Easy Sugar Free Homemade Gummies (Vegan Option)
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These sugar-free homemade gummies are an easy, naturally-sweetened alternative to store-bought gummy snacks. Made with simple ingredients like fruit juice and gelatin, they’re customizable, kid-friendly, and ready in minutes.
You can make them low-carb using lemon, lime, or cranberry, or use other juice concentrates for a naturally sweet version without corn syrup, refined sugar, or artificial ingredients.
I'm always looking for easy healthy snacks that I can make in a jiffy like these no-bake cookies, no-bake chocolate mint bars, kale chips, homemade “JELLO®”, and healthy chocolate truffles.
This recipe for Sugar-Free Homemade Gummy Candy fits the bill.
These gummies come together quickly and can be made completely sugar-free.
The low-carb version (lemon, lime, or cranberry [using sugar-free cranberry juice]) of these homemade gummy snacks is tangy and refreshing. For other flavors, I recommend using only no sugar added fruit juice concentrate.
The flavor will likely not be strong enough if using diluted fruit juices or pureed fruits, but feel free to play around and try adding more sweetener. Those options may just suit your tastes!
What You'll Need
- lemon or lime juice: or other juice concentrate. See Recipe Notes for alternatives
- grass-fed gelatin: I recommend Great Lakes gelatin. They use pasture-fed cows that are not treated with antibiotics or hormones and are free of many allergens as well as MSG.see vegan alternative above in notes)
- liquid stevia: to taste. You can also use powdered stevia extract.
Directions
- Whisk all ingredients in a small sauce pan.
- Heat over low heat until mixture loses its “applesauce” consistency and starts to liquify.
- Pour into molds. (Photo 5)
- Allow gummies to set. You can either do this by placing molds on a flat surface in the freezer, fridge or on the counter. The freezer is your quickest option and will take about 10-15 minutes to set. (Photo 6)
- Remove from molds and store in the fridge in an air tight container.
So Many Fun Molds for Gummies
Of course, homemade sugar-free gummy bears are one of the cutest things you can do. These are the gummy bear molds that I have:
Even though they look hard to make, they're not. You just have that one extra step of putting the liquid in the dropper (and cleaning it out, of course).
These silicone star molds are very close to the ones that I have and I LOVE them. I've used them to make my Homemade Jello® and Homemade Chocolate Chips into super fun shapes..yum!
Silicone Molds
These flexible molds are great for making fun shapes of Homemade Gummy Candies, and of course there are so many more fun uses for them as well. Think chocolates, ice cubes, fudge, frozen treats and so much more. You can even make homemade soap, lotion bars, homemade crayons--the possibiities are endless!
Here's a photo of gummies made with those molds.
There are so many fun molds to try for all kinds of seasons and events!
How about:
- St. Patrick's Day Molds
- Fun Assorted Molds
- Easter Theme Molds
- Valentine's Day Molds
- Christmas Molds
- Flower Molds
These are all just too. Much. Fun.
Recipe Notes and Variations
- Flavor Options: You can make so many different flavor variations of these sugar-free gummies. Any of the following juice concentrates would be amazing: cherry concentrate, cranberry concentrate, pomegranate juice concentrate, or apple juice concentrate. However, some of these will add a lot of carbs to the recipe.
- Important Note: Make sure to avoid pineapple, kiwi, mango, ginger root, papaya, figs, and guava juice. They contain protease enzyme which will prevent gelatin from setting and you'll end up with seriously mushy gummies.
Special Diet Options
- Sweetener Options: Some people have been asking how much stevia extract can be used instead of the liquid stevia. I'm working on figuring that out for you!
If you would like to make your own liquid stevia, see Homemade Liquid Stevia. You can substitute other sweeteners as desired. Use 4-5 tablespoons honey, maple syrup, or sucanat (4-5 tablespoons) for AIP, or for a low-carb granulated sweetener, use either 4-5 tablespoons xylitol or allulose, or 5-7 tablespoons erythritol. I haven't tested all of these, but they should work. - Vegan Option: Vegans can use organic agar-agar powder instead of gelatin.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are These Homemade Gummies Like Store-bought?
The gummies in this recipe are kind of a mix between gelatin snacks and gummy snacks. I hope to try a recipe using just pectin in the future to make them more like store-bought snacks. We do love them anyhow, however, and so do our friends.
