Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Article by Alice K. Thompson

This perfectly balanced sweet-and-tangy recipe will make both cooked cranberry sauce and raw relish lovers happy. Reserving some whole berries while others simmer and burst in the pot is the key: It adds a fresh pop to the sauce that everyone, including Team Relish, will appreciate. This is the recipe many of our readers turn to holiday after holiday, and it’s got hundreds of five-star reviews to prove it.

How to Make Cranberry Sauce Like a Pro

Here’s what the recipe experts and Food Network want you to know about building a perfect cranberry sauce.

Make it ahead. The flavor of cranberry sauce actually improves with time, so make it several days ahead if you can.

Consider doubling the recipe. A 12-ounce bag of cranberries makes about 1 3/4 cups sauce, or seven 1/4-cup servings. It’s an easy recipe to double — just choose a larger saucepan — and leftovers can find their way into numerous dishes or be frozen.

Don’t skimp on the sugar. Cranberries are extremely tart (just taste one raw!), so don’t assume you should use less sugar.

Whole berries at the end add freshness and color contrast. Cooking most of the berries down, then adding some whole at the end gives the sauce a jewel-like look, great texture and a pop of pure berry flavor that makes the sauce particularly appealing.

Cranberry sauce doesn’t need extra thickeners. Cranberries are very high in the plant starch pectin. Pectin is released as the berries cook and will naturally gel the sauce. The thickness will increase as the sauce cools, so don’t add extra thickeners unless you want a bouncy, gelatin-like sauce.

Salt and pepper add dimension. A pinch or two of each helps bring different notes to a sauce that’s otherwise dominated by sweet and sour.

Stash fresh cranberries in the freezer. If you’ve ever wanted to make anything cranberry out of season, you’ll know locating berries can be tricky. The fix? Buy an extra bag of fresh cranberries when you’re shopping and freeze them in the bag they come in. They’ll last up to a year.

Storing and Freezing Cranberry Sauce

While it might seem that cranberry sauce lasts forever in the fridge, the USDA recommends it be used within 2 weeks. Homemade cranberry sauce can also be frozen for up to 3 months; transfer it to a resealable freezer bag or airtight container and label it with the contents and date. Freezing canned cranberry sauce isn’t recommended; its signature jellied texture will turn watery and mushy when thawed.

What to Do with Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Here are some of our favorite uses for this versatile staple once the holiday’s over.

• Swirl cranberry sauce into yogurt and top with granola or pecans for a perfect fall treat.
• Add cranberry sauce to a smoothie in place of berries.
• Dollop cranberry sauce on pancakes, waffles or oatmeal.
• Slather cranberry sauce on turkey sandwiches.
• Make a melted brie and cranberry sauce sandwich, open-face or grilled.
• Mix cranberry sauce into softened butter to use on scones, rolls and toast.
• Mix cranberry sauce into your favorite barbecue sauce and use it as a baste for chicken and pork.
• Spoon cranberry sauce over ice cream: vanilla, butter pecan or even chocolate.
• Use cranberry sauce in place of jam in Linzer cookies.