A recipe for a keto cranberry sauce that’s sweet with a hint of tart and orange flavor. This will pair perfectly with turkey and your Thanksgiving Day dinner. Keep the carbs low during the holidays and still enjoy the dishes you love!
A Thanksgiving side dish of keto cranberry sauce or cranberry jelly always sat on the table during family gatherings. Thanksgiving recipes are just incomplete without a cranberry sauce. Growing up I never understood it but as my taste evolved it made sense. The tartness mixed with sweet paired well with the meal and broke up the flavors of the fat and salt from the meats served.
How To Make Keto Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients Needed
- Fresh/Frozen Cranberries
- Keto Sweetener
- Xanthan Gum
- Orange Zest
- Orange Extract
Cooking Instructions
You can use frozen or fresh cranberries for a keto cranberry sauce recipe. But, the key here is what keto sweetener will you use? Because of the tartness of the cranberries I highly suggest a granulated and a concentrated liquid sweetener. Also, if using frozen thaw them before cooking.
Now, in a small pot or sauce pan add cranberries and water on medium heat. Allow the cranberries to heat up and the water to boil or simmer. They will begin to pop.
As this is happening, to the side add your sweetener to a bowl and mix the xanthan gum into the sweetener. This will prevent the xanthan gum from clumping together during the mixing process.
Next, give the popping cranberries a stir then pour in sweetener mix. Quickly stir it into the cranberry sauce.
Then, remove it from the heat and zest and orange over it along with a little orange extract. At this point you will want to taste for sweetness.
If it isn’t sweet enough a couple drops of a concentrated sweetener like stevia or monk fruit is far better than adding in extra granulated sweetener due to the tartness of the cranberries.
Now, allow to cool fully then serve.
Tips For Making Keto Cranberry Sauce
- Always taste for sweetness. The sweetness is going to vary from dish to dish due to the nature of fruits. As mentioned above a concentrated sweetener is good to have on hand. To add, using a sweetener such as allulose that doesn’t have an aftertaste.
- Be careful if using erythritol, it works fine but when it cools it will crystalize cause the keto cranberry sauce to be crunchy.
- Do you need the xanthan gum? The gum is taking the place of cornstarch to allow the sauce to get it’s jelly-like texture and not be runny. The cooler it is the thicker it will appear.
How To Store
This recipe will do well in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. If you are thinking of freezing it that will be fine as well. In either the fridge or the freezer be sure to place in an airtight container. If using erythritol a possible white crust may form across the top from crystallization but you shouldn’t be alarmed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are cranberries keto friendly?
According to the USDA*, an entire cup of cranberries is only 8g net carbs of carbohydrates. There are only a few grams of sugar in one cup and this makes them perfect for the keto diet and this recipe!
Can you eat canned cranberry sauce on keto?
No! There are 27 grams of sugar in a 1/4 cup of the canned jellied cranberry sauce it is far from sugar-free. To add, the typical cranberry jelly has a ton of sugar to curb the tart flavors of the cranberry. Also, thickeners are used such as cornstarch that adds to the total carbs.
Can you freeze cranberry sauce?
Yes you can! The ingredients all freeze well and don’t changed much after being thawed. Chances are you used frozen cranberries to begin with in making the homemade cranberry sauce.
What to serve with keto cranberry sauce?
- Almond Flour Biscuits
- Bacon Brussel Sprouts
- Keto Sweet Potato Casserole
- Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Bread
- Keto Gravy
Keto Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cup frozen or fresh whole cranberries
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup granulated sweetener
- 1/4 cup keto brown sugar sweetener
- 1/2 zested orange
- 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- few drops of liquid sweetener (optional)
Instructions
- If using frozen cranberries, thaw them before starting the recipe.
- Combine your granulated and brown sugar sweetener together with your xanthan gum
- In a small pot on medium heat add in cranberries and water
- Add in orange extract and zest 1/2 an orange in the pot as well
- Continue to cook until cranberries begin to pop. Start to stir. This popping takes about 5 minutes to start happening from start to finish.
- Once they start to pop add in sweetener, xanthan gum mix and quickly stir. Be fast about it because the xanthan gum will clump up if you don't move fast enough.
- Remove from heat. Here you want to test if it's sweet enough for you because sweetness will vary from fruit to fruit. If its not sweet enough this is where you want to add a few drops of concentrated sweetener a little at a time. I used roughly 1/4 tsp in mine.
- Allow to cool then serve or store for later. Note, if using a keto sweetener with erythritol, it will crystalize when it cools causing the sauce to have a crunch to it when eating.