How Should You Store These Gummies?
You can store these in the fridge, or even in the freezer.
Are These Stable At Room Temperature?
These Homemade Gummies taste great at room temperature, just out of the fridge, and they even taste GREAT out of the freezer! However, these do not do well in very hot weather–as in, they morph into a liquid gummy drink.
We once took them to a county fair when it was over 90 degrees, and ended up with a gummy puddle. We were super hungry so we drank the liquid homemade gummies anyhow, but just be forewarned.
You could, of course, get a small cooler pack like this so you can take your gummies with you even in warm weather!
The easiest way to make these is to pour the mixture into a square or rectangle pan and then cutting them after chilling, or be creative and make them into any kind of shape.
This single batch is a small batch. We legit make 12 (yes, that's TWELVE) batches of these every time that we make them. Feel free to just make one batch to see how you like them, or if you want to make a whole bunch of flavors. But make twelve if you want to have quite a few around for ongoing healthy snacking.
Sugar Free Homemade Gummies (Vegan Option)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup lemon or lime juice (or other juice concentrates–see Recipe Notes for alternatives)
- 3 tablespoons grass-fed gelatin (see vegan alternative above in notes)
- liquid stevia (to taste. I used 30-40 drops. Powdered stevia extract can also be used. Start with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon and go from there.)
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients in a small sauce pan.
- Heat over low heat until mixture loses its “applesauce” consistency and starts to liquify.
- Taste the liquid. If it doesn't taste good to you, the gummies won't either. Add more sweetener as needed in this step.
- Pour into molds. (I like to transfer the mixture to an easy-pour container first to avoid spills, especially if you have small molds!)
- Allow gummies to set. You can either do this by placing molds on a flat surface in the freezer, fridge or on the counter. The freezer is your quickest option and will take about 10-15 minutes to set.
- Remove from molds and store in the fridge in an air tight container. These will last about two weeks, although the texture becomes firmer over time, they are still delicious!
Notes
- Storage: Store gummies in the refrigerator or freezer for best texture and freshness.
- Sweeteners: You can use your preferred sweetener. For AIP, try 4–5 tablespoons honey, maple syrup, or sucanat. For low-carb options, use 4–5 tablespoons xylitol or allulose, or 5–7 tablespoons erythritol. Liquid stevia works well; powdered conversions are still being tested. See Homemade Liquid Stevia if you’d like to make your own.
- Flavoring: Lemon and lime require more sweetener to balance tartness. Fruit juice concentrates (like cherry, cranberry, pomegranate, or apple) provide stronger flavor and may be sweet enough on their own. Regular juice can be used but will result in a milder flavor.
- Important: Avoid pineapple, kiwi, mango, papaya, figs, guava, and fresh ginger root—these contain enzymes that prevent gelatin from setting, resulting in soft or runny gummies.
- Vegan Option: Substitute agar-agar powder for gelatin.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
Whatever flavor of homemade gummy snacks you try, I so hope you enjoy them!
Please share your thoughts about these gummies after you make them!
I just made these with about half a sleeve of Crystal Lite (didn’t have any lemons handy) and they turned out great! So easy and quick, less than 10 min to make plus set time. My only issue is the gelatin I used has a bit of a smell. Never worked with it before, do all brands kind of stink?
Thanks for the recipe!
I find some of it doesn’t smell great. What brand did you use?
Thank you for the quick reply.
I used Knox brand; cheap supermarket stuff my wife had left over from making jam a while ago. Not exactly the highest quality.
I’ve been reading about the benefits of gelatin, so I want to incorporate gelatin into my daily rotation. This is a great way to sneak it in.
Will be buying some grass fed pasture raised to try. Not so sure about great lakes (not organic), but there are a some others on Amazon.
I can manage the smell, but I’m afraid my family will turn up their noses. It gives me hope that the smell might not be as prominent in other brands. You use the great lakes stuff, is it noticeable?
Hello Chris,
I have used Vital Proteins, Great Lakes, and Knox (in the past) and I just got a sample of Perfect Supplements. Can you tell me what the smell is like for you? I think, doing a side by side w/ Great Lakes and Perfect Supplements, that they are very similar. I am an affiliate for PS and actually sell their Collagen in my online store.
Oh I have got try these!! Got a lil Great Nephew who loves his Gummy Bears & these would be so much healthier. I love em too, so will have make a few test batches, just to make sure these really are that good of course. ;o). Thanks for the recipe!!
