Cranberry Orange Sauce
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Skip the canned cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving and make it right at home – it is embarrassingly easy to make with just 3 ingredients!
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Cranberry sauce is a Thanksgiving staple, and it has to be one of the easiest dishes to make. It can be made ahead of time, and does not require any oven real estate, which let’s be honest, is a win in and of itself.
Ingredients
Orange
Use freshly squeezed whenever possible. And another bonus of using fresh oranges? All the fresh orange zest! We recommend using a microplane when zesting, working carefully to avoid the bitter white pith.
Sugar
Brown sugar can be substituted.
Cranberries
Fresh cranberries is ideal here but frozen cranberries can also be used. Frozen cranberries will take longer to cook through and simmer.
Optional
Cinnamon stick, ginger, lemon zest (in place of orange zest) or vanilla extract can also be added to your liking.
Serve with your lovely Thanksgiving turkey as needed, and save the leftovers for toast, yogurt, overnight oats, and french toast – we can use it for all of the things.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR SUCCESS
- Use fresh or frozen cranberries. Fresh or frozen (unthawed) cranberries can be used here. When using fresh, use plump cranberries that are bright red in color and firm to the touch. Avoid using dried cranberries.
- Make ahead of time. Cranberry sauce is one of those holiday side dishes you can make ahead of time and store in the fridge up to 1 week in advance.
- Serve hot or cold. This really depends on personal preference, but cranberry sauce can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.
- Save the leftovers. Leftover cranberry sauce can be frozen up to 3 months. You can also use the leftovers for breakfast (topping off pancakes, waffles or french toast), sandwiches and desserts (cheesecakes, coffee cakes, banana bread or streusel bars).
Cranberry Orange Sauce: Frequently Asked Questions
Some like it hot, some like it cold, but we personally find that cranberry sauce is best served at room temperature or slightly chilled.
Yes! Cranberry sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
Cranberry sauce can be frozen up to 3 months. Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
This is one of our favorite holiday Instant Pot recipes!
Cranberry Orange Sauce
Ingredients
- ¾ cup water
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons orange zest
- ½ cup sugar, or more, to taste
- 1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine water, orange juice, orange zest and sugar over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.
- Stir in cranberries and bring to a boil; reduce heat and let simmer until sauce has thickened, about 15 minutes.
- Let cool completely before serving.
Video
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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can this be canned so that I could have it for maybe 6 months or longer? If so how do I process?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried canning this myself. Please use your best judgment if you decide to move forward with the canning process.
Yes, it can be canned. I’ve done it. The orange zest and fresh orange juice have more than enough pectin in them to get it to gel; in fact that’s what commercial pectin is made of. Just cook it until it gels and then can it like jam in a boiling water canner. Most jams call for ten minutes of processing time so that’s what I did, and it turned out great. I confess it didn’t last six months on my shelf, though – I kept adding it to Greek yogurt for my lunches so I almost didn’t have any left for Christmas. 🙂
I made this sauce with brown sugar, erring on the low side of the sugar, and added a little bit of Stevia at the end because I had gone a little too low on the suger. The final product tasted great, and the touch of Stevia didn’t detract from the overall flavor. I served it on top of “mashed” butternut squash, topped with roasted hazelnuts. It was delightful. Thanks for the great recipe!
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I just got done making this and it came out great and tastes delicious! I added 1 cinnamon stick to this recipe and it really brought the flavor out more and came out perfect (smells amazing too!) Definitely will be making this every year!
Actually it says 12oz and a pound is 16oz so if you have 3lb that is 48oz and you will need to multiply all of the ingredients by 4, 3 cups of water 2 cups of sugar or more to taste, 1 cup orange juice (I use fresh tangerines here and substitute 2 per orange so 8 of those for zest), zest of 4 oranges, and a 50ml shooter of Grand Marnier at the end. Happy Thanksgiving!!
This recipe can use anywhere from 12-16 ounces cranberries. But feel free to triple or quadruple to taste!
Okay this is what I’m making but I bought a 3lb bag of cranberrys. I’m not great in the kitchen or conversions. How much should I use?
The recipe calls for 1 pound of cranberries so you can triple the recipe if you want to use the entire 3lb batch of cranberries.
I think the recipe is calling for 12 oz , not a pound of cranberries? Is that correct? I am terrible with food conversions but I try!
Yes!
Omgoodness Tami this recipe sounds delicious! I have never been one for cranberry anything but I definitely am trying this recipe. And your twist with crushed pineapples … . Would you mind sharing your exact recipe complete with measurements and instructions so I can make that for my family for the upcoming holidays? I would greatly appreciate that! Blessings to you my friend
16oz is one pound. That is equal to 2 cups 🙂 The recipe calls for a cup and a half.
I just finished cooking this. It smells wonderful. I did add a dash or two of salt and a bit of cinnamon. I think salt always makes sweet sweeter. The cinnamon just seemed right. Thanks for a great recipe!
I live in Mandarin orange country and it is harvest time. I just brought home 10 lbs of mandarins from my neighbor’s orchard so I am going to prepare this recipe with the mandarins instead of regular oranges. Mandarins are smaller so I will use the zest of two of them instead of one orange, and they are sweeter so I may not need as much sugar. I will give it a try and I bet it will be yummy! Thanks, by the way I found you by googleing cranberry orange sauce and you came up top of the list. I am bookmarking your site, its great!
Where is the water used?
Sylie, the water is used in the very first step. As stated in the instructions, “In a medium saucepan, combine orange juice, orange zest, sugar and 3/4 cup water over medium heat.”
“Just 3 ingredients, if you don’t count the water, and all you have to do is let it simmer and thicken.”
Actually, there are four ingredients listed. Water isn’t one of them.
Actually, Syndi, there are still 3 ingredients:
1. orange
2. sugar
3. cranberries
Orange zest and orange juice come from 1 ingredient.
Excited to try this! How many oranges did you use to make the juice?
One orange should be sufficient but you could always add more to taste!
Divine! Can never go wrong with orang and cranberry flavors together 🙂
Easy peasy, gotta try it!
Beautiful, Chung-Ah! Pinning!
This is going to be my sauce for this Thanksgiving and might add a touch of Grand Marnier for an extra kick. Thank you!
Homemade sauce is 1000x better than the canned stuff! Love the addition of orange too!
This is my first year hosting thanksgiving and my mom asked if there would be cranberry sauce. I was like, ughh no icky cranberry globous goo. But now I’m kind of excited to make it! Thanks!
I’m so glad! Good luck on your first year of hosting! If you need any tips, let me know. My first Thanksgiving feast involved 17 people and it was a bit of a nightmare!
Chung-Ah! I love cranberry and orange together. Your homemade cranberry sauce looks so easy. I feel like cranberry sauce should be a year-long phenomenon. I love the stuff!
When our local grocery has cranberries buy one / get one, I stock up my freezer, and have sauce whenever I want all through the year.
I make it at different times of the year. It’s great with pork or chicken Cornish hens so if you get cranberries fresh fresh some for later they are hard to find. My husband loves it on toast also he uses it like jam and on muffins.
I love this recipe, and will definitely have to try and incorporate it into our thanksgiving 🙂 yum!!
Cranberry Orange Sauce it the best part of Thanksgiving dinner – looks great!