Best Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce - Start Here

This is hands-down the best homemade whole berry cranberry sauce, with big beautiful berries that look like jewels, and no refined sugar. If you're not already making your cranberry sauce like this, it will be your new go-to recipe every year.

What is Cranberry Sauce

I don't think anyone needs to be told what Cranberry Sauce is. However, I will tell you what this specific recipe for Cranberry sauce is.

Health Benefits and Dietary Considerations

This Homemade Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce recipe is:

• 100% vegan and vegetarian
• dairy-free
• gluten-free
• refined sugar-free
• keto- and paleo-compliant

Ingredients You Need for This Cranberry Sauce

As unbelievable as it sounds, this recipe really does only have three ingredients (plus water, of course):

• fresh cranberries
• maple syrup
• pinch of salt

Instructions for How to Make this Cranberry Sauce

This recipe is so quick and easy, it'll be done before you find that can opener to open a can of store-bought cranberry sauce. Literally, two steps, and that's only if doing nothing but waiting can even be considered a step. In the words of the Barefoot Contessa, "How easy is that?" Here are the steps:

• simmer cranberries, water, maple syrup, and salt
• allow to cool and gel

Ingredients Notes and Resources

• Cranberries. Fresh cranberries start to appear in grocery stores right around the time that Halloween items start to hit the shelves. They are most commonly sold in 12-ounce bags, so this recipe is based on that. I buy organic fresh cranberries.
• Maple Syrup. This is a pure organic maple syrup.
• Salt. This is the salt I use for every day cooking.

Natural Sweetener and Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce Options

The most traditional recipes for cranberry sauce have a huge amount—what I would deem way too much—of plain white granulated sugar. Cranberries are extremely tart, so all that sugar was a way to balance out the tartness. However, the traditional amounts of sugar almost cancel out the tartness of the cranberries, which is kind of . My hope is that our collective taste preference has evolved over time away from something less saccharine sweet and toward something that highlights the natural sour of the berries.

Cranberry Sauce Variations

This Classic Homemade Cranberry Sauce is the perfect base to which you can make additions that fit your and your family's taste preferences. Here are some tried and true additions:

• orange, lemon or lime zest + juice
• fresh chopped apples, pears, pomegranate or other available fruit
• chopped toasted nuts (I would never do this. I hate nuts in food)
• dried cranberries, tart cherries, golden raisins or other dried fruit
• spices like cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice
• fresh ginger or other sweet herbs like thyme

One Thanksgiving, I got creative with homemade cranberry sauce and tried to make it fancy.

My sister was first to taste it. With her brow crinkled, she looked across the table at me and asked, “You didn’t put cinnamon in this did you?”

It wasn’t like “Oh! Wow! This tastes great! Did you put cinnamon in it?” It was more like, “This tastes like ass because you put cinnamon in it, huh? Don't ever f'ing do that again.”

Ok, maybe it wasn't like that last part. Needless to say, we had a lot of leftover cranberry sauce that year.

I now make this same simple classic All-American homemade cranberry sauce every year. No cinnamon. No nuts. Not even citrus juice as the liquid instead of water for extra flavor. And hell to the naw on raw "relish," salsa, or chutney.

But since no one in my family actually eats cranberry sauce anyway...

Essentially, I am making a cranberry compote that decorates the dinner table for one night, then becomes an ingredient in all the other things I'll be baking and making during the rest of the Holidays.

Thanksgiving with my family is so weird.

Tools and Equipment

As I always say, there is nothing in the kitchen you NEED to make a certain dish, as a solid cutting board and a sharp knife will almost always be enough, and in the case of Cranberry Sauce, you don't even need those. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a few tools and gadgets that you may WANT to make it infinitely easier, as easy as it already is, of course:

• Salad Spinner/Colander. a salad spinner is great for the colander inside!
• Heavy saucepot for cooking the cranberry sauce
• Wooden spoon
• Cute serving bowls for sauces and condiments
• All-time favorite workhorse chef's knife
• Cutting board that's huge for stability and surface area
• Vegetable Wash to remove the outer wax and residues on the skins. I have been using this organic brand for YEARS.

How to Store /Freeze Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry Sauce is essentially a refrigerator/freezer jam, so it will be good for up to five days in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Beyond a few days, you can absolutely freeze cranberry sauce. In fact, you can actually freeze whole fresh cranberries! If you plan to use frozen cranberry sauce a little at a time, freeze the sauce into individual portion sizes. You can do this by freezing the cranberry sauce in ice cube trays, then storing the frozen cranberry cubes in a freezer safe sealable bag or container.

Another way to make smaller size frozen portions is to put the cranberry sauce in a zipper top bag with at least some "wiggle room." Squeeze out as much of the air from the bag, seal, then press indentations into the bag with the side of your hand or handle of a spatula to create smaller portions. Freeze the bag flat this way. When you need a small amount from the bag you can easily "break off" a square of frozen cranberry sauce from inside the bag.

What to Make with Leftover Cranberry Sauce

• Cranberry Brie Grilled Cheese uses ¼ cup leftover cranberry sauce for each sandwich
• Cranberry Bread Pudding uses ½ cup of leftover cranberry sauce, plus dried cranberries
• Cranberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast with Cornflake Crunch Topping uses 1 cup leftover cranberry sauce
• Cranberry Sorbet uses at least 1 cup cranberry sauce or more

FAQ

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Whole berry cranberry sauce that has no refined white sugar to really let the tart flavor and health benefits of cranberries shine

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Total Time10 minutes mins

Course: Sauce

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cranberries, gut health, thanksgiving

Servings: 2 cups

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fresh cranberries 1 bag, about 3 cups
• ½ cup pure maple syrup
• ½ water
• pinch of salt

Instructions

• Wash cranberries and remove any wayward stems and mushy, brown/bruised berries.
• In a medium saucepan, heat water and maple syrup over low heat. Add cranberries, increase heat, and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to low and simmer cranberries until most of them have cracked or burst, about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Cranberry sauce "gels" more as it cools.
• Serve room temperature or chilled.

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