Best Keto Cream Cheese Frosting [+VIDEO]

This keto cream cheese frosting recipe has the classic taste of traditional cream cheese icing without sugar. It comes together easily in a stand-mixer with simple ingredients. Learn how to make fluffy sugar-free frosting with this easy recipe.

Why Make Sugar-free Cream Cheese Frosting

There are so many reasons to love this keto frosting recipe. Here are some of my top reasons to make it

• Tastes great all while using an all natural sugar substitute
• Quick and easy: this sugar-free cream cheese frosting recipe is quick & easy. In fact, you just add the four ingredients to an electric mixer and mix
• Perfect topping for your keto desserts: whether you are making keto carrot cake, low carb red velvet cake or just prefer cream cheese frosting, this delicious frosting has all the flavor you’d expect (but, with fewer carbs)

Ingredients Needed

All you need is a stand mixer and a few ingredients – most of which you probably already have on hand. 

To make this easy keto cream cheese frosting recipe, you’ll need to gather:

• Powdered Sweetener: I’m using Powdered Monk Fruit Erythritol since this works better than a granulated sweetener to help the cream cheese frosting come out smooth. I personally prefer to use a low carb sweetener blend because it tends to taste better than powdered erythritol by itself.
• Cream Cheese: I’m using full-fat cream cheese that is softened. You can soften it by letting it sit on the counter until it comes closer to room temperature or microwave it.
• Butter: I’m using salted butter and it is softened
• Vanilla Extract

Be sure to check the recipe card at the end of the post for the exact ingredient amounts and full step-by-step instructions.

How to Make Keto Cream Cheese Frosting

Once you have the ingredients ready, place them all in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. You could also use a hand-mixer if that’s what you prefer or have available (photo 1).

Mix them on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until all the ingredients are well combined (photos 2 – 4).

If you are piping this on a baked good, you can add the frosting to a piping bag or other plastic bag for icing before using it to frost things like my keto cupcakes.

Top Tips and Recipe FAQs

• Use a tall bowl and lower speed to minimize mess: powdered sweeteners can make things powdery if your bowl is not tall enough or if your mixer speed is too high. I tend to start slow and ramp my mixer speed up to give the sweetener a chance to get incorporated.
• For best results, use room temperature or softened ingredients: softened or room temperature cream cheese and butter mix much better than cold ingredients.
• Refrigerate to make firmer: the frosting gets firmer as it sits in the refrigerator. So, you can simply add the frosting to a sealed container and refrigerate it for 10-15 minutes, if yours is too soft.

Storage and Leftovers

Add your extra frosting to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.

Is cream cheese frosting keto?

Traditional cream cheese frosting is not keto or low carb thanks to tons of added sugar. While it tastes great, the sugar will surely knock anyone right out of ketosis.

But, if you make it using keto-friendly sugar substitutes, cream cheese frosting can be low-carb. In this recipe, I’m sharing how I substitute refined sugar to get the flavor we all love.

Best Sweeteners for Keto Frosting

The best sweeteners to use for a smooth and lusciously creamy frosting are powdered versions. If you use granulated sweeteners, you may notice a gritty or grainy texture.

If you prefer or have them on hand, you can also use liquid sweeteners. Like powdered, liquid sweeteners will blend into the cream cheese nicely. If you want to use liquid sweetener, sweeten it to taste by slowly adding sweetener.

Remember: you can always add more but can’t remove it!

Keto Cream Cheese Frosting Variations

There are so many delicious ways to use this keto cream cheese frosting recipe.

If you don’t like plain vanilla or you just want to spice things up a bit, you can make variations by adding one (or more) of the following extracts instead of vanilla (or in addition to if you really want to spice things up):

• Banana
• Maple
• Caramel
• Orange

But, if you do decide to use a different flavor extract, keep an eye out for added sugar. Some extracts and flavoring add sugars, so I try to avoid these when I make keto frosting.

Chocolate Keto Cream Cheese Icing

If you love chocolate, you can make keto cream cheese frosting chocolatey by adding one or more teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to the recipe.

The more you add, the more chocolatey it will taste. Add a little at a time until it tastes the way you would like it to.

Recipes to Use Cream Cheese Frosting With

Keto-friendly baked goods can be a bit hard to come by since most baked desserts use sugar and flour, both of which add a considerable amount of carbs.

Fortunately, I have a few recipe ideas you can use this sugar-free cream cheese frosting on. They include:

• Low Carb Carrot Cake
• Keto Cupcakes
• Keto Halloween Brownie Cupcakes
• Pumpkin Muffins – a fall favorite in my family
• Watermelon Pizza – a great, low-carb summertime treat!

Other Keto Cream Cheese Icing Recipes

If you love the idea of adding a low-carb cream cheese frosting to your dessert, you can also try out these recipes as sugar-free cake icing:

• Keto Pumpkin Mousse
• Peanut Butter Caramel Mousse: I used this as part of my keto cookie dough peanut butter fluff bars and it tasted great!
• Sugar-free Chococaole Mousse

If you try this recipe, please stop back and leave it a star rating and/or a review in the comments. Stay connected & share photos of your creations with me & others on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest!