Keto Pecan Pralines Recipe
These Keto Pecan Pralines are creamy and sweet with toasted pecans throughout. My Pecan Pralines Recipe cooks in about ten minutes and is ready to eat in under an hour. They are low carb, sugar-free, gluten-free, grain-free, keto, and a THM S.
Ever since my husband and I went to New Orleans for our first anniversary pralines have been one of my favorite treats. I was thrilled to come up with a low carb sugar-free version.
My first attempt was good, but not great. Those were too crunchy. More like Candied Pecans. Those are great for salad. One of my favorites is fresh baby spinach with strawberries, feta, and some of my chopped candied pecans.
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But this creamy pecan pralines recipe is just like the ones sold in New Orleans. Ever since our 1st anniversary trip to NOLA I’ve occasionally ordered Aunt Sally’s Pralines online. Now I don’t have to. There are several types of pralines throughout the world. These are the best.
When I decided to play around with my original recipe today I had high hopes and they were fulfilled.
How to Make Pecan Pralines
To make pralines you basically make a caramel type sauce, add the pecans, and let them set. It is easier than you think and my method doesn’t even require a candy thermometer.
Just cook some of the butter with sweetener and cream. Add the rest of the butter, vanilla, salt, and your toasted pecans. Drop spoonfuls onto parchment paper and let them cool. That’s it!
How do I know when my keto pecan pralines are done?
The photo above is a good representation of the color you are looking for when cooking this praline recipe. You want the mixture to get thick, turn golden, and smell fragrant.
I do not use a candy thermometer because it is hard to temp such a small amount of caramel. If your caramel looks like my photos you are good!
How do I toast pecans?
I simply put a cookie sheet of pecans in a 400-degree oven for 5-8 minutes. I check them frequently. Nuts are pricey and I’ve burned enough to know not to forget about them.
You want to take them out with the edges get slightly darker and they smell fragrant. If you taste one the flavor should be stronger than with a raw nut.
How to store pralines:
I recommend storing these at room temp and eating them within 2 days. If you want to store them longer you can refrigerate them but they will get a little firmer and the sweetener may crystallize turning them whiteish. They are still delicious!
American cream-based pralines
French settlers brought the recipe to Louisiana, where both sugar cane and pecan trees were plentiful. During the 19th century, New Orleans chefs substituted pecans for almonds, added cream to thicken the confection, and thus created what became known throughout the American South as the praline.
Pralines have a creamy consistency, similar to fudge. They are usually made by combining sugar (often brown), butter, cream or buttermilk, and pecans in a pot over medium-high heat, and stirring constantly until most of the water has evaporated and it has reached a thick texture with a brown color. This is then usually dropped by spoonfuls onto wax paper or a sheet of aluminum foil greased with butter, and left to cool.
‘Pralines and Cream’ is a common ice cream flavor in the United States and Canada. In New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, pralines are sometimes called “pecan candy”. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praline
If you love this Creamy Pecan Pralines Recipe make sure to also take a look these:
Pecan Praline Brownies – fudgy brownies topped with a rich praline topping
Pecan Praline Ice Cream – homemade vanilla ice cream with ribbons of praline running through
Pecan Praline Cookie Bars – just like a pecan pie, but a bar instead
Chocolate Pecan Pralines – the classic but with chocolate
Keto Toffee – layers of chocolate around a crisp nutty toffee
Did you realize yet how much I love these pecan pralines?
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Keto Pecan Pralines
Ingredients
- 1 cup pecans toasted
- 5 tbsp butter divided
- 6 tbsp light cream (or heavy cream)
- 1/3 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine 4 tbsp of the butter with the sweetener and cream over medium heat. Stir until sweetener is dissolved.
- Cook until it is a deep golden brown. As soon as it reaches that deep color (right before burning) remove from the heat and immediately add the other 1 tbsp butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
- Add the salt and toasted pecans. Drop by spoonfuls onto on wax paper. Refrigerate just until firm.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published March 9, 2016. Revised and Republished March 16, 2020.
As some one who has lived in New Orleans her whole life, I was SUPER skeptical about this recipe. We’ve been making praline candy in my family (with TONS of sugar) for years!! But I made your recipe last night with granulated swerve and it was a HIT!! My mom and boyfriend ate the entire batch, and my boyfriend isn’t even keto. I don’t think I will be going back to our old way at all. Thank you so much!
I really wanted to make this recipe and I don’t have the THM. I experimented and by adding 1/8 tsp of xanthan gum after the vanilla-the separation was avoided and the pralines came out great. (I think you can get away with 1/4 tsp) Definitely adding this for my holiday line up this year. Thank you!
I too have mixture break into butter fat and sludge. I used swerve and medium heat. I stood and stirred the entire time since I wanted a caramel color and no burning. Very disappointed.
I’m sorry it didn’t work with swerve. I don’t recommend subbing sweeteners in candy recipes.
I had the same problem with Stevia in the Raw
I can’t get this to work. The solution keeps breaking. Am I cooking it too long? It never reaches that golden color. I’m wasting ingredients. :'(
Are you using gentle sweet or my sweetener? Or another sweetener? What temp are you cooking it on?
I love the caramel color and pecans are my absolute favorite nuts. Can’t wait to try it! Great recipe, thanks!
Do you think I could use coconut yogurt along with ghee. I am sensitive to cream cheese and butter and should not have but I would sure love to try these
I’m not sure that would work. Sorry! This may need the dairy to work properly.
you could try coconut cream (cream portion only in canned coconut milk). I haven’t made this recipe yet, but I have successfully subbed c. Cream for heavy cream in other low carb caramel recipes.
