Jump to Recipe or Tutorial Print Recipe or Tutorial

Trying to transition away from that commercially canned stuff this year? Make this super easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe with fresh or frozen cranberries, healthier sugars, a cinnamon stick, and fresh citrus. Even the kids will like this chunky homemade cranberry sauce served hot or cold!

Why Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce?

Even if you have diehard fans of the commercial cranberry gelatin that squelches out or that metal with a decidely unappetizing plop, I bet you can win them over to homemade cranberry sauce. The flavor is so much better when it’s made from scratch with better ingredients!

When you make your own homemade cranberry sauce, you can control the quality and freshness of all the ingredients. This makes it generally more healthy and certainly more delicious.
Also, homemade cranberry sauce hasn’t been through the preservation process like the commercial version has. This means that it retains more of its nutrients, many of which are reduced in the high heat of canning.
Although, “easy” is a realtive term this really is a simple, one pot recipe that takes less than a half hour to throw together.
It’s also very simple, having only 4-5 ingredients. In a crowded holiday kitchen, this simplicity translates into less preparations and stove-top time.

Homemade cranberry sauce recipes can get fancy with added spices like ginger, or even added fruit as with our fresh cranberry and dried persimmon sauce. However, it doesn’t have to be anything more than cranberries, quality sweetener, and some delicious citrus and spice!

Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Make this homemade cranberry sauce recipe to serve right away hot or refrigerate for up to two weeks before you need to serve it. You can trade out the suggested sugars for your favorites and swap out the citrus for whichever you like better.

homemade cranberry sauce on a yellow plate

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Homestead Lady Tessa Zundel

Make this easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe in less than a half hour for better flavor and nutritional content than that commercially canned stuff! Plus, it makes the house smell divine this holiday season!

Print This Recipe Pin This Recipe

Course Seasonal Food

Cuisine American

Servings people

Equipment

1 Medium sized sauce pan
1 Heat proof spatula or spoon

Ingredients

1 1/4 Quarts Fresh of Frozen Cranberries
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Maple Syrup
1 Stick Cinnamon
1/2 Cup Orange Juice
1 Tbstp. Fresh Citrus Zest

Instructions

Add 1 1/4 quarts (about 5 cups) of fresh or frozen cranberries, 1/2 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of maple syrup to a thick-bottomed, medium saucepot. Mix it all together and place over medium heat.
Add one cinnamon stick to the pot and cover to simmer for five minutes.
Remove the lid and start stirring the cranberry pot. Watch for the berries to burst their skin as the mixture gently simmers. Continue stirring until all the berries have popped.
Carefully remove the cinnamon stick and place to the side.
Using a potato masher or immersion blender, smash or blend the berries until they reach the consistency you like.*
Return the cinnamon stick to the pot.
Continue to stir and simmer the mixture until it thickens, which usually takes 5-10 minutes.**
Serve immediately in a heat-proof dish or cool and refrigerate for up to two weeks.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the 1/2 cup of orange juice and the tablespoon of citrus zest.

Notes

*Some people really love chunky homemade cranberry sauce. If that's you, I recommend smashing the berries with a potato masher. This will flatten and smoosh them without completely masticating them.

If you like a smoother, jelly-like cranberry sauce, use an immersion blender to get the mixture as smooth as possible.

**If you want to quicken the thickening process, you can mix 1-2 teaspoons of pectin into the maple syrup or water before you place it in the saucepot. Whisk it in slowly to avoid lumps.

Cranberry has a lot of natural pectin, so this step isn't necessary. However, I will often add some of my homemade apple pectin to ensure a quick set and to add a bit of apple flavor. To be compeletely honest, I don't measure the amount - I just dump some in and look for the cranberry sauce to gel the way I like it.

Wash the cranberry pot immediately to avoid super-sticky cranberry sauce residue that is difficult to remove.

BE SURE to remove the cinnamon stick before you blend the cranberry sauce, if you're using an immersion blender. If youd don't, you'll end up with large cinnamon stick bits all through your homemade sauce. Ask me how I know.

You can subsitute the organge juice for grapefruit juice, if you prefer the flavor. You may also use any citrus skin zest - orange, lemon, grapefruit, etc.

We prefer orange, but favortie flavor is a personal preferrence, so feel free to experiment.

Keyword cranberry, holiday, seasonal

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Cranberry Sauce Notes

Some people really love chunky cranberry sauce. If that’s you, I recommend smashing the berries with a potato masher. This will flatten and smoosh them without completely masticating them.

If you like a smoother, jelly-like cranberry sauce, use an immersion blender to get the mixture as smooth as possible.

If you want to quicken the thickening process, you can mix 1-2 teaspoons of pectin into the maple syrup or water before you place it in the saucepot. Whisk it in slowly to avoid lumps.

Cranberry has a lot of natural pectin, so this step isn’t necessary. However, I will often add some of my homemade apple pectin to ensure a quick set and to add a bit of apple flavor.

To be compeletely honest, I don’t measure the amount – I just dump some in and look for the cranberry sauce to gel the way I like it.

Part of why we learn to make our own pantry items at home is so that we can make them just how we like them. This takes time to learn, but it’s effort well spent.

Wash the cranberry pot immediately to avoid super-sticky cranberry sauce residue that is difficult to remove.

BE SURE to remove the cinnamon stick before you blend the cranberry sauce, if you’re using an immersion blender. If youd don’t, you’ll end up with large cinnamon stick bits all through your homemade sauce.

Ask me how I know.

You can subsitute the organge juice for grapefruit juice, if you prefer the flavor. You may also use any citrus skin zest – orange, lemon, grapefruit, etc.

We prefer orange, but favortie flavor is a personal preferrence, so feel free to experiment.

Other Cranberry Uses

Cranberries are a very versatile fruit and can be integrated into many different recipes. From drinks like cranberry shrub and cranberry punch, to cranberry pancakes and cranberry pie, these little berries are healthy, delicious, and beautiful!