Recipe Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade
How to use less sugar in carrot marmalade with only 6 ingredients and 1 simple swap
July 31, 2025
“Can you make carrot marmalade with less sugar?” is the one question we get every time we share the most popular toast topper in the Silver Hills Bakery recipe collection. We heard you—and this fast and easy Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade recipe is an enthusiastic “Yes!”
We took our original Carrot Marmalade and swapped out over two-thirds (69%) of the granulated sugar in the recipe for 100% unsweetened apple juice. And the reduced sugar marmalade result is sure to impress! Why?
Our Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade recipe has
64% less sugars per serving than our original
Carrot Marmalade recipe!
And it tastes just as good, too!
(Some tasters say it’s even better, but that’s for you to decide).
By definition, traditional marmalade is about 60% sugar, or at least 65% soluble solids,1 and most marmalade recipes are about 35 – 45 parts fruit to 55 parts sugar by weight.
Like other traditional marmalade recipes, our original 4-ingredient Carrot Marmalade depends on 3 ¼ cups of sugar, the natural pectin from the orange zest and carrots,2,3 some acid from lemon juice, plus up to 45 minutes on the stovetop to release the pectin and set into a spreadable toast topper.
But with a little help from low or no sugar needed pectin to make up for the sugar we took out, our Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade takes less stirring, and sets faster and more reliably—so it’s ready in less than half the time of the original.
(You do still have to wait for it to cool!)
Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin
This recipe was developed and tested with low or no sugar needed pectin for a reason.
Why? Food science!
Regular pectin—whether the liquid or crystals used to set full-sugar jams and jellies made from low-pectin fruits, or the naturally occurring pectin in apples, citrus, some berries, and carrots—needs a specific sugar-to-acid ratio to gel.4
And because our Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade uses 69% less granulated sugar than the original, this recipe doesn’t have the magic pectin-sugar-acid percentages to set with regular pectin.
Low or no sugar needed pectin is the key ingredient to Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade success!
Avoid low-sugar marmalade misadventure—for spreadable results, be sure you’ve got the right pectin before making this recipe!
(Regular pectin is not a functional swap for low or no sugar needed pectin).
What is Low or
No Sugar Needed Pectin?
A soluble, prebiotic dietary fibre naturally found in specific fruits and vegetables, both the regular pectin and the low or no sugar needed pectin you find at the store are made from fruits like apples and citrus.
But where regular pectin depends on a near 1:1 sugar-to-acid ratio to gel, low or no sugar needed pectin gets its jam- and marmalade-setting powers from calcium, which bonds pectin with positive ions instead of added sugar!
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Ingredients
- 2 medium oranges
- 2 cups carrots , shredded and densely packed (about 4 medium or 3 large carrots)*
- 2 ¾ – 3 ½ cups unsweetened 100% apple juice§ , enough to make 4 cups liquid in total† (see notes)
- 50 grams low or no sugar needed pectin
, such as Ball RealFruit Low or No Sugar Needed Pectin or Bernardin No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin - 1 cup sugar
- 1 medium lemon , juiced (or 3 Tbsp lemon juice)
Featured Product Multigrain
Instructions
- First, wash and dry 3 – 4 half pint (250ml / 8 oz) jam jars (or other equivalent size to hold about 4 cups of marmalade). If you plan to use hot water bath canning, sterilize jars by boiling, then leave them in the hot canner while you prepare your Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade.
- Wash oranges, then use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest (the orange outer layer only). Use a sharp knife to slice the orange zest into thin strips.
- Slice off any pith (the white part of the peel) left on each orange and discard. Over a cutting board, supreme each orange by slicing as closely as possible on both sides of the membranes between each segment and set the remains aside.
- Finely chop the orange, transfer fruit and juice from your cutting board to a 4-cup liquid measuring cup, then squeeze the remaining membranes over the measuring cup to extract all the juice, then discard membranes.
- Add lemon juice to the measuring cup, then add as much unsweetened apple juice as needed to make a total of 4 cups of liquid (including the chopped orange). Depending on the size and juiciness of your oranges, you'll need somewhere between 2 ¾ – 3 ¼ cups apple juice (see notes). Transfer all liquid to a large saucepan.
