Homemade Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest

This homemade Cranberry Sauce recipe is flavored with orange juice, orange zest, and cinnamon to create a flavorful side dish for your Thanksgiving feast.

I love the flavor combination of orange and cranberries. I am not that crazy about cranberries on their own but add some grated orange and a little cinnamon and it becomes one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes.

It is really easy to make your own cranberry sauce. You just need to factor in time for it to chill. I usually make this the day before Thanksgiving and let it chill overnight which saves me time on Thanksgiving day.

Cranberry Sauce is one of the few dishes that actually costs more to make from scratch. You can buy a can of cranberry sauce for about half the cost of a bag of fresh cranberries, but for me, this is one of those times where quality beats frugality.

Don’t be alarmed if you hear popping while the cranberries are cooking. The cranberries “explode” while they are boiling. it’s a good thing, it will make the job of blending them much easier.

Blender Cranberry Sauce

I usually make a somewhat chunky Cranberry Sauce, but I wanted this cranberry sauce to be smooth so that I can use the leftovers as a spread on Turkey Salad Sandwiches and swirl it into coffee cakes. Because of this, I use an emersion blender to blend the cranberry sauce. If you don’t have an emersion blender, you can carefully spoon the cooked cranberry mixture into a traditional blender. When you have hot food in a blender you want to take extra precautions. So if you use a traditional blender be sure to place a potholder on one hand and use that hand to hold the lid on the blender while it is turned on.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Be sure to allow time for cranberry sauce to cool completely before serving.

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces whole fresh cranberries
• 1 cup orange juice
• zest of one orange
• 1¼ cups sugar
• 1½ teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Add the cranberries, orange juice, orange zest, sugar, and cinnamon to a medium saucepan.
2. Cook, while stirring over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
3. Once the sugar dissolves, bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Use an immersion blender or carefully pour the cranberry sauce into a blender and blend until it is smooth.
6. Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until the sauce is cooled completely. Serve chilled.

Printable Recipe for Orange-Cranberry Sauce

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5 from 1 vote

Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

This easy cranberry sauce is flavored with orange zest and cinnamon.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Cooling Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes

Servings 8

Calories 200kcal

Author Alea Milham

Ingredients

• ▢ 12 ounces whole cranberries
• ▢ 1 cup orange juice
• ▢ zest of one orange
• ▢ 1¼ cup sugar
• ▢ 1½ teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

• Add the cranberries, orange juice, orange zest, sugar, and cinnamon to a medium saucepan.
• Cook, while stirring over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.
• Once the sugar dissolves, bring the mixture to a boil.
• Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Use an immersion blender or carefully pour the cranberry sauce into a blender and blend until it is smooth.
• Pour into a bowl and refrigerate until the sauce is cooled completely. Serve chilled.

Nutrition

Calories: 200kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 73mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 50g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 1mg

More Thanksgiving Recipes:

• Pumpkin Pie Spiced Sweet Potatoes
• Wild Rice Stuffing
• Corn Casserole
• Chocolate Pecan Pie
• Pumpkin Pie