This homemade cranberry sauce is a 6 ingredient recipe that’s made with fresh cranberries, sugar and a hint of spices. Homemade cranberry sauce tastes so much better than store bought, and it takes just minutes to make.
There are a few Thanksgiving recipes that are must-haves at my holiday meal. My family always requires that I make sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole with pecans, candied yams, corn souffle, butterflake rolls, pumpkin cheesecake and fresh cranberry sauce.
It’s so tempting to just pick up a can of cranberry sauce for the holidays, but once you try making homemade cranberry sauce, you’ll never go back to the store bought stuff! The flavor is so much better with fresh cranberries and you can customize the sweetness level to your liking.
Table of Contents
Cranberry Sauce Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need granulated sugar, water, fresh cranberries, kosher salt, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract.
How Do You Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce?
Place the water and sugar in a medium pot on the stove. Bring the sugar mixture to a boil. Add the cranberries and boil for a minute. Reduce the heat, then let the cranberries simmer until they have burst. If you prefer a whole berry cranberry sauce, reserve 1/4 of the cranberries to add after the initial 3/4 of the berries have burst. Add the salt, cinnamon and vanilla, then cook for one minute. Let the sauce cool at room temperature, then refrigerate in an airtight container.
Tips For The perfect Dish
- Fresh or frozen cranberries will both work in this dish. I prefer the flavor and texture of fresh cranberries.
- Be sure to rinse your berries thoroughly, and pick through them to discard any soft or discolored fruit before using.
- It’s important to use pure vanilla extract, as imitation vanilla will not have the same rich flavor.
- Serve your sauce alongside Thanksgiving favorites including smoked turkey, crock pot ham, grilled turkey breast and honey baked ham.
- I find that a cup of sugar produces the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. You can add a little less sugar if you prefer a tart sauce, or more sugar for a sweeter sauce.
- If you have leftover cranberries on hand, be sure to try my delicious cranberry chicken recipe!
Quick Tip
Don’t worry if your sauce seems thin when it’s done, as it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Recipe FAQs
You can freeze cranberry sauce for up to one month before you plan to serve it. Store your sauce in a resealable freezer bag or airtight container. Simply reheat your cranberry sauce over medium heat in a skillet. Freezing the sauce introduces more water into the mix, so your cranberry sauce will not be as thick as when it was originally made. You can simmer your sauce for about 5-6 minutes to let some of the liquid evaporate off so that the sauce can get thick again.
You can make cranberry sauce up to 3 days before you plan to serve it. I always make my cranberry sauce at least one day in advance because I feel like the flavors have more time to develop as they sit in the fridge.
I prefer to serve cranberry sauce cold. The cranberries thicken as they cool, so a cold sauce will have a better consistency than a hot sauce. In addition, letting the sauce chill gives it more time for the flavors to really blend together.
FOLLOW ME
Flavor Variations
This is a basic cranberry sauce recipe, but you can add all different ingredients to cranberry sauce to customize it to your liking.
- Brown Sugar Cranberry Sauce: Substitute brown sugar for the white sugar.
- Cranberry Orange Sauce: Use fresh orange juice instead of water and stir in 2 teaspoons of orange zest.
- Vanilla Cranberry Sauce: Add one split vanilla bean to the sauce and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
- Cranberry Cherry Sauce: Add 1 cup of chopped frozen dark cherries to the sauce.
- Cranberry Apple Sauce: Use apple cider instead of water and add 1 diced peeled apple to the sauce.
How To Use Leftover Cranberry Sauce
I typically don’t have a ton of cranberry sauce leftover, but if you find yourself with extra, you can freeze it, or here are some ideas to use it up.
- Appetizers: You can make some cranberry meatballs, stir it into a cheese ball, or pour the leftover sauce over a block of cream cheese and serve it with crackers.
- Side Dishes: Try my famous cranberry Jello salad with your extra sauce!
- Breakfast: Pour the sauce over pumpkin pancakes, buttermilk waffles, or stir some into french toast casserole. You can also add a spoonful as a topping for chia pudding.
- Lunch: Spread some sauce onto a sandwich, or add it to a vinaigrette dressing for an extra special salad.
Now that you know how to make homemade cranberry sauce, you can bypass the canned stuff forever!
More Thanksgiving Recipes
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
1 hr 20 mins
Southern Cornbread Dressing
1 hr 15 mins
Bacon Green Bean Bundles
25 mins
Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows
1 hr 50 mins
Homemade Cranberry Sauce Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup water
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries frozen can also be used
- pinch of salt
- pinch of cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place the water and sugar in a medium pot over medium high heat. Bring to a boil.
- For a traditional cranberry sauce: Add the cranberries to a pot and boil for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries have burst.
- For a whole berry cranberry sauce: Add 3/4 of the the cranberries to a pot and boil for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes or until cranberries have burst. Add the remaining 1/4 of the cranberries to the pot.
- Add the salt, cinnamon and vanilla extract to the sauce, then cook for 1 minute.
- Let the sauce sit at room temperature until cool. Transfer to a storage container and place in the fridge until ready to use.
Notes
- Fresh or frozen cranberries will both work in this dish. I prefer the flavor and texture of fresh cranberries.
- Be sure to rinse your berries thoroughly, and pick through them to discard any soft or discolored fruit before using.
This is the fourth year in a row that I’m making this for Thanksgiving. So easy and so yummy!!