Cranberry Sauce with Bourbon and Orange

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: 6 servings
  • Total: 45 min
  • Active: 15 min
Michael Symon’s family often breaks into a heated debate during Thanksgiving — but only because they can’t agree on whether cranberry sauce should be canned or homemade. Most of his relatives are OK with canned, but not Michael, which is why he came up with this flavorful sauce. “This is my attempt to sway my family with the magic of bourbon,” he says.
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Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup bourbon

2 cinnamon sticks

2 large coins peeled fresh ginger

Zest of 1 orange, plus juice of 4 oranges

1 pound (about 4 cups) cranberries, thawed if frozen

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped

Directions

  1. Combine the sugar and bourbon in a 1-quart saucepan, stirring well. Add the cinnamon sticks, ginger and orange zest and juice. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer until the liquid begins to reduce a bit, 5 to 7 minutes.
  2. Add the cranberries and vanilla bean and seeds to the pan and continue to simmer until the cranberries are soft and breaking apart and the sauce begins to thicken, 12 to 15 minutes. If desired, mash your cranberries with a sturdy whisk or potato masher, just to break them up, and simmer to thicken a little bit more, about 5 minutes.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and discard the cinnamon sticks, ginger pieces and vanilla bean. Let the sauce cool. Serve warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 10 days — the flavors only get better as they chill out in the fridge.

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Lisarustad

Sensational! Incredible depth of flavor. Best I have ever had. And if you throw 1-2 Tbsp of the sauce a day later in a cocktail shaker with vodka, orange liqueur and lime, you have a great Cosmopolitan cocktail.

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