Sugar-Free Baklava with Jaca

By Jaca Kitchen · · Updated

This sugar-free baklava swaps every bit of sugar and honey for Jaca allulose, giving you the same crisp, buttery phyllo and spiced walnut filling with under 1 gram of sugar per piece instead of the 15–20 grams in a traditional square.

This is a Jaca-adjusted, healthier version of classic baklava: because allulose doesn't crystallize and browns beautifully, the syrup stays glossy and pourable and soaks into every flaky layer — no refined sugar, no honey, no sugar crash.

Ingredients:

For the walnut filling

  • 4 cups walnuts, toasted
  • 1 cup Jaca allulose (replaces ½ cup sugar, doubled)
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the Jaca syrup

  • 2 cups Jaca allulose (replaces 1 cup sugar, doubled)
  • ½ cup Jaca allulose (replaces ½ cup honey)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Big pinch of salt
  • 1 cinnamon stick (optional)
  • 2 strips orange rind (optional)

For assembly

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 lb phyllo dough (about 40 sheets), thawed

Prep: 1 hour  |  Bake: 45 minutes  |  Yield: 24 pieces

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the walnuts on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 7–10 minutes until fragrant, then let cool.
  2. Pulse the cooled walnuts with 1 cup Jaca allulose, the cinnamon, and nutmeg in a food processor until the mixture looks like coarse sand with a few small pebbles.
  3. Make the Jaca syrup: combine the 2 cups and ½ cup Jaca allulose, water, lemon juice, salt, and the optional cinnamon stick and orange rind in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer 6–8 minutes until the allulose fully dissolves and the syrup thickens slightly. Cool completely — allulose syrup stays pourable and won't crystallize.
  4. Trim the phyllo to fit an 8×12-inch pan. Keep it covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel so it doesn't dry out.
  5. Brush the pan with butter. Layer the phyllo two sheets at a time, brushing butter between every two sheets, until 14 sheets are down.
  6. Spread one-third of the walnut filling evenly over the phyllo. Add 6 more phyllo sheets (butter between every two), then another third of the filling. Repeat once more with 6 sheets and the final third of the filling.
  7. Top with 14 more phyllo sheets, buttering after every two. Do not butter the very top layer.
  8. With a sharp knife, cut all the way through the layers into 24 squares (or 48 diamonds).
  9. Bake for 40–45 minutes, until deep golden and crisp.
  10. Cool for 5 minutes, then slowly spoon the cooled Jaca syrup into all the cuts. Let the baklava cool completely so the syrup soaks in before serving.

Serve at room temperature. Made with Jaca allulose, each piece has about 235 calories and under 1 gram of sugar — all the crackly, syrup-soaked flavor of real baklava, without the sugar.