edited 2/17/23

Remember the coleslaw at Chick-fil-A? It was sooo good. They’ve since replaced it with an equally delicious kale salad, but I’ll never forget the awesomeness of their coleslaw. In fact, I liked it so much, I made my own sugar-free low-calorie coleslaw masterpiece.

I’m pretty picky about my coleslaw. In fact, there are only a couple of places I choose to get it from — one is my mom’s. She makes an amazingly fresh, crunchy, and sweet coleslaw. The other place is Publix, a grocery store here in the south. They really have perfected a delicious, mayo-rich coleslaw recipe.

“What makes a good coleslaw?” you might ask.

Well, this is what I asked myself when I went searching for a coleslaw recipe that would go well with my BBQ and baked beans but also wouldn’t thwart my new healthy lifestyle. It has to be sweet. It has to be crunchy. It has to have the right tanginess from the mayo. It has to look pretty. It has to be healthy.

Sugar-free low-calorie coleslaw: A Healthy Alternative

This can be hard to achieve while staying within a caloric budget, so I developed this recipe in an attempt to consume my veggies, maintain my weight, and enjoy the sweet and tangy side dish that goes so well with just about anything. And since my hubby is a diabetic, I chose monk fruit as the perfect sweetener that doesn’t elevate his blood sugar. I’m surprised to learn how many people haven’t heard of monk fruit! To learn more, keep reading.

I don’t like a whole lot of other things competing for attention in my coleslaw, so it only takes a few ingredients for me to have an amazing coleslaw experience. The most important is mayonnaise.

I choose light mayonnaise in my recipes. I know, I know: Duke’s makes the best regular mayonnaise, and in the South, we are crazy about our mayo. It is my favorite condiment. However, I can’t justify the calories for full-fat mayo, and once you get used to light mayo, there really isn’t much difference in the taste when it’s all said and done. For comparison,

in 1 Tablespoon —–	Calories	Fat
Duke’s Real Mayonnaise	100	12g
Hellman’s Light Mayonnaise	35	3.5g
White Sugar	50	–
Monk fruit	0	–

This recipe has 47 calories per serving. 47!!! You could eat the entire bowl and only consume 235 calories, but I wouldn’t recommend it because you may not like yourself afterwards. Instead, use the extra calories on dessert. That’s what I do. (FYI, the full-fat mayo and real sugar version of this recipe would total 850 calories: 170 kcal/serving.)

Maybe Chick-fil-A should bring back a new, healthier version? What do you think?

Links:

• What is monk fruit? Did you know that the Chinese government doesn’t allow monk fruit cultivation outside of the country? Here’s a terrific article written by The Diabetes Council about this amazing sweetener.
• You can buy monk fruit online. A disclaimer: if you purchase online I may receive a small (very small) compensation for recommending the product. I only recommend products I actually use.

Want other healthy options? Give these a whirl!

• Healthy Crustless Quiche
• Healthy Butternut Squash Chili
• Chicken Tortilla Soup
• Georgia Chili
• Sausage and Egg Casserole
• Skinny Sausage & Pasta Bolognese
• Italian Sausage Soup
• Saucy and Spicy Sloppy Joes with Ground Chicken
• Instant Pot Beef Stew