This sugar free caramel sauce is ooey and gooey and it stays pourable! Best of all, it tastes just like real caramel sauce. This is the only keto caramel sauce recipe you will ever need. I am excited to bring you this updated recipe and a new instructional video.
Want to hear something crazy? I just improved my keto sugar free caramel sauce recipe! It was always truly amazing and by far one of the most popular low carb caramel recipes out there, but now it’s even better.
And I attribute this improvement to two “secret weapon” ingredients: The new Swerve brown sugar replacement and Bocha Sweet. The combination of these two keto sweeteners results in the most perfect caramel that stays soft and pourable for days. It can even be refrigerated and still stays soft, with absolutely no recrystallization.
Creating a really good, true-to-life caramel sauce with erythritol has been one of my low carb goals for a long time now. Almost from the first moment I started baking and cooking low carb, I found myself wondering if it was possible and absolutely determined to find out.
Creating Keto Sugar Free Caramel Sauce
I’d tried a few store-bought sugar-free caramel sauces and they were simply awful. They were laden with chemicals and they tasted like it too. So I had to find a way to make homemade sugar-free caramel sauce from scratch, and I set my sights high.
It had to be:
- Gooey
- Smooth and creamy
- Have true caramelized-sugar taste
- Not harden and recrystallize upon cooling
Anyone who has ever worked with erythritol-based sweeteners will know that the last issue was the biggest challenge to overcome. I’ve made some great-tasting and great-looking sauces along the way, but they all had a tendency to harden up pretty quickly.
Even my previous recipe, which I considered almost perfect, did begin to solidify and get a bit grainy as it cooled. The addition of some Yacon syrup, molasses, or even coconut sugar definitely helped offset that reaction, but it also added a little to the carb count. Some people objected to these additions but I felt that they were worth it to get really good low carb caramel sauce.
But honestly, both Swerve Brown and Bocha Sweet have totally changed the sugar free caramel sauce game. Completely and utterly. How so?
- Swerve Brown gives the sauce a perfect caramel color without the addition of Yacon or molasses
- Bocha Sweet keeps it soft and inhibits the crystallization of the erythritol
- The combination of the two gives it the ideal caramel sweetness
I first tried a bit of Bocha Sweet in my caramel sauce a few months ago and was astonished to pull it out of the fridge the next day and still have it be perfectly pourable. And when the long-awaited Swerve Brown finally came out, I tried the two together and I knew I had perfected this recipe.
But please don’t worry if you can’t get your hands on these sweeteners. I am putting notes in the new updated recipe so that you can still make it the old way, with Swerve and a little Yacon syrup. It’s still amazing and delicious!
So put away all those awful store-bought, chemical-laden sugar free caramel sauces because this keto caramel sauce recipe will blow your caramel-loving mind. Check out the video in the recipe card!
I’ve actually been using this caramel sauce recipe in many of my other dessert recipes for a while now, like my maple pecan pie. But I use it so often and found myself rewriting it so frequently, I decided that it needed to be a stand alone recipe.
Believe me, it deserves it! It’s already part of some of my favorite keto dessert recipes and it will be part of many more to come. But it truly is good enough to be have its very own recipe post. Sometimes I just make some for the heck of it, just to keep in the fridge. It’s fantastic slathered on a piece of very dark chocolate with a little sea salt sprinkled on top. Or drizzled over low carb vanilla ice cream. Or simply licked from the spoon.
I really don’t think there is a better low carb caramel sauce out there. Back when I first wrote this post, I said if there was any way to improve on this recipe, I would find it. And I truly believe I just did. I can die happy now!
How to enjoy your keto caramel sauce
- Keto Caramel Cake
- Keto Salted Caramel Brownie Bites
- Keto Salted Caramel Cheesecake Bars
- Keto Turtle Cupcakes
- Keto Salted Caramel Butter Bars
- Keto Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
The Best Low Carb Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 3 tbsp brown sugar replacement
- 3 tbsp allulose, or BochaSweet
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt
- 2 tbsp water
For Salted Caramel Sauce:
- 1/2 tsp additional kosher salt or sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, Swerve, and Bocha Sweet. Bring to a boil and cook 3 to 5 minutes (be careful not to burn it).
- Remove from heat and add cream. Mixture will bubble vigorously.
- Sprinkle with xanthan gum and whisk vigorously to combine. Add salt.
- Return mixture to heat and boil 1 more minute. Let cool to lukewarm and stir in water until well combined.
- For salted caramel, simply stir in additional salt at the end.
- The sauce can be stored in the fridge for a week or so (I've actually stored mine for several weeks). Just gently reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan to make it pourable again.
Video
Notes
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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Which form of swerve do you use here? The granulated or the confectioners?
Granular.
I made this with the syrup from http://sukrinusa.com/sukrin-fiber-syrup-gold/ & it turned out great! Seriously one of the best sauces out there. I actually used it to mix into a pie w/ coconut flour crust 🙂
This is fabulous, it’s always in my fridge now. Love it in my coffee! I am a convert.
Me too! I’ve been a mission to replace my caramel macchiato fix for some time. Sugar syrups, extracts, and oils just weren’t working. So nice to make this and get it right.
I, too, used powdered xylitol with coconut sugar and it turned out AMAZINGLY! Thank you so much for this recipe.
You’re welcome!
For dairy free, can I replace butter with coconut oil? I see I can use coconut cream in place of whip cream.
Thanks.
Do you prefer swerve in all of your recipes or do you sometimes use other sweeteners? And it’s fairly expensive, do you know where to get if for a reasonable price? Sounds delicious.
I sometimes use other sweeteners but this recipe requires Swerve. It’s sometimes on sale, I would keep your eye on it for deals!
Thanks for sharing! I made this with the molasses and it turned out well. The molasses made it a bit darker than expected (just for others to note) and my daughter thought it gave it a touch of pumpkin spice taste(?), haha. Will enjoy using this soon! ?
Would this hold its consistency in the freezer? trying to make salted caramel and hazelnut ice cream
it says “Bring to a boil and cook 3 to 5 minutes (be careful not to burn it).” How do we know when it has cooked enough? With sugar, you can drop a bit into cold water to check for the stage it is at. Is there any way to judge when this is done? What will happen if it is under-cooked? I just tried – and ruined- a batch because it burned. . . it never stuck to the pan and the color didn’t seem to change as it cooked, then suddenly turned black with no intermediate stages!
It should absolutely have intermediate stages of going more amber in colour. This is not the same as sugar, and it will smoke some as you boil it.
Just to let others know – tried a double batch with 1 box (1C) Trader Joe’s Stabilized Whipping Cream, split the Coconut Sugar and Molasses (half of what is called for each) used 1/2C erythritol and 1tsp stevia glycerite – came out AMAZING!
Tastes like the caramel on Chicago’s Garrets Caramel Corn – YUM!
The only issue I had was blending the Xanthum Gum – got kind of clumpy. But after cooling down in fridge and upon reheating and stirring vigorously – it all came together beautifully! Great Job, Carolyn!
Life just got better! *ahhhhh*
This recipe saved my caramel sauce! I was trying a recipe and their recipe was not working so I added some ingredients and instructions from yours and voila perfection! Thank you!
Wonderful to hear!
Hi Carolyn 🙂 The caramel sauce came out perfect. Thank you for the recipe! I am also diabetic, and I think the Swerve is spiking my blood sugar. I know xylitol does for sure. I guess I get no break. But I’m sure if I tried this with plain old sugar, the spike would be worse. I’m afraid to try it. Anyway, I am going to try like maybe just one tablespoon. If I can’t handle it, I guess I should add insulin along with my Metformin, cause life’s just too short to live without caramel sauce!
That’s unfortunate. I have no spike whatsoever from Swerve. Have you tested that out with just Swerve? It could be something else…like the coconut sugar.
Can I use arrowroot rather then zanthum gum? I’ve used it in other recipes but not desserts.
Thanks
Not sure. Part of the reason for xanthan gum is that it inhibits recrystallization. Not sure that arrowroot would do that.
Used this recipes to make a saled caramel apple sauce for my grain free gingerbread pancakes. Satisfying without being obnoxiously sweet!
I made a few modifications which worked out really well for me:
3/4 Xylosweet
1/4 Stevia in the Raw
a dropper full of vanilla creme stevia drops
Subbed full fat coconut milk instead of heavy cream
Blackstrap molasses added a depth of flavor that I really loved.
*On a side note; I find it offensive that an earlier reader demanded the creator of the recipe modify it to satisfy the reader’s opinions. If you won’t like how a recipe is written, make your own modifications! Simple as that!
Hmmm, I don’t even remember that comment. But thanks!
Which taste better the coconut sugar or the molasess?
I prefer the coconut sugar.