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A creamy, frothy eggnog recipe with spices flavor to serve with or without alcohol and perfect to celebrate the holiday season with only 1.7 grams of net carbs.
Is eggnog keto-friendly?
No, a traditional eggnog recipe is not keto-friendly. The authentic recipe contains basically the same ingredients as a custard or ice cream including a lot of carbs from:
White sugar – pure carbs
Milk – sugar from lactose
Therefore, if you want to drink eggnog on a keto diet you must adapt the recipe to avoid the added sugar.
How to make keto eggnog?
Luckily, you can easily tweak a traditional eggnog recipe to make a homemade eggnog recipe 100% keto-friendly!
Let’s see the ingredients you need to make this popular Christmas drink and enjoy a glass of low-carb eggnog this year.
Ingredients for the best keto eggnog
The best keto eggnog recipe is a frothy, creamy egg-based milky drink served chilled or warm with lots of Fall spices. The keto ingredients you need to make this easy recipe for keto eggnog are:
Raw eggs – some recipes use only the egg yolks while some require the eggs to be separated and egg whites are whipped and added to thicken the drink and give it a frothy texture. This is up to you, I provide both options in the recipe below:
Erythritol or any keto crystal sweetener, xylitol dissolve faster but add a minty aftertaste otherwise allulose or Monk fruit erythritol blend are great.
Unsweetened almond milk – or coconut milk or other keto nut milk, like hazelnut milk.
Heavy cream
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Vanilla
These basics ingredients make keto eggnog with no alcohol. It’s a delicious virgin cocktail drink for everyone around the Christmas season.
Warming the milk
The first step consists of heating up the heavy cream, almond milk, and nutmeg over medium heat and simmer for a few minutes. This infuses the milk with the spices for a flavorsome eggnog recipe. When warm and fragrant, remove from heat and set aside.
Preparing the egg mixture
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolk with keto crystal sweetener until light, and pale in color.
Tempering the eggs
This step is crucial to avoid curdling the eggs. It consists of slowly adding large scoops of hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking vigorously to avoid ‘cooking’ the eggs.
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After you have added half of the hot milk into the egg mixture, your eggs are at the right temperature and you can bring back all the ingredients from the mixing bowl to the saucepan.
Thickening the eggnog
This last step consists of thickening the eggnog over medium heat, stirring constantly until creamy like a light custard.
Cooling and flavoring
When the eggnog is thick, add vanilla extract and spirit for the alcohol version.
What type of alcohol goes in eggnog?
An eggnog recipe can be served without alcohol or with a touch of spirit.
Below I share with you the zero-carb spirits that marry well with this keto eggnog recipe, keep in mind that alcohol:
Must be taken responsibly and very occasionally, alcohol in itself is not good for your health.
Adds calories so it may slow down or compromise your weight loss if you take too much of it.
Won’t (directly) affect your ketosis – because Alcohol in itself is not adding sugar. However, it increases sugar cravings. Combined with its euphoric effect, you are more likely to want to reach for sugary food, so watch out! Now some alcoholic drinks are loaded with sugar (most beers, liqueur, sweet wines, most cocktails, etc.), so stay away from them!
This said if you want to celebrate and have a holiday treat you can add alcohol to your eggnog. The most popular zero-carbs spirits for eggnog are:
Bourbon
Whiskey
Brandy
Cognac
Should I add egg whites into my eggnog recipe?
It depends on your taste, if you love a
frothy, airy drink with some egg white floating on top of your drink, then YES add them in!
for a creamy, heavy drink then NO, don’t add the egg whites.
What does eggnog taste like?
Eggnog doesn’t taste eggy at all! The recipe is using the exact same ingredients as homemade ice-cream and as a result, eggnog tastes like a slightly sweet melted vanilla ice cream.
It’s a thick, creamy drink with delicious flavors of vanilla, nutmeg, and bourbon – for the alcoholic version. If you add soft egg whites to your eggnog recipe, the drink is less dense and creamy and more like fluffy vanilla custard.
