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Cranberry Orange Sauce Recipe

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This easy Homemade Cranberry Orange Sauce recipe has just four ingredients – perfect for your holiday table!

Cranberry Orange Sauce Recipe

There’s nothing quite like homemade cranberry orange sauce. Yes, you can buy it from the store and save yourself some food prep time, but when you make it yourself you get to experiment with the basic concept and modify it to be far more “you” than store-bought.

Food Network’s Sunny Anderson knows this all too well–her own approach is to go ahead and purchase store-bought cranberry sauce and add her own extra ingredients. At least that was her approach for her Food Network recipe. Anderson whisks her store-bought, and adds fresh cranberries to jazz up the dish.

We aren’t suggesting you take that approach with this recipe, but if you find yourself in a pinch and you need to really stretch some cranberry sauce, that’s not the worst idea in the world.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Orange

This recipe is so easy and fast to make, and it is perfect for your night-before food prep. You don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving to make this–make it ahead of time and stash it in the fridge!

This cranberry sauce recipe has a subtle orange flavor and there is no “spin” on the fruit-forward approach here–no cinnamon or other spices. This is a good recipe for anyone who prefers a “straightforward” cranberry flavor with a subtle citrusy twist that will pair well with your juicy turkey!

If you prefer a homemade cranberry sauce without oranges try this recipe.

Orange Cranberry Sauce Ingredients

  • Fresh cranberries: Tart cranberries are the featured ingredient providing a tangy element.
  • Granulated sugar: Granulated white sugar gives this sauce just the right amount of sweetness to balance out the tartness.
  • Orange juice & orange zest: The addition of orange juice and orange zest brings a lively, citrusy brightness to the sauce.
  • Salt: A little bit of salt enhances the flavors of the other ingredients.

If you wish to add your own touch to this recipe try adding cinnamon, honey, nuts, dried fruits, vanilla or even jalapeños for a touch of heat.

Find the complete ingredients list with amounts in the recipe card below.

How to Make Cranberry Orange Sauce

  1. Place all ingredients into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
  2. Stir gently and frequently until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium. Continue to stir frequently and cook until cranberries start to pop and split.
  3. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove orange zest and chill until ready to serve.

Using Frozen Cranberries

Some may be tempted to swap out frozen cranberries for fresh ones. If you do this here, be sure to thaw them completely before using. It may be a lot more difficult to deal with partially frozen cranberries during the prep stage.

Why Cook This Recipe?

Some want to know why the cooking stage is necessary with this recipe. Why not just mix all the ingredients together cold? There are many reasons to cook this recipe but one of the biggies is the fact that raw cranberries may simply be too bitter for some. Cranberries, like wine, contain tannins. Some of those will cook off and that’s exactly what you want with this recipe.

Sweet Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Orange for Thanksgiving Dinner

Cranberry Stains

There is one little aspect about cooking with cranberries that tends to annoy many–the stains. Cranberry juice is notorious for leaving stains on clothing, countertops, and dish towels. Want to know how to get rid of those stains?

Attack them as soon as possible and do not let them set. The University Of Illinois Extension official site has a cranberry cleanup recipe that includes the following instructions:

  1. Mix one tablespoon of white vinegar with 2/3 cup of rubbing alcohol.
  2. Sponge the stain with the vinegar/alcohol solution.
  3. Blot until the liquid is absorbed.
  4. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 until the stain disappears.

Leftover Cranberry Orange Sauce Ideas

Leftover orange cranberry sauce works well with a many dishes. Here are some ideas:

  • Spread on toast or sandwiches
  • Use the sauce as a marinade or glaze prior to roasting or grilling
  • Make a smoothie with yogurt, ice cream, juice or fruits
  • Use a salad dressing with olive oil, vinegar and other seasonings
  • Stir into oatmeal or cream of wheat
  • Add an orange cranberry layer in a parfait
  • Make an orange cranberry cream cheese dip
  • Use as a cold or warm waffle, pancake or ice cream topping
Put down that can opener! Homemade Cranberry Sauce couldn't be more simple yet tastes amazing. This version can be made with or without the additional flavor of orange - delicious!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Orange

Yield: 6-8 Servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Skip the canned cranberry sauce and make this delicious cranberry orange sauce!

Ingredients

  • 1 12- ounce package fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons orange juice
  • 3 large strips orange zest
  • large pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
  2. Stir gently and frequently until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to medium. Continue to stir frequently and cook until cranberries start to pop and split.
  3. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove orange zest and chill until ready to serve.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 120Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 18mgCarbohydrates: 31gFiber: 2gSugar: 27gProtein: 0g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix.

© Kristy Bernardo
Cuisine: American / Category: Sauces
Cranberry Orange Sauce Recipe

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Kristy Bernardo
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