Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

This Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce is sure to be a hit at your Thanksgiving table! Spiced with cinnamon and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and orange juice; it’s the best combination of sweet and tart and can be made in under 15 minutes!

Thanksgiving was always my favorite holiday growing up. Weird, I know, right? You’d think as a kid it would be Christmas or your birthday, but nope. Thanksgiving trumped all. Probably because I’m a humongous food nerd and loved having everyone in the kitchen together all day cooking, talking, and laughing while the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade played on TV in the background.

It’s funny, but growing up we never made homemade cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. Or at least that’s how my childhood brain remembered it haha. We made EVERYTHING else under the sun homemade. Seriously, we took Feast to a whole new level. However, the only memories I had of cranberry sauce were from a can. And let’s face it – that stuff is gross! So it’s only logical that I despised cranberry sauce as a child and always considered it one of those “only adults eat that yucky stuff” kind of thing.

Boy was I wrong. Homemade cranberry sauce is out of this world ahh-mazing! Emphasis on: homemade. Hands down, this cranberry sauce is now my favorite part of our Thanksgiving Feast. Why? It has a delightful texture (none of that fake jellied canned stuff) and is packed with incredible flavor!

This Easy Homemade Cranberry sauce uses only 4 simple ingredients and can be made in just 15 minutes. Now that is my kind of recipe!! It’s naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup, which gives it the perfect balance of sweet and tart. The maple syrup also adds another depth of flavor under the cranberries that really seems to round out the dish. I also use the juice and zest from oranges to give it a nice tang and of course a cinnamon stick for some warm spice. Yep. This stuff is “lick the spoon” good!

Now I mentioned easy, but did I tell you there’s really only one step in this recipe? Dump the ingredients all together and cook for 15 minutes. That. Is. It.

High Five!

Also, my favorite thing about homemade cranberry sauce is that I can make it ahead of time, freeze it, and then pull it out the night before Thanksgiving and I’m ready to go! When your menu is approaching over twenty items for the big feast, make-ahead dishes really are a life savor!

Tip:

I love to double the recipe and freeze it in a few small containers. This way, throughout the year I can have fresh homemade cranberry sauce! I usually stock up my deep freezer around Thanksgiving with a few butterball Turkey breasts, and then throw them in the crockpot for quick, easy dinners with the cranberry sauce. Kind of like mini Thanksgivings throughout the year!

Happy cooking friends! Don’t forget to pin this recipe for later!

Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

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★★★★★

5 from 4 reviews

This Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce is sure to be a hit at your Thanksgiving table! Spiced with cinnamon and naturally sweetened with maple syrup and orange juice; it’s the best combination of sweet and tart and can be made in under 15 minutes!

• Author: The Saucy Fig
• Total Time: 15-20 minutes
• Yield: 3 cups cranberry sauce 1x

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 6 cups cranberries (approximately 2-12oz bags.)
• juice and zest from 2 large oranges
• 1 cup maple syrup (more or less to taste)*
• 1 cinnamon stick

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Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Reduce heat and simmer on medium low (still bubbling) for about 10-15 minutes, or until the cranberries have burst and the sauce has thickened. The longer you simmer the more your berries will break down, so it just depends on your texture preference.

Notes

*I add about a cup a of maple syrup, but this can vary depending on how sweet you like your cranberry sauce. Just taste it about half way through and if you want it a little sweeter add more syrup and continue to simmer for a little longer to incorporate.

*You can also substitute white sugar, however I really like using a natural sweetener like the maple syrup, because I feel like it has just the right balance between sweet and tart, and the maple really adds deeper flavor to the cranberry sauce.

Keywords: cranberry sauce, homemade, thanksgiving, side dish, refined sugar free, naturally sweetened, maple syrup

I’m excited to be sharing this recipe as part of Cranberry Week – now in it’s third year! See all the tasty cranberry recipes being shared today below and follow #cranberryweek on social media for more ideas all week long.

• Brandied Cranberries + Three Cocktails from Our Good Life
• Cranberry Bread Pudding from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Cranberry Jalapeno Turkey Roll-Ups from Palatable Pastime
• Cranberry-Olive Oil Bundt Cake with Yuzu from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Cranberry Orange Oatmeal Cookies from The Redhead Baker
• Cranberry Orange Muffins from Cookaholic Wife
• Cranberry Truffles from Caroline’s Cooking
• Cranberry Vanilla Rum Smoothie from Daily Dish Recipes
• Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce from The Saucy Fig
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts Salad with Cranberries and Feta from Cooking For My Soul
• Squash Soup with Cranberry Puree from A Day in the Life on the Farm

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