Fresh Cranberry Sauce
This cranberry sauce is sweet, tart, aromatic, and just so delicious. It’s a perfect condiment to serve with your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
I absolutely love fresh cranberry sauce. If I could, I would have it all year round. It’s such a delicious chutney and so versatile. We use it for so many things, not just as a side dish. I have tried making drinks with it, infusing my tea with it, and making tarts with it. And it’s a quintessential dish for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. Make it once, and enjoy it in many ways.
The Ingredients for Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Six ingredients are all you need to make this super delicious chutney.
The Ingredients List for Fresh Cranberry Sauce:
- 2 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large fresh orange
- 1 cinnamon stick (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
- 2 star anise
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup of water
Other Dressings and Dips you will Like:
The Cooking Process for Fresh Cranberry Sauce:
Making cranberry sauce is such a simple task. It’s a matter of putting everything in a pan and letting it boil. Well, almost.
- Properly wash 2 cups of cranberries and discard any that might be too soft. You want to use the plump ones for your sauce. If the berries are soft, it means they are starting to go bad and you don’t want to use them.
- Add the washed berries to a medium sized pan.
- Then add 1 cup of water, 1 cup of granulated sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to the pan as well.
- Grate the rind of 1 entire orange into the pan.
- Cut the orange and squeeze all of the juice into the pan. I tend to throw the skin of the orange into the pan too, because the rind has a lot of flavour and I prefer not to discard it. The oils from the rind hold a lot of flavour and it helps flavour the fresh cranberry sauce.
- Now we are ready to cook it.
The Thickening Process:
It’s now time to cook the cranberries because cooking the cranberries makes the sauce last much longer. The cranberries have natural pectin that helps the sauce to thicken as the berries cook.
- We need to cook the berries till they just start to pop. This takes about 10 or so minutes.
- Allow the cranberries to boil just once and then turn the heat off.
- At this point, go ahead and remove the orange skin and discard it. Its job should be done by now.
- Allow the sauce cool down completely before enjoying it as a condiment with your turkey dinner.
- As the sauce cools, it thickens. You can smash the cranberries with a fork or a hand blender and even strain them using a sieve. I prefer to enjoy the sauce as is because I like the taste of the tart berries popping in my mouth.
Uses for Cranberry Sauce:
This versatile sauce is one of my favourite condiments and I am sure you will love it too once you make it:
- Enjoy it with your Christmas or Thanksgiving turkey dinner.
- Make tarts or pies out of it. Check out my Custard Tart here.
- Give my Leftover Sauce Buns a try.
- My kids’ favourite is my Left Over Cranberry Sauce French Toast.
- Try using it as a spread on Biscuits or Toast.
- Infuse your Herbal Teas with it.
- Add a couple of spoonfuls to your Granola.
- Pour a dollop of it into your Oatmeal and see how delicious it turns out to be.
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Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Course: Dip, SideCuisine: CanadianDifficulty: Easy24
servings2
minutes13
minutes40
kcal15
minutesThis cranberry sauce is sweet, tart, aromatic, and just so delicious. It’s a perfect condiment to serve with your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.
Ingredients
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large fresh orange
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
pinch of salt
1 cup water
Directions
- Properly wash the cranberries and discard any soft ones.
- Place the cranberries into a medium sized pan.
- Add the sugar, cinnamon stick, star anise, salt, and water to the pan.
- Using a nutmeg grater or any small grater, grate the rind of the orange into the pan.
- Cut the orange in half and squeeze all the juice into the pan. You can also toss the peel into the pan.
- Cook the sauce for about 10 minutes on medium low heat. Or just until the cranberries start to pop. Allow them to boil once then, turn the heat off.
- Allow the sauce to cool down completely before enjoying it as a condiment with your turkey dinner.
Making cranberry sauce at home is very easy. Add cranberries, sugar, spices, and orange juice into a pan and allow it to boil once. Then turn the heat off and that’s that. You have delicious homemade cranberry sauce.
Cranberries have a natural pectin. When cranberries are cooked and pop naturally, the pectin is released. Once you cool down the cooked cranberry sauce, it will naturally thicken.
Cranberry sauce is cooked and, therefore, it can be kept in the fridge for up to 1 week. This means you can cook it at least 1 week in advance of using it.
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How soon in advance can one prepare this if using for your custard tart?
Hello Neil,
I have made cranberry sauce up to a week before making the custard tart. As long as you keep it in the fridge, it should be ok.
Hope this helps 🙂
Deepti