Here’s a super simple recipe for Classic Cranberry Sauce that you’ll soon be making for all your holiday dinners!

bowl of classic cranberry sauce with spoon

Classic Cranberry Sauce

Classic Cranberry Sauce is a super simple cranberry sauce with a little bit of added flavor. You’ll never buy canned sauce again after making your own!

ingredients displayed for making classic cranberry sauce

🛒 Ingredients Needed:

  • fresh cranberries
  • granulated white sugar
  • water
  • finely grated orange zest
  • kosher salt
  • allspice
two photos showing making classic cranberry sauce in a pot

✏️ How to Make Classic Cranberry Sauce:

*The complete, printable recipe with all ingredients and instructions is at the end of this post.

  1. Bring all the ingredients to boil in a medium saucepan. Stir every couple of minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until most of the cranberries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
  2. Transfer the sauce to a medium container. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
pot of classic cranberry sauce

➡️ Recipe Tips and Substitutions:

  • You can make cranberry sauce all year long. Buy bags of fresh cranberries and store them in the freezer. They freeze beautifully for many, many months!
  • Use finely grated tangerine zest for a little bit of a different flavor!
  • Use orange juice in place of water.
  • Try using ground cinnamon in place of allspice.
pot of classic cranberry sauce with spoon

✔️ What to serve with Classic Cranberry Sauce:

Of course, you can serve classic cranberry sauce with roasted turkey. But you can also plan to serve it with roasted chicken or pork tenderloin too!

★ Make Ahead and Storage Instructions:

This recipe may be prepared up to one week ahead. Keep covered and refrigerated. You can freeze homemade cranberry sauce, and it works pretty well. It’s best to store it in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The taste may be affected (due to its water content) if frozen longer. This comes in handy if you have a lot left over from your holiday dinner!

spooning out classic cranberry sauce out of pan

❤️ What I Love About This Recipe:

  1. Homemade cranberry sauce is so much better than the stuff you buy in the can.
  2. It’s super, super easy to make.
  3. It’s great to add to turkey sandwiches!
classic cranberry sauce in a bowl with a spoon
bowl of classic cranberry sauce with spoon
5 from 1 vote

Classic Cranberry Sauce

A super simple cranberry sauce with a little bit of added flavor. You'll never buy canned sauce again after making your own!
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Cooling Time: 2 hours
Total: 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings: 8 servings (about ¼ cup each)
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Ingredients

  • One 12 ounce bag fresh cranberries
  • 1 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • teaspoons finely grated orange zest
  • ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 1 dash allspice

Instructions 

  • Bring all the ingredients to boil in a medium saucepan. Stir every couple of minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until most of the cranberries burst, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely.
  • Transfer the sauce to a medium container. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

  • This recipe may be prepared up to one week ahead. Keep refrigerated.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 117kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 0.2g, Fat: 0.2g, Saturated Fat: 0.01g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 148mg, Potassium: 38mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 27g, Vitamin A: 29IU, Vitamin C: 7mg, Calcium: 7mg, Iron: 0.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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4 Comments

  1. Lorraine Miller says:

    I have bought canned cranberries for Thanksgiving for 30 years. Finally, decided to make my own. So glad I did. This is a simple, delicious recipe to serve cranberry sauce. Maybe, someone will eat it this year. Thank you!!!

  2. JoAnn says:

    Just finished making this. Used 3/4 cup sugar instead and it turned out perfectly. Thanks for the recipe.

  3. Patty says:

    Can this be frozen in plastic containers to be pulled out and used after the holidays are over? That would be great!!!

    1. Lori Lange says:

      I think that would probably work out okay!