This recipe was given to me by a friend of mine. It has been a family favorite for over ten years. I make it for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas dinner.
I never made cranberry sauce before, and decided that I would make it for the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was a HIT. The only thing that I had to change is that when you first start cooking this, bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and wait for the berries to burst. Otherwise it doesn't get as thick as you would expect. I figured this out based on reviewing other similar cranberry sauce recipes before making this one. I decided upon this one because of all the spices that were in this. They really made a delicious cranberry sauce.
Read More This recipe was a little sweet for me. Next time I will not add so much sugar.
Read MoreI never made cranberry sauce before, and decided that I would make it for the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. It was a HIT. The only thing that I had to change is that when you first start cooking this, bring to a boil then reduce to medium heat and wait for the berries to burst. Otherwise it doesn't get as thick as you would expect. I figured this out based on reviewing other similar cranberry sauce recipes before making this one. I decided upon this one because of all the spices that were in this. They really made a delicious cranberry sauce.
WOW! This stuff is so good I couldn't stop eating it out of the saucepan and I've never been a fan of cranberry sauce! If you can boil water, you can make this. After reading other reviews, I decreased sugar to about 1 1/2 cups and I grated the zest of one small orange right over the pot as it cooked, which I think gave it just the right layering of flavors without overpowering it. Thanks for the recipe - it's a keeper and has now joined my holiday recipe collection.
I love this recipe, the changes I made were to decrease the sugar to 1.5 cups and instead of adding the sugar at the end i cooked it all together to make more of a gelled chutney type. We have tried it with pork chops and found it to be a wonderful addition. Will use this recipe for years to come.
Never really liked cran sauce, but wanted to be adventurous this holiday season. We give this 5 stars with our modifications: substituted the water for orange juice, halved the sugar, eliminated the spice bag itself and just tossed in the cinn sticks and cloves (easy to remove before refrigeration). We also sprinkled in a bit of pumpkin pie spice. FYI - it took much longer than 15 minutes cooking time for all the berries to burst. Overall, smelled fantastic while cooking & was a huge success at the table.
This MADE our Thanksgiving dinner, and I will never go back to canned cranberries again. It was so easy. I wrapped up the spices in a coffee filter and tied with thread since I didn't have a spice bag.
My family and I LOVED this. I served it along with the turkey at Christmas dinner, and everyone said that they would no longer use the canned variety. It was easy to make; the only change I made was that I substituted orange juice for the water.
My husband cringed when I told him I wanted to make cranberry sauce for this upcoming Thanksgiving because he has HORRIBLE memories of cranberry sauce, past & present! OMG!!! This cranberry sauce is so tasty, delicious, tangy and easy to make! I rarely follow any cooking recipe to a "tee," so I did improvise a bit. I decreased the sugar to 1 cup and instead of bundling spices, I used a few pinches of nutmeg, a few pinches of cinnammon and an exotic mixture of dried allspice (with ginger, anise, clove, cinammon & nutmeg). I went VERY EASY (a spinkle or two) with this exotic allspice 'cause I didn't want the sauce to become too bitter. Also, the cranberries, sugar & water DO need to cook for approxiamtely 20 minutes to get a true sauce consistency. But ohhhhh so good! I cannot believe how tasty this recipe turned out, with a deep red color...so pretty, too! Cannot wait to serve this cranberry sauce to my family for Thanksgiving! Thank you!
This recipe was a little sweet for me. Next time I will not add so much sugar.
Great and easy recipe! I added a little bit of orange and almond extract, probably didn't need it, but the flavor of this dish is wonderful
I have never really liked cranberry sauce. However I made this receipe and I was truly amazed. For the first time in 45 years I like cranberry sauce. Very excellent receipe. Wouldn't change a thing.
UPDATE: I am changing my rating to 5 *'s!!!!! My mom requested I make this again for Xmas dinner. I took some to my bf's parent's house too (we had Xmas dinner with both my family & his). Everyone LOVED this (except for my bf and one of his bros - confirmed cranberry haters!). My only change this time was to add the sugar in the beginning as this is how I've always done it. Yum, yum!!! What an excellent recipe!!! My family just RAVED over this! Served alongside the "after Thanksgiving" dinner I prepared for my parents, bf & myself. My bf didn't care for this (but he dislikes cranberries anyways). This is a very "sticky" cran sauce that must be covered when put in the fridge to prevent it from drying out (my usual relish is not "gooey" like this... the high sugar content is the reason). Before serving, just stir and it will be fine. I must warn that the prep directions are a bit off. It will take at least 20 to 30 min. for your cranberries to pop. Simply bring a pot of cranberries & H2O to a boil (I subbed OJ for the H2O called for) and, when the berries begin to pop, reduce heat to low, add sugar and simmer until thickened. If some of the berries do not burst, gently mash them w/ a potato masher or pulse on low speed w/ a hand blender. Other than that (and also subbing homemade vanilla sugar for white sugar - thanks What a Dish for the idea!), I followed MARJK's directions to a T. This was a HUGE hit and will definitely find a place in my "keeper" file. Thx. for sharing!
