20 Low Sugar Dessert Recipes (2024)

Constantly craving sweets? I feel you, life is not how it used to be! Change your mood by focusing on fueling up with these health, low added sugar dessert recipes. They’ll keep your hunger at bay and your sweet tooth satisfied… pinky promise!

Does low sugar mean no sugar?

Not necessarily.

Let’s rewind first. You need to understand the difference between the TYPES of sugar out there.

While this post here talks about those “zero or no calorie” alternatives like stevia and monk fruit, I want to keep this particular piece a bit more basic.

Let’s start with added sugar.

Added sugar is added to food through processing and preparation to enhance the palatability (aka taste) of the food. This imparts not only calories but also carbohydrates from the sugar. Take a peak at the ingredient list; dextrose, cane sugar, etc., all are added sources of sugar. (P.S. I’ve also got the full list in my 25 Gram Added Sugar Challenge here.)

Excess consumption of added sugar from packaged snacks, breads, and added sugar baked goods have also been associated with a variety of different conditions like obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, and heart disease.

Now, let’s touch on natural sugar.

Natural sugar is present in a variety of different whole foods. For instance, the sugar lactose is found in milk, yogurt, cheese and other dairy. The sugar fructose is found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Consumption of natural sugar is not associated with any preventable diseases like obesity (i.e. eating a banana will not make you gain weight!)

Bottom line: To follow a low sugar diet, choose foods made with whole foods sources of natural sugar, like the low sugar dessert recipes below!

What are the recommendations for sugar in the diet?

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015 (DGA) recommends no more than 10% of daily calories (about 12 teaspoons, 1 teaspoon = 4 grams) come from them!

A simple rule of thumb is no more than 25 grams of added sugar per day for adult females, and no more than 37 grams of added sugar for adult males.

How can you lower added sugar in the diet?

Follow these tips!

• Focus on choosing snacks that don’t require a label, like fresh fruits, vegetables and lean protein, like nuts.
• Be a smart shopper.
• Look at the label, choose items where there is minimal to no added sugar.

Most importantly, remember:

All foods can fit, but be mindful of portions and limit added sugars in your total dietary pattern.

Just because you’ve always made your cake with 1 cup sugar, doesn’t mean it won’t taste just as good if you try to reduce the sugar and sub in natural sugars from fruits like apples!

20 Healthy Dessert Recipes

These 10 are so simple to make and satisfying for the entire family to enjoy!

Sweet Potato Pie Parfait

Mango Banana Sorbet

Almond Butter Protein Bars

Raw Chocolate Protein Bars

Sweet Hummus – Aka Brownie Batter Hummus

Maple Sunflower Seed Dessert Dip

Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Crunchy Vegan Granola Bars

Nut Free Granola Recipe

Carrot Cake Smoothie Bowl

These 10 take a tad bit longer to prepare, but are 100% worth it!

Oatmeal Peach Cobbler Bake

Mini Lemon Bundt Cakes

Sugar Free Chocolate Pudding

Gluten Free Brownies

Fodmap Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies

Carrot Cake Cookies

Blueberry Almond Cookies

Snowball Cookies

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins

Gluten Free Cake Pops

I’d love to hear what you think about this low sugar dessert recipes! Did you make one!? Comment below and tag me (@shawsimpleswaps) onFacebook,Instagram, orPinterest. I’d love to reshare!