Keto Cocktail Weenies

These were gone so fast at my party. Making them again soon!

I doubted three ingredients would make enough sauce for the whole bag. Hour two in the slow cooker and they were properly glossy, so I was wrong about that. You make the swap-out versions worth trying, Annie.

Score each sausage with one quick cut before they go in and the sauce gets inside, not just on the outside. Did it by accident on batch four and haven’t skipped it since.

I use low heat. Don’t let the jelly scorch.

Add the water to the IP liner. Seems unnecessary until you skip it and the sauce scorches before it can pressurize. Full batch after that, no scorching, and the sauce came out smooth rather than jammy.nnMy youngest, who picks apart sauces like she’s taking notes, tried it and announced: “barbecue but sweeter, which is better actually.” She’s nine and spent two minutes analyzing it before eating. I’ll take it.nnFrozen weenies to the table in under 25 minutes on a school night. It stays in the rotation.

Grape jelly in BBQ sauce felt like such a weird family thing, turns out it’s basically the actual recipe. When I went keto I just assumed these were gone forever. Sugar-free everything, slow cooker, and it tastes exactly like what I grew up eating. So relieved.

The bowl was gone before I finished my second plate. I went stovetop (didn’t have time for the slow cooker), kept it medium-low, but I was basically glued to the pan the whole time worrying the grape jelly would scorch.nnDoes the sauce thicken as it cools? I pulled mine when it looked glossy and was clinging to the sausages, but it came out noticeably thinner than your photos. Couldn’t tell if I just bailed too early or needed more patience. Also curious if longer simmering actually builds more flavor or if you just hit a wall where it starts burning and getting sticky.

Swapped in sugar-free apricot preserves for half the grape jelly because I was short on it, and the sauce came out tangier with this lighter, almost fruity thing at the end. Sausages still got that glossy coating after a couple hours on high, just with more of that tang cutting through the BBQ. Honestly I might keep doing it this way on purpose. Worth knowing if you’re ever mid-recipe and low on the grape.

First time using a slow cooker and these came out way better than expected. Grape jelly sauce sounds so wrong but it works. Think they’d hold up if I made them the night before and reheated?

Made these on the stovetop for a small dinner thing last week and the sauce was great, but I used the full 5 oz of grape jelly and it came out pretty sweet for my taste. Next time I’m cutting it to maybe 3 oz to let more of the smoky BBQ come through. The sausages got this falling-apart tender thing going after simmering, which I loved. Just wish I’d adjusted the ratio on the first try.

The sauce has that smoky-sweet thing that keeps you going back. Did mine on high for about 2.5 hours and the texture was exactly right. The grape jelly does push it pretty sweet though, so I’d lean heavier on the BBQ sauce if you want more savory. Trying that ratio next time.

Made these last week using the Instant Pot method and the grape jelly sauce came out thicker than I expected, almost like a proper glaze on the sausages. My wife has been avoiding regular BBQ stuff for months because of the sugar, so she grabbed a couple just to try. I watched her go back to that bowl four times before I finally said anything. When I told her the whole thing was three ingredients and all sugar-free, she looked personally offended that she’d been enjoying it that much without suspecting anything. That’s the reaction I was going for. I’m keeping Smucker’s sugar-free grape jelly stocked now because this one is going to come up again.