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My easy homemade cranberry sauce uses 5 ingredients and only takes 20 minutes to make! This delicious cranberry sauce recipe uses fresh or frozen cranberries along with fresh orange juice and zest, and a pinch of cinnamon and vanilla for an irresistible warm citrusy flavor that will make you forget all about canned cranberry sauce!
Looking for more ways to jazz up cranberry sauce? Try my cranberry apple sauce and cranberry apple relish!
Cranberry sauce is a classic holiday side dish that pairs perfectly with Thanksgiving turkey or Christmas ham. I’m convinced people buy canned cranberry sauce because they’ve never had homemade or think it will be complicated to make.
My homemade cranberry sauce is about as easy as it gets to make and you can make it ahead of time. The secret to the most flavorful cranberry sauce is to replace some of the water with fresh orange juice and stir in a little cinnamon and vanilla. It truly takes cranberry sauce to the next level!
It only takes 20 minutes to make and can be served warm or chilled depending on how you like it. There’s also lots of way to use the leftovers, see below for my suggestions!
Ingredient Notes
Cranberries – Fresh or frozen cranberries can be used. If using frozen cranberries, don’t defrost them.
Brown sugar – Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar can be used. The molasses in the brown sugar adds flavor additional flavor.
Orange – You’ll be using both the zest and juice from the orange so don’t forget to zest it first! Cranberries and orange are a classic combo, so it only made sense to use it in this recipe.
Cinnamon – Ground cinnamon adds a hint of warm, sweet, spiced flavor.
Vanilla – Vanilla is something I’ve always added to my cranberry sauce and it’s must for enhancing the flavors of the cranberries and orange. I love using vanilla bean paste, but vanilla extract is great too.
Tips for Making the Best Cranberry Sauce
- Sort through the cranberries to make sure there aren’t any shriveled up ones hiding in the bag.
- If using fresh cranberries (not frozen) rinse them under cold water and drain them in a colander.
- The sweetness of the cranberry sauce is up to you. Once it’s cooked you can stir in additional brown sugar if it’s too tart for your liking.
- Stir the vanilla in off the heat. Doing this will give you the best, most intense vanilla flavor.
Ways to Use Cranberry Sauce
You might be wondering what to do with leftover cranberry sauce. Turns out there’s lots of way to reuse it besides eating them with Thanksgiving leftovers.
- Swirl it into plain or vanilla Greek yogurt or cottage cheese.
- Use it as a topping for vanilla ice cream.
- On top of pancakes or waffles. It pairs perfectly with my pumpkin pancakes!
- Serve with cornbread muffins.
- Use it as part of the dipping sauce for these turkey cranberry and brie egg rolls.
- Add it to barbecue sauce and make this turkey and cranberry bbq sauce pizza.
Make Ahead and Freezing
Cranberry sauce can be made 3 days ahead of time. Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. Warm it in a saucepan on the stove or serve it chilled or at room temperature.
You can also freeze it for up to 3 months. Defrost it in the fridge overnight and reheat before serving if desired.
More Recipes Using Cranberries
Fall and winter are the best time to take advantage of seasonal fresh cranberries! Below are some of my favorite ways to use them. You can even store an extra bag of them in the freezer for up to a year!
- Cranberry Orange Baked Oatmeal
- Cranberry Orange Muffins
- Cranberry Orange Yogurt Cake
- Cranberry Apple Pear Crisp
- Cranberry Orange Curd
- Cranberry Maple Pecan Baked Oatmeal
Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries picked through and rinsed
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice (1-2 oranges)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the brown sugar, water, orange zest and orange juice to a boil.
- Add in the cranberries and cinnamon. Stir and lower the heat so that the cranberries continue to gently boil. Cook the cranberries for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust the sweetness if needed. Add additional brown sugar in 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool the cranberry sauce before storing it in an airtight container and refrigerating it until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