- Add shredded carrots, orange zest, and no sugar needed pectin to the saucepan. Stir until pectin has dissolved, then bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, cook for 3 minutes, stirring often.
- Add sugar and stir until dissolved. When marmalade comes back to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-high, and cook for an additional 6 – 8 minutes, stirring often. Lower heat as needed to keep the pot from boiling over.
If you plan to use hot water bath canning, reduce cook time after adding sugar to 3 – 4 minutes to avoid overcooking the carrots. - Carefully transfer reduced-sugar carrot marmalade to clean jars with a ladle or pour into jars using a canning funnel. Allow to cool for several minutes, then wipe the rims with a damp cloth or paper towel before putting on the lids.
- Keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.
If you plan to use hot water bath canning, follow manufacturer's instructions for headspace requirements, preparing lids, and processing time for jams and jellies (see tip for resources)
Notes:
- * Most box graters and food processors with grating/shredding attachments have two hole sizes:
-
- The standard (largest) size, typically used for grating cheese
- The medium (smaller) size, typically used for shredding vegetables (not the fine / microplane (smallest) size designed for zesting or finely grating chocolate or whole spices).
- We recommend the medium size for shredding the carrots in our recipe but use what you have or prefer (the standard / largest size will give your Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade a coarser texture).
-
- † Oranges vary in how much juice and fruit segments you get out of each one. As this recipe uses juice to replace part of the sugar, the total 4-cup liquid volume is key (see step 5).
- § Unsweetened 100% apple juice has more natural sugars per serving than unsweetened 100% orange juice, so we don’t need as much added sugar to get that just-right sweetness.
- Freshly squeezed or unsweetened 100% orange juice is also an option. Our recipe tests found 1 ½ cups sugar produced a carrot marmalade with about the same sweetness as unsweetened apple juice, so using 1 cup of sugar as written in the recipe will make a slightly less sweet lower sugar carrot marmalade.
Try these handy tips!
-
No kitchen scale? No problem! If your low or no sugar needed pectin comes in a box (like Bernardin or Sure-Jell), 1 standard box = 49 grams, so no measuring is required—simply use 1 whole package per recipe batch. If it comes in a jar (like Ball or Judee's), here's the household measures equivalent:
- 50 grams of low or no sugar needed pectin = 4 heaping Tbsp or 4 level Tbsp + 1 level tsp
-
This recipe halves well! If you're making our Low-Sugar Carrot Marmalade recipe just for you, a half batch makes about 1 (500 ml / 16 oz) pint jar or 2 half pint (250 ml / 8 oz) jam jars.
- For a half batch: 25 grams of low or no sugar needed pectin = 2 heaping Tbsp or 2 level Tbsp + 1/2 tsp low or no sugar needed pectin
- Prefer the bitterness of a traditional thick cut marmalade? Use 4 oranges (zest, fruit, and juice), top it up to 4 cups with unsweetened 100% orange juice instead of the apple juice, grate your carrots on the largest hole on the grater, and cut the sugar to 2/3 cup. (We tested this combination and found it delightful, though not as close to our original full-sugar carrot marmalade recipe as the recipe above).
- Made our 4-ingredient Carrot Marmalade before? Unlike our original 4-ingredient Carrot Marmalade recipe which depends on 3 ¼ cups of sugar, the natural pectin from the orange zest and carrots, plus up to 45 minutes on the stovetop to set into a spreadable consistency, low or no sugar needed pectin takes less time to make and set—and less guesswork! If you've read both recipes, you won't need the chilled plate test to confirm the low-sugar version is set and ready for the jar (as long as you’ve bought the correct no sugar needed pectin and not regular pectin).
- Preserving your lower sugar carrot marmalade with water bath canning is easier than you think! And for jam-sized jars in small batches, you can do it in a large stock pot—no bulky canner required! (Although a jar lifter is a cheap, cheerful, and worthwhile tool to have). Processing jams only takes about 5 to 10 minutes (depending on altitude) after water that covers the lids by at least 1 inch comes back to a boil. Check out any of these guides for complete instructions:
