Keto Irish Cream Recipe (Copycat Bailey's) (2024)

A homemade sugar-free Bailey’s recipe for your coffee or favorite recipe! This keto Irish cream is a tasty blend of espresso, cocoa, cream, and whiskey.

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, I’ve been drooling at all the Irish Cream dessert recipes floating around.

The problem is that regular Irish Cream liqueur is loaded with sugar. Thankfully, it’s not that difficult to make a sugar-free Bailey’s Irish Cream to use instead.

Before moving to low-carb, Bailey’s was one of my favorite ingredients for alcoholic drinks. I would mix it with coffee liqueur or just add it to regular brewed hot coffee. It adds a sweet flavor with hints of chocolate, vanilla, and almond.

Irish cream is really just a creamy flavored Irish whiskey. But the best part is that there are tons of recipes you can use it in for the keto diet if you have a low-carb Baileys.

Ingredients

There’s not a lot of ingredients needed to make this easy homemade Irish cream recipe. You may even have everything already on hand.

Heavy Cream

To get a creamy consistency and full bodied flavor, you’ll want to use heavy cream or heavy whipping cream.

Irish Whiskey

You can use any brand of whiskey you like. I like to use Jameson Irish whiskey.

Sweetener

Although you can use your favorite low-carb sweetener, I recommend using a powdered sweetener like Swerve Confectioners. Allulose or BochaSweet are other great options.

Cocoa powder

Unsweetened cocoa powder is what gives the alcoholic beverage a touch of chocolate flavor.

Instant espresso

You’ll need a strong coffee flavoring for the recipe. I used instant espresso powder because I usually have a jar on hand. But instant coffee granules or a small amount of very strong brewed coffee like espresso coffee will work too.

Flavor extracts

To enhance the flavor to the spirit, a little almond and vanilla extract are mixed in.

Note: You'll find all the exact ingredients used in the recipe card (with a green background) at the bottom of this post.

Quick tips

• Heat up the cream.To get the cocoa and instant coffee to blend in well, it’s best to heat up the cream.
• Allow some of the liquid to be reduced.There’s no need to measure the amount of reduction. Just let the mix come to a slow boil and then reduced the heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Instructions

Just follow these step-by-step directions to make your own homemade Baileys.

Combine dry ingredients

The first thing you do is combine your sweetener with the espresso power and cocoa in a medium saucepan.

Add the cream

The next step is to slowly add the heavy cream and whisk it into the dry mixture.

Heat and simmer

Bring the liquid to a slow boil on medium heat. Then reduce the heat slightly and allow it to simmer for ten to fifteen minutes.

Add flavoring

Remove the saucepan from the heat after simmering and allow the liquid to cool down a bit. The last step is to mix in the extracts and whiskey.

Storage

When the liquid has cooled down, you’ll want to transfer it to a glass bottle with a lid to store in the refrigerator.

It can be stored for two weeks. If you can’t drink it all within that time, you can easily half the recipe.

It’s best to make this up as you need it because fresh cream can spoil after a couple weeks. It’s easy to use up if you’re a coffee drinker because it makes a great keto coffee creamer.

️ Serving suggestions

I personally think it’s too strong to drink on its own, so I like to dilute it with non-alcoholic liquids. You can also use this copycat Bailey’s Irish cream recipe to make delicious desserts.

Since this is a sweet liqueur, it’s a nice flavor to add into desserts. Irish cream cheesecake, trifle, cake, and brownies are all great ways to use this low carb copycat Bailey’s Irish Cream recipe.

You can also use it inan ice cream recipewhere it will keep much longer in the freezer.

I’m not much of a drinker, so I won’t be drinking shots of this Irish cream. I’ll be using it as a flavoring in desserts and an after work coffee. But it can be used to make a delicious low carb co*cktail alternative to my keto mojitoandskinny margarita.

FAQs

Let's take a look at some of the questions people often have about making homemade Bailey's Irish Cream.

Now that you know how to make your own copycat Bailey's, you may want to try some other famous drinks. Here's a few of my other favorite copycats.

• Homemade Shamrock Shake lets you ditch the overpriced and unhealthy fast food versions that come around one a year.
• Starbucks Caramel Apple Spice Drink is a simple alternative to the high sugar ones at your local coffee shop.
• Keto Frosty is a delicious frozen treat that will allow you to indulge and stay on track.
• Sugar-Free Peppermint Mocha Latte is easy to make at home with just a few simple ingredients.
• Keto Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha is a great alternative to the overpriced ones you get through a drive-through.

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Recipe

First published on March 2, 2016. Updated on February 17, 2022, with new images and additional recipe information and tips.