Cranberry Sauce
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Ditch the can and impress your guests with this easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe—ready to brighten your holiday table in just 15 minutes!
I’ll admit, the jiggly, can-shaped cranberry sauce has a certain nostalgic charm, but homemade cranberry sauce is truly in a league of its own—and it’s so easy to make! Simply boil fresh (or frozen) cranberries with sugar, water, orange juice and zest, and in just 15 minutes, you’ll have a sauce bursting with bright, sweet flavors. The best part? You can make the sauce ahead of time and relax knowing it’ll stay perfectly fresh in the fridge for up to 10 days or in the freezer for two months. Serve it up alongside your favorite Thanksgiving turkey (I’m a fan of a dry-brined turkey) and turkey gravy, then give your post-feast turkey sandwiches a gourmet twist by mixing the leftover sauce with mayo for an irresistibly delicious spread.
“I usually use the recipe on the Ocean Spray bag. This is so much better! I can’t wait for my family to try it! I love the taste of the orange in it.”
About Fresh Cranberries
As soon as the leaves start turning, fresh cranberries start popping up in stores, usually from mid-September through the end of the year. They’re harvested in a unique way—the bogs they grow in are flooded, and the cranberries float up to the surface, making them easy to scoop up. And cranberries aren’t just for sauces! They can brighten up desserts and baked goods, like Nantucket cranberry pie, cranberry orange bread, or apple cranberry crumble. You can even use them to make cranberry chutney. Find them fresh in the produce section during the fall, and grab a few extra bags to freeze so you can enjoy them year-round.
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by zesting one of the oranges. A rasp grater is the best tool but any grater with small holes will work—just be sure to leave the white pith behind as it’s quite bitter. Always zest the orange before squeezing the juice out, as it’s near impossible to do afterward.
Combine the orange juice, water and sugar in a medium pot and bring to a boil.
Add the cranberries, orange zest and salt.
Boil gently for about 10 minutes.
Most of the cranberries should burst open, creating a thick sauce. You may need to mash them a bit with a spoon. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
How to Store Cranberry Sauce
Cranberry sauce should be cooled completely before storing. Transfer the sauce to a serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap or place it in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 10 days.
How To Freeze Cranberry Sauce
Fresh cranberry sauce freezes beautifully, so you can make it a month or two ahead of time to get a jump start on your holiday cooking. Allow the sauce to cool completely and then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let the cranberry sauce thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Video Tutorial
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Cranberry Sauce
Ditch the can and impress your guests with this easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe—ready to brighten your holiday table in just 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup fresh orange juice, from two oranges
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 (12 oz) bag fresh or frozen cranberries (do not use dried)
- Zest of one orange, about 2 teaspoons
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan over high heat, bring the water, orange juice, and sugar to a boil. Add the cranberries, orange zest, and salt and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and boil gently for 10 to 12 minutes, until most of cranberries have burst open. (You may need to mash them a bit with a spoon.)
- Transfer sauce to a serving bowl. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
- Make-Ahead/Freezing Instructions: Cranberry sauce will keep for 10 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen for up to two months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: about 1/3 cup
- Calories: 126
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 33 g
- Sugar: 28 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Sodium: 43 mg
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Just made this… so simple and flavorful why would you ever buy remade?! Lots of ways to customize as others have said but I find the contrast with the rest of the meal is perfect as is!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone
Just made it, and added a sprig of thyme, and one clove of garlic. So excited!
This is amazingly good. I added fresh ground nutmeg. Definitely a keeper.
Very easy and delicious. A little too sweet for me so I added some grated fresh ginger and some finely minced rosemary plus a dash of cayenne.
This is the best recipe and I’ve tried many others. It has the perfect consistency (not to thick or runny). It’s a family fav and I’ll be making it on Wed am so the flavors can mesh perfectly by Thanksgiving dinner.
First time making cranberry sauce and thought this would be an easy first try. It was! The result tasted great. It was a little more “saucy” than I hoped, but I’m guessing just a bit less water would have made it perfect.
Glad you like it, Christina! It will firm up as it cools.
Indeed! Cranberries have a lot of natural pectin in them. Other members of the Heath family do as well (blueberries, huckleberries, etc.). I once used a cranberry sauce recipe that called for a whole apple. It was delicious, but got super thick in the refrigerator.
Hi Jenn,
Would this Cranberry Orange Sauce recipe be enough for 10 people, or should I double it?
Thank you for your time…You Rock !!!!
To serve 10, I’d recommend making 1.5 times the recipe. 🙂
My rind is quite chewy. Is that how it should be?
Hi, You don’t want to use all the rind (which would be chewy), just the zest which is the very top layer of the skin on the orange peel.
Dear Jennifer,
I would love to make this to accompany a dinner of roast spatchcocks. However, here in Australia there are no fresh cranberries available (they only have dried cranberries).
Would it be possible to substitute cranberries for cherries in this recipe? If so, are there any other changes I should account for (amount of orange juice/zest etc.)?
Hi Gayathiri, Although I’ve never tried it, I think you could get away with using cherries, but you will likely need less sugar. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
This is fantastic!! Jenn knocked another one out of the park! I used Simply Orange juice and no zest. It tastes great. High altitude required 14 minutes cooking time.
Best cranberry sauce ever! Everybody loved it!
This cranberry sauce is the way to go! So much better than canned (it is not hard to make your own cranberry sauce, and the orange juice makes such a better cranberry sauce than traditional recipes recommending that you add water. The orange zest is just the perfect compliment to the cranberry sauce. We like to add a little cinnamon into ours for some fuller holiday flavors
Delicious, fresh, cranberry sauce. Made this for the first time, and my grandson commented on the citrus being a nice addition to the traditional sauce that I usually make. A new holiday tradition for this family!