Like allulose and erythritol, monk fruit is a natural low-calorie sweetener you can use in place of sugar when baking or cooking. Here are all the fun facts, unique dessert recipes, and everything else you need to know about this sweetener!
As I come up with new recipes for this blog, I am always doing my best to come up with recipes that are low carb and refined sugar-free.
Whether you are cutting out sugar for serious health reasons or personal preference, there’s no reason why you should deny yourself from having a sweet treat here and there.
Besides, not every dessert has to be full of sugar!
In my search for low-calorie sweeteners, I found so many different options, and I have pretty much tried them all. Today, I am going to be sharing a sweetener that I frequently use in many of my dessert recipes: monk fruit.
I wanted to make sure you had all of the correct information about what this sweetener is, and share some helpful info I have learned about how it can replace regular table sugar.
Frequently Asked Questions About Monk Fruit
I get a lot of questions about monk fruit, so I decided to pull them all together and answer them in one post. If you find you have more questions than you see here, drop me a line.
What Is Monk Fruit?
Surprise, surprise! Monk fruit sweetener comes from…monk fruit. This particular fruit can be found in Southeast Asia and is also known as Luo Han Guo.
You will find fructose and glucose to be the primary natural sugars found in this fruit. You might be wondering how this sweetener is low carb and keto-friendly?
This sweetener has antioxidants called mogrosides that help bring sweetness to the fruit. When the sweetener is being made and processed, the mogrosides get removed from the juice. This process ensures none of the sugars are left behind. Isn’t modern science cool?
What Does Monk Fruit Taste Like?
Monk fruit is extremely sweet, which is why you might typically find it in a sweetener blend with another sugar substitution like erythritol.
Is Monk Fruit A Sugar Alcohol?
Nope! This sweetener comes naturally from fruit.
What Is The Nutritional Value of Monk Fruit?
Monk fruit has zero calories and carbs!
Is It Safe To Consume?
The FDA approved monk fruit as a sweetener in 2010, and it is known to be safe to consume. It even has some fantastic health benefits such as:
- Antioxidants
- Anti-inflammatory
There are still more studies that are currently undergoing to uncover what other kinds of health benefits this fruit may have.
Does It Raise Blood Sugar Levels?
According to Healthline, this natural sweetener does not raise blood sugar levels, which makes it a perfect sugar replacement option for people with diabetes. If anything, it might even help maintain or reduce lower sugar levels!
Is Monk Fruit Keto Friendly?
With it not having any calories or carbs, it’s a great sugar alternative for those who are following the keto diet.
Can You Bake With Monk Fruit?
Yes! If you continue to read this post, I will share a couple of my favorite baking recipes where I think monk fruit sweetener shines.
Where Can I Find Monk Fruit?
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Monk fruit has become a huge contender in the sweetener game, especially for dessert recipes!
Here are some of the brands of monk fruit I frequently use and highly recommend:
Fun fact: you can find this sweetener in liquid, powder, golden, and granular form for all sorts of recipes!
Recipes To Make Where You Can Use Monk Fruit
I like to use monk fruit in my baking recipes all the time. It’s one of three sweeteners I use when I am creating or adjusting new recipes.
Want to give it a try? Here are a couple of recipes where I have used monk fruit in the recipe.
I am very fond of using the monk fruit erythritol powdered blend. I find it is the best of both worlds. The sweeteners complement each other, reduce much of the aftertaste, and work very well most low carb recipes.
Fresh Fruit Custard Tarts
Custard tarts are delicious. When you add a layer of fresh fruit right on top, it takes this pastry dish to a whole new level!
For me, it’s the ultimate comfort food!
In this dessert recipe, I used a mixture of powdered erythritol and monk fruit to sweeten the sugary crust and the creamy vanilla custard.
Low Carb Spiced Pumpkin Bread Stuffed with Cream Cheese
When fall starts to come around the corner, I am always one of the first ones in line to buy all the pumpkin to make this low carb spiced pumpkin bread.
My favorite part is the look of surprise on someone’s face when they cut a slice of the bread loaf and find that it’s stuffed with cheesecake. It’s the best!