I hope he likes them!!! They are a different texture than gummy bears. I hope to work on getting the texture better soon.
Yes, as far as diet, it is the simple carbohydrates as a whole that are the problem. . .so you have to look beyond how many grams of sugar there are in a product. Simple carbs include sugar itself in whatever form, almost all bread (even that which says whole wheat; you really have to look at ingredients), regular rice etc. When looking at labels, look at the ratio of sugar to total carbs and very importantly the ratio of fiber to total carbs. The greater the second ratio, the fewer simple carbs there are.
Anyways, yes, I made these because the sugar free kind with all the sugar alcohols would make me sick, especially since I’m not so good with moderation. However, they don’t have quite the texture of regular gummies, which is why I like gummies. They are good, though, and seem to be a reasonable substitute. I don’t know if there’s something I could do differently that might refine the texture some?
Cinnamon is a great idea, but it wouldn’t just be cinnamon itself. I’d have to figure out what other spices or ingredients would be needed to mimic the taste of cinnamon bears.
Hi Julia. Stevia isn’t a sugar alcohol — I’m not sure what you mean by that? As for a better gummy texture, I will see what I can do. Thanks for the suggestion! Not sure on the cinnamon, but I will look into that as well!
I know Stevia isn’t a sugar alcohol; I didn’t think I mentioned it was. I used the recipe and added a little Stevia to my lemon ones.
When I brought up sugar alcohols, I was referring to products marketed as sugar free. These products may be sugar free, but their sweetness is achieved by the use of sugar alcohols. And although that’s not necessarily terrible, it can cause digestive problems for some people. The use of sugar alcohols as a replacement for sugar works because they are much sweeter and they are not absorbed completely or into the bloodstream as sugars are. But my body seems to not like them at all and definitely not in greater consumption!
Got it – thanks for clarifying!
I would love to slip some vitamins in them, is that possible?
Sure!
Thanks Candace. I’m making this for my granddaughter who constantly eats sugar filled gummy bears. In fact, I’m going to have her spend an afternoon with me and we’ll make them together. Thanks again!!!
Are you able to crush up vitamins and add those to the mixture and instead of using gelatin can you melt unflavored gummie vitamins and add juice to those instead ? Havent tried the recipe yet but really want to amd can you usesugar free jello brand gelatin or does it have to be a different brand?
I think you could crush vitamins but powders would work better. You could melt those things but I think it would be hard. I don’t like SF Jello b/c it has sweeteners in it that I don’t think are healthy. I don’t use Jello – I use the gelatin as it is written in the post.
Love gelatin. I’m 43 and my husband 45. We have been taking it for about 3 weeks now. My skin is really starting to show a difference, even on my hands! Can even see a difference on my husbands face. We sleep better and the circles under my eyes are lighter. This is definitely a super food! Very exited to see what other changes it will bring further down the line. Would highly recommend taking it.
Recipe is also great, but I didn’t use stevia. Just buy as natural cordial as I can find and mix that with the gelatin.
No kidding – that’s great!!
Hi,
I live in South Australia, and we do not have available many of the ingredients used in lots of recipes.
As a type 2 diabetic and recently being advised to reduce my blood sugar level, I often look for any food/
snacks that are low or no sugar.
I do not use Stevia (which I find unpalatable), instead I use rice malt syrup made from organic brown rice.
Would it be possible to use this as an alternative sweetener?
Thanks for posting this recipe.
Regards
Judith PM
Hello there. Yes, you can of course use that but it is a pretty high glycemic sweetener. Isn’t it? I recall my mother using it and she was diabetic, but I am concerned about it. Thanks!
Hi Judith,
If you get this message I have been trying to get hold of you on facebook – please check your other’s folder as I have sent you a message.
Thanks,
Sheridan
Can you substitute the stevia with honey?
Yes! Enjoy!
Carageenan is used by pharmaceutical companies to raise the blood pressure of lab animals in order to test the efficacy of blook pressure lowering medications. It’s used to emulsify food/drink products so that they don’t separate during shipping. I typically won’t consume anything containing Carageenan and on a personal note, I found it fairly difficult to find formula for my daughter that DIDN’T contain it, even high priced organic versions contained carageenan.
I was just talking about this last night with some friends. Thanks for sharing.