Homemade Cranberry Sauce (The Best)
“Learn how to make homemade cranberry sauce using fresh cranberries. A splash of orange and pomegranate juices takes this from-scratch cranberry sauce to the next level! Easy and quick to make!”
Watch me make this homemade cranberry sauce from start to finish!!
Hey, don’t forget the cranberry sauce!!! Thanksgiving is just not the same without it in my family. It really completes the meal to have that dark, ruby, sweet, tangy stuff stashed on the side of your plate.
Cranberry sauce is so easy and quick to make that there really isn’t a reason why everyone shouldn’t make it homemade. It blows that canned, jelly stuff out of the water.
However, I won’t lie to yall, I use to love that canned cranberry sauce as a kid. It was so cool how it use to slowly plop out of the can and still had that canned shape. Although I could never eat very much of it, way too sweet. I can eat this homemade cranberry sauce by the spoonful!
This homemade cranberry sauce is super easy, sweet, tangy, and delicious!! You just can’t beat the taste of fresh cranberries. No siree Bob! The pomegranate juice goes so well with it too! I’ve been convinced that cranberry and pomegranate are like the best couple ever! They belong together and complement each other flavor beautifully.
If you’re not a fan of pomegranate juice then I highly suggest you use cranberry juice as a replacement. It tastes just as good, but without the pomegranate aftertaste that some folks dislike. You can also use water as a last resort. And I do mean the VERY last result.
*TIP* Becca on my Facebook fan page said she replaced the pomegranate juice with fresh granny smith apple juice and she was “IN FREAKING HEAVEN” I just had to share this tip because I LOVE apple with cranberry and will def. try out both on Thanksgiving!! Thanks Becca!!
Get the Recipe: Homemade Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cup sugar, can add more or less
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice, juice of 2-3 oranges
- 1/2 cup 100% pomegranate juice
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, add cranberries, sugar, orange juice and pomegranate juice.
- Stir to dissolve the sugar.
- Let simmer over medium heat until almost all of the cranberries have popped.
- Stir occasionally and continue cooking until sauce has thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Pour into a serving dish.
- Sauce will thicken and set as it cools and gets better the next day.
- Serve.
Video
Notes
Replace the pomegranate juice with cranberry or apple juice or water if desired.
This gets better as it sits so make it ahead.
It will also thicken and set as it cools. Don't skip that FRESH orange juice.
This sauce is SPECTACULAR. I keep finding myself going to the fridge to eat just the sauce! Thank you so much for this recipe.
ok…so I made this using the apple juice instead (I used 100% tree top apple juice…next time i’ll juice the apple insteead) and the orange juice (made with my juicer)….and oh my Lord….everyone was skeptical at first because they had no idea you could make homemade cranberry sauce…but they ate that stuff up so fast, I had to scrap the bowl to get what little I could have. Oh they loved it! My mom and sister test tasted it for me and wow! Just a hit! It was like nectar from Heaven!
Thanks for this recipe…and I’m a beginner diva cook!
I tried this for Thanksgiving. I made cranberry sauce last year, and it went fine, but it was kind of boring. Cranberries, water, sugar, and a smidge of orange juice (half a clementine.) It tasted fine, but I knew I could do better, so I stumbled upon this one and tried it, and it was a LOT better. I modified a couple things, which was adding a full cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup (which helps gel it more) and instead of the pom juice, I used 1/2 cranberry juice and half apple juice. And then near the end, I tossed in a dash of cinnamon. It was really good. I might experiment a bit more in the future, but this is a great go-to. Thank you!
I made this last night and let me just say…I will never return to canned cranberry sauce again!! So So yummayy! 🙂
I made this for my in-laws last Thanksgiving and they absolutely loved it! This has been requested this year and I’m so excited to make it again this year. Thank you for sharing such a great recipe.
Honestly, I was hesitant to try the Granny Smith apple juice in place of the pomegranate, but like a nut I did, having never made my own cranberry sauce. I got out the juicer and juiced two apples for the 1/2 cup required and Loooord. People not only raved about it, they ate it like it was nectar from the Gods. I’ve never seen people go through cranberry sauce like that! The recipe required more sugar than suggested (at least for my tastes) but to give people food orgasms for one day it was well worth it. (Of course, this was only an accompaniment. The full pleasure explosion was due to all things I made from your site Diva Queen!)
Thanks to you and thanks to Becca for the suggestion. It tastes like cranberry sauce but there’s a subtle flavor of apple sauce, esp. the next day that makes it so special and ups the gourmet level. Thanksgiving will never be the same.