I used a monk fruit blend to sweeten every part of this dessert: the bread batter, cheesecake filling, and the whipped cream cheese topping as well.
This pumpkin bread will give you all the fall feels!
Salted Caramel Keto Cupcakes
Little vanilla cupcakes topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting and ooze with sweet-salty caramel.
Wow. Worth it!
The vanilla cupcake is a blend of almond and coconut flour. It also has one cup of monk fruit erythritol powdered sweetener, a splash of vanilla, and a couple of other must-have ingredients.
This dessert is a must-try.
(Note: The caramel in this recipe requires allulose)
Keto Lemon Cheesecake With Lemon Curd Topping
If you look through some of my dessert recipes, you’ll see I make many baked goods with lots of lemons. It’s one of my top 3 flavors- and with good reason!
This keto lemon cheesecake is the perfect balance between sweet and tangy. It has a nice bit of tartness that comes through from the lemon curd.
In this lemony dessert, I used a blend of powdered erythritol and monk fruit to add to the sweetness of the buttery crust and the cheesecake filling.
I also added 2/3 of a cup of the sweetener to the lemon curd to help tame the tartness of the lemons.
More Recipes To Try
If you are looking for a couple of more recipes to test using monk fruit, take a look at some of my top dessert recipes:
I’m wondering if I can use monk fruit (Lakanto) to can fresh fruit? What about making jam?
Hey Kathy, you can! There are just a few things that are different or required to make sure your preserves are safe. For jams, I use Pomona’s pectin, it gels without sugar. It gels SO well that it has the same texture as regular jam, it’s really quite amazing. The science behind it is way too long for a reply but you can read all about it directly on Pomona’s website. I have several jam recipes on the site that you can take a look at that use Pomona’s just search “jam”.
I don’t can whole fruit but I did do a quick search and Lakanto actually has a recipe for preserved peaches on their site along with a few others. Your biggest concern for water bath canning fruit is making sure the acids levels are adequate, so I would check for a tried and true recipe. Pulling one directly from Lakanto’s site is a good bet. You can also reach out directly to Lakanto and they will answer your questions. I’ve found them to be incredibly helpful whenever I reach out. I hope that helps!
If you decided to use Pamona’s pectin don’t be shocked by the price tag. It is about 6 times more expensive than a box of regular pectin, but one box will do several batches. I hope you enjoy canning season!
I use Golden Monkfruit (with Erythritol) to make crunchy pecans and walnuts in the oven. It crystallizes beautifully. Will I get the same results using the Classic (white) Monkfruit?
Hi Helen, it’s actually the erythritol in the sweetener blend that causes the crunchy texture. Monk fruit will crisp up a bit, but not as much as the golden blend will. Hope that helps!
Does monk fruit cause diarrhea like some of the other artificial sugars ?
Hi Dianne, monk fruit without any blends (so no additions of erythritol or xylitol) has way less stomach upset vs the sweeteners that are sugar alcohols. With that said I have readers that say Monkfruit doesn’t bother them at all, and other say that it does. To be sure if monk fruit is going to be ok for your stomach I would verify that the sweetener you’re using doesn’t have any additional sweeteners before testing. Cheers!
Is there a difference between a product labeled monk fruit sweetener and monk fruit powder?
Hi Ernie, hope this answer doesn’t sound complicated. Monk fruit powder can have two different meanings. The first is simply pure monk fruit that tends to be much higher in sweetness vs a blend. You have to check the label to see if it is a 1:1 sugar substitute, or if it’s something more like 3:1 or 10:1. These sweeteners are a bit different from most monk fruit sweeteners you find on the shelf, the ingredient is the same (monk fruit), but it’s the concentration that is different. The second version of “powdered” monk fruit sweetener is just that, instead of a granular version of the product you get something more like icing sugar. It’s much more finely ground. Usually, this monk fruit powdered sweetener is a blend with erythritol or some other sweetener. To know, you need to check the label. I hope that helps!
Hello!
