Sweet, tart cranberry orange sauce made with fresh orange juice is a Thanksgiving 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 your holiday dinner to the next level with this delicious, easy, made-from-scratch cranberry sauce!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Jump to:
Ingredients and Substitutions
- 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: Adds tasty, complimentary, citrus flavor.
- Pure vanilla extract: Imitation will also work, but pure tastes best in my opinion!
- Ground cinnamon & cloves: Warm, cozy spices.
- Salt: Adds depth and complexity.
- 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 of choice.
How To Make Cranberry Orange Sauce
Keep scrolling for the full recipe. We’ll start here with a quick rundown!
- Rinse cranberries well and place them in a medium size sauce pan.
- Zest and juice orange into the pan.
- Add spices, vanilla extract and sugar (or a sugar-free substitute if preferred).
- Place pan on stovetop and turn heat to low. Mix well and cover.
- Allow ingredients to simmer together for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- 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 homemade cranberry orange 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 an immersion blender is much more convenient).
How To Eat Cranberry Sauce
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.
Homemade Cranberry Orange Sauce
Equipment
- Medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 3.5 cups cranberries *1 package *340 grams *12 oz
- 1 medium navel orange
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup sugar *sub maple syrup or your favorite sugar-free sweetener
Recipe notes:
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 cranberries
- Zest and juice orange into the pan.1 medium navel orange
- 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!
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?!
Wahoo! Thank you so much for trying it out – would you leave a rating?! Simply click on the stars in the recipe card above.
More Easy Thanksgiving Recipes:
- Autumn Harvest Salad & Sweet Cinnamon Vinaigrette
- Healthier Green Bean Casserole From Scratch
- How To Make Mashed Cauliflower "Potatoes"
- Roasted Carrots With Honey & Feta
- Fruit Salad With Whipped Cream
- Cheesy Twice Baked Potatoes
- Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
- Low Carb, No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Homemade Cornbread Stuffing
- Velvety Eggnog Pumpkin Pie
- Chocolate & Orange Holiday Dessert Sangria
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!