Name: Healthy Cranberry Salad (Sugar-Free) |
Yield: 24

The holidays are here and with it comes all the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year favorites. This healthy cranberry salad will take all the flavor from the classic cranberry salad dish but recreate it with the healthy spin of a sugar-free rendition.

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Every year for as long as I can remember some sort of Jello salad was present during our Christmas gathering. My mom would often vary the recipe. Some years cranberries were the star of the show. In other years she would have extra mandarin oranges. Sometimes she would make it homemade with gelatin, and others she would use Jello packs.

Regardless of how she made it, the recipe holds firmly in my mind as a Christmas dinner tradition. For years I did not make my own version of it because I was not sure how to make it Trim Healthy Mama friendly. Turns out it was not as difficult as I envisioned!

So often recipes that are in our memories are easier to remake into something healthy than we think.

Grab that old cookbook out that has been passed down from generation to generation and take a stab and making one of those recipes keto or Trim Healthy Mama friendly. It might be easier than you imagine!

In the case of this holiday favorite, I replaced the canned mandarin oranges with pears which gives it quite the flavor profile! The remaining parts of the recipe were paired with sugar-free renditions and wala! A wonderful version of an old favorite.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
FAQ
Healthy Cranberry Salad

Ingredients

There are two pre-made recipes that you will need for this recipe. The first is my baobab blast gelatin recipe (Jello). However, if you have an alternative sugar-free jello recipe, anything will work.

Secondly, you will need R's Candied Pecans from the Trim Healthy Future cookbook. You can use plain pecans, but candied pecans are the best!

Fresh Cranberries
Baobab Blast Gelatin Recipe (Jello)
Whipping Cream
Gentle Sweet
Pears
R's Candied Pecans
Vanilla

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

The process of creating a healthy cranberry salad is very simple and straightforward! We all need that during the holidays, don't we?!

Don't forget to whip the whipping cream until it forms a stiff peak. You will want it thicker versus too thin.

Healthy Cranberry salad - In a stand mixer add whipping cream 1 cup Gentle Sweet and the vanilla, whip until it has peeked.

In a stand mixer add whipping cream 1 cup Gentle Sweet and the vanilla, and whip until it has peeked.

Put cranberries in a food processor or blender. Pulse until they are small-sized, but not liquid. Sprinkle remaining Gentle Sweet on berries

Cut up Jello with a knife into small pieces

Chop pears

Mix together all the ingredients.

Top with R's Candied Pecans from the Trim Healthy Future CookbookChill until served.

Hint: Cranberries are super tart! It is always better with natural sweeteners to err on the side of caution and start with less and then add more when needed, but in the case of cranberries, they will most likely need some extra 'sweet' help!

Substitutions

Don't have Gentle Sweet, but still want to make this recipe? There are many other sugar-free alternatives out there that still hold the sweetness that this recipe requires.

Monk Fruit in particular would work well in this recipe. You can use the same ratio as Gentle Sweet and adjust accordingly.

My entire list of natural sweeteners and information about living a sugar-free lifestyle can be found here.

Variations

There are many variations of this recipe and you certainly can tweak it to make it your own. Here are a few different ingredient ideas to add.

Jicama
Apple
Mandarin oranges
Walnuts
Fermented pecans

If you like this recipe, be sure to check out a similar blackberry version!

Equipment

Stand Mixer

Spatula

Blender or Food Processor

Serving Bowl (the one pictured is from Pottery Barn)

Storage

If you are serving this for a holiday meal, you most likely won't have leftovers. But just in case, you can store this recipe in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to a week. After that, you will start to see some liquid forming around the edges. Eventually, the cranberries will ferment even in the fridge.

FAQ

Are cranberries low-carb?

Cranberries are an FP in the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle. This means that they do not have heavy carbs or fats in them. If they are consumed in large quantities they will have a higher carb count, but in the case of this recipe, they remain an FP and therefore low carb.