This is the easiest spiced cranberry sauce recipe. Just throw the seven ingredients into a saucepan, simmer for 10 minutes, chill, and serve!
I love cranberry sauce. A Thanksgiving or Christmas meal isn’t complete without it, in my opinion.
Cranberry sauce is the accompaniment which turns the humble turkey (and subsequent leftovers) into something you want to have seconds and thirds of. I can quite easily scoff a silly amount of roast turkey, cold, with lashings of this cranberry sauce.
I don’t particularly care about shop-bought cranberry sauce. It’s far too sweet, and there are not enough cranberries in it.
Fortunately, this homemade cranberry sauce recipe is easy to whip up and can be made weeks in advance, well before any Christmas/Thanksgiving preparation starts in full swing.
It only takes a few minutes to pop everything in the pan, stir every now and again for ten minutes or so, bottle, and away you go! Easy peasy!
Ingredients
- 175 grams whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 50 ml port
- 1 large orange, juice and zest
- 1 whole cinnamon stick
- 2 whole star anise
- 3 whole cloves, ground in a mortar and pestle
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Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes or so until the cranberries have popped and the sauce is thickened.
- Spoon the prepared cranberry sauce recipe into a sterilized glass jar (wash with hot, soapy water and fill with boiling water until needed) and store in the fridge until needed.
Reminiscing on Wild Canadian cranberries
Cranberries grew wild where I grew up in the Canadian Maritimes. I remember once, as a child, one of the elderly neighbours in the village recruiting us young children to help him harvest them from their secret location in a sandy peat bog in the forest.
He wore great, big waders, and we went into the water, either barefoot or in wellies, to pick the little red cranberries floating on the surface of the water. It was a magical experience that has stayed with me over the years.
Recipe Difficulty Levels
Easy
Requires basic cooking skills and ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Moderate
Requires more experience, preparation and/or cooking time. You may have to source special ingredients.
Challenging
Recipes requiring more advanced skills and experience and maybe some special equipment.
Easy Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- 175 grams fresh cranberries fresh or frozen
- 100 grams granulated sugar
- 50 ml port
- 1 large orange juice and zest
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 3 whole cloves ground in a mortar and pestle
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Equipment
Instructions
- Place 175 grams fresh cranberries, 100 grams granulated sugar, 50 ml port, juice and zest of 1 large orange, 2 star anise, and 3 whole cloves (ground in a mortar and pestle) in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for ten minutes or so until the cranberries have popped and the sauce is thickened.
- Spoon into a sterilized glass jar (wash with hot soapy water and fill with boiling water until needed) and store in the fridge until needed.
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Nice one. Homemade cranberry sauce is sooo much nicer.
love cranberry sauce, sounds even nicer with a bit of spice in.
I learned about cranberry sauce in the UK and I fell in love with it straight away. Your version here is beautiful. I really love the addition of spices. Very inventing Elizabeth!
Thank you Alida! 🙂
I’m such a fan of cranberry sauce, especially at holidays. I’ve never added wine to mine before (or any of the spices) but now I’m really intrigued! This sounds delicious…
You won’t be disappointed if you try it 🙂
This sounds so much better than the pre-bought jarred stuff. Can you send some down please – lol!
He he, sure thing!
Nothing nicer than a turkey sandwich with lashings of cranberry sauce. Added to my list of things to make for Christmas.
I whole-heartedly agree! My grandmother used to make a wonderful turkey and cranberry sauce sandwich for my packed school lunch. I loved it! Oh I could go one right now….
nice basic sauce here, and believe it or not I don’t think i’ve ever made a cranberry sauce so I must give this a go for the Christmas turkey x
Oh you must try it! It’s so worth the effort 🙂
I absolutely love homemade cranberry sauce made with spices and can’t wait until cranberries are back in the shops so I can fill my freezer with them. I think I bought around 1.1 kg of them last year and they all went ages ago, must buy more this year!
The spices improve the flavour a lot, I think. I love Christmas spice 🙂
When you say serves 6-8 – is that 6-8 jars or people?
Haha! 6-8 people 😛