Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

How to Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Mark Stock
By
cranberry sauce
Funwithfood/Getty Images

It’s cranberry sauce season, people. No, not the still-jiggling stuff you plopped out of a can onto a plate. We’re talking real, honest-to-God homemade cranberry sauce made from scratch—by you. It can be done, and it’s much easier than you think. Frankly, the cranberries just want to be themselves. You’re really just around to nail the consistency and add some enhancements, like citrus or cider vinegar.

Related Reading

Your first inclination should definitely be to spread this stuff on turkey. But cranberry sauce can be used for a variety of other things as well, from a granola or pastry topping with your morning breakfast to a crostini topper with cheese or alongside beef kabobs. It’s even great in a lot of salads.

Below are recipes for cranberry sauce, as well as sibling sauces like Wojape and marmalade are great for leftovers. Keep ’em handy as Thanksgiving approaches. And if you’re really feeling saucy, sprinkle in some equally vibrant red fruit like pomegranate seeds. It’ll complement the flavors and give you culinary presentation points.

Orange-Maple Cranberry Sauce

orange maple cranberry sauce on a plate next to brussles sprouts.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

By Ellie Krieger from Fine Cooking, image by Scott Phillips

We’ve tried many cranberry sauces but this one from Fine Cooking is tough to top. It’s beautifully tart and rounded out by the syrup. Better, it’s given another dimension thanks to some zesty citrus.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups of cranberries (fresh is great but frozen will do)
  • 1 cup pure maple sugar
  • 1 medium orange, grated to yield 1 tsp zest and 1/3 cup juice

Directions:

  1.  Combine the cranberries, maple syrup, and orange juice in a 3-quart saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
  2. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, just until the cranberries burst, about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat, stir in zest, and let cool to room temperature, about 1 hour. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

Wojape Recipe

bowl of wajape cranberry sauce with a spoon dripping the sauce.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

By Sean Sherman and Beth Dooley, photo by Nancy Bundt; James Beard Foundation

This indigenous American recipe can utilize pretty much any kind of wild berry and it works particularly well with cranberries. This particular version is borrowed from The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen via the James Beard Foundation.

Ingredients:

  • 6 cups fresh cranberries
  • 1.5 cups water
  • Honey or maple syrup to taste

Directions:

  1. Put the berries and water in a saucepan and set over low heat.
  2. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick.
  3. Taste and season the sauce with honey or maple syrup as desired.

Red Onion-Cranberry Marmalade

cranberry sauce in a glass jar on a festive fall table.
RODNAE Productions / Pexels
By Thomas Keller via Ad Hoc Cookbook

This recipe from renowned chef Thomas Keller is just what you need with a fridge full of extra turkey. Keller recommends squeezing a little fresh lemon juice over the marmalade before serving.

Ingredients:

  • .25 cup canola oil
  • 3 cups diced red onions
  • 1 cup chopped dried cranberries
  • 3 cups apple juice
  • .5 cup apple cider vinegar
  • .5 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • .5 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp apple pectin
  • 1 tbsp grated orange zest (to taste)
  • Fresh lemon juice

Directions:

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add the red onions and cook very slowly for about 30 minutes, until the onions have softened but not colored.
  2. Add the cranberries and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the apple juice and cider vinegar.
  3. Combine both sugar and pectin in small bowl, mixing well so that the pectin will dissolve smoothly, and add to the pan, along with orange zest. Bring to a simmer and cook until the marmalade reaches 215 degrees F.
  4. Transfer the marmalade to a canning jar or other storage container, cover and let cool, then refrigerate up to 3 months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Stock
Mark Stock
Contributor
Mark Stock is a writer from Portland, Oregon. He fell into wine during the Recession and has been fixated on the stuff since…
How to make the perfect beef stew, according to a master chef
This is the only beef stew recipe you need for dinner in
Beef stew

When one thinks of hearty spring dishes, beef stew is sure to be at the top of the list. The simplicity and deliciousness of this one-pot meal is what have made it a go-to meal for centuries. It can be made in a standard stock pot, Dutch oven, or cast-iron cauldron hanging over a campfire.

Whatever vessel you decide to cook beef stew in, it's a good idea to make a lot of it. The leftovers keep for a long time, and it's one of the few dishes you can prepare where the re-heats taste as good as the first cook. Combined with a crusty baguette to sop up the flavorful stock, there are few foods more comforting than this.

Read more
How to make the perfect Boulevardier
Learn how to make this cocktail and add it to your home bartending list
Boulevardier cocktail and orange zest on wooden table

If you haven't introduced yourself to the classic cocktail otherwise known as the Boulevardier, it's time you do so. The brooding relative of the Negroni, this drink goes way back and brings out some of the best flavors Campari has to offer.

The Boulevardier is a layered mix of Campari, vermouth, and bourbon, usually treated to a citrus garnish. It's believed to have been created in 1927, when it became the favorite cocktail of expatriate writer Erskine Gwynne. The Paris-based penman worked on a magazine of the same name, hence the drink's title. The drink was one of the many shining stars from the cocktail world's first true golden era.
Alicia Perry is a cocktail wizard and former general manager at San Diego's Polite Provisions. She likes a Boulevardier that allows the base spirit to shine brightly through the partner ingredients of sweet vermouth and Campari. "I utilize Buffalo Trace or Eagle Rare in mine personally, there are vanilla and browned sugar notes in this specific bourbon that are brought forth when showcased in this cocktail," she said. In terms of the sweet vermouth, Perry opts for Carpano Antica.

Read more
How to make the Garibaldi, the world’s most complicated 2-Ingredient cocktail
Warm weather, here we come with the Garibaldi
Garibaldi cocktail

The classic two-ingredient Garibaldi cocktail embodies the perfect summer cocktail: sweet, refreshing, and easy to drink. Well-made versions hit all the right notes: The bitterness and complexity of Campari married to the fruit-filled simplicity of orange juice, while a top layer of foam gives a rich texture. This versatile beverage goes nicely as an aperitivo before dinner, at brunch, or for an afternoon pick-me-up. Though there is some finesse to making a respectable Garibaldi, you won’t need much in the way of complicated liqueurs or specialty bitters.

The cocktail is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, the 19th-century revolutionary who successfully united Italy. Aptly symbolizing Italian unification in a glass, the Garibaldi joins the north (Lombardy being the birthplace of Campari) with the south (oranges grown in Sicily). You can also draw a parallel between the color of the drink and the red-hued shirts worn by Garibaldi’s freedom fighters — some say its bright hue is the reason it’s called the Garibaldi. Curiously, Garibaldi adopted his trademark style of red shirt, poncho, and hat while living in exile in South America.

Read more