Cranberry Sauce is made with only 6 ingredients in a matter of minutes! It is that easy to prepare this amazing side dish for your Thanksgiving turkey dinner!
If you are not yet decided on what to serve in your Thanksgiving dinner, then, it is time to learn how to cook this side dish. This makes for a great partner for your Dry Brined Turkey along with Roasted Sweet Potato and some sweet Pecan Pie Bars for dessert!
Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Cranberry Sauce is a traditional favorite during Thanksgiving. It is a classic condiment to the turkey and everyone loves it!
The tartness balances well with the sweetness of the sugar. The complementing citrus flavor also adds another dimension to it.
Did you know that the berry has been part of the American diet as early as the 1500s? This fruit has a long history and being cultivated further made it even more popular throughout the country.
That says a lot about this fruit. It is healthful, delicious, and versatile. Want to make it into a relish? A pastry? A beverage, maybe? It can be all that and more!
And the best part is that you can make it at home! It is a lot cheaper and a lot safer if you know what goes into your food, and so, this recipe will help you achieve that. No more canned sauces this time!
Yes, they certainly are! Just like any other berry, it has fiber and is rich in vitamins and minerals. It is said that the intake of this fruit can prevent urinary tract infections.
Its polyphenols are highly beneficial for health, especially in dealing with stomach and heart problems. These antioxidants can also prevent cancer. You can read about the other health benefits of this berryby following this link.
What is Cranberry Sauce made of?
For this recipe, you will need a saucepan and these ingredients:
cranberries
sugar
orange juice
orange zest
water
vanilla
How to make Cranberry Sauce from scratch?
For exact steps, please see the recipe card below. Also, I have attached a short video to make it easier to follow. The general steps are as follows:
Boil: Put the first 5 ingredients in the list above in a saucepan. Allow the mixture to boil and cook for about 8 minutes until the berries pop and the mixture viscous. Then, add the last ingredient which is the vanilla and then, turn off the stove.
Cool: Set the pan aside and let the mixture cool for about 20 minutes.
Serve: Pulse in the food processor for a minute or so until smooth, then, serve.
What do you eat with Cranberry Sauce?
It is almost exclusively eaten with the Thanksgiving turkey, but it’s delicious on other types of meat, like chicken or roasted pork.
Can Cranberry Sauce be made in advance?
Yes! This is an added bonus since it is fairly quick and easy to prepare, you will save more time on your busy Thanksgiving Day by making this in advance.
Just follow the recommended storage guidelines if you will make this before your event.
How many cups is a 12 oz. bag of cranberries?
A 12 oz bag is equivalent to about 3 cups of the berries. If you will slice them, then, 12 oz will just be around 2 1/4 cups.
"Instead, start by stirring in one tablespoon maple syrup and one teaspoon of a sweet drink like apple juice, orange juice, or fruity white or red wine. Add more to taste. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt (in small amounts, it intensifies sweetness)."
"Instead, start by stirring in one tablespoon maple syrup and one teaspoon of a sweet drink like apple juice, orange juice, or fruity white or red wine. Add more to taste. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt (in small amounts, it intensifies sweetness)."
The sugar in the syrup helps the mixture thicken. It could also be because you haven't cooked the mixture long enough. The cranberries need to cook long enough to burst so that they release plenty of pectin which is a thickener naturally found in cranberries.
The major variation you're likely to come across is "whole berry" versus "jellied." The only difference between them is that the jellied sauce is cooked until the berries have completely broken down. They both slide out of the can as a wobbly red cylinder.
You may have added too much liquid to the cranberries. In addition to pectin, cranberries contain water, which means you only need to add a splash of liquid to get the cooking going. Add too much and you'll be stirring at the stove much longer than expected.
Anything from a drizzle of honey to agave, maple syrup, or molasses will also fare well. After a few minutes of maceration, the sour fruit juices will mix with the sugar and alleviate some of the cranberries' natural tartness.
Sure, you can go all meta with some dried cranberries or sliced fresh raw cranberries, but I also like to think about complementary flavors — dried cherries, dried mulberries, golden raisins, chopped apricots. All work great with cranberry sauce.
What to do if the cranberry sauce is too thin or loose. If you inadvertently added too much water, simply bring the cranberry sauce back to the stove top and bring it to a low boil, cooking it down just a bit to help thicken it up.
When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.
Best Jellied Cranberry Sauce: Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. The Ocean Spray brand is pretty much synonymous with all things cranberry, so it's not really a surprise that they have their cranberry sauce dialed in.
That includes cranberry sauce, whose price is up about 18% compared to last year because cranberry crops are smaller this year, sparking a supply squeeze.
While there are some editors who prefer homemade cranberry sauce, the canned variety also has quite a following. "There's something so beautifully perfect about the texture of canned cranberry sauce, and none of those homemade mess will ever compete," says Senior Digital Food Editor Kimberly Holland.
But why? Ocean Spray says this is to get the cranberry sauce out in one intact piece. “The rounded part of the can that looks like the bottom has an air bubble in it,” Ocean Spray's representative explains. The bubble is there so you can “break the seal the sauce makes with the can.”
Pull the sauce off the stove once you hear or see the first few cranberries burst. You want some of them to burst but others to remain whole for the best texture. The sauce can be made up to 1 week in advance; keep refrigerated, and do not add the nuts until Thanksgiving Day, a few hours before serving.
Add agave nectar to the cranberry citrus mixture to your taste. I started with 1/2 cup and ended up with 1 cup of nectar to the 9 cups of juice. You could also use 1/2 cup of white sugar or 1/2 cup of honey for this. Just taste test as you go to achieve your desired sweetness.
Cranberries are generally considered safe whether they are cooked or raw. However, because of their notoriously bitter, sharp taste, most people prefer not to eat them raw or unsweetened. This bitterness is due to the high tannin content of cranberries.
In wine, tea, cider, cranberry juice and unripe fruits, such as persimmons, astringency contributes to the characteristic flavor. Astringency is a dry or rough feeling, which is speculated to result from tannins binding with salivary proteins to reduce oral lubrication (Noble, in pressSmith, June & Noble, 1996).
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