Classic Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce Recipe

Whether you serve them with your stuffing, dessert, or it has its own special place on your table, cranberries add a classic touch to your holiday spread. Make your own homemade cranberry sauce this year for Thanksgiving using fresh cranberries! This easy recipe is so simple yet yields amazing results. I am a bit of a purist when it comes to "the sauce", I don't care for extras like nuts or orange zest. A lot of the people sharing the table with me won't even touch a cranberry, but they certainly won't eat one that tastes like oranges! So I am sharing with you my simple standby, a 4 ingredient classic cranberry sauce recipe.




If you LOVE the smooth jellied version, you can check out my tutorial to make your own! Can ridges optional! I like to let mine set in a well-washed can, to add those little ridges. It's a fun way to give everyone the cranberry sauce they expect, with great homemade taste.


 

Homemade jellied cranberry sauce, complete with can ridges! 

You will need:

1 (12 oz.) pkg. whole cranberries

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup apple juice, unsweetened if possible

1 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

1. Combine water, apple juice and sugar in a medium sized sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add your rinsed cranberries and bring it back up to a boil (the cranberries will initially bring down your overall temperature, requiring that we bring it back to a boil). 

 
Medium-low flame 

2. Reduce heat to med-low (as shown) and simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 


 
Berries cooking, none have burst yet 

3. Remove from heat. 

The next part is optional: 

I like to mush up some of the berries with a potato masher at this point, or you can remove half the cranberry mixture and blend it until the consistency you desire. Many of the berries burst during the simmering process, but I like to have a nice mix of berry bits and smooth, silky sauce. 

4. Cover and refrigerate until serving. I think it gels better if you make it the day before, but you should at least wait a few hours with it in the fridge before serving. 

This tastes great with real vanilla bean ice cream! 

Also is great used on leftover turkey sandwiches! 

This work by Little Mom on the Prairie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.