Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Tart, fresh cranberries combine with sugar, orange juice and a splash of Grand Marnier to create an incredibly delicious and unbelievably easy homemade cranberry sauce.

Homemade cranberry sauce is one of those holiday recipes that I pretty much make just for me.

I love the stuff and will happily eat it for days after Thanksgiving with buttered parker house rolls or toast, as a topping for Greek yogurt or ice cream, and even as a sandwich spread on leftover turkey sandwiches.

I think people will forever equate cranberry sauce with the jiggly stuff that slides out of an aluminum can, but they just don’t know what they’re missing when it comes to homemade cranberry sauce. 

My favorite cranberry sauce recipe

I have a confession to make: I’m a self-proclaimed turkey disliker.

Not a hater, just a disliker. No matter how it’s cooked – fried, brined, roasted, smoked – it’s just not my fave. I’m a side dish girl through and through. 

I’d rather dig into the baked macaroni and cheese, corn casserole, fresh green bean casserole, or brown and serve rolls.

But I’ll definitely dabble with the bird if it’s slathered in a bit of my favorite homemade cranberry sauce.

Now, I know it’s ridiculously easy to pop open a can of store-bought cranberry sauce and jiggle it out onto a pretty, festive plate. But trust me, making your own cranberry sauce is almost as easy. I promise.

The other promise I can make is that it’ll be about 10x more delicious than the canned stuff.

Since cranberries and orange go together like peas and carrots (don’t believe me? Try my Cranberry Orange Bread), I had to bring some orange flavors into my cranberry sauce recipe. Cue the orange juice and some Grand Marnier.

The result is tart, fresh cranberries cooked with brown and white sugars, freshly squeezed orange juice, a touch of spice, and just a hint of Grand Marnier. The flavors blend together to create a bright spot on your Thanksgiving plate that both teases the palate and provides a little freshness from all the heavy, gravy-laden sides.

How to make my homemade cranberry sauce

I promised you easy. Here’s where I deliver.

Ingredients you’ll need

• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ⅓ cup water
• ⅓ cup orange juice
• 12 ounces fresh cranberries
• ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1-2 tablespoons Grand Marnier (optional)

I like using a mix of brown and white sugars in my cranberry sauce for the extra layer of flavor. If you’re out of brown sugar, feel free to use a quick brown sugar substitute instead. 

The amount of sugar I’ve included gives what I feel is the perfect balance of sweetness and tart cranberry flavor. If you prefer a more tart sauce or a sweeter sauce, feel free to reduce or increase the amount of sugar accordingly.

I really encourage you to squeeze your own orange juice for this recipe, but I promise I won’t tell if you use the bottled stuff.

Around here, 12 ounces of fresh cranberries is 1 bag of cranberries. If you can’t find fresh cranberries, you can totally use frozen! 

I like adding just a bit of pumpkin pie spice to my cranberries. If you don’t have any pumpkin pie spice, feel free to swap it for ground cinnamon instead.

The Grand Marnier is optional, but I love the extra orange flavor it gives to the sauce. If you want to leave it out, try adding a bit of orange zest instead.

Making this recipe

Add all of the ingredients except the Grand Marnier to a medium sauce pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently.

The mixture will start to boil and the cranberries will start to pop. This will take about 10 minutes.

Once you get to this point, take the cranberry sauce off the heat and stir in the Grand Marnier. 

Transfer the sauce to a bowl or storage container and allow to cool. 

The sauce will seem a bit thin when you first remove it from the heat, but it’ll thicken as it cools. That’s because cranberries contain a lot of pectin (the stuff that makes jams and jellies nice and thick) that gets released when they’re cooked.

If you prefer your cranberry sauce warm or at room temperature, whip this up a bit before you sit down to dinner. If you like it cold, make it a day or two before and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge until Thanksgiving dinner.

What to do with leftover cranberry sauce

So you have some leftover cranberry sauce on your hands, huh?

Not to worry, I’ve got plenty of ideas for using up some of those leftover cranberries.

Of course, I am always a fan of slathering some of the leftover sauce on a turkey sandwich with a little bit of mayo. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it – it’s amazing!

My Cranberry Fluff is also a great way to use any leftover cranberry sauce. If you’re over sweets just after Thanksgiving, tuck some sauce away in your freezer to make mid-winter when you’re craving some tart cranberries in a sweet, fluffy dessert.

You could even try using some in place of jam in these Leftover Cranberry Sauce Bars (similar to my Apple Pie Bars).

And for some super simple appetizers or snacks, you have to try Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip and Cranberry Brie Bites!

Frequently asked questions