A classic Cranberry Sauce recipe for Thanksgiving. Fresh cranberries are sweetened with orange juice. Perfect with turkey and cooks in just 10 minutes!
To me, Cranberry Sauce has one main function on your Thanksgiving plate: To cut the richness of everything else.
It might be the only recipe on the table not made with butter.
Cranberry Sauce made from scratch is fresh and crisp, perfectly tart but balanced with a sweet element: Sugar, honey, pineapple juice, or in this case, orange juice.
How Do You Cook Cranberry Sauce?
Cranberry Sauce is probably the easiest dish on you Thanksgiving table.
Combine cranberries with orange juice, sugar, water, and any other spices you are using (I like cinnamon, orange peel, and salt). Simmer until the berries pop.
The sauce will thicken as it cools.
Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries rinsed and sorted
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, orange juice, water, orange zest, and salt to boil.
- Stir in cranberries. Simmer until slightly thickened and the berries begin to pop, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool, about 30 minutes. Cover and refrigerate.
This is the best cranberry sauce I have ever made! The only variation was using 1/4 cup cranberry juice and 1/4 cup water instead of 1/2. I took your advice and added a dash of cinnamon.
Many thanks for another terrific recipe. Happy Thanksgiving!
AWESOME recipe!! It’s taking me a lot to not eat this before Friendsgiving tomorrow. I used about 3/4 of fresh squeezed OJ (that’s all I could get out of the 2 oranges I had) and the rest water. Otherwise, just followed the recipe and I LOVE it!!
Hi Olivia, I appreciate the feedback, maybe I’ll up the number of oranges to 3. I think it really depends on the oranges you get, but not everyone is as nice as you are about it. I am so glad you loved it! Happy Friendsgiving! -Meggan
This looks like a delicious twist on the regular cranberry sauce and I am excited to try it! Thanks for posting!