Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

This sugar free cranberry sauce is a delicious alternative to traditional cranberry sauce. Hints of ginger, cinnamon and orange make this low carb sugar free version extra special. Perfect for Thanksgiving dinner and you can make this cranberry sauce jellied or not. And there is only 2.9g net carbs!

This homemade cranberry sauce is great with smoked turkey breast recipe!

I have never had cranberry sauce before. I don’t know why, but I’ve never tried it. So when I was thinking about making my Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Cristo sandwich I needed a good cranberry sauce recipe first.

I didn’t realize how easy it is to make low carb cranberry sauce and how good it tastes! It is especially good in the sandwich but I’m anxious to try it this Thanksgiving.

This sugar free cranberry sauce is lower in carbs but if you want you can substitute white sugar for the sweetener go for it. Also you can make this jellied or not because I know everyone has their preference. At least my family does.

Cranberry sauce – jellied or not?

Originally I made this keto cranberry sauce a couple times because I didn’t know what I was shooting for. I had to wait for my husband to come home every night to tell me if I was on track or not.

So the image way down in the post in the blue bowl shows what it looks like if you add gelatin but I personally preferred the saucier one pictured below in the white bowl.  The only difference is the added gelatin in the jellied cranberry.

Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used were fresh cranberries, Swerve sweetener, an orange, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, water and unflavored gelatin which is optional depending on what consistency you prefer.

Fresh Cranberries
While I use fresh because they are so easy to find this time of year you could also use frozen cranberries though I never had. I just couldn’t find them easily so it was fresh for me.

Orange Zest, Cinnamon and Ginger
I chose these spices because I just love the flavor combination with the orange flavor. I just used the zest of the orange because I didn’t want to add carbs. If you don’t care about that you could use the orange juice in place of the water or maybe half and half of each.

And you could substitute the cinnamon and ginger with just one or the other if you want but try both if you can. Other spices people use are allspice, ground clove, etc.

Swerve Sweetener
Because I wanted this to be sugar free I used my favorite sweetener which is Swerve. It’s usually just erythritol or a combination of erythritol and allulose. You can use whatever brand of sugar substitutes you want and you could also try Swerve brown sugar sweetener if you want. The brown sweetener will give a bit more of dessert like flavor but I prefer a fresh flavor taste with the regular sweetener.

And if you aren’t on a keto diet or don’t care about carbs or sugar you can use plain white sugar in the same amount of the sweetener. Or use regular brown sugar if you want.

Unflavored Gelatin
You only use this if you want a jellied sauce. It has to be unflavored with no added sugar. I use Great Lakes gelatin but you can find Knox or other brands in the grocery store.

How to make sugar free cranberry sauce.

Step 1: Rinse the fresh cranberries and then place in a medium saucepan. Turn the heat to medium heat then add the orange zest, cinnamon, ground ginger, sweetener and cup of water.

Step 2: Mix well and cook cranberries for about 10 minutes until the berries pop and start to dissolve into the sauce. Mix the sauce every once in awhile to make sure it doesn’t burn or boil over. Also taste it and if you want it sweeter add more sweetener. You can also adjust the flavorings if you want to.

Step 3: After 10 minutes check to see if the sauce is thick enough for you. The longer you cook it the thicker sauce you will get. But remember once you take it off the heat it will thicken a bit more. Also when you refrigerate it, it will thicken more. Ten minutes was the right cooking time for me.

Step 4: At this point if you want to make a jellied sauce read below. Otherwise place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until thoroughly chilled and ready to serve.

Store leftover sauce in an airtight container. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

How to make sugar free jellied cranberry sauce.

If you want to make more of a jellied version, just sprinkle a tablespoon of unflavored gelatin in at the end. Make sure you sprinkle a little at a time and whisk all the while. You don’t want to have any clumps. When the gelatin has dissolved you can take it off the stove, let cool to a bit then refrigerate for about 4 hours. 

If you want a try jellied sauce you can mash or blend the cranberries the strain them through a mesh sieve and then whisk in the gelatin in the liquid. Pour into a mold or small mason jar and refrigerate until gelled. Here is a good post to check out if you want some tips on how to do this.

Recipe notes and other ways to use leftover cranberry sauce.

• Please taste it before you take it off the stove or add the gelatin (if using)  for your desired sweetness. This was a bit tart to me but I liked it that way. If you want it sweeter, just add more Swerve and cook until it’s dissolved.
• The last time I made this I used Torani sugar free raspberry sauce as it added a bit more sweetness and went well with the cranberry. 
• You can use leftovers as a condiment on a sandwich and it’s delicious. I also used this with my keto stuffing waffles I made with Thanksgiving leftovers. Check that one out if you are on a low carb diet!
• Don’t just eat this keto cranberry sauce for holiday meals. You can use this as a sugar spread like you would a sugar free jam. Plus this would be good with other lean proteins like pork loin, pork tenerloin, roasted chicken, etc. Don’t just use it for Thanksgiving.
• For a quick appetizer, spoon it over a block of cream cheese or use it in a baked brie dish.
• Try it instead of grape jelly with meatballs for a great low carb appetizer. Just mix the sauce with chili sauce and meatballs and put it in the crockpot.
• Use it in a smoothie or substitute it for the jam in these low carb jam thumbprints recipe.

Well I hope you love this sugar free cranberry sauce recipe as much as we did. It’s the perfect low carb side dish to have over the holidays. And if you get a chance try it on this Cristo sandwich pictured above or one of the other ways listed above. Enjoy!

This recipe makes roughly 2 cups so the nutrition info for ¼ cup is: 18 caloriess / 0.1g fat / 34.7g carbs / 31.8g fiber / 0.2g protein = 2.9g net carbs