Our Family Cranberry Sauce Recipe
This is our family recipe for homemade cranberry sauce. The sauce is made from just 5 ingredients and ready in 15 minutes. It's flavored with a few secret ingredients that makes this cranberry sauce the best!
Ingredients
- 12 ounce bag cranberries, rinsed
- ¾ cup water
- 2 Tablespoons fresh orange juice (about ½ large orange)
- 3 teaspoons orange zest
- ⅔ cup packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Rinse the cranberries, set aside about ½ cup cranberries. You will stir these in at the end for texture.
- Combine the remaining cranberries, water, orange juice, orange zest, brown sugar, and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the mixture comes to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low. While stirring occasionally, continue to cook until liquid has reduce and cranberries have burst and thickened. This takes about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the ½ cup cranberries. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. The sauce can be served warm or at room temperature. Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can prepare the cranberry sauce up to 3 days in advance. Cool completely, cover tightly, then refrigerate until ready to use. Bring to room temperature or warm on the stove/in the microwave.
- Cranberries: You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. If using frozen, no need to thaw.
- Brown Sugar: Using ⅔ cup of sugar makes this a moderately sweet cranberry sauce. You can use granulated sugar, but I find that the brown sugar gives it a better flavor.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!