Description
Cranberry orange sauce brings festive cheer to holiday tables with its tangy-sweet profile. Homemade goodness blends zesty citrus and tart berries, creating a perfect companion for roasted meats and warm bread that you’ll savor with delight.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 bag (12 oz/ 340 g) fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120 ml) orange juice (freshly squeezed, if possible)
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- ¼ cup (60 ml) water
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
Instructions
- Prep Base: Merge cranberries, sugar, orange juice, water, orange zest, and optional cinnamon into a medium saucepan, thoroughly mixing ingredients to ensure even distribution.
- Active Cooking: Elevate heat to medium-high, allowing mixture to reach a rolling boil. Immediately transition to gentle simmer, continuously monitoring and occasionally stirring until cranberries rupture and sauce develops a rich, luxurious consistency, approximately 10-12 minutes.
- Finishing Process: Extract saucepan from heat source, permitting natural cooling to room temperature. Sauce will progressively thicken during resting period. Optional: Refrigerate for enhanced flavor development and serving presentation, allowing sauce to achieve optimal texture and taste profile.
Notes
- Maintain a gentle simmer to prevent burning and ensure even cooking of cranberries without scorching the bottom of the pan.
- Gently press some cranberries with a wooden spoon during cooking to create a more complex sauce consistency with both whole and burst berries.
- Taste and add more sugar incrementally if the sauce is too tart, understanding that cranberries naturally have intense acidity.
- Consider adding a splash of Grand Marnier or vanilla extract in the final moments of cooking to elevate the orange-cranberry profile with subtle complexity.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner, Snacks
- Method: Simmering
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 9
- Calories: 70
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 2 mg
- Fat: 0 g
- Saturated Fat: 0 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 0 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg