Sugar-Free Thanksgiving Desserts
Someone at the table is skipping sugar this year, and they still want pie. These are the Thanksgiving classics with the sugar swapped for a sweetener that bakes like it, or for nothing but fruit. Thirty sugar-free Thanksgiving desserts, from pumpkin pie and apple crisp to flan, gingerbread and a no-bake mousse.
Six to Bake First
One from every section, starting with the pumpkin pie that looks like everybody else's.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie
The pie everyone expects, deep-dish crust and evaporated milk included. A monk fruit blend sits where the sugar went, and a pinch more Royal Cinnamon keeps the spice front and center.
Sugar-Free Apple Crisp with Oats
Flour, rolled oats and cold butter over sliced apples, the way a crisp should be. Granular and brown sugar substitutes replace both sugars, and a teaspoon of Royal Cinnamon does the rest.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
Crustless pumpkin cheesecake baked in a springform, so there is no crust to fuss over the night before. A full tablespoon of Pure Vanilla Extract keeps the pumpkin spice company.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Walnut Bread
A hearty whole wheat loaf with walnuts and olive oil, sweetened with sugar-free maple-flavored syrup. Regular flour, regular loaf pan, and it slices clean the next morning.
Sugar-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Chewy oatmeal raisin cookies with whole wheat flour and monk fruit where the brown sugar goes. Raisins carry a lot of the sweetness, and a little cinnamon carries the rest.
Cinnamon Whipped Cream
Four ingredients and two minutes with a mixer, and every pie on this page has its topping. Powdered monk fruit keeps it sugar-free, and Royal Cinnamon gives it the warmth.
Sugar-Free Thanksgiving Pies
Pumpkin, pecan, apple, chocolate and two takes on sweet potato, each with the sugar swapped for a sweetener that bakes like it.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Pie
The pie everyone expects, deep-dish crust and evaporated milk included. A monk fruit blend sits where the sugar went, and a pinch more Royal Cinnamon keeps the spice front and center.
Sugar-Free Sweet Potato Pie
Southern sweet potato pie, rich with butter and cream, with golden monk fruit standing in for the brown sugar. A store-bought crust keeps it to an easy afternoon.
Sugar-Free Pecan Pie
Two cups of allulose simmer with water into the syrup that corn syrup used to be, so the filling sets glossy and gooey. The crust is coconut flour, which makes it keto as well.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Cream Pie
Sugar-free chocolate chips melt into a stovetop custard, and the six leftover egg whites become the meringue on top. A splash of Pure Vanilla Extract rounds out the chocolate.
Sugar-Free Apple Pie
A full double-crust apple pie with eight cups of fruit and a sweetener that measures like sugar. Apples bring plenty of their own sweetness, so the filling still tastes like apple pie.
Sweet Potato Pie with a Cassava Crust
For the grain-free guest: a cassava and coconut flour crust, with pecan butter whipped into the sweet potato filling. Allulose is one of three sweeteners the recipe says will work.
Sugar-Free Apple & Pear Desserts
Apples and pears bring plenty of their own sweetness, so these need the least help of anything on the table. Two of them skip the sweetener entirely.
Sugar-Free Apple Crisp with Oats
Flour, rolled oats and cold butter over sliced apples, the way a crisp should be. Granular and brown sugar substitutes replace both sugars, and a teaspoon of Royal Cinnamon does the rest.
Cinnamon and Vanilla Baked Pears
No sweetener at all. Halved pears roast with whole cinnamon sticks and vanilla until they go soft and syrupy in their own juice. Serve them warm with a spoonful of whipped cream.
Easy Sugar-Free Apple Crisp
Tart Granny Smiths under an oat crumble, with allulose named right in the ingredient list for both the white and brown sugar. Her notes cover a lower-carb topping if you need one.
Sugar-Free Apple Crumble with Spelt
A British crumble, heavy on the topping: spelt flour, oats, walnuts and butter over eight Granny Smiths. Ginger leads the spice, and any sweetener that measures like sugar works.
