Cranberry Sauce
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Bright, tangy, and just sweet enough, this easy cranberry sauce recipe comes together 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 couldn’t be easier to make. This cranberry sauce recipe combines fresh or frozen cranberries with orange juice and zest for a bright, sweet-tart flavor that’s perfect with roast turkey. Best of all, it can be made well ahead of time, which is one less thing to think about on Thanksgiving Day.
“This is my go-to cranberry sauce…I am now passing it on to my children and grandchildren. A treasured family recipe.”
What You’ll Need To Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Fresh or frozen cranberries: Fresh are ideal when in season, but frozen work just as well and don’t need to be thawed first. Avoid dried cranberries; they won’t break down properly or give the sauce the right texture.
- Orange juice and zest: The juice balances the cranberries’ tartness, while the zest adds concentrated orange flavor. Be sure to zest the oranges before juicing them.
- Sugar: Cranberries are extremely tart, so sugar is needed to balance the flavor.
- Water: Helps dissolve the sugar and gives the cranberries room to boil and burst without scorching.
- Salt: Just a pinch rounds out the sweetness and keeps the sauce from tasting flat.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
How To Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Combine the water, orange juice, and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the cranberries, orange zest, and salt, then simmer gently until most of the berries have burst and the sauce has thickened. Mash a few berries with a spoon if needed. The sauce will look looser than you might expect when it comes off the heat. It thickens considerably as it cools and even more once refrigerated.
Cranberry Sauce Variations
- Cinnamon-Orange: Add a cinnamon stick along with the cranberries and remove it before serving.
- Cranberry-Apple: Stir in one peeled, diced apple during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Cranberry-Walnut or Pecan: Fold in ½ cup toasted, chopped nuts after the sauce has finished cooking.
- Boozy: Stir in a splash of port, bourbon, or orange liqueur once the sauce is off the heat.
Video Tutorial
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Cranberry Sauce
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 the sauce to a serving bowl. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition Information
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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Everyone loved it, including the picky children! This is definitely our new family holiday favorite. Thank you for the recipe!
This was my first time to make cranberry sauce. It was so easy and delicious!! Everyone loved it! Thank you
I made this today. Unfortunately, frozen cranberries were all I could find. The sauce did not set up and thicken. I have no idea what went wrong. When I have made this recipe with fresh cranberries and it always was perfect.
Hi Kathy, Sorry the texture wasn’t quite right. The sauce is initially runny until it cools down. Did it end up thickening up? The frozen cranberries really shouldn’t make a difference.
This cranberry sauce is the best. It’s so perfectly balanced and adds beautiful color and bright flavor to the Thanksgiving plate. I love to mix a spoonful of the leftovers into plain greek yogurt – great snack. I look forward to this dish all year!
I didn’t have raisins, so I substituted dried apricots instead and used walnuts instead of pecans. It was awesome! Thanks so much for the recipe!
This is the best orange cranberry sauce I have ever made. The family loved it.
If you make this, don’t change a thing. My first. and now only cranberry sauce recipe I will ever make. Taste of orange right off the bat but not overwhelming. 5 stars for sure.
This is the BEST cranberry sauce recipe ever!! I followed the recipe exactly. Everyone in my family loved it and went back for seconds, including myself! Perfect amount of everything and balanced out SO well. Perfect amount of sugar and orange flavor, and loved the pinch of salt. Great consistency (not too runny, not too thick). I will never look for another cranberry sauce recipe again. Thank you!
I made this recipe today, Thanksgiving 2021, and it was great! I did not add to or change the recipe and it was a big hit! Thanks for sharing and Happy Thanksgiving 🦃
Liz Shiroma
Carson, CA
I made this recipe today – Thanksgiving 2021 – EXCEPT: I added ~2 teaspoons of minced fresh rosemary. Delicious! It turned out beautifully. I decided to try this because my partner used rosemary as part of a rub for the poultry he cooked. I highly recommend both the base recipe (which I have made before) and my little variation. I have also made a similar recipe that calls for 1-2 cinnamon sticks and ~8-9 whole cloves, which you add at the beginning and remove before serving. (Believe me, it’s no fun biting into a whole clove.) I think you could add those spices to this recipe and get a good result as well.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It’s excellent. I love how simple it is – lets the fruit flavors really shine.