Best Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
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Fresh cranberry sauce is bomb-diggity. It’s beautiful and so tart, sweet, and tasty. It’s also easy as pie, so there’s no reason to buy the canned stuff or go without. I used to never like cranberry anything until one Christmas my mom made cranberry salsa which is amazing! For all the best homemade dressing, dip, and sauce recipes check this out.
Then I got the taste for this old fashioned holiday treat. And speaking of homemade cranberry sauce, if you’re cooking Thanksgiving dinner (or any special holiday meal), check out this stress-free Thanksgiving dinner checklist!
Later, I discovered what I have not liked about cranberry sauce before is the spices. I don’t like ginger, so I left it out. I loved it! When you make it, you can go ahead and add some ginger, or cinnamon, or whatever you like if that’s what you want to do.
Fresh cranberry recipe
This recipe will make any holiday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or whatever special occasion even more special. You’re going to love it and be amazed at how easy it is.
When I made this recipe for Thanksgiving, I bought fresh cranberries and tossed them in the freezer until I needed them. Either fresh or frozen is fine for this recipe. While the cranberries are cooking, the most amazing cloud of mesmerizing smells will permeate the air and enrobe you in the holiday spirit (and make you hungry).
How to make fresh cranberry sauce
Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice
Ingredients
- 1 12 oz. bag fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 orange
- 1 lemon
- 1 cup sugar I use raw sugar
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Toss cranberries and sugar into a sauce pan reserving 1/2 cup of whole cranberries.
- Zest all of the lemon and orange into the cranberries and then squeeze the juice from them into the mixture.
- Add the pinch of salt.
- Cook the cranberries for 10 minutes on low heat until they are soft, stirring occasionally.
- Turn the heat up to high and boil the mixture until the cranberries pop.
- Add the reserved cranberries and stir them in.
It’s so simple to make this homemade sauce, I urge you to give it a try for your next holiday gathering. I liked it so much, I’m going to make it for Christmas again. It was a big hit with my guests as well.
Check out this great ham and cranberry roll up recipe to use with leftover cranberry sauce and leftover ham or turkey. And this cranberry syrup is soooo good!
I love to serve this with:
- Turkey
- Mashed potatoes and gravy
- sweet potato casserole
- green beans
- cabbage
- Christmas cookies!
For foods that are in season at Christmas time, click here.
How long does fresh cranberry sauce last?
This cranberry sauce is acidic so it will last 10-14 days in the fridge.
Are there any new dishes you tried this Thanksgiving that you liked so much you want to make them again for Christmas? I’d love to hear about it!
Great Recipe to have during the Holidays 🙂 Thank You
Good information. Lucky me I recently found your site by chance.
I have saved as a favorite for later!
Thanks for checking it out!
i cooked cramberries whith sugar and cinnamon ! and i made cheese cake and i put on top of the cheese cakes they were delicious!!!!
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Homemade cranberry sauce is so simple to make. Why would anyone want to use that canned stuff? This looks like a great recipe. This Thanksgiving I tried a few new recipes; Maple Whiskey Glazed Turkey and gravy, Pear and Bacon Stuffing. Both were awesome and I’ve made again since Thanksgiving
Those sound great! Pear and bacon stuffing sounds like a keeper, yum! Thanks for reading!
Wow, you don’t have to add any water to this? It looks fabulous!
I just used the juice from both the lemon and the orange and voila, it worked! It was so tasty! 🙂 Thanks for reading!