Homemade cranberry sauce is so much easier than you think. The secret is layering flavors with bold, simple ingredients.
Listen, if you’ve ever relied on the canned stuff because cranberry sauce seemed like a lot, I’m here to tell you that you can have the perfect homemade version in under 20 minutes to make.
The fresh cranberries do the heavy lifting while orange zest and juice layer in bright, bold flavor without much effort at all.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Big Flavor – Such simple and basic ingredients that when combined give you something truly magical. You’ll love how much flavor you get out of this.
- Versatile – We give multiple options to switch up ingredients in this dish to truly make it unique or carter to tastes or what’s on hand.
- Easy – You are just adding things to a pot and then waiting for the magic to happen. This is one of the easiest holiday dishes to make
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Homemade Cranberry Sauce Ingredients
Gather our Ingredients:
Cranberries
You want to use fresh cranberries for this recipe.
Oranges
We’re using both the zest of the orange and freshly squeezed orange juice for the recipe.
Substitute: You can use bottled orange juice but you will loose some of the fresh taste.
Aromatics
We’re using a cinnamon stick in the base recipe, but you can also use rosemary sprigs or balsamic. We’re also adding in vanilla extract.
Sweetener
We’re using maple syrup for our sweetener. It adds another layer of flavor to help build our profile.
Substitute: Cane sugar and brown sugar are other options.
Salt
Just a pinch of salt goes a long way in making this dish really pull out all the flavors.
Full recipe amounts in the recipe card printable below.
More Side Dishes To Try
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Cranberry sauce with orange juice
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries (340g)
- ¾ cup fresh orange juice (180g)
- ¾ cup maple syrup (180g)
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- ¼ cup water (60g)
- 1 cinnamon stick*, optional
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a stainless steel or enamel pot, add in 12 oz fresh cranberries, ¾ cup each fresh orange juice and maple syrup, ¼ cup water, cinnamon stick (if adding), and ⅛ teaspoon of salt.
- Turn heat onto medium and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 9-12 minutes. Done when you can drag a spatula through the mixture and it slowly closes in.
- Remove from heat, take out the cinnamon stick, and stir in ½ teaspoon vanilla extract.
- Once room temperature, place in the fridge for 3-4 hours to chill (or overnight)
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Cranberry Sauce FAQs
You should use stainless steel or enamel pots for cranberry sauce due to the fact that cranberries react with metals.
Absolutely! You can easily double or even triple this recipe as written depending on how many people you are serving at your dinner table or holiday get together.
There are no Top 9 Allergens in this dish.
Yes! You can prep this up to 3 days in advance. Just reheat in the microwave or on the stove.
Love this, love how easy and fresh it is!
Thank you!! We’re happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe!
We don’t just eat this at the holidays. We love it so much that I have bags and bags of cranberries in the freezer so I can make it throughout the year.
This is awesome! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try. We’re glad to know that this can be enjoyed all year round!
I’ve always prided myself on my cranberry relish. Let’s just say it has been replaced. This is exquisite.
This is awesome! Thank you so much!
This was so easy to make a so delicious. I cut the maple syrup back to 1/2 cup to get a more tart flavour. Any leftovers will be used as a topping for Oatmeal and fresh baked bread.
Thank you so much!
This was so easy to make and beyond delicious! I did cut the maple syrup back to 1/2 cup to bring out more of the tartness. Any leftovers will be used as a topping for oatmeal. 😋
Thank you! We truly appreciate you giving the recipe a try and making it your own!