My family was not a big fan of cranberry sauce until this recipe. My sister likes to take the leftovers to mix with cream cheese & eat on bagels after Thanksgiving.
I'm the only one in my family that likes cranberry sauce; but they all like this recipe! I didn't change anything.
Amazing! worth 5 stars. I hadn't made it from scratch before, but worth it! Perfect blend of sugar and spices.
This was easy and perfect! I almost drained off some of the liquid, but resist the urge. It gels up as it cools. delicious!
I'm not a fan of cranberries but this recipe is absolutely fantastic! I couldn't stop tasting it! I didn't use the whole spices--just the powdered ones and it turned out great. I made this to use in the Cranberry Squares recipe on this site. I took them to work and they were gone almost immediately. BIG HIT! Thank you!
We come from a family that had the cranberry jelly from a can plopped on a fancy dish. I thought it was for show all these years. I saw this picture and it looked yummy. I could not resist. It was delicious! I even put it on toast! I froze some in little amounts to use it as preserves. I did lower the sugar to 1.5 cups and used orange juice instead of water. My whole family loved it at Thanksgiving! I took some to my mother in law who likes cranberry sauce. She loves it too. Thank you for sharing! This will be made regularly in my family. If you dont like cranberry sauce.. you will like this! try it!
My friends and family always love when I make this. They make sure that I am on the holiday menus for this. No more Cranberry Sauce in a can, that's for sure! My son even likes when I make more than enough so that he can use the leftovers for his pancakes, waffles, cheescake, ice cream, etc. He just can't get enough. I have to freeze extra cranberries to make it throughout the year. And he is a VERY picky eater, he wouldn't touch the can stuff with a 10 foot pole.
I cut sugar down to 1 .5 cups. Used coffee filter for spices. I used 1 tbsp. of ground cinnamon instead of the cinnamon sticks.. Made a double batch on thanksgiving and froze half for later. I've used this sauce as an excellent glaze for baked turkey and chicken breasts in the oven. Yummy.
This recipe was perfect - delicious! No more of the store bought stuff for me!
I had already cooked fresh cranberry sauce according to package directions, but wanted to "do something more" with it so I looked online for suggestions and ran across this recipe. Without measuring, I added the spices suggested: cinnamon, cloves & allspice. My husband and 5 kids (ages 8, 7, 6, 5 & 4) said it was the best cranberry sauce they have ever eaten. My 5 yr. old daughter said "It tastes like pie!". :) YAY! for a new holiday favorite! :) (Next time maybe I will look up the recipe.)
This was very easy, smelled terrific while it was cooking and tasted even better! Thanks for sharing!
This recipe was delicious! Everyone loved it at Thanksgiving. I did use a few different kinds of sweetener to give it some depth - used some sucanat, some brown sugar, and some pure maple syrup. Love the spices in this!
This was surprisingly very good. I'm usually a fan of the cranberry sauce in a can, but this was a nice change with all of the spices. I used orange juice instead of water. I also strained the mixture for a smooth sauce. Perfect!
Made this at Thanksgiving. It was a big hit. I used Splenda (unfortunately, i got a little carried away and had to do a little adjusting, but it was still wonderful! Easy to do (but they don't have to know that!)
These were amazing! I never really cared for cranberries but the combination of the spices, sugar and cranberries were delicious.
So good and so easy. I made enough to give some away to my family and friends for there Thanksgiving table.
I made this last year (using others advice and lowering the sugar and lowering the temp to medium and adding sugar at the beginning) and it was really good and I don't even like cranberry sauce. I just spoke to my boyfriend on the phone about our Thanksgiving menu and he said, "Hey are you making that cranberry sauce again?" Definitely a keeper!
This was the most simple recipe and tasted so wonderful! I loved the effect that the spices had on the cranberries. I made this on Tuesday before Thanksgiving and had to stop myself from picking at it before we served it. Will keep to make in the future.
I prefer whole berry sauce and knew the flavors I wanted for my sauce this year. I used this recipe as a baseline and doubled it. I also added a dash of nutmeg (less than 1/8 tsp.) and instead of whole berry allspice or whole cloves (which I didn't have left after mulling cider), I just added a few shakes of ground for each. This was amazing cranberry sauce, everyone raved about it, and in addition to my other cranberry relish, I think if offered a nice traditional element to the dinner. One family member was eating it over ice cream. I appreciate the tartness still being captured, so I recommend tasting the sauce as it is cooking and adding sugar as needed rather than all at once. Fabulous sauce.
