Cranberry sauce with orange juice and cinnamon is holiday classic! With just seven simple ingredients, you can make your own sauce at home and it's so much tastier than the stuff from the can. Take Thanksgiving dinner to the next level with this delicious, easy, made-from-scratch cranberry sauce!
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You just can't serve Thanksgiving turkey or holiday ham without classic sides like baked corn casserole, scalloped sweet potatoes, maple balsamic Brussels sprouts, green bean casserole, creamy fruit salad and cranberry sauce.
Now there's no shame in canned cranberry sauce! It's a busy time of year and spare time is limited.
But, I'm here to tell you that making homemade cranberry sauce is MUCH easier than you may think. And also, you can make it in advance (type-A planners, rejoice)!
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Holiday Meal Must!
Simple: This recipe calls for only seven common ingredients, nothing super unique and no crazy steps.
Quick: Make your cranberry orange sauce in less than 30 minutes.
Feels fancy: Cranberry sauce from scratch feels fancy, but it's SO stinkin' easy. Wow holiday guests with this low-effort upgrade.
Smells amazing: Cranberries simmering on the stovetop will make your home smell like holiday heaven.
Diet/allergy friendly: The holidays are a time where you may find yourself accommodating guests with different needs. This classic recipe is gluten-free friendly, dairy free, egg free, nut free, vegan and vegetarian.
Your Grocery List
- Whole, fresh cranberries: Tart and sweet! You'll typically find fresh cranberries in the produce section of the grocery store during the holiday season.
- Navel orange: For the best citrus flavor! You can sub bottled orange juice in a pinch, but I prefer using a whole orange so that I can include both fresh juice and zest in my sauce.
- Pure vanilla extract: Imitation will also work, but pure tastes best in my opinion.
- Ground cinnamon & cloves: Warm, cozy spices. No cloves on hand? That's okay, you can make this recipe with cinnamon only.
- Salt: Adds depth, complexity and more flavor.
- Sugar: Fresh cranberries are very tart so we need sugar to sweeten things up! You can also substitute maple syrup or your favorite sugar-free sweetener.
How To Make Cranberry Orange Sauce
Keep scrolling for the full recipe. We’ll start here with a quick rundown!
Add ingredients to saucepan:
- Rinse cranberries well and place them in a medium size sauce pan.
- Zest orange rind into the pan, then cut it in half and squeeze fresh juice over cranberries.
- Add spices, vanilla extract and sugar (or a sugar-free substitute if preferred).
Mix, cover, simmer:
- Place pan on stovetop and turn heat to low. Mix well and cover.
- Allow ingredients to simmer together for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve:
- Once cranberries have cooked down into a thick sauce, remove pan from heat.
- Serve warm or chilled and enjoy!
Handy Tips
- Chunky or smooth? I like my fresh cranberry sauce to have texture. If you prefer smooth, puree sauce with an immersion blender before it cools! You can also transfer it to a regular blender for pureeing (though a hand blender is much more convenient).
Festive Recipe Variations
Maple: Sub pure maple syrup for sugar to create scrumptious cranberry maple sauce.
Apple: Peel and cube an apple, then boil it down with your cranberries to create a cran-apple flavored delight.
Berry medley: Add fresh raspberries or blueberries and simmer them with your whole cranberries!
Boozy: Add a bit of red wine or a splash of bourbon to your saucepan and let it simmer along with the ingredients.
Sugar free: Use your favorite sugar-free substitute to create a low/no sugar variation of this recipe.
Serving Suggestions
- Spread your sauce on buttery dinner rolls.
- Use it as a delicious turkey topping or mix it with stuffing!
- You can even use cranberry sauce as a spread for your leftover turkey sandwiches.
Special Equipment
It's nice to have a citrus zester or microplane for this recipe. This tool allows you to easily zest the peel of your orange into the saucepan for lots of extra flavor. You can also try using a cheese grater if you don't have a zester available.
You might also consider using an orange juicer. However, I simply squeeze the juice out of my orange by hand.
How To Store Leftovers
Refrigerate: Let cranberry sauce cool completely and transfer to an airtight container. It should last in the refrigerator for up to 10-14 days!
Freeze: I prefer freezing leftover cranberry sauce in a Ziploc bag. I scoop sauce into the baggie and press it down flat, removing as much air as possible. This is great for saving space in the freezer, plus it will thaw much more quickly when pressed out flat into the bag. Freeze up to 6 months!
Make-Ahead Instructions
It's easy to make cranberry sauce in advance, which is extremely convenient when planning a big Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for lots of guests!
Simply make your sauce, let it cool completely, and store in an airtight container. Refrigerate 10-14 days or freeze up to 6 months.
When it's time to serve your sauce, remove it from the freezer and let it thaw in the fridge overnight. If you want to serve it warm, heat in a saucepan or microwave safe bowl directly from frozen.
Give sauce a good stir and transfer to a serving plate or bowl. Enjoy!
Common Questions:
You can serve it either way! It's really yummy hot or cold.
Absolutely! I scoop mine into a Ziploc bag and press it down flat to remove air and for convenient storage. It also thaws faster when pressed flat. Freeze up to 6 months.
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Orange Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Medium saucepan *With a lid
- 1 Citrus zester *Try a cheese grater if you don't have a citrus zester or microplane.
- 1 Orange juicer *Optional. I simply use my hands to juice my orange.
Ingredients
- 3.5 cups whole fresh cranberries *1 package *340 grams *12 oz
- 1 medium navel orange
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract *imitation vanilla will also work
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves *see note below
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar *sub maple syrup or your favorite sugar-free sweetener *see note below
Recipe notes:
General: I make the cranberry sauce for my family's annual Thanksgiving dinner. There are usually 9 of us and I double this recipe for our gathering. We always have a lot leftover, but there's no harm in extras! Ground cloves: If you don't have ground cloves, you can make this recipe with cinnamon only. Sugar: Add extra for more sweetness or less for more tart flavor. Monk Fruit Sweetener: If you want to make sugar-free cranberry sauce, this is a good substitute.Instructions
- Rinse cranberries well and place them in a medium size sauce pan (no need to dry them off).3.5 cups whole fresh cranberries
- Zest orange peel and squeeze juice into the pan.1 medium navel orange
- Add vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, salt and sugar.1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ½ cup sugar
- Place pan on the stovetop and turn heat to low. Mix well and cover.
- Allow ingredients to simmer together for about 20 minutes, stir occasionally.
- Once cranberries have cooked down into a thick sauce, remove pan from heat.
- Serve warm or chill first.
- Enjoy!
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Karen says
This is a staple at our house on Thanksgiving Day….I will have to give it a try!
stacey_olson says
Thanks, Karen! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!