I grew up eating homemade cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, so I’ve never craved the canned version. Even when the host prefers the wobbly jellied sauce that still shows ribs from the metal can that encased it, I quietly set this homemade sauce near my place at the table.
This recipe makes about 2 cups, enough for eight to 10 servings, so I happily pass it around, secretly hoping to convert others from the store-bought can. When made from scratch, you can control the sweetness in the sauce, letting the tart berries take the lead. A blend of honey and fresh orange juice gives depth to that sweetness and complements the main fruit.
If you usually pop open a can of cranberry sauce because you’re juggling so many other recipes for the feast, you might be surprised by how easy it is to make from scratch. The five ingredients take mere minutes to prepare, and you can make the sauce a day or more ahead of time. It keeps well for seven to 10 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator, so even if you make it early in the week you have time to finish the leftovers after Thanksgiving.
I have no problems eating up extra cranberry sauce, because I put it on everything in a typical holiday spread. Beyond complementing the mild flavor of turkey, it adds zing to steamed green beans, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and even fruit-and-nut or cornbread dressing. If you start the gathering with a cheese board, set a small bowl of the brightly colored sauce in the center, where it can be spooned out like a relish or chutney. A dollop of cranberry sauce thinned with a little oil and vinegar tastes so delicious on a green salad that I use it as the base for a spinach salad dressing, a recipe I’ll share here next week.
Orange-Infused Cranberry Sauce
Makes about 2 cups
12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
Zest and juice of 1 medium orange
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
In a medium saucepan, place the cranberries. Stir in the orange zest and juice, honey, ginger and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes, until the cranberries begin to burst. Mash the berries gently with a potato masher or the back of a wooden spoon, cooking for an additional one to two minutes as needed, until the sauce reaches your desired texture.
Remove the pan from the heat and let the sauce cool to room temperature. Transfer it to a lidded container and refrigerate for at least two hours, until set.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.