This was pretty tasty! I think it was a little sweeter than I usually eat... next time we're going to reduce the sugar by about 1/4 cup and replace the water with orange juice to see if that brings the sweetness down. Otherwise, the balance of spices made a perfect compliment to the cranberry.
Yum, Yum, Yum. Not only did I serve with Thanksgiving dinner, but used leftovers over cereal, yogurt or ice cream.
a few mins of your time makes sauce better than anything that can be store bought
Awesome!!! Out of a sense of tradition, I love serving fresh made cranberry sauce...But this recipe makes it unique, and much more flavorful. The spices add a marvelous touch. (I did, however, substitute orange juice for water, for added flavor.)
This is the best cranberry sauce I have ever made! It's fresh, fruity, and bright, with such a delicious flavor from the spices added. I found, however, that it called for way too much sugar. I cut it down to 1 cup and thought it was perfect, sweet and tart. Some of my sugar-loving family members, however, thought it could use a bit more, so I guess it's a matter of taste. But I still think 2 cups is too much, and will always cut the amount back. This is fast becoming my go-to cranberry sauce recipe, because it's easy, tasty, and fabulous. Thanks for sharing!
5 stars aren't enough. Easy, tasty, will keep a long time in the fridge. I'll never eat canned cranberry sauce again.
This was the first time I did not go with the canned cranberry sauce. So glad I took the plunge. It was delicious. My husband was even willing to eat a lot of leftover turkey as long as he was able to put the "new" sauce on it. Our grandchildren loved it too. Will never go back to the old stuff. Triscuit
I'm not a real cranberry sauce fan, but this is good. My youngest daughter made it for Thanksgiving, very simple. Haven't bought a can since!
Yummy. Great on squash, bananas, cornbread, yogurt, by the spoonful. I used ground spices because that's what I had. Tiny bit of each. Wonderful.
Absolutely delicious. This is the best cranberry sauce we had ever had.. Our guests asked for the recipe. I didn't add quite as much sugar as the recipe called for and it was still incredibly sweet and perfect.
This stuff is awesome. I've usually don't like cranberry sauce, and I've never made my own before this, but it is truly wonderful. I made it exactly to the recipe and this will definitely become a holiday standard. Thanks for a great one.
This sauce was awesome!! It was so quick and easy. It will definitely become my regular cranberry sauce. I did find that I needed to add more spice to it and I used some Orange Juice instead of all water, but once I had done that it was wonderful.
Excellent! I loved the spices! Don't skimp on the sugar, or it will be too tart. This jelled nicely into a firm sauce in the refrigerator, so make sure to transfer it to your serving dish before chilling.
This was my first time ever making cranberry sauce from scratch. I have always used the can jelly to go with my turkey dinner. All these years I've been deprived of the real thing, just because of pure laziness. What was I thinking??? This year I used this recipe and it was phenomenal. I didn't changed a thing and it was so easy to make. Even my husband, who hates to eat "sugar" with his turkey, tried it and loved it. No more can jelly for us, ever. Thanks. ;)
This is the first cranberry sauce I have made and I think it turned out pretty good. I added a little orange juice and like the flavor. Was a bit tart but paired with the turkey I thought it was very good. My family didn't go crazy over but we have never been big cranberry sauce eaters. Will make again! Thank you!
This is amazing! My husbands told me to make sure & buy him a can of the jellied stuff because he hates real cranberry sauce. He is STILL raving about it. I caught him using on toast this morning like jam. The spice mix is key. It imparts a unique flavor to the sauce unlike any other I have had. I will be making this every thanksgiving! Thanks for the EASY & DELICIOUS recipe!
Loved this recipe. I did use ground spices. I also finely chopped a jalapeno pepper (seeds removed) and added to the saucepan. I reduced the cooking time to 2 minutes and poured over a brick of cream cheese. Served with water crackers or crackers of your choice. Wonderful appetizer.
Delicious and so easy! I used orange juice instead of water and also brown sugar. I won't ever buy the canned sauce again!
This has become a family favorite! My daughter is more excited for the cranberry sauce than she is about the turkey
I made this for Thanksgiving and I don't think I'll buy cranberry sauce again. I didn't have the whole spices so I just put in a couple dashes of ground spices. I reduced the sugar to 1.5 c. and I think the sweetness was perfect. I also added the zest from one orange. I put the sugar, water and cranberries together over high heat and let them boil to get the cranberries to burst faster and it didn't take long.