Sugar-Free Apple Crisp for Two
Apple crisp in two ramekins, for the quiet night after the leftovers are gone. Almond flour and oats make the topping, and two teaspoons of Pure Vanilla Extract perfume the fruit.
Red Wine Poached Pears
Pear halves poach in red wine with orange, fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick until they turn deep ruby. The pears and wine bring all the sweetness, with Greek yogurt on the side.
Sugar-Free Cheesecakes & Custards
Eggs and cream do the heavy lifting in a custard, which makes it the easiest dessert to take the sugar out of. Two of these lean on allulose for a real caramel top.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
Crustless pumpkin cheesecake baked in a springform, so there is no crust to fuss over the night before. A full tablespoon of Pure Vanilla Extract keeps the pumpkin spice company.
Sugar-Free Flan
Allulose and water cook down into a real amber caramel, then a custard of yolks and cream bakes on top of it. Flip it out and the sauce runs down the sides.
Crème Brûlée with an Allulose Crust
Allulose sweetens the vanilla custard and then goes on top, where the torch turns it into a glassy crust you crack with a spoon. Bake the custards a day ahead and torch at the table.
Sugar-Free Chocolate Pots de Crème
Little baked chocolate custards, deepened with a pinch of instant coffee. Sugar-free semi-sweet chocolate does most of the sweetening, with monk fruit or allulose to finish.
Pumpkin Custard
Pumpkin pie filling without the pie: a gelatin-set custard sweetened with stevia. Make it with coconut milk or regular dairy, whichever your table needs.
Sugar-Free Bread and Butter Pudding
Day-old bread soaks in a cream custard with orange zest and two teaspoons of cinnamon, then bakes up puffed and golden. Grapes bake in for sweetness, and xylitol handles the rest.
Swap the sugar, keep the recipe
Most sugar-free baking starts from a recipe written for sugar. Allulose tastes and bakes like real sugar, with 0 net carbs and no cooling aftertaste, and it caramelizes, which is how the pecan pie and the flan up the page get their color.
Sugar-Free Holiday Cakes & Breads
Three pumpkin loaves on three different flours, plus carrot cake, a molasses-free gingerbread and apple muffins for the morning after.
Sugar-Free Pumpkin Walnut Bread
A hearty whole wheat loaf with walnuts and olive oil, sweetened with sugar-free maple-flavored syrup. Regular flour, regular loaf pan, and it slices clean the next morning.
Sugar-Free Carrot Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
Pecans, orange zest and two teaspoons of cinnamon in a layer cake big enough for the whole table. Use Royal Cinnamon, since the orange frosting wants a spice that can keep up.
Pumpkin Bread with a Cream Cheese Swirl
Coconut flour keeps this loaf dense and moist, with a ribbon of sweetened cream cheese through the middle. Monk fruit syrup sweetens both the batter and the swirl.
Gingerbread Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting
Gingerbread usually leans on molasses, and this one gets its warmth from four spices instead. Almond and coconut flour bake it soft, and whipped cream goes on top.
Frosted Almond Flour Pumpkin Bread
Almond flour and a thick layer of cream cheese frosting make this pumpkin bread eat like cake. It takes two and a half teaspoons of cinnamon, so the pumpkin never tastes plain.
Sugar-Free Apple Mini Muffins
Little muffins sweetened by apple and smashed blueberries alone, with vanilla and cinnamon. Bake a batch for Friday morning, when nobody wants another slice of pie.
Sugar-Free Cookies & Bars
For the kids' table and the coffee hour: an oatmeal classic, snickerdoodle sandwiches and pecan pie in bar form.
Sugar-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Chewy oatmeal raisin cookies with whole wheat flour and monk fruit where the brown sugar goes. Raisins carry a lot of the sweetness, and a little cinnamon carries the rest.
