With Thanksgiving one week away, I had to pop in to share one of my personal *favorite* dishes that will be on our table (+ should be on yours!). Cranberry sauce can be a love(lovelove) it or hate it kinda thing. If it’s coming out of an Ocean Spray can – I can be hit or miss myself. But this homemade orange cranberry sauce recipe is a family favorite that my mom started making a few years back – and we haven’t looked back since. The best part? It’s RIDICULOUSLY simple and easy to anyone to master – seriously.
Really, we’re just editing + adapting the basic cranberry sauce recipe that comes on the back of cranberry bags at the grocery store. Who knew those on-the-box recipes could be such winners? 😉 Basic fresh cranberry sauce calls for cranberries (duh), sugar and water, with sugar amounts varying to taste. For this orange cranberry sauce, we’re substituting orange juice for water, cutting some sugar (to make it healthier AND tangier), and adding some orange zest for fabulous flavor.
(Feel free to jump to the printable orange cranberry sauce recipe below!)
Ingredients:
- 1 bag fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup orange juice
- Zest of 1 orange
THAT’S IT.
First + foremost, rinse your berries. Toss any that are dry or just look bad.
Put them in a sauce pot with 3/4 cup sugar (or use one full cup if you like your cranberry sauce to be sweeter) + one cup orange juice. Mix well!
Bring it to a good bubble and stir often. Your berries will start to open and pop, and it will thicken a bit as you go. Once most berries are popped, remove from heat. It will keep thickening as it cools!
Once cool, grate your orange peel (just the orange part, not any white) and blend the zest well into the sauce. Cover and refrigerate – that’s it!
This orange cranberry sauce is a total favorite in our family as a fresher, healthier, zestier and yummier take on the Thanksgiving classic. So if you try, I hope it brings happiness to your own table this year!
Orange Cranberry Sauce (EASY recipe!)
Ingredients
- 1 bag fresh cranberries
- 3/4 cup sugar (vary sugar to your taste liking!)
- 1 cup orange juice
Instructions
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Rinse cranberries, pulling out any dry or bad-looking berries
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Put in sauce pot with 3/4 cup sugar (or use one full cup if you prefer your cranberry sauce sweeter!) and one cup orange juice on low heat. Mix well.
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Bring up to a good bubble, stirring often. Berries will start to open and pop, and it will thicken a bit!
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Once most berries are popped, remove from heat. (It will keep thickening as it cools)
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Once cool, grate an orange peel (just orange, not white) and blend the zest well into the sauce
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Cover and refrigerate. Enjoy!
Have you ever had orange cranberry sauce?
For more easy recipe content and quick meal ideas, click here!
