Sugar Free Marshmallows: Easy Keto Recipe

These homemade sugar free marshmallows were born out of my cravings for a treat from a favorite bakery of mine. When I lived in Vancouver, there was a bakery called “Butter.” They had the most incredible homemade marshmallows. I loved them. Butter also has a cookbook (amazing cookbook I might add) that had their famous marshmallow recipe that I rediscovered last week. I started thinking – would this recipe work with allulose? YES, the answer is YES, yes it worked. These keto marshmallows are the adapted recipe without sugar or corn syrup, and I dare say they are just as good as regular marshmallows.

I had to give credit to Butter because their recipe was the inspiration for this version.

Seriously, you need to make a batch of these things. They are SOOOO good. 

Low Carb Marshmallows – You won’t believe how easy they are to make!

Ok, these marshmallows don’t have any carbs. 

Made only with gelatin and allulose, the carbs come out to a big fat zero.  Unflavoured gelatin has no carbs, and Allulose is net zero. 

I get a lot of emails about Allulose because of the packaging label rules. Allulose is not metabolized by the body. Unlike sweeteners like xylitol or malitol (the worst), it does not spike blood sugar. It also doesn’t have the same impact on the gut as some sweeteners do. If you’ve been eating a low-carb or keto diet for a while, you know what I am talking about.  

With all that said, I don’t give health advice. I recommend to everyone that if you’re trying new sweeteners, find the one that is right for you and your personal dietary needs. 

I like allulose because it doesn’t spike my blood sugar and doesn’t make me bloat out like I am 9 months pregnant with triplets, but I also really like it because of its similar properties to sugar. Oh and, it doesn’t kick me out of ketosis either. So as a sweetener, it’s a win-win-win. 

Back to my original point; this recipe is SUPER easy,  zero carbs, and I swear these marshmallows taste 95% like the real thing. I mean, I can’t say 100% because sugar tastes like sugar, nothing tastes exactly like sugar, but I mean it’s so close! But I can tell you the texture is dead-on, it’s 100%. 

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Sweeteners for this recipe

Allulose. That’s the sweetener you need for the marshmallow recipe. Allulose shares many properties with real sugar. It thickens when heated, turns to syrup, caramelizes, and browns in almost the same way as pure sugar. Other sweeteners do not have the same properties.   

For this recipe, we need to whip heated sticky syrup to get the fluff and volume that we need for these sugar free marshmallows. Many low-carb recipes use egg whites to achieve this, but traditional marshmallows do not have eggs in them, and you can tell the difference between gelatin and eggs in a marshmallow recipe right away. The air bubbles are tighter, the squish has a bit of resistance, and the marshmallows taste better (In my opinion!). 

So for this recipe, it’s allulose, or you’re making a different recipe. 

For rolling the keto marshmallows after cutting, you can use powdered erythritol (I used Surkin Icing) monk fruit, or a blend. Toasted coconut works well too, and I have instructions for that for you down below. 

Method & tips

Homemade keto marshmallows seem like they would be a real time consuming difficult thing to make, but it is super easy.   

You can make these with an electric hand mixer, but I recommend a stand mixer. You have to whip this for ten full minutes to get the fluff developed, and with a hand mixer, it could be a bit much. But I know many of you are determined, so if you don’t have a stand mixer you can make these, just know in advance it’s going to be some hard work. Consider it a workout.  😉 

When you add the water to the gelatin, it’s going to look weird. The gelatin will clump up and look like a pile of goo. 

The allulose and water will get cooked over a med-low burner until it reaches 230-240F. OR, if you do not have a candy thermometer, you only need to cook the syrup for a minute from the time it starts a rolling boil. That’s it. Turn the stand mixer on, and gently pour the hot syrup into the mixer and turn it on. Walk away for 9 minutes. Make yourself a cup of coffee. You deserve it.

At the 9 minute mark, come back and add the vanilla.

At the 10-12 minute mark, the marshmallow mixture should be fluffy and light.

Cutting & Prep work

Once the Marshmallows are set, pull off the plastic wrap and use a knife to loosen the edge away from the pan. 

The keto marshmallow slab should release from the pan very neatly, if it is stuck, just give it a gentle pull and plop the whole thing down into a pile of powdered sweetener. 

Use a sharp knife to cut the marshmallows and dip them in powdered sweetener as you go.

That’s it, super easy!

Low carb Marshmallow Variations 

Oh, now we get to the good bits. You can create ALL kinds of crazy variations for these marshmallows. I’m going to drop a few of my favourite varieties, but the sky’s the limit here.

Toasted Coconut: Take 3 cups of unsweetened coconut and toast in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Add 2 Tbsp of your preferred powdered sweetener and blend it. Use this mixture to coat the marshmallows instead of the powdered sugar-free sweetener.   

Strawberry:  Add 1 tsp of strawberry emulsion to your marshmallows during the last minute of whipping. The strawberry emulsion has a BIG punch of flavor with no additional carbs.  (raspberry works very well too!) 

Coffee:  Substitute the water in the recipe with coffee! (This is my husbands’ favourite version) 

Chocolate: Add 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder to the whipped marshmallow mixture. 

Double chocolate: Make a batch of chocolate marshmallows. When they are cooled, dip them in Lily’s melted dark chocolate. These make great treats on a stick.  

These are just a few ideas. You can do all kinds of things with this keto marshmallow recipe. I will be testing all sorts of crazy stuff in the coming weeks to see how these marshmallows hold up when baked.   

Storage & serving ideas 

These sugar-free keto marshmallows store well when sealed in a bag or an airtight container. No need to refrigerate, they hold up well stored at room temperature, but you can toss them in the fridge. They do not freeze well, so I do not recommend it. Since the carb count is SO low, I imagine a stack of these will be gone in no time flat.

They melt just like the real deal in hot chocolate, and you can toast them just like real marshmallows, too! Allulose does tend to burn quicker than sugar, so my advice is to go slow when roasting, and don’t let them catch fire.

Interested in More Keto Baking Ideas?

We’ve got all kinds of recipes for sugar free desserts, snacks, and keto friendly treats. Here are some of my favorite recipes:

• Sugar-Free Marshmallow Bars with Chocolate & Peanut Butter
• Keto Smores Cupcakes With Sugar Free Marshmallow Fluff
• Keto Whoopie Pies With Marshmallow Filling
• Low Carb Smores Brownies
• Delicious Peanut Butter Keto Cookies

Editorial Note: This recipe was originally published on March 19, 2020, and was updated on March 22, 2022.