Homemade Cranberry Sauce (2024)

This homemade cranberry sauce is a 6 ingredient recipe that’s made with fresh cranberries, sugar and a hint of spices. Homemade cranberry sauce tastes so much better than store bought, and it takes just minutes to make.

There are a few Thanksgiving recipes that are must-haves at my holiday meal. My family always requires that I make sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole with pecans, candied yams, corn souffle, butterflake rolls, pumpkin cheesecake and fresh cranberry sauce.

It’s so tempting to just pick up a can of cranberry sauce for the holidays, but once you try making homemade cranberry sauce, you’ll never go back to the store bought stuff! The flavor is so much better with fresh cranberries and you can customize the sweetness level to your liking.

Cranberry Sauce Ingredients

To make this recipe, you will need granulated sugar, water, fresh cranberries, kosher salt, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract.

How Do You Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce?

Place the water and sugar in a medium pot on the stove. Bring the sugar mixture to a boil. Add the cranberries and boil for a minute. Reduce the heat, then let the cranberries simmer until they have burst. If you prefer a whole berry cranberry sauce, reserve 1/4 of the cranberries to add after the initial 3/4 of the berries have burst. Add the salt, cinnamon and vanilla, then cook for one minute. Let the sauce cool at room temperature, then refrigerate in an airtight container.

Tips For The perfect Dish

• Fresh or frozen cranberries will both work in this dish. I prefer the flavor and texture of fresh cranberries.
• Be sure to rinse your berries thoroughly, and pick through them to discard any soft or discolored fruit before using.
• It’s important to use pure vanilla extract, as imitation vanilla will not have the same rich flavor.
• Serve your sauce alongside Thanksgiving favorites including smoked turkey, crock pot ham, grilled turkey breast and honey baked ham.
• I find that a cup of sugar produces the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. You can add a little less sugar if you prefer a tart sauce, or more sugar for a sweeter sauce.
• If you have leftover cranberries on hand, be sure to try my delicious cranberry chicken recipe!

Flavor Variations

This is a basic cranberry sauce recipe, but you can add all different ingredients to cranberry sauce to customize it to your liking.

• Brown Sugar Cranberry Sauce: Substitute brown sugar for the white sugar.
• Cranberry Orange Sauce: Use fresh orange juice instead of water and stir in 2 teaspoons of orange zest.
• Vanilla Cranberry Sauce: Add one split vanilla bean to the sauce and let it sit overnight in the fridge.
• Cranberry Cherry Sauce: Add 1 cup of chopped frozen dark cherries to the sauce.
• Cranberry Apple Sauce: Use apple cider instead of water and add 1 diced peeled apple to the sauce.

How To Use Leftover Cranberry Sauce

I typically don’t have a ton of cranberry sauce leftover, but if you find yourself with extra, you can freeze it, or here are some ideas to use it up.

• Appetizers: You can make some cranberry meatballs, stir it into a cheese ball, or pour the leftover sauce over a block of cream cheese and serve it with crackers.
• Side Dishes: Try my famous cranberry Jello salad with your extra sauce!
• Breakfast: Pour the sauce over pumpkin pancakes, buttermilk waffles, or stir some into french toast casserole. You can also add a spoonful as a topping for chia pudding.
• Lunch: Spread some sauce onto a sandwich, or add it to a vinaigrette dressing for an extra special salad.

Now that you know how to make homemade cranberry sauce, you can bypass the canned stuff forever!

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Video