Prep: 5 mins
Cook: 15 mins
Total: 20 mins
Servings: 6
Yield: 2 cups
A ruby red staple of every holiday table, no meal is complete without cranberry sauce. Those on the keto diet can rest assured that this incredibly tart berry is made up of a small amount of carbs; however, traditional cranberry sauce recipe counter the berry’s tartness with a whopping amount of sugar. In fact, a single serving of canned cranberry sauce contains 22 grams of sugar.
To make this sugar-free cranberry sauce, we simply swapped in our favorite keto sweetener. A powdered sweetener is best here as it ensures the sauce won’t become granular once chilled. We used Swerve Sweetener’s Confectioners, but powdered monk fruit or allulose will work as well.
Served with cauliflower or keto stuffing, keto gravy, and keto cornbread, this keto cranberry sauce rounds out the holiday table with all the traditional dishes, but without the carbs or sugar. Once made, the cranberry sauce is best served chilled and can even be made days before your holiday meal.
“All the holiday joy—without any of the added holiday sugar! This sugar-free version of homemade cranberry sauce will be a great alternative on your Thanksgiving table. This dish cooks up super quickly and will be sure to delight everyone—but especially those on a keto diet.” —Tracy Wilk
A Note From Our Recipe Tester
Ingredients
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12 ounces cranberries, fresh or frozen (and thawed)
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3/4 cup powdered keto sweetener (such as Swerve Sweetener's Confectioners)
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2/3 cup water
Steps to Make It
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Gather the ingredients.
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Heat the cranberries, sweetener, and water in a medium pot over medium-high, stirring to combine the ingredients; bring to a boil.
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Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring frequently, until about 3/4 of the cranberries have popped. This should take 8 to 10 minutes from when the mixture came to a boil.
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Mash the mixture slightly to achieve desired chunkiness. Remove from the heat and cool completely. The sauce will thicken as it cools.
Tips
- If using fresh cranberries, clean them first and discard any that are shriveled, brown, or have discolored spots. If using frozen cranberries, thaw before cooking.
- For sweetener, avoid using a granulated keto sweetener. Most importantly, avoid using erythritol that doesn’t have prebiotics added, as the sauce will crystalize into a rock when chilled. This will make for a container that is difficult to clean as well.
Recipe Variations
This classic sauce has a lot of punchy, fruity flavor as is, but it can be enhanced with any of the following. Add the flavor at the start of cooking alongside the other ingredients.
- 1/2 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger or 1/4 teaspoon dried ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
How to Store
This cranberry sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 1 week in a tightly-sealed container. It will also freeze well for up to 3 months.
Are cranberries keto friendly?
Cranberries are a high-fiber, low-sugar fruit. About 1 cup of fresh cranberries is 12 grams of carbs and 4.6 grams of fiber. Because of their spongy texture and incredibly sour taste, cranberries are usually not eaten alone, but are cooked into sauces, or sweetened and dried.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 6 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 36 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 2mg | 0% |
| Total Carbohydrate 10g | 3% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 7% |
| Total Sugars 5g | |
| Protein 0g | |
| Vitamin C 8mg | 40% |
| Calcium 5mg | 0% |
| Iron 0mg | 1% |
| Potassium 45mg | 1% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
