Sugar free

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Mike444

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Original poster
Dec 9, 2018
15
2
I am looking for a sugar free finishing sauce for pulled pork. Having to make some changes due to my health. Thanks in advance.
 
I quit sugar cold turkey 4 years ago after my doctor told me that if I didn't change something, I was going to die. Literally that's exactly what he said. Right then and there I quit ALL sugar. I keep my sugar intake to less than 5 grams per serving and read labels religiously. As for finishing sauces, I make my own without added sugar.
 
G. Hughes is a readily available commercial sugar free sauces. They use sucralose which many health advocates recommend to avoid.

jcam222 jcam222 is our resident keto (no sugar) expert. He offers a wealth of knowledge.

I use Erythritol (major component of Swerve brand) as my sugar sub.
We use that a lot too and usually a generic brand. I do Swerve for their Brown sugar sub because it’s incredible. They also have a confectionary. When it comes to dessert sauces (I.e caramel) Allulose is the ticket. It is much less likely to recrystalize. We love G Hughes sauces. I stick to the original and hickory flavors. Mike if you search my posts they are all keto. I’ve posted fake potato dishes, desserts, rubs and of course plenty of meat.
 
Check out Monk fruit sugar, I prefer it without the Erythritol but it's hard to find so I end up getting the type that has a small amount added.
Zero calories, zero carbs.
It looks just like granulated sugar and substitutes well for same.
 
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I am looking for a sugar free finishing sauce for pulled pork. Having to make some changes due to my health. Thanks in advance.

Hi there and welcome!

The guys are getting you covered well.
Personally, I prefer "Head Country" brand sugar free sauce over G. Hughes but I'm not sure Head Country is sold outside of Texas. I think it also uses sucralose (Splenda) which may not work for you since some people still have insulin responses to sucralose and insulin responses are not a good thing depending on your no/low sugar situation.

Erythritol (Swerve) is my go to sugar substitute as it has no insulin response, taste just like sugar, and is the softest on the stomach of all the sugar-like substitutes that are not sucralose.

Vitacost.com has hands down the best deal on Erythritol on the internet:
At $13.15 ($4.38/lb) you get close to 4x the amount when compared Swerve to the price of swerve. Also if you order $25 of Vitacost Brand items you get 2-3 day free shipping so just order 2 of these and boom you are golden!

I have yet to make my own Erythritol based BBQ sauce or Ketchup mainly because I can get Head Country so easily so I'm lazy about it haha.

I hope this info helps :)
 
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Hi there and welcome!

The guys are getting you covered well.
Personally, I prefer "Head Country" brand sugar free sauce over G. Hughes but I'm not sure Head Country is sold outside of Texas. I think it also uses sucralose (Splenda) which may not work for you since some people still have insulin responses to sucralose and insulin responses are not a good thing depending on your no/low sugar situation.

Erythritol (Swerve) is my go to sugar substitute as it has no insulin response, taste just like sugar, and is the softest on the stomach of all the sugar-like substitutes that are not sucralose.

Vitacost.com has hands down the best deal on Erythritol on the internet:
At $13.15 ($4.38/lb) you get close to 4x the amount when compared Swerve to the price of swerve. Also if you order $25 of Vitacost Brand items you get 2-3 day free shipping so just order 2 of these and boom you are golden!

I have yet to make my own Erythritol based BBQ sauce or Ketchup mainly because I can get Head Country so easily so I'm lazy about it haha.

I hope this info helps :)
I’ll have to look around for the Head Country sauce! I enjoy quite a few of the G Hughes. I have made several sauces with the sugar subs. I do a Lexington style using Brown Swerve based on Chef Jimmy’s recipe with some mods for my taste. The thing with the sugar subs is the fact the recrystalize so easily. Next sauce I try to make I’m going to use Allulose along with some brown sugar flavor drops. Allulose does not come out of solution and crystallize so easily. It’s my go to for granulated use in desserts now too.
 
Check out Monk fruit sugar, I prefer it without the Erythritol but it's hard to find so I end up getting the type that has a small amount added.
Zero calories, zero carbs.
It looks just like granulated sugar and substitutes well for same.

I was going to mention this but you got it first. I haven't used it in my bbq sauces but use it in other things. Great stuff but a bit pricey. Better than sucralose.
 
I’ll have to look around for the Head Country sauce! I enjoy quite a few of the G Hughes. I have made several sauces with the sugar subs. I do a Lexington style using Brown Swerve based on Chef Jimmy’s recipe with some mods for my taste. The thing with the sugar subs is the fact the recrystalize so easily. Next sauce I try to make I’m going to use Allulose along with some brown sugar flavor drops. Allulose does not come out of solution and crystallize so easily. It’s my go to for granulated use in desserts now too.

Oh yeah I much prefer Head Country flavor over G. Hughes. G Hughes uses too much nutmeg and maybe even cinnamon type flavors for me so I always feel like I'm kinda eating pumpkin pie which I don't like hahaha. Head country isn't without it's flaws either but its more suited to my pallet and is a simpler profile for a BBQ sauce. If you use too much though the artificial sweetener gets noticed, the secret is not to drown your food and it's fine :)

Oh cool!!!! I never bothered with Allulose but I will have to get me a 3 pound bag. I found 3 pounds on Amazon for less than $18.
I will use it to make keto friendly gummy snacks and sauces like you mention!!!
I didnt know Erythritol recrystallized so easily which kinda ruined my homemade gummy sweets haha. But with allulose I bet I can rock on!!!

Thanks for the tip!
 
I find the best monk fruit blend to use in rubs and bbq sauce is Lakanto Golden. It has a maple type taste. I ise it often in rubs.
 
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Of all the sugar free sweeteners I have found xylitol the closest to sugar in taste. The sweetness is a little less that than regular sugar but flavor wise I find it pretty spot on. Made from birch it at least makes me feel better about it than the lab sweeteners. It all in my head I’m sure but works for me.
 
Of all the sugar free sweeteners I have found xylitol the closest to sugar in taste. The sweetness is a little less that than regular sugar but flavor wise I find it pretty spot on. Made from birch it at least makes me feel better about it than the lab sweeteners. It all in my head I’m sure but works for me.
Definitely gotta do what works for you. I don’t use xylitol as it is absolutely deadly to dogs. Even in extremely small amounts it can cause death quickly. Don’t forget monk fruit is natural as is erythritol (brand name Swerve). Monk fruit is from a berry and erythritol is a sugar alcohol made from fermenting corn. A newer sweetener is Allulose. It’s not a sugar alcohol but rather a rare sugar that’s not absorbed. It is also naturally occurring in many things. For desserts it’s my new go to.
 
Definitely gotta do what works for you. I don’t use xylitol as it is absolutely deadly to dogs. Even in extremely small amounts it can cause death quickly. Don’t forget monk fruit is natural as is erythritol (brand name Swerve). Monk fruit is from a berry and erythritol is a sugar alcohol made from fermenting corn. A newer sweetener is Allulose. It’s not a sugar alcohol but rather a rare sugar that’s not absorbed. It is also naturally occurring in many things. For desserts it’s my new go to.
Thanks. The toxicity to dogs can definitely be scary. We had to find a new home for our dog a couple years ago so it’s not an issue here. Health issues prevented me from doing much outside with him or chasing him down when he’d get out. The guy stood up and his shoulders were above the chain link. We miss him but he’s having a better life with someone who can keep up with him. I’ll have to try allulose. I really need to get better on subbing out and cutting back. I was doing great then sometime during the pandemic I miss placed my give a poop. Food has always been my stress reliever. If you’ve got some good recipes send them my way. Always looking to find more good food.
 
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