2 questions
1. Can I use monk fruit as a replacement for icing sugar to make a butter-frosting for a cake?
2. Can I use monk fruit adding a tablespoon of milk or water in replacement of icing sugar?
Hi Christine, so the answer is two-fold – you can technically if you grab the powdered version you can make buttercream with much the same texture as regular buttercream, but using pure monk fruit, it is going to have a very strong aftertaste. For a true buttercream, I would recommend a blend of powdered monk fruit and powdered allulose to get the texture and reduce the aftertaste. And the same goes for the icing sugar, it makes a great replacement, but it’s better if it is blended. I have found that non of the sugar replacements work well in a glaze. Hope that helps!
Hi Laura,
I have some allulose and some pure monk fruit powder and drops. Allulose is quite expense and it requires an extra third cup per cup when baking. Can I add some of the monk fruit powder (or drops) to the allulose to retain the bulk but bump up the sweet? If so, how much monk fruit would I add to the allulose?
Thanks!
Hey Cooki, for something like a cake recipe you can blend your sweeteners no problem– the challenge arises in recipes where allulose is one of the primary ingredients like in caramel. Allulose provides a different texture to some recipes. If you adjust it out too much you could put off that texture balance. In a recipe where you only need a bit of sweetener, blending them works fine. Sometimes it will take some trial and error to get it just right, but I find sometimes a 50:50 blend will work. I can’t tell you for sure how much you need to add because I cannot see the package substitution of your particular monk fruit (all brands seem to be a bit different). If you send me an email with the brand of monk fruit you have I can help you do the math. Hope that helps!
I used monk fruit sweetener to replace sugar for my shortbread cookies, but they didn’t turned out crisp, they were all soft. Why is that?
Hi Anna, monk fruit sweetens, but that is where the sweetener stops being similar to sugar. Sugar has chemical properties that allow it to caramelize, melt, harden and it’s those properties that make your shortbread cookies crisp. Monk fruit doesn’t have those properties. If you want to try to make a regular cookie sweet, but still crisp your best bet is allulose (which has the most similar properties to sugar) it hardens, caramelizes, etc all that good stuff. The only thing to note about allulose is that it does have a tendency to brown, or burn quickly. When I make cookies with allulose I always add a piece of tin foil over the top of the cookies during baking if I feel the cookies are browning too quickly. You could also use erythritol in your cookies, it has a tendency to harden when cold and get pretty crispy and it also imparts a heavy cooling sensation if you use a lot of it in a recipe.
Hope that helps!
Can I use monk fruit to make homemade ice cream
Hi Mary Kay, you can use monk fruit in ice cream recipes. The only challenge is that the monk fruit will make the ice cream freeze rock solid – which isn’t an issue if you’re willing to wait a few minutes for it to soften before you scoop it. You can add tablespoons of hard alcohol to the recipe as well to help soften. Personally, I just make the ice cream with the monk fruit and let it sit out on the counter for a few minutes before scooping it. Cheers!
I too would like to use monk fruit blend in my ice cream base. I use Lakanto classic with monk fruit and erythritol brand. Will I have the same hardening when freezing.
Plu s, share with me about Lakato Golden type – I thought this was a brown sugar substitute, I was not impressed. How or when would I use this type of sugar replacement?
You can use monkfruit as your ice cream sweetener, just be sure to add either a splash of hard alcohol like vodka, or rum and if alcohol isn’t your thing you can add some food grade glyercine, both will work really well to make the icecream less hard.
Do you happen to know of any monk fruit sweeteners that doesn’t contain any sugar alcohols? I bought the liquid version (Now brand), but I’m looking for powdered versions. I’m new to this since being diagnosed with CSID, so I need all the help I can get. Thanks!!
Hi Robyn, yes, Besti Brand makes a monk fruit that is allulose with monk fruit. The problem with raw pure monk fruit is it is exceptionally sweet and is usually mixed with something as a bulking agent and that bulking agent is usually erythritol (likely because of cost). Allulose is fairly new to the market but it is not sugar alcohol, it’s actually a rare sugar made from a few food sources that have no impact on blood sugar. With that said I have no idea if it is safe for CSIDs or not, for that information, I would check with your GP, specialist, or nutritionist. Hope that information helps!