Cranberry Sauce

Oftentimes Cranberry Sauce is an afterthought on the Thanksgiving dinner table.

It certainly was on mine. I don’t think we ever had cranberry sauce made from scratch during the holidays.

I wouldn’t have thought much about it until I watched Samin Nosrat on her Netflix show Salt Fat Acid Heat.

She dedicated an entire episode to the fundamental element of any well balanced table: ACID.

That’s exactly what cranberry sauce provides: acidity and tartness. Which is necessary if you think about all of the rich, salty, and savory food served on this holiday.

Cranberry sauce brings to life all of those other dishes. But there’s nothing worse than that bland canned cranberry sauce which maintains the cylindrical shape of the can it came in.

Homemade cranberry sauce made with fresh (or frozen) cranberries is 1,000 times more flavorful. It adds that zing we all want on our plates!!

More Thanksgiving Recipes:

• Crowd Pleasing Sweet Potato Casserole
• Cheesy Green Bean Casserole with Bacon
• Pumpkin Bread Rolls with Cinnamon Butter
• Caramel Apple Streusel Pie
• Apple & Sausage Stuffing

See ALL of my best Thanksgiving recipes here!

5 from 1 vote

How to make

Cranberry Sauce

Yield: 2 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes minutes

Easy homemade Cranberry Sauce made with fresh cranberries and enhanced with fresh orange. A must-have on any Thanksgiving dinner table! Make a week ahead of time.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest, optional
• 12 ounces (340 grams) fresh or frozen cranberries, (about 3 cups)
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Salt, to taste

Directions

1. Bring the water, juice, sugar, and zest to a boil in a medium saucepan over high heat.
2. Reduce the heat to medium, add the cranberries and cinnamon, and simmer until two-thirds of the cranberries have burst and the mixture has thickened slightly, about 10 to 12 minutes. Taste and season with salt and add more sugar if necessary.
3. Let cool before serving or storing in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Recipe Notes

If using fresh cranberries, rinse them first. If you don’t have orange juice, use all water. You can also add in 2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier or triple sec after cooking.

Course : Side Dish

Cuisine : American

Keyword : thanksgiving

Recipe by Tessa Arias

Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.

Author: Tessa Arias

I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)