup Bocha Sweet (or xylitol or allulose)
- ⅛ teaspoon cream of tartar
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract (or vanilla extract)
Instructions
- Line an 8x8 pan with parchment or waxed paper and lightly grease the paper.
- Attach the whisk attachment to a stand mixer. Pour half of the water into the bowl and sprinkle with the gelatin. Let stand while preparing the syrup.
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining water, the sweeteners, the cream of tartar, and the salt. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sweeteners.
- Using a candy thermometer or an instant read thermometer, bring the mixture to 237F to 240F. Remove from heat.
- Turn the stand mixer on low and slowly pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl. Once all of the syrup is mixed in, add the extract. Turn the stand mixer to medium high and beat until the mixture is lukewarm, thickened and white. This can take 5 to 15 minutes.
- Working quickly, pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Let set for 4 to 6 hours, until the top is no longer tacky to the touch.
- Flip out onto a cutting board and cut to the desired size. Dust with powdered sweetener, if desired. Let sit for a day exposed to the air to dry out a bit, then store in a covered container.
Video
Notes
Heather says
Could I use Stevia instead of Swerve and Bocha sweet?
Carolyn says
No, sorry. That won’t work at all.
Laura says
Thank you for the recipe! Delicious!
I did try toasting them, they browned prettily but never got that crunchy skin… the whole thing was melty like the inside of a regular marshmallow, still delicious though.
Cynthia Gialluca says
Hey Carolyn, I was wondering… I know you said that using the BochaSweet would make these goopy but, what if you wanted to make marshmallow fluff? Do you think just using the BochaSweet is still too goopy for fluff or just right? I need fluff for a recipe I’m working on, which I am more than willing to share once I test it through, and when I read your comment about the Bocha only making it goopy I thought… “But… goopy is what I want!” Thoughts?
Carolyn says
I am not sure. I think you’d need less gelatin.
Elizabeth Godfrey Ford says
WHAT….. These are AMAZING! They’re already amazing straight out of the mixer (I couldn’t help myself) and are even more incredible when they’ve had time to set! Tomorrow I’ll be making the No-Bake Smores Bars with them! THANK YOU for another home run!
Elizabeth Godfrey Ford says
ALSO when I ordered the PHAT crackers to make s’mores with these marshmallows, I ordered some of their peanut butter cookie dough… I may or may not be having a spoonful of marshmallow and dough right now….
Carolyn says
Awesome!
Kelly says
Have you ever played with adding collagen to these for nutrition (not the gelling) effect?
Carolyn says
Well, gelatin already contains collagen. I think you’d really mess up the consistency if you did that.
Debra says
How did you make the marshmallows appear like the small rounded store bought mini marshmallows?
Carolyn says
I didn’t… those are squares.
Dar says
Hello Carolyn,
I tried your marshmallow recipe, I’m liking them for my first try! Camping this weekend, and going for the s’mores thing. I made the Graham crackers too.
Shelly says
Good morning! We are going camping next week. Did you roast these over fire?
Kathy says
The marshmallow recipe was easy to make and was enjoyed at our campsite. 1st keto smores!!
Tried to roast, they began to melt so we served them up quickly, with your homemade graham cracker recipe and zero sugar chocolate!
Jodi R. says
Can these be toasted?
Carolyn says
Very carefully, or they melt entirely. You can’t hold them over a campfire, but you can toast the outside a bit.
Kiley says
These are amazing and even my kids love them and can’t tell the difference! Would these be the kind of thing I could make and freeze for later use?
Carolyn says
Yes, you can freeze them! I’ve done it a few times.
Hina says
How can we make marshmallow fluff using this recipe.
My marshmallows were really good, everyone enjoyed it.
Now I want to make easy spreadable marshmallows for crackers etc
Thank you
Hina
Carolyn says
This recipe does not work for that.
Hannah says
Omg I just made these marshmallows and tasted the spoon after pouring them into the pan, and they’re absolutely amazing! Just like the real thing. Thank you!
ILONA says
the recipe is amazing i pretty much succeeded from the first try.. BUT for some reason i have separation in layers.. underneath white and perfect marshmellow i see clear layer of gelatin.. What could i’ve done wrong? thank you
Carolyn says
I am honestly not sure, although I had someone else once who had that issue. Can you tell me what sweeteners and what gelatin you used?
Hannah says
I tried this last night and had th3 same result. Tastes good but a layer of sweet gelatin gummy. I used swerve and xylitol combo. Stand mixer for ten mins. Maybe not enough time?
Carolyn says
Not really sure without being there. Perhaps it’s the xylitol?
Trang says
I can’t believe this is sugar free! Marshmallows turned out delicious and were easy to make!
Betsy says
What??? These are incredible! LOVE these marshmallows! I can’t believe how good these taste!