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Easy Healthy Sugar-free Jello Gelatin (Vegan Option)

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Are you looking for a healthy alternative to the store-bought jello with all of the sugar and artificial additives?  This recipe for homemade Sugar-free JELLO® is super simple and a great way to get extra protein into your diet, without all the extra “stuff.”

homemade lemon-flavored jello in clear glass.Pin

When you think about it, why would someone pay over $5 per pound for a little box made up of mostly sugar, a teensy bit of gelatin, artificial color and flavor?

Answer: you shouldn't and now you don't have to. It's super easy and so much healthier to make your own gelatin dessert, aka homemade jello gelatin!

healthy homemade jello in glass dish with spoonsPin

Why You Should Make Homemade Jello

Of course, you save money over store-bought gelatin desserts.

Most obviously, you have total control over the ingredients and you can leave out those not so savory things like artificial colors and flavors—yikes!

It's fully customizable. You can use whatever flavor, sweetener, and natural color you like. It's a super fun recipe for kids and adults to make!

Ingredients and Related Information

Gelatin

It's REALLY important to use quality gelatin with all of the factory farming that is going on.

Some good choices for quality grass-fed beef gelatin are:

  • Great Lakes Gelatin – this is the first grass-fed gelatin that I ever used. Nice people. Good customer service. Pasture and grass-fed sources from Argentina and Brazil.
  • Vital Proteins – these seem to be good people too.  Pastured, grass-fed bovine from Brazil.
  • Perfect Supplements – also pastured, grass-fed bovine from Brazil.

Lemon Juice

Please don't use those icky “Not ReaLemon” bottles that are sold everywhere. They are filled w/ nasty preservatives and don't taste like the real thing.

Because they aren't.

The Dream Foods brand costs more, but it is worth it!  I buy mine in a super big combo pack at Costco. If you don't that much, you can find it here on Amazon.

If you do go and buy the pack at Costco, you can use your extra juice for my Homemade Lemonade with Sugar-Free Option.

Sweetener

You can use almost any sweetener you like for this recipe. I use low-carb/sugar-free sweeteners, but it's a very flexible recipe.

More Delicious Flavor Options

There are loads of possibilities for making all kinds of flavors of this Homemade “Jello.” I prefer to make it lower carb but you can do either. Here are some great ideas:

  • Juice: Use any flavor of juice you like and skip the sweetener
  • Tea: Try a tea-flavored gelatin dessert.
  • Premade Drink: Flavored drinks like Bai would be lovely for this purpose.

I haven't tried these yet, but I think using above liquids instead of the amounts of the juice plus water should work. Of course you could dilute for a lighter flavor.

Recipe Notes and Substitutions

  • Molds: Instead of the baking pans, you can use any kind of mold.
  • Gelatin: For firmer gelatin squares, use twice as much gelatin to make a firmer result.
  • Color: The resulting color of this Homemade Jello will not be as intense as that of store-bought gelatin mixes. You can use natural food coloring or even add brightly colored foods such as spirulina to add intensity. Making this recipe without added coloring using lemon or lime juice will result in a faintly colored dessert.
  • Stevia: 1/32 teaspoon is about as sweet as 1-2 tablespoons sugar. You can substitute another sweetener for the stevia, but you will need to use a lot. See this post for more measuring and usage info.
  • Sweeteners: You can use any sweetener you like. I use low-carb sweeteners so that this recipe is candida and keto-friendly. If you use a liquid sweetener, you may need to use a different amount. I like using a combination of two sweeteners when using low-carb sweeteners for better flavor.
  • Juice and Rind: You can use lime juice and rind instead of lemon, or use a mix of both for a lemon-lime jello.
  • Vegan Option: Substitute agar powder for gelatin for a vegan option. For agar powder substitute using a 1:1 ratio. If using agar flakes, use 3 times as much flakes as gelatin/agar powder.
  • AIP: use coconut sugar instead of the low-carb sweetener.

FAQs

I have a recipe calling for a box of JELLO®. Can I use this recipe instead?

This recipe should be the equivalent of approximately one box of JELLO®.

Can I make this recipe into a homemade vegan JELLO®?

Yes, just use agar powder substituting in a 1:1 ratio. If you use agar flakes, you will need to use 3 times as much flakes as gelatin / agar powder.

healthy homemade jello in glass dish with spoons

Homemade Jello Gelatin (sugar-free option)

Make this Homemade JELLO at home and ditch the boxed mix. Sugar-free with nourishing ingredients. Tastes great too!
4.83 from 17 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: AIP, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Keto, Low-Carb, Paleo, THM:S, Vegan
Keyword: Homemade Jello, homemade sugar-free jello
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Chilling Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 16kcal

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons gelatin (granulated – 3 packets)
  • 3/4 cup low carb sweetener (see above for alternatives)
  • 3/8 teaspoon stevia extract (see substitutions above)
  • 1 1/2 cups boiling water (juice could be substituted)
  • 3 cups cold water (divided–juice can be substituted)
  • 1 1/8 cups lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind (optional)

Instructions

  • Soften gelatin by soaking in 1 1/2 cups of the cold water (or juice) for a few minutes.
  • Add boiling water (or juice) and stir until gelatin is dissolved.
  • Add remaining ingredients (including the other 1 1/2 cups cold water), stirring until thoroughly blended.
  • Pour into 2 8×8 baking pans.
  • Refrigerate until set.
  • Store covered in fridge.

