A sweet and tart cranberry sauce is the perfect addition to any meal!
Cranberry sauce is a classic side dish for fall meals, especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday dinners, and it’s so easy to make your own! Cranberry sauce is the simple combination of cranberries, sugar and water that is simmered until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens. In addition to the basic cranberry sauce ingredients you can add extras like diced apples, or pears, orange juice, apple juice, cinnamon, ginger, etc. to keep things interesting.
What are your favourite flavour additions to cranberry sauce? Or is plain the best?
Cranberry Sauce
Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Servings: 8
A sweet and tart cranberry sauce is the perfect addition to any meal!
ingredients
- 4 cups (1 12 ounce bag) cranberries
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
directions
- Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries burst and the sauce starts to thicken, about 10-15 minutes.
Option: Add a diced apple!
Option: Add a diced pear!
Option: Replace the water with orange juice or apple juice or apple cider, et6c.
Option: Add orange zest or lemon or lime zest!
Option: Add a pinch of cinnamon!
Option: Add a pinch of ginger!
Option: Add chopped rosemary!
Option: Replace some or all of the sugar with brown sugar, maple syrup or honey!
Option: Add a diced pear!
Option: Replace the water with orange juice or apple juice or apple cider, et6c.
Option: Add orange zest or lemon or lime zest!
Option: Add a pinch of cinnamon!
Option: Add a pinch of ginger!
Option: Add chopped rosemary!
Option: Replace some or all of the sugar with brown sugar, maple syrup or honey!
Nutrition Facts: Calories 116, Fat 0 (Saturated 0, Trans 0), Cholesterol 0, Sodium 2mg, Carbs 30g (Fiber 1g, Sugars 26g), Protein 0.1g
Nutrition by: 
Use in:
Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce
Roast Turkey Sandwich with Cranberry Sauce
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Thanksgiving Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Turkey, Cranberry, Brie and Pear Sandwiches with Avocado and Bacon
Cranberry and Brie Turkey Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Bacon
Cranberry and Brie Turkey Quesadillas with Avocado and Candied Jalapenos
Baked Brie with Cranberry Sauce
Roast Turkey Sandwich with Cranberry Sauce
Grilled Turkey and Brie Sandwich with Cranberry Chutney
Thanksgiving Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Turkey, Cranberry, Brie and Pear Sandwiches with Avocado and Bacon
Cranberry and Brie Turkey Grilled Cheese with Avocado and Bacon
Cranberry and Brie Turkey Quesadillas with Avocado and Candied Jalapenos
Cranberry sauce is one of my favourite parts of Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner and I have been making my own homemade version for years. For an extra bit of zip, I add orange zest and freshly grated ginger! Always a huge hit amongst family and friends.
Great recipe!! LOL
Oh, wonderful! It's the season for cranberry sauce! 🙂
if you use orange juice instead of water, it is extra tasty.
I love cranberry sauce, and I too have experimented with a bunch of different versions. The basic one is the best! My add ins are usually orange zest and pineapple.
We like to add chipotle to ours. Other times we keep it simple with raisins and oj. We eat it on everything from toast to turkey. 🙂
We use our sauce on about everything we eat, my kid loves peanut sauce so much I think I should make this for him sees how it goes. Looks really good.
I never used to like cranberry sauce until I started to make a sweet and spicy version. We add orange juice for a bit more sweetness and chipotles to turn up the heat! I think my family licked the bowl clean the first time I made it.
The Dinner Belle for Kimberlybelle.com
I added candied ginger to mine and it gives is a yummy and unique taste. Cranberry Sauce with Crystalized Ginger
This is similar to the way that I make it but m cooking directions are to cook the cranberries until they pop (no fair popping them with a spoon or fork), then take them out, run them through a sieve, then add the sugar(or Sugartwin and unflavored gelatin for diabetics)and boil for five minute, skimming the "gunk" off the top as it boilsHere's my recipe:
1 pkg cranberries
1 C boiling water
Let boil until cranberries pop (do not pop them yourself), then take off and run through sieve.
Add 2 cups of sugar and boil five minutes
Note: To make dietetic cranberries, use 2 C SugarTwin and 1 pkg Knox Unflavored gelatin to they’ll set.
I have only recently started to enjoy cranberry sauce. I will tackle fresh made one this year. But I don't know ho much will be eaten. So I'm wondering how long will it last in the fridge or can the left overs be frozen for later use. I'm thinking of freezing it in a ice tray for future usage.
Germaine: Cranberry sauce will keep in the fridge for at least a week and it freezes well. Enjoy!
instead of water I use cranapple juice.
I have recently started to like cranberries. I cant wait to try it. It sounds so good.
We enjoy it with pork chops or roast. Then again, cranberry relish usually ends up being made in 2 batches 'cause I keep 'tasting' it while it develops thru the week.
My daughter was a diabetic so I always made her cranberry sauce (the whole family decided they liked it better), go figure. Very simple–one bag cranberries in a sauce pan with about 1 cup water. Bring to boil and simmer until all berries have popped. Add 1 small pkg. sugar free Jello (orange or lemon). Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Pour into bowl and refrigerate.
Love your recipes, keep them coming.
I add a cup of a fav salsa to one bowl of sauce and serve another of regular salsa – all are happy but my fav is to leave town – maybe NY, Paris or Hong Kong – if Santa had been generous. oxo, Sue