Keto Sweeteners, Honestly Reviewed: Stevia, Erythritol, Monk Fruit and the Rest

I have an unusual amount of skin in this game: I make a no-added-sugar frozen kefir for my shop, which means I’ve spent a genuinely silly number of hours testing sweeteners — not just “does it taste sweet” but does it freeze properly, does it bake, does it leave that aftertaste. Here’s where I’ve landed on each one.

Stevia — my favourite, with a caveat

Stevia is probably my favourite, because it feels like the most natural, healthiest option of the bunch. The honest caveat: the aftertaste is genuinely bad at first. If you can get used to it — and you do get used to it — this is the one I’d say just use and be done.

One thing that catches people out: many products sold as “stevia” are mostly erythritol with a little stevia in them. Read the ingredients, not the front of the packet. The ones I always buy are the Modern Nature stevia drops — the vanilla one is the star, and it’s brilliant in coffee and in the homemade kefir ice cream I used to make. (I’ve bought the plain one too, though I genuinely can’t remember why.)

Erythritol — the one that tastes most like sugar

If what you want is sugar, erythritol is the closest. It’s also the one that helps the texture of frozen things, which is why it matters so much in my world — ice cream and froyo need more than sweetness, they need body.

My actual working blend for frozen kefir is erythritol plus stevia, precisely because most people can’t handle the bitterness of stevia on its own. It’s good in baking too. If you take one practical thing from this article, make it that combination.

Splenda (sucralose) — surprisingly good in baking

I find Splenda works pretty well for baking specifically. Where it makes no sense is ice cream — it doesn’t do anything useful for texture, and it’s very, very expensive for the volume frozen desserts need.

Monk fruit — I don’t get it yet

I want to like monk fruit, but I haven’t cracked it. I’ve never managed to find a pure one — I went hunting on Amazon, bought one, and discovered it had tapioca in it. I’m not a food chemist, so I don’t fully understand how those fillers interact with everything else.

When I did try it in a sweet treat, I had to put an absurd amount into lemonade to get it properly sweet. So: verdict pending. I’ll keep experimenting and report back — and if you’ve found a genuinely pure monk fruit in the UK, please tell me.

Xylitol — I avoid it, for the dogs

Xylitol is supposed to be good for you and good for your teeth. But it can be fatal to dogs, and that’s enough for me: all it takes is a treat left out and a dog who finds it. Not worth the risk in a house anyone visits.

Allulose — the one I’m waiting for

I’ve had things with allulose in the US and I can still tell it isn’t real sugar, but it’s much more realistic than the alternatives — I think plenty of people genuinely couldn’t tell. The catch is that it isn’t authorised for sale in Great Britain yet: it’s been sitting in the FSA’s novel foods process (application RP-1130), with a decision possibly landing in late 2026. Fingers crossed — this is the one that could change keto desserts here.

Inulin — the one that gives something back

Inulin I actually like, because it isn’t only a sweetener: it’s a prebiotic, a plant fibre that feeds the good bacteria in your gut. Given that my whole frozen kefir project is built around live cultures, you can see why this one appeals to me — it’s the rare option on this list that’s doing a job beyond tasting sweet. You’ll increasingly see it on keto product labels as chicory root fibre. Worth knowing: because it is a fibre, a lot of it at once can be a bit much for your stomach.

Maltitol — fine in small doses, but I don’t cook with it

I’m not against maltitol, honestly. In small amounts it’s OK. My practical issue is that I’ve never seen it sold as something you’d add to your own food — it turns up inside products rather than in your baking cupboard, so I’ve never actually used it myself. Just be aware it affects some people more than others (in both the blood-sugar and the digestive sense), which is why I flag it on labels in my supermarket guide.

Canderel — a personal pass

I stay away from things like Canderel, which is aspartame-based. To be fair about why: in July 2023 the WHO’s cancer agency (IARC) classified aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B) — but in the very same announcement, the food-safety committee left the acceptable daily intake unchanged, saying the evidence wasn’t strong enough to change it. So it isn’t the scandal the headlines suggested, and it isn’t nothing either. I’d just rather not. That’s a preference, not a warning.

Aspartame and diet drinks — the honest bit

You can’t really buy aspartame to sweeten things at home, but it’s in every diet soda — and I’ll admit it: having a diet soda here and there genuinely helps me on keto. Sometimes it’s the thing that stands in for dessert. (Yes, that’s the same aspartame I just said I avoid in Canderel. Consistency is not my strongest suit, and I’d rather tell you the truth about what I actually drink.)

That said, now that flavoured waters exist I lean on them instead, which means fewer diet drinks overall. My go-to is Dash Water — no sugar, no sweeteners, just fruit-infused sparkling water.

One to check the label on: poppi is everywhere right now and it looks like a health drink, but it still contains sugar — not a keto drink, however good the branding is.

The short version

• Everyday sweetening: stevia (get used to the aftertaste, or blend it).
• Baking: erythritol, or Splenda.
• Ice cream and froyo: erythritol + stevia — texture and sweetness.
• Bonus points: inulin, because it’s a prebiotic as well as a sweetener.
• Watch out for: “stevia” that’s mostly erythritol, monk fruit cut with tapioca, xylitol around dogs, and health drinks that still have sugar.
• Watching this space: allulose, if and when the UK approves it.