Notes

  • Molds: Instead of the baking pans, you can use any kind of mold.
  • Gelatin: For firmer gelatin squares, use twice as much gelatin to make a firmer result.
  • Color: The resulting color of this Homemade Jello will not be as intense as that of store-bought gelatin mixes. You can use natural food coloring or even add brightly colored foods such as spirulina to add intensity. Making this recipe without added coloring using lemon or lime juice will result in a faintly colored dessert.
  • Stevia: 1/32 teaspoon is about as sweet as 1-2 tablespoons sugar. So you can substitute another sweetener for the stevia, but you will need to use a lot. See this post for more measuring and usage info.
  • Sweeteners: You can use any sweetener you like. I use low-carb sweeteners so that this recipe is candida and keto-friendly. If you use a liquid sweetener, you may need to use a different amount. I like using a combination of two sweeteners when using low-carb sweeteners for better flavor.
  • Juice and Rind: You can use lime juice and rind instead of lemon, or use a mix of both for a lemon-lime jello.
  • Vegan Option: Substitute agar powder for gelatin for a vegan option. For agar powder substitute using a 1:1 ratio. If using agar flakes, use 3 times as much flakes as gelatin/agar powder.
  • AIP: use coconut sugar instead of the low-carb sweetener

Nutrition

Calories: 16kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 5mg | Potassium: 35mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg | Net Carbs: 1g

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.

More DIY Pantry Basics Recipes

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258 Comments

  1. Have you tried making jello, either as a dessert to be served in a bowl or as Knox Blox, using water and freeze-dried fruit (blitzed into powder)? I’m wondering a) how much fruit powder should be used and b) would other sweetener be desired? I’m a low-carb gal and trying to avoid excess fructose. I’m not sure if the fructose count would be any lower this way than using fruit juice.

    Reply

    1. Hi there! So sorry for the delay. I haven’t tried that but I think it would work. Maybe try the same amount of sweetener since lemon and lime juice aren’t sweet at all and see how it goes. If you do a strawberry or cranberry that would be the best option. Of course cranberry is lower in carbs. Let me know how it goes if you try!

      Reply

        1. I think you could do whatever you like – I would eye ball it personally depending on the carbs you are OK with and the flavor you want.

          Reply

  2. I do not want any sweetener in the recipe, can I just leave it out?
    Do I have to have lemon juice? Can I leave that out too. I just want gelatin cubes with no flavouring or sweeteners at all.

    Reply

    1. Hi there! I believe you’ll just want to substitute water for the juice. I think that should work!

      Reply

  3. 5 stars
    Thank you for this fantastic recipe! It fits multiple dietary requirements in my house and my 8-year-old LOVED it and immediately asked for seconds.

    I used liquid stevia and allulose as my sweeteners

    Reply

  4. Just thought l would let everyone know that l found out from my dr that monk fruit is a probiotic and is good for your gut. Is also good for diabetics as it doesnt spike blood sugar. I find stevia can leave an “after taste” sometimes. Havent tried this recipe yet but will.

    Reply

    1. Hi there. Good information – yes it actually has prebiotic potential which is great to know! There are actually pre, pro and postbiotics. It’s interesting. I hope you like it! You might need more monk b/c I find it’s not as sweet as stevia extact but just try it by taste and see!

      Reply

    1. Hello Craig – I’m not sure what you mean by lecturing. This is the second nasty comment that came in last night. I know that the world situation is getting to people but really if you go back over the post, I think you will see that I didn’t lecture and that I did, in fact, provide a LOT of options for substituting so hopefully some ingredients in there are available where you live. Happy to help you find some, but I would appreciate your holding back the unwarranted criticism.

      Thanks in advance.

      Reply

      1. Looks wonderful, thank you for sharing your recipe. Lemon and orange and lime are my favorite jellos.

        Reply

  7. I don’t see how 3 TBS is enough to solidify that much liquid. I’m 2 hours into the fridge and mine is still liquid.

    Reply

    1. Hi there. It has always worked for me – did you follow the directions correctly? I’ve made this many times. What kind of gelatin did you use?

      Reply

  9. Trying lemon juice and brewed hibiscus yea for red color. Thanks for this recipe and I’ve enjoyed many others on my keto journey since 2017

    Reply

      1. I am looking for a receipe for a banana sugar free gelatin/jello.
        Can anyone help?
        Thank you!

        Reply

        1. Hi there. I am thinking you could use water instead of juice and use a natural flavoring like this. You could use another one but I prefer all natural. https://amzn.to/3Ktjfgl (affiliate link) Hope that helps!

          Reply