Try this easy sugar free cranberry sauce with only a few ingredients. It’s a low carb and healthy alternative to store-bought sauce.
Fresh hot homemade cranberry sauce is the best, and you can enjoy it even while on a low carb or keto diet. All you need are whole cranberries (fresh or frozen), freshly grated orange zest, some water, and a low carb sweetener — I use erythritol. All of the ingredients come together in a saucepot to form a thick cranberry sauce, and I can’t tell any difference between this healthy version and your traditional homemade cranberry sauce.
This cranberry sauce is obviously a great addition to any Thanksgiving feast, but Mr. Savory Tooth and I also wanted to be able to spread it onto some turkey sandwiches that we’ve recently been eating. We make bunless double-decker sandwiches with three layers of pepperjack cheese separated by thinly sliced turkey breast and a spread of this cranberry sauce. Delicious.
The sweetener that I use is called erythritol, which is a sugar alcohol about 70% as sweet as your typical table sugar. It doesn’t affect your blood sugar or insulin, and doesn’t cause tooth decay. Our bodies can’t digest erythritol, so it primarily exits the body through urine. In other words, erythritol is one of the best sweeteners for anybody on a low carb or ketogenic diet since it doesn’t contain any carbs that can be digested by the body. I also use it to sweeten homemade keto bbq sauces.
You can buy erythritol in some brick-and-mortar stores, but it’s most readily available online. You can choose either the granulated or powdered version. I have the granulated version, and I usually run it through my Nutribullet blender to powder it. I like the powdered version because it’s more easily absorbed into the various dishes that I’m making.
A tip about reheating this cranberry sauce: When cold, the erythritol crystallizes and the cranberry mixture hardens and loses its sauce-like consistency. If you’re making this ahead of time, it’s totally fine to refrigerate until you’re ready to serve. Simply reheat in a pan over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup water per serving that you’re trying to reheat, and stir while the mixture simmers until it forms a thick sauce again. Make sure you keep it warm for serving.
Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce (Keto, Low Carb)
Try this easy homemade cranberry sauce with only a few ingredients. It’s a low carb and healthy alternative to storebought sauce.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces whole cranberries fresh or frozen
- 1 cup powdered erythritol sweetener
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest (about 1 orange)
Instructions
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If using granulated erythritol, blend in a small blender for a few seconds until it reaches a powdered consistency. I use a Nutribullet.
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Add erythritol and water to a saucepot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
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Add cranberries to the pot, stirring with the liquid. Bring back to a boil, and reduce to medium heat.
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Cook until the cranberries have split open and the sauce reaches your desired consistency, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Add orange zest, stirring well for a minute. Serve immediately while warm.
Nutrition Info
This recipe yields 4 g net carbs per serving. This doesn't include erythritol since it can't be digested by the body.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 20 | |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 0mg | 0% |
| Potassium 40mg | 1% |
| Total Carb 6g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 8% |
| Sugars 2g | |
| Protein 0g |
I added a tea holder half full of dehydrated orange rinds along with 2 tsp of orange extract. It worked quite well since pre-Keto I used orange juice instead of water whenever I made cranberry sauce. After it’s cooked, the tea holder with the orange rind was easily removed.
Can I make the cranberry sauce and refrigerate it for the next day?
Yes. Reheat in a saucepan on the stovetop. You might want to add some water and let it simmer for a few minutes.
Julia, what constitutes a serving for 4 net carbs?
I didn’t measure the volume of each serving, but I would estimate it as about 1/4 cup or 1/6th of the recipe.
I used half the erythritol and would omit the orange rind as it now tastes like orange and not cranberry. Other than that it’s good
When you’re grating the orange peel, make sure you’re only getting the orange colored part and not the white membrane. Use a fine grater or microplane so that the orange zest is very fine, as opposed to using a knife and cutting out large pieces.
Hi. I was wondering if you think i could use Swerve as the sweetner? I have a bag of the confectioners kind. I do have the granulated erythritol too. What do you think. Im stoked about Thanksgiving Turkey. This is mine and the hibbys first holiday doing keto. I am type 2 diabetic and this way of life is so working for me. Anyhoo. Was kinda bummed that i was going to miss out on my cranberry sauce and you have now helped in my thought process in replacing and tweaking one dish. Thank you. ~Sophia
Hi Sophia! Swerve would work great here too. Swerve measures the same as sugar, whereas erythritol is about 70% as sweet as sugar, so I suggest using about 3/4 cup confectioners Swerve for this recipe. Let me know if you have other questions, and good luck on your keto journey and surviving your first Thanksgiving 🙂
Hi!! Will the granulated Swerve work?
Yes! That would work well. You might need to adjust the amount a bit, since Swerve is sweeter than pure erythritol.
This looks soo good. I shall be doing a test run before Thanksgiving. Thank you.
You’re welcome, Carol! Hope you enjoy this.
Thank you! I’m already thankful for this recipe and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet for more than two months. 🙂 I’m diabetic, my mom is diabetic and we always had the sugary store bought cranberry sauce counted into the carb limit. The drawback? We had to settle for less pie (which we always make sugar free from scratch), which is quite sad as we both have a sweet tooth. This year, we’ll try this recipe and have a tiny serving of the sides too!
You’re welcome! Cranberry sauce is surprisingly easy to make without sugar (and tastes like the real thing), and it would be a shame to use up your carb “budget” with the sugary versions 🙂
Could you use stevia in place of the erythritol to avoid the crystallization?
Yes, that would work well. Either add to taste, or calculate the amount of stevia you need for the same amount of sweetness.
I used Lakanto plain and had no crystallization. Was just like my mom used to make! Yum! monkfrui terythritol dosnt spike my blood sugar either. YUM again!
amazing just made for Thanksgiving its a bit sweet might use less trivia baking blend next time but this will definitely be a hit!
Thank you
Glad you liked it! If you have leftovers that you plan on reheating, follow my reheat instructions in the post for the best results 🙂
Truvia Baking blend is a mix of stivia and cane sugar in case you didnt know. Thats why you got such a sugar hit . I had used the packets and they are a stivia eryhritol mix so I thought the big package would be the same. I read the label a littler closer and put it back. I used Lakanto monkfruit plain which is monkfruit and eryhritol mix, it bakes great and didnt crystallize in this recipe. I made her pumpkin cheesecake today as well with it and it was perfection.