Easy Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce with only four simple ingredients and water. Five minutes of prep and the smell of cranberries, cinnamon, and vanilla will fill your house. This delicious keto cranberry sauce recipe is the perfect accompaniment to your holiday meal.
I love cranberry sauce. It just tastes like fall and any holiday table needs it. I personally prefer whole berry sauce to jellied cranberry sauce. That just looks a little too processed to me when you slide it out of the can and it still has the lines on it.
At least with canned whole berry sauce, you can stir it up and have it look like the real stuff. But homemade is so much better than grocery store cranberry sauce any way you make it.
And healthy cranberry sauce is so easy to make you never need to buy it. It takes less than 5 minutes of hands-on time to make a batch of beautiful, red, delicious keto-friendly cranberry sauce. It is the best cranberry sauce I've ever tasted and have only 4 net carbs per generous serving. It is also low carb, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and THM friendly!
Ingredients
Cranberries - Fresh cranberries or frozen cranberries work well. Cranberries only have a small amount of natural sugar so they will work for a keto diet.
Water - You only need a bit of water to simmer the cranberries in.
Sugar-Free Sweetener - Any sweetener can work in this and you can really just add your preferred low-carb sweetener or sugar substitute to taste. I offer conversions in the recipe card for monk fruit sweetener and other sugar substitutes.
Vanilla - Add some vanilla extract for a boost of flavor.
Cinnamon - I love a hint of cinnamon in my sugar free cranberry sauce. I use ground cinnamon but a cinnamon stick can work as well.
The vanilla and cinnamon can really be optional, reducing this to just two ingredients, but I find that they complement the flavor of the berries nicely so do recommend adding them.
How to make Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce
Step One: Simmer the berries with a bit of water, add sweetener, and add any extra flavorings over medium heat in a medium saucepan until all the berries pop. Cool to room temperature and serve or store in the fridge.
Expert Tip: If any berries in the sugar-free cranberry sauce recipe don't pop just smush them with a potato masher.
Storage - Leftover cranberry sauce keeps for months in the fridge in an airtight container. I have kept a glass mason jar of it for up to 4 months. Depending on the sweetener you use there is a chance it could crystallize but if that happens you can reheat it to melt the sweetener.
Variations
Orange - You can add some orange zest or a little orange extract for an orange flavor in this cranberry sauce recipe.
Lemon - Lemon zest also compliments the cranberries nicely.
Spices - You can add ginger, cloves, nutmeg, or any other sweet spice you enough.
Relish - To make keto cranberry relish simply toss the ingredient mixture (omitting the water) into a food processor and chop them instead of cooking them.
Maple - For a maple flavor on keto you can add maple extract. If you want to use maple syrup that would work fine but would not be sugar free or keto friendly.
Common Questions
What is the Best Sweetener for Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce?
Cranberries are naturally very tart. You will something to sweeten them and balance the tartness of the cranberries when making keto cranberry sauce. I use my own natural sweetener blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia in my recipes. This is twice as sweet as sugar. It is comparable to Trim Healthy Mama Gentle Sweet and Truvia.
Making my own sweetener blend saves a ton of money. I can make it for under $7 a pound and since it is twice as sweet as sugar it lasts longer than blends with a 1:1 sugar ratio. It is great for a keto diet with no aftertaste.
What Can I Do With Leftover Cranberry Sauce?
You can use it in dessert, serve with cream cheese and celery for snacks, or use it to top cottage cheese or yogurt.
This homemade sugar-free cranberry sauce is delicious as a surprise cupcake filling in the Cranberry Cupcakes pictured above! And I love having some sugar free cranberry sauce on hand to put on top of my Cranberry Baked Brie. Either of those is festive for the holiday season.
This homemade cranberry sauce will last for weeks in the refrigerator. I make a double batch before Thanksgiving and use it until the new year! Besides serving low carb cranberry sauce with your Thanksgiving turkey and keto stuffing for Thanksgiving dinner I use it in these cupcakes and baked brie. I also use low-carb cranberry sauce as a condiment or side dish to pork and chicken and in coffee cakes such as my Cranberry Cake with Walnut Topping.
And if you have leftover cranberries make some of my Sugar-Free Dried Cranberries!
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Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz bag of cranberries
- 4 oz water
- 1 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Combine the cranberries and water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until all the berries pop, about 5-7 minutes. Add the other ingredients and reduce the heat to low. Cook until desired thickness. It will thicken further as it cools.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or you can freeze for 2-3 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published October 11, 2016. Revised and Republished August 3, 2023.
Tiffany says
so good.. I used 2/3rds cup Pyure..
Lynne Tullos says
This is even better than the sugary version! It’s my favorite.
Lynn says
Do you think this recipe would work with blueberries instead of cranberries? I’m especially wondering if they would last as long in the refrigerator (through the holidays). They’re much juicier and a different consistency … looking for a cranberry allergy workaround. Thanks!
Taryn says
Blueberries should work. But for a taste closer to cranberries see if you can find tart cherries.
Jolynn says
love,love,so easy&so better tasting! I love adding cinnamon to it. YUM!