This is better when you substitute orange juice (w pulp) for the water. I also added a little (1 Tbsp.) of orange brandy with the sugar.
I made this with orange juice instead of water and about half as much sugar. Pretty good! Mine was a bit runny so I'd add less water/juice next time. ** Made it again this year for the second time with OJ and just the recommended water and it turned out great!
Delicious! Took to my boss' house for a Christmas feast, and her family loved it so much that she asked for the recipe.
I make this too now all the time... I use some orange juice in place of some of the water...
My 1st ever Cranberry Sauce from scratch...Will never have canned again (at least at our house). Everyone raved about it. I never really cared one way or other about the cranberry sauce but now...I'm looking forward to making gain for Xmas. Am also considering putting in Ball Mason Jars w/decor ribbon and giving as gifts:) Followed recipe exactly
First time making fresh cranberry sauce - yum! This recipe is great. I added some fresh orange zest and also some shredded apple. I also just sprinkled with ground cinnamon because the store was out of cinnamon sticks (that's what I get for shopping the night before Thanksgiving) but did the whole cloves and allspice. I will definitely make this for future Thanksgiving dinners!
Too many cloves, but besides that very tasty. I tried it a second time with less cloves and all spice and used orange juice in place of the water. Yummy!
This was ok but nothing fabulous, I had to boil the cranberries a lot longer than suggested. The spices add a nice flavor.
Excellent as is. I halved the recipe for 9 of us and it was plenty with a little left over. I didn't have cheesecloth or a spice bag so I used a tea ball for the cloves and allspice and just threw in the cinnamon sticks, fishing them out when it was done. I would only change the cranberries to 24oz since they usually come in 12oz bags- I don't think any of the other quantities wuold need adjusting with the slight increase in berries.
This is fantastic! This is the first time I've attempted to make cranberry sauce from scratch and I was blown away. The spices are perfect. I pulsed it slightly in the blender to make it a bit more saucy. I've put it on everything from waffles to a peanut butter (and cranberry sauce) sandwich.
I love this recipe, and so does everyone who's tried it. I make a double batch with frozen cranberries, bring the water to a boil, and then turn it to medium to cook for ten minutes. For the spices I use an oblong tea steeper which perfectly fits the cinnamon sticks and makes for way less mess than a spice bag. I decrease the sugar by 1/2 cup (so 3 cups for a double batch), and make it the night before so that it can gel up in the fridge. Soooooooo good!
This recipe was such a sucess! the recipe was soo easy to follow! the only thing I would change would be not so much sugar, maybe only half of what theyre asking for. and I added a small pinch of ground cloves , and 2 whole cloves, it gave it an amazing flavor. I also took the advice of the ohter reviews and added the small stick of cinnamon.
Every year my family prepares yet another cranberry recipe for the holidays. It's more for tradition and not taste because we usually put a bit on our plate and leave it at that. This is the first recipe that was more than tolerable. It had a nice sweetness and spice that really made it unique. I think we found a keeper for our traditional dinners. Thank you!
I couldn't find a spice bag so I used cheesecloth, which kind of fell apart a bit. I had to cook it much longer than stated in the recipe. It had too much of a clove flavor for my taste.
Im rating off of my changes I made to the recipe because this recipe was a little off. the berries took longer than 10 minutes to pop... it was more realistically an hour. i didnt have a spice bag so I used a coffee filter and tied it off with a bread tie on top and it worked perfectly. even after letting the spices stew in the sauce it didnt have quite the cranberry zing so I hence added a little ground cinnamon and ground clove. For some reason in my family my grandmother always put chopped pecans in the cranberry sauce so I added 1/4 a cup and it was a perfect amount.... that is after I took out 1/4 cup sugar out of the recipe in fear it would be to sweet and even after taking the quarter cup out it was still a little on the sweet side. All in all after a few twecks this recipe has potiental and turned out divine.
The flavors in this cranberry sauce are truly exceptional however I only gave the recipe 4 stars because of the 2 cups of sugar! I only put in 1 cup of sugar and it was the perfect sweetness for me (and I consider my tastes in cranberry sauce to be pretty average). I recommend starting with just half of the sugar and then adding more to taste if you want.
I'd never made homemade cranberry sauce ( I know, I know) because I thought it would be too much trouble and that my husband wouldn't like it. After having some at a holiday party he asked me to make some for Christmas. Fantastic. I've bought my last can of cranberry sauce.
