This easy homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe only takes 15 minutes to make using fresh cranberries, apples, and oranges. It’s bursting with flavor and will compliment your turkey perfectly.
Looking for more Thanksgiving side dishes? Try my Sweet Potato Casserole, Thanksgiving Stuffing, or the Best Homemade Rolls!
Why I love this recipe:
Fresh – Made with fresh cranberries, apples, oranges, and spices, this cranberry sauce tastes flavorful and so fresh!
Quick – From start to finish, this sauce is done in just 10 minutes! Plus, you can even make it a few days in advance to make your Thanksgiving easier!
Delicious – This fresh cranberry sauce is literally the icing on the cake to my Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey! After putting in effort to make the turkey, canned cranberry sauce should not be allowed! This sauce really takes the whole meal to the next level, and you will never use store-bought again!
Ingredients Needed:
Fresh Cranberries – Frozen whole cranberries will also work.
Apple
Orange
Apple Cider Vinegar
Sugar – Granulated and Brown
Spices: Cinnamon, Cloves, and Sea Salt
Water
Vanilla Extract
How to make Cranberry Sauce:
Combine Ingredients: Place all ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine.
Simmer: Cook over medium heat until simmering. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish to cool completely.
Serve this easy cranberry sauce at room temperature or chilled, if desired. It can be served warm, but the consistency won’t be as thick, so I recommend at room temperature or chilled.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: This is the best cranberry sauce recipe because you can make it a few days before Thanksgiving to make all the cooking easier! Make up to a week in advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
To Store: Keep leftover orange cranberry sauce in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
To Freeze: Pour jellied cranberry sauce in an airtight container or freezer safe bag. Place in the freezer for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
More Thanksgiving Recipes:
Smoked Turkey
Baked Ham
Easy, No-Fuss Thanksgiving Turkey
Best Homemade Rolls
Broccoli Salad
Turkey Gravy
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Recipe
5 from 11 votes
Cranberry Sauce
This easy homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe takes just 15 minutes to make using fresh cranberries, apples, and oranges. It's bursting with flavor and will compliment your turkey perfectly.
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat until simmering. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, until slightly thickened, stirring if needed. Remove from heat and transfer to serving dish to cool completely.
Serve cranberry sauce at room temperature or chilled, if desired.
Notes
Yield: makes about 2 cups
Sugar: to use a natural sweetener, substitute ½ cup honey or maple syrup for the sugars.
Make Ahead Instructions: This is great to make a few days before Thanksgiving to make all the cooking easier! Make up to a week in advance and store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Storage Instructions: Keep leftover orange cranberry sauce in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Freezing Instructions: Pour cranberry sauce in an airtight container or freezer safe bag. Place in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
Welcome! I’m Lauren, a mom of four and lover of good food. Here you’ll find easy recipes and weeknight meal ideas made with real ingredients, with step-by-step photos and videos.
Adding a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or orange zest, a tablespoon of chopped candied peel, or even a splash of juice to your canned sauce will brighten flavors and bring in some homemade flavor.
When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.
The most basic cranberry sauce consists of cranberries boiled in sugar water until the berries pop and the mixture thickens. Some recipes include other ingredients such as slivered almonds, orange juice, orange zest, ginger, maple syrup, port, or cinnamon.
Jelling. Homemade cranberry sauce is meant to thicken, or “jell,” while cooking. If it stays soupy, that could mean a couple of things. One possibility is that you may not have used enough sugar: Sugar helps the sauce firm up, so be sure to use the full amount called for in a recipe.
Canned cranberry sauce is delicious on its own, but there are ways you can dress it up for any meal. Adding fruits like oranges or berries brings different flavors and acidity to the sauce. Folding in crushed nuts at the end adds texture variety.
Maple syrup, brown sugar and even honey can make your cranberry sauce more dynamic. And don't forget the spices! Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, citrus zest and star anise all work well with cranberries and can be added while the sauce cooks to infuse your sauce with flavor.
Properly stored, homemade cranberry sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 10 to 14 days. If you'd like to keep it for longer than that, pour the sauce into covered airtight containers or freezer-safe bags and freeze.
Yes, you can freeze homemade cranberry sauce—and it works well. It's best to store it in the freezer for up to 3 months; the taste may be affected due to its water content if frozen longer. Keep this in mind when putting away your leftover sauce and use it during this optimal period as part of an easy weeknight dinner.
Both fresh and dried cranberries are safe to feed to dogs in small quantities. Whether your dog will like this tart treat is another question. Either way, moderation is important when feeding cranberries to dogs, as with any treat, as too many can lead to an upset stomach.
But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.” Ocean Spray isn't immune either.
Cranberry sauce can be served either as a gooey liquid or as a solid jelly. The jellied version is solid enough to retain the shape of the container in which it's placed whereas the sauce version is much more fluid. The difference between the fluid sauce and the jelly versions comes down to pectin.
The major variation you're likely to come across is "whole berry" versus "jellied." The only difference between them is that the jellied sauce is cooked until the berries have completely broken down. They both slide out of the can as a wobbly red cylinder.
Dear Evelyn: I had the same problem when I first started making my own cranberry sauce. I found out that you should cook them just until they pop. Further cooking will make them bitter, and once that happens, you need to start again.
Though they won't tolerate runny sauce, so it's time to fix that. The simplest reason that your cranberry sauce is too runny is that it has too much liquid in it. Usually, this is just water, but some people use orange juice or other flavored fluids. No matter what you're using, the answer is to cook it longer.
The cans are "filled and labeled upside down with the rounded edge on top and the sharp can-like edge on the bottom to keep the jelly whole." This creates an air bubble vacuum on the rounded side (the top) so customers "can swipe the edge of the can with a knife to break the vacuum and the log will easily slide out."
Mix with cream cheese for a tasty topping on crackers and bagels! Dollop a spoonful on baked sweet potato in place of butter. Top off your yoghurt with a spoonful for extra fruity flavour! Swirl it into your cake batter for delicious marbled muffins.
I sweetened my juice with honey which adds a sweet floral touch to the beverage. I also use a couple of freshly squeezed oranges which gives the juice a nice hint of citrus flavor. I'm sure apple juice or apple cider would work well too. I think moving forward I'm going to call this drink cranade (like lemonade…).
The traditional way to serve canned cranberry sauce is to slice the cylinder into rounds and arrange them on a platter. Go a step further by adding a garnish like sugared rosemary or candied ginger. Or, cook the canned sauce with orange juice and zest for a citrusy take on a holiday standby.
You open the can, slide the contents onto a plate, and either slice it into neat rounds, or break it into chunks to serve it. I have known people to eat it with a spoon straught out of the jar. Some people arrange round slices of cranberry sauce on lettuce leaves and top them with mandarin oranges from a can.
Introduction: My name is Jeremiah Abshire, I am a outstanding, kind, clever, hilarious, curious, hilarious, outstanding person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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