Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice

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This cranberry sauce with orange juice screams Thanksgiving Dinner! It is so festive with citrus and cinnamon tones. Your family will love this recipe! It's so easy to make with only a few ingredients.

large serving bowl full of cranberry sauce with plate of oranges and zester on side

Cranberry Sauce is an absolute must on my Thanksgiving Dinner Plate. I MUST have it! It is the tart taste I am looking for to counter balance the rest of my savory dinner. I can honestly say, I would rather go without mashed potatoes than cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving. That's right..I said it. Judge me, but I mean business.

Let's get to this tasty recipe..

Ingredients for Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice:

ingredients photo of sugar, cranberry, orange, cinnamon stick

Fresh Cranberries: Fresh, tart little gems of goodness. It turns out a cranberries aren't really considered a berry, so I'm going with gem.

Sugar: To sweeten up the sauce

Water: Helps to boil the cranberries into a delicious sauce

Orange Juice and Zest: For a citrus kick

Cinnamon Stick: The perfect fall spice for a tiny hint of flavor

Can I use frozen cranberries for this recipe?

I like fresh for this recipe, to avoid mushy texture. I only make this recipe a few times a year, and fresh cranberries are always on sale at Thanksgiving. Use fresh and thank me later:)

Can I prep the Cranberry Sauce before Thanksgiving?

Absolutely and I suggest it! Prep up to 2 days ahead of time & save more time for other sides and the big bird.

How to Make Cranberry Sauce:

It's so simple & I can't wait to share it! I want to yell it from the rooftop because I just ate some and it was sooooo YUMMY! It's Thanksgiving next week and I can't wait to serve this to my family.

First, rinse the cranberries under cold water in a strainer.

Into a dutch oven or large pot, add in the strained cranberries, sugar, water, cinnamon stick, orange juice and zest. Give it a good stir.

cranberries before cooking in dutch oven

Place the dutch oven on the stovetop over medium heat and allow the mixture to come to a boil. This took about 7 minutes.

Stir and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for an additional 10 to 11 minutes. If you like the cranberry sauce more on the mashed side, take a potato masher or wooden spoon and crush some of them. I like about half and half, I want some cranberries remaining, but also a lot of sauce.

Turn off the heat and remove to another burner.

Remove the cinnamon stick and give it a nice lick before tossing in the trash. Hey, you made this amazing side dish and you deserve a taste.

Let the cranberries reach room temperature before transferring into a dish and storing in the fridge. Refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 2 days in advance.

Serve cold.

This recipe is AMAZING! Let me know in the comments how it turned out!

Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

Author: Tara Smithson
Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 8 servings 1x

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Description

Ingredients

Scale

1 (12 ounce) bag of fresh cranberries
1 cup white sugar
¾ cup water
the zest and juice from 1 orange
1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

First, rinse the cranberries under cold water in a strainer.
Into a dutch oven or large pot, add in the cranberries, sugar, water, cinnamon stick, orange juice and zest. Stir.
Place the dutch oven on the stovetop over medium heat and allow the mixture to come to a boil. This takes about 6 to 7 minutes.
Stir and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for an additional 10 to 11 minutes. If you like the cranberry sauce more on the mashed side, take a potato masher or wooden spoon and crush some of them.
Turn off the heat and remove to another burner. Remove cinnamon stick.
Let the cranberries reach room temperature before transferring into a dish and storing in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to 2 days.
Serve cold.