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! A few tiny changes based on other reviews. I used OJ in place of water, reducing sugar to 1 cup and instead of a spice bag-which I didn't have- I used 1/4t of cinnamon, 1/4t allspice and 1/4t ground cloves. Perfectly sweet with a little tart. Will definitely make again. Thank you for sharing!
This was a huge hit at Thanksgiving. Instead of water i cooked the berries in orange juice. I also used ground spices instead of whole spices. Just whatever spices you and your family enjoy. Easy and delicious. : )
I love this. I've been making it every single year for thanksgiving and christmas for the past 3 years. It is a total hit! I also save the cranberry "water" once i drain the cranberries to help add flavor to the next years batch! It says to put it in the fridge for 8 hours or more, but I always cook it day of. This sauce is almost better warm, and will have more chunky cranberries. So good!
EXCELLENT !!!! My kids couldn't stand it before (from the can)... now my kids love it. I had to make extra the next day for the leftovers!!!
I agree with the other reviewers - too much sugar. I cut the sugar down to 1 1/2 cups, and even that seemed like too much. Otherwise, this was very good!
I truly do love this recipe! I tried Orange juice instead of water though. If you do decide to try orange juice I stongly suggest you use a brand that is fresh squeezed not from concentrate! I usually prefer Simply Orange, but I also use Minute Maid.
Delicious, far and away much better than anything out of a can, and magnificently easy to make!
Yum! So simple and perfect. Not super fancy, but real cranberries and spices. Classic!
Try about 1 cup of sugar Then sweeten to taste. I used about 1 cup and it was fine. This receipe has great flavours. I didn't have any cheesecloth so I used a coffee filter tied with thread. I was a bit nervous but it held up fine.
I just finshed making this and it tastes outstanding. I used 1 cup of sugar instead of 1.5. It's delicious!!
YUMMY! MADE WITH SPLENDA, DID NOT HAVE SPICE BAG SO PICKED OUT SPICES AFTER COOLING, TOOK ABOUT A MINUTE. LEFTOVERS FROZE VERY WELL. WARMED UP LEFTOVERS AND SERVED ON TOP OF RICOTTA CREAM (RICOTTA, SPLENDA, VANILLA). THANKS FOR A KEEPER!
This recipe is awesome. No one, not even myself, enjoy cranberries. However, I thought I'd give it a go. I only used about 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and it should probably go up to 1 3/4, but any more than that and I think it would be too sweet. I used extra allspice and cloves because I enjoy the flavors. I also did as another review suggested: I hit a boil at high and then reduced it to Med. Low. I also cooked it for longer to allow it to thicken up a bit, and it did so as it cooled. All in all, a WONDERFUL recipe! My only complaint is against the cranberries themselves: the little 'woody' sticks that came out of the cranberries as they burst. Don't know what to do about those!
I really enjoyed this recipe...People at Thanksgiving dinner said they really didn't care for cranberries, until they tried these.
Fantasitc! Definitely making this for thanksgiving. I used 1 cup water, and then substituted 1/2 c. orange juice for the remaining 1/2 c. water. I also brought the cranberries to boil and then reduced heat to medium-low, squishing the berries against the side of the pan.
I will never buy canned cranberries sauce again!! This was so delicious and just sweet enough. I can't beleave how simple it was. All the spices made it taste so wonderful and my house smelled great!
I really liked this dish. I probably won't make it again though because unfortunately my family prefers the canned stuff.
ive never been a big fan of cranberry sauce but this stuff was pretty good. I got a few compliments on the sace. I would reccomend this recipe to others, its also really easy!
A definite keeper! This will be a staple for all turkey dinners at my house from now on! I couldn't find whole allspice berries so I subbed for a little over 1/4 tsp ground allspice. ***UPDATE*** I did dry some of this recipe with the other cranberries I was drying for "Awesome Sausage, Apple, and Cranberry Stuffing." Also, this was the first side my daughters ate when I fixed their Thanksgiving plate. It really is that good. I'm going to have to figure out how to can this recipes since buying cranberries off season is impossible.
Love this cranberry sauce! I only made it with 2 cups of fresh organic cranberries and brown sugar. I added 2 sticks of cinnamon and 3 gloves. Once it cooled down, I removed the cinnamon sticks and cloves. I also added about a cup of fresh orange juice and sprinkled orange zest. DELICIOUS!!!!!!
My roomate was a hit with this. I gave this recipe to her to take to her family's house for Thanksgiving and people that didn't eat Cranberry sauce were coming back for seconds.
This was a huge hit! Even my super-picky seven year old twin boys were all over it, becuase, "Mommy, it smells SO good!" Also only added 1.5 cups of sugar and put it in the fridge to cool 30 minutes prior to re-heating our left over chicken from last night. Zero complaints!!
