Oh cranberry sauce – the neglected (but extremely important) Thanksgiving staple that I fear does not get the credit she deserves. Not only does cranberry sauce bring beauty to a relatively earthy-tones holiday, but her tart, bright, smooth flavor breaks up countless dishes. Also, cranberry sauce is infinitely transformable, especially when you make it from scratch.
The secret of cranberry sauce is that it takes 10 minutes, is supremely easy, and gets infinitely better when you get to decide what spices and aromatics to choose. Here’s how I make my most simple (and gorgeous) version.
A base of orange juice
Cranberries are extremely tart and can range to sour, I always like to balance the tartness with sugar, but also a bit of fresh orange juice. The orange juice brings its own sweetness and layer of flavor, making the cranberry sauce seem tart and juicy instead of like gelled sugar.
You will want to add 1 cup / 200 grams of granulated sugar and 1 cup / 240mL of orange juice to a shallow pan. Stir to combine.
Fresh cranberries go in next
If you are buying cranberries from the grocery store, odds are they are in a 12-ounce bag, which is the perfect size for this recipe AND yields the perfect amount of cranberry sauce for a table. It’s almost like they knew.
If you are sourcing your cranberries from the farmers’ market, I’m jealous, and you’ll have to do a bit of eyeballing here. Think about 3 – 4 cups equals 12 ounces of berries.
These will pop and sputter as they cook down, so be careful. Stir occasionally and know that in time the cranberries will start to break down, gel and do their thing.
Place your pan over medium-low heat, add 12 ounces of cranberries and stir occasionally, allowing the mixture to come to a low simmer.
The spices are where you can play around a bit, anything that belongs in a pumpkin pie spice blend could happily join your cranberry sauce. Think: ginger, all spice, clove, cinnamon, nutmeg. I’m always going to be partial to nutmeg and clove, but it’s the season to mess around. Throw some Chinese five spice in there!
If you are following my recipe, add 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/8 teaspoon clove right when the berries begin to hit a simmer.
In 9-12 minutes it will start to look like the photo above! When you can run a spatula along the center and see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds, it is ready.
Now the sauce is ready to store or serve as you need! This will keep beautifully in the fridge for up to 7 days. It will freeze well for 6 months, to thaw it just pop it from the freezer to the fridge and let it sit 24 hours.
You can watch the full video on how I made this here:
Simple, Stunning Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- 1 small skillet or sauté pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 1 cup orange juice 240 grams
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries about 3 to 4 cups
- 1/8 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and clove
- Orange zest optional, for serving
Instructions
- Add the sugar and orange juice to a shallow sauté pan or skillet. Mix to combine.
- Place the pan over medium-low heat and add the cranberries. Stirring occasionally, allow this mixture to come to a low simmer. The cranberries will begin to pop and break down at this point, so be careful!
- Add in the nutmeg and clove and stir. Allow the cranberries to continue to simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until they have all broken down and are starting to reach a jammy consistency.
- When you can swipe a spatula across the pan and clearly see the bottom of the pan for a few seconds, the sauce is at the right consistency (it will continue to gel as it sits). Remove it from the pan and either use it right away or store in the fridge for later use!