When to add the egg whites to the eggnog recipe?
Beat the egg whites in a stand mixer until soft peaks form. Then, stir and fold the egg whites into the chilled eggnog.
It won’t dissolve very well and that’s ok if some floating egg yolk shows on top of your drink.
How to serve eggnog?
You can serve chilled eggnog or hot eggnog on cold days. The serving size is 1/2 cup for this recipe. I recommend serving chilled eggnog in a small glass and top the glass with some of the toppings below:
a pinch of ground nutmeg or cinnamon
a cinnamon stick
a dollop of heavy whipped cream – make sure it’s unsweetened as keto diet eggnog must be sugar-free.
Allergy-friendly options
If you have some food allergies, I listed below some alternatives to fit this delicious eggnog recipe into your keto diet.
Dairy swap paleo option – replace the heavy cream with the same amount of canned coconut cream. Shake the can before measuring. The recipe will have a light coconut flavor and the cocktail will have a similarity to coquito flavor – the Puerto Rican eggnog.
Nut swap – you can replace unsweetened almond milk with keto-friendly seed milk like hemp seed milk or unsweetened coconut milk.
Egg swap – I am sorry, but there is no egg swap for this keto cocktail recipe.
How to make an eggnog latte?
Another option is to use the virgin eggnog recipe below to make an eggnog latte is a combination of espresso and eggnog. Simply use:
3/4 cup of this chilled alcohol-free eggnog recipe
1 cup hot strongly brewed espresso
To make a keto eggnog latte, you must use a blender, add the ingredients above to the blender jug and blend on high speed until frothy. Serve immediately with a pinch of ground cinnamon on top.
More keto drink recipes
If you love keto cocktails or drinks you may also like the recipe below
Have you made this keto-friendly eggnog recipe? Share a review or comment below, I love to read all your feedback about my recipes! Also join me on Pinterest for more keto recipe inspiration.
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Instructions
In a non-stick saucepan, over medium heat, combine heavy cream, unsweetened almond milk, nutmeg.
Stir constantly until it forms a light simmer and simmer for 5-6 minutes
Remove the saucepan from the heat while you prepare the egg yolk mixture.
Separate egg yolks and egg whites. Set egg whites aside – you won't have to use them, see optional step if you want to add them for an extra fluffy texture.
Using an electric beater, beat the egg yolks and erythritol on high speed for 40-60 seconds, in a medium bowl until light, creamy and lighter in color.
Add large scoops of the hot milk very slowly into the egg mixture, whisking vigorously at the same time to avoid curdling the eggs. This step is called tempering the eggs.
Repeat adding a large spoonful of milk one at a time until eggs are temper. Once half of the hot milk has been added to the egg bowl, pour the mixture back to the saucepan.
Return the saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring constantly for 6-8 minutes. Don't boil, it should stay around 160°F/70°C and stir constantly until the mixture gently thickened and cover the back of the spoon.
Remove from heat and sieve onto a large bowl.
Stir in vanilla extract and spirit of choice if used.
Cool it down for 15 minutes at room temperature, give a quick stir, and cover the bowl before transferring to the refrigerator to chill for 6-8 hours.
The eggnog thickens in the fridge. Stir before serving and if too thick to your liking, add 2-3 extra tablespoons of almond milk and whisk to combine
This recipe serves 8 glasses, 1/2 cup each. Serve each glass with a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg, a cinnamon stick, and a dollop of fresh unsweetened whipped cream if desired.
Store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week
Optional – add egg-whites for an airy fluffy drink
Just before serving, add the reserved egg white in a stand mixer and beat until stiff peak form
Transfer the egg whites to the chilled eggnog bowl and fold, stir until combined. This makes the drink extra frothy, some of the egg white will float on top of the drink too and that's ok and delicious
What to do with egg whites? If you don’t want to add the egg whites in this recipe you can make keto cloud bread with them or my keto French floating island dessert Nutrition panel is without alcohol. If you add alcohol the net carb per serve is the same but the kcal per serving will be 244 kcal
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