Sugar-Free Snickerdoodle Sandwich Cookies
Soft coconut flour snickerdoodles, rolled in cinnamon and sandwiched with buttercream. Allulose goes into both the dough and the filling, so they bake up like the bakery kind.
Pecan Pie Bars
Pecan pie you can cut into squares: an almond flour shortbread under a butter-and-cream caramel packed with pecans. Brown and powdered allulose blends make the caramel.
No-Bake Sugar-Free Desserts
Nothing here goes in the oven, which counts for a lot on Thursday. Two mousses and the whipped cream every pie above is waiting for.
Cinnamon Whipped Cream
Four ingredients and two minutes with a mixer, and every pie on this page has its topping. Powdered monk fruit keeps it sugar-free, and Royal Cinnamon gives it the warmth.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse
Sugar-free cheesecake pudding mix, pumpkin and whipped cream folded together, with no oven and no crust. Spoon it into small glasses and it waits in the fridge until dessert.
Four-Ingredient Chocolate Mousse
Cream, cocoa, powdered sweetener and vanilla, whipped together until it holds a peak. Cocoa is the whole flavor here, so Dutch-Process Cocoa makes the biggest difference.
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We've Got Answers
What does sugar-free mean in a dessert recipe?
It means no added sugar. The sweetness comes from a sugar substitute such as allulose, monk fruit or erythritol, or from the fruit itself. Pumpkin, apples, raisins and milk still carry their own natural sugars, so a sugar-free dessert is not a zero-sugar one. Honey, maple syrup and coconut sugar count as sugar, which is why none of the recipes here use them.
Which sugar substitute bakes most like sugar?
Allulose comes closest. It tastes and bakes like real sugar with no cooling aftertaste, and it browns and caramelizes in the oven. It is a little less sweet than sugar, so recipes written for it use a bit more. Erythritol and monk fruit blends measure cup for cup and work well in pies and cakes, though some bakers notice a cool finish, and they do not caramelize the way allulose does.
Can I make my usual pie or crisp recipe sugar-free?
Usually, yes. Swap the sugar for a cup-for-cup sugar substitute, or use about a third more allulose, since it is a little less sweet. Replace brown sugar with a brown sugar substitute so the flavor stays. Fruit fillings are the easiest to convert. Anything that relies on sugar for structure, like meringue or caramel candy, is safer from a recipe written for a substitute.
Why do sugar-free desserts brown too fast or come out dry?
Allulose browns faster than sugar, so lower the oven by 25°F or lay foil over the top for the last part of the bake. Dryness usually comes from erythritol-based sweeteners, which do not hold moisture the way sugar does. A spoonful of sour cream in a cake batter helps, and so does pulling it as soon as a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs.
Is sugar-free the same as keto?
No. Keto counts every carb, so it also trades out wheat flour, oats and most fruit. Sugar-free only takes out the added sugar. That is why this page has a whole wheat pumpkin bread and an oat crisp next to a coconut-crust pecan pie. If you need the low-carb version too, our keto Thanksgiving desserts round-up is built for that.
Can I make sugar-free Thanksgiving desserts ahead?
Most of them. Cheesecake, flan, pots de crème and mousse are better made a day ahead. Pies keep covered in the fridge for three to four days, and pumpkin bread and carrot cake freeze for up to three months, wrapped tightly. Torch the crème brûlée and whip the cream on the day, since both are best fresh.
More Baking Adventures
Keto Thanksgiving Desserts
Low-carb pies and pecan bars, for when the flour has to go too.
Keto Pumpkin Desserts
Thirty low-carb pies, cheesecakes and bars for pumpkin season.
Best Pumpkin Dessert Recipes
The full-sugar pumpkin list, from pie to no-bake bites.
Best Apple Dessert Recipes for Fall
Crisps, pies, cakes and galettes for everything that comes home from the orchard.
Cranberry Dessert Recipes
Tart, bright and bright red, for the other side of the pie table.
Thanksgiving Cookies
Pie-inspired cookies and iced turkeys for the plate next to the pies.