I have made these twice now and both times they do not get firm enough to peel off the wax paper. I have actually left them in the freezer even but cannot get them to be firm. Help! We LOVED them and want to keep them handy, but I need to know what I am doing wrong. I am using the gentle sweet.
You need to cook them longer. 🙂
The same thing happened to me. I cooked the mixture over medium heat for at least 20 minutes. Approximately how long will it take to reach the golden color?
That really depends on your stove. It takes 12-15 minutes on mine. If it seems like it is taking too long you can increase the heat to medium-high but do not leave it unattended. I suggest just standing there and stirring the whole time if you increase the heat.
What would happen if I used salted butter instead of unsalted butter? These look so amazing and I want to make them but I only have salted butter at home!
Salted butter is fine 🙂
Hi, when I made these pralines I cooked them like the recipe said it started to get creamy like, but just as they got to the point to take them off the burner, it started to liquifily. As I continued to cook it to try to get it to the light brown stage it turned to just melted butter with what looked like milk solids in it. When I put the nuts in, it was just nuts and melted butter. I had cooked them once before and as they were turning to the liquid state, I added the nuts and dropped them on a pan. For the most part, they were very good, but I only got a few out of them and lots of melted butter, but the second batch was just melted butter. Do you know what I am doing wrong? I would just do away with the recipe, but the few I did get was very good, especially after they were cold. Can you help me understand what I’m doing wrong?
Did you use gentle sweet or another sweeter?
No, I used Just Like Sugar. I am very new at this way of eating and that is the only sweetener I had except for Stevia and I really don’t like the taste of Stevia. Does the sweetener make that big of a difference? Like I said, I just learning. Thanks for your response.
Yes, the sweetener can make a huge difference in candy and baking recipes. If you don’t like stevia you could try just using erytritol and xylitol. Perhaps a monkfruit blend as well.
The same thing happened to me! I was stirring waiting for it to change color and the ingredients separated and I had butter floating on top. Help me too!
Which sweetener were you using? I have never had this happen and I’ve made this over a dozen times with gentle sweet and my sweetener.
Thank you so much, Taryn. I made this again today and it turned out perfect. This time I used swerve and they look just like yours. Thanks for taking the time to respond. I will be making these often. Thanks again!!
I haven’t made them yet but seeing peoples comment. I have erytritol in the forms of granular, brown sugar and confection , also monk fruit and pyure which would you recommend for this recipe
The best one would probably by granulated erythritol. The sweetener I use is that plus xylitol and stevia.
What is Thm gentle sweet, not familiar with that?
It is a blend of xylitol, erythritol, and stevia.
Where do I purchase the THM Gentle Sweet? Or your recipe!
My recipe is at: http://www.joyfilledeats.com/sweetener
You can purchase the THM sweeteners at: https://store.trimhealthymama.com/
I made these last night because I had a huge craving for pecan clusters. These taste sooooo good – not sugar free at all. I never thought sugar alcohol would carmelize that way so excited to have a gooey-carmel turtle. I will use a candy thermometer next time. Mine became solid in the fridge.
These sugar alcohols seem to always solidify in the fridge. I think it is just the nature of them.
I was so excited about this recipe, but they turned out REALLY bitter…I later realized you listed the gentle sweet THM, I used the Super sweet. Lesson learned 🙁 Outside of my error, they set perfectly but I did used a candy thermometer and removed it from heat just above soft ball stage. I would never try to make these recipes without a candy thermometer, its almost impossible for me. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to make it with the right sweetener!
It may be beneficial to add the cook temp to the instructions. Typical pecan pralines cook to around 240f, or soft ball stage, on a candy thermometer. I love this recipe, but if I don’t use the candy thermometer, I’m not good enough to eyeball it and get it just right. And I’m guessing many are like me. ☺ This is super yummy tho!
You and I both Rachel! I have tried so many times to “eye-ball” it and I ended up with a bad result. Candy thermometers are a life saver 🙂
Hi there I was just wondering. I made these (delicious by the way) but it seems the texture is off. They never got creamy. They did solidify but remained crumbly and the caramel crystallized so it’s kind of the consistency of a softer more cumbly maple candy. Any tips?
You may have overcooked it. The sugar alcohols do crystallize after an extended period in the fridge but that shouldn’t happen right away.
Same here! I think inivercoood the caramel
over cooked?
Tar, I made these and refrigerated them for several hours but they’re still super sticky and have to be eaten with a spoon. Did I not cook it long enough?
Yes, you need to cook them longer. But… I bet the way they are would be amazing as an ice cream topping 🙂
This may be a stupid question – but do you think these would work with coconut milk? They look amazing – but no dairy for me 🙁
Maybe with coconut cream. If you try let me know 🙂
Hello! I made these and they taste great 🙂 but mine came out grainy, very fine, but still grainy. Did I do something wrong? Or is this the nature of the sweetener? I was just expecting something smoother I guess. Either way, will definitely be making again to have in my keto arsenal!!
Thanks
The graininess is really the nature of the sweetener, unfortunately. I find that they are less grainy right when the set and get grainier over time in the fridge.
Before it sets, this is also mind-blowingly good as a topping for keto ice cream! What an amazing recipe, thank you.
Could I use Swerve for the sweetener?
Lol…I do, all the time!
This is coming from a true Cajun,born and bred, who had pralines as a holiday staple. When I took the first bite I was speechless and I think I cried a little, my world opened up. I can have pralines,not fake but real tasting pralines and still be on my ketogenic journey. I wish I could send a great big Cajun hug and a huge thanks. I will bring them to our Christmas meal and I bet nobody will notice it is low carb.
Thank you for the great review! I’m so glad you liked them 🙂