Cranberry Sauce

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This Thanksgiving, walk on past the canned cranberry sauce and make your own tangy-sweet Cranberry Sauce instead. With just a few ingredients, and 10 minutes of cooking you’ll have the most perfect companion for your Turkey Dinner.

Cranberry Sauce Made Easy

Have you seen the Friends episode where Monica has Chandler make the cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving? And then Joey runs into all the food, landing it all on the floor and Chandler yells “my cranberries!” and then Monica replies “a monkey could have made them.” She wasn’t kidding. Cranberry Sauce is the easiest thing you’ll make for your Thanksgiving dinner. It’s very few ingredients and needs only 10 minutes of cook time. Make it in advance or make it the day of, this cranberry sauce will have you fall in love with turkey all over again.

Love cranberries? Here are a couple of recipes to check out: Lemon Cranberry Coffee Cake, Holiday Cranberry Salsa, Orange Cranberry Crinkle Cookies, and Lemon & Cranberry Scones.

How to Make Cranberry Sauce

Who knew that cranberry sauce, made from scratch, would be so easy?! For full details and measurements, see the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is what you expect when making this recipe:

Rinse Cranberries, Combine All Ingredients

Rinse cranberries well in colander. Place all ingredients into a small pot.

Bring to a Boil

Stir to dissolve the sugar while cooking. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer until all cranberries have burst and the sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Note: As the cranberry sauce cools, it will thicken even more!

Remove From Heat + Discard Orange Peels

Remove and discard orange peels. Pour sauce into a small bowl and serve with turkey.

Cranberry Sauce Variations

Cranberry Sauce comes in a lot of different flavor profiles, lots of which are a little out of the ordinary, but if you’re feeling adventurous or wanting a delicious change, give one of these a whirl!

• Orange Juice: use orange juice, instead of water, to add even more sweetness and citrus notes.
• Brown Sugar: I used regular granulated sugar for this recipe but feel free to experiment by using brown sugar or a combination of both types.
• Raisins, Currants, or Blueberries: these are added in some recipes to add more natural sweetness to the tart cranberries.
• Pecans: and then other recipes call for chopped pecans which adds nutty flavor and crunch!

Cranberry Sauce Make-Ahead Directions

One of the beauties of this recipe is that you can make it ahead of time…in fact you SHOULD make it ahead and refrigerate. No need to add one more thing to make on Thanksgiving. It’s the perfect accompaniment for turkey because you can make it ahead and keep it stored until you’re ready for dinner. Bring to room temperature when ready to serve.

Make the recipe as directed. Then store cranberry sauce in an airtight container for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

More Side Dishes for Thanksgiving Dinner:

• Buttery Mashed Potatoes or (make ahead) Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
• Thanksgiving Stuffing
• Cornbread Sausage Dressing
• Green Bean Casserole
• Cauliflower Au Gratin
• Buttery Corn Casserole
• Maple Glazed Carrots
• Homemade Dinner Rolls

Be sure to print/pin/save/bookmark this Cranberry Sauce recipe for your Thanksgiving table this year! Have a great day, friends!