Your go-to traditional homemade cranberry sauce recipe! Learn how to make whole berry OR jellied cranberry sauce. Fresh cranberry sauce is so much better than canned.
For many of us, cranberry sauce is a MUST HAVE on your Thanksgiving, Christmas, or holiday table. Most people don't realize just how easy it is make homemade cranberry sauce. Today, let's learn how to make both whole berry cranberry sauce and jellied cranberry sauce.
As much as we love the classic can ridges on our store bought cranberry sauce, we prefer to make our own at home. Making whole berry or jellied cranberry sauce is so easy, and only uses 3 ingredients: cranberries, sugar, and water. That's it.
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Ingredients and equipment
Full ingredients and instructions are listed in the recipe card at the bottom of this article.
Ingredients:
- fresh cranberries
- sugar
- water
Equipment:
- Medium sized sauce pan. We love our Green Pan saucepan!
- Measuring cups.
- Wooden spoon or spoonula. We use this spoonula for everything.
- Heat safe container. This one is the perfect size!
- Fine mesh sieve (if making jellied cranberry sauce). Here's the sieve that we have.
- Large mixing bowl (if making jellied cranberry sauce).
How to shop for fresh cranberries:
Right around October, you will usually start to see bags of fresh cranberries popping up at your supermarket. They are usually inexpensive, only a few dollars for enough cranberries to make a whole batch of homemade cranberry sauce.
To make the best homemade cranberry sauce, you will want to find cranberries that are still very firm and have not been damaged. Look for bags of berries that don't have any smashed or broken cranberries and have mostly round, firm berries. The color will range from light, bright red to a dark, deep red. Both are very normal.
Look for a 12oz bag of fresh berries to make about 2 cups of whole berry cranberry sauce or 1 cup of jellied cranberry sauce
How to make homemade whole berry cranberry sauce:
Both whole berry and jellied cranberry sauce begin the same way. By combining the cranberries, sugar, and water in a medium sauce pan over medium heat on your stove top.
Give everything a good stir and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally at first.
After about 5 minutes, the berries will start to burst, and you will need to stir more often to keep the berries from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
After 10 minutes, your berries should be completely broken down and resemble whole berry cranberry sauce. At this point, you have made your whole berry cranberry sauce. Remove from heat and place berries in the refrigerator to cool for 1 hour.
How to make homemade jellied cranberry sauce:
To make jellied cranberry sauce, you will need to strain the berry skins out of your whole berry cranberry sauce. Grab a fine mesh sieve and place it over a medium bowl. Spoon your cranberry sauce into the sieve and start to press the sauce through the sieve with the back of a large spoon. Do this until all of the sauce is in your bowl and the skins are left behind in the sieve.
Spoon the strained sauce into a serving container and evenly flatten out the top a bit. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Refrigerating gives the sauce time to set, so refrigerating overnight is best.
Serving suggestions
We love to serve cranberry sauce in a fancy bowl on the Thanksgiving table! Be sure to include a large spoon so that guests can scoop some onto their plates. For an elegantly colorful presentation, sprinkle some orange zest on the top of the sauce!
We prefer to eat cranberry sauce cold rather than hot, especially the jellied sauce, as it can get thinner as it warms up. Serving the sauce cold will result in that thick, jelly like consistency that we all love.
Cranberry sauce is for so much more than a side dish on your holiday table! Try using it as a jelly on your morning toast, stirring it into yogurt, topping on ice cream, spreading it on your sandwiches (hello leftover Thanksgiving sandwiches), or using it to make baked goods and appetizers.
Recipes that use leftover cranberry sauce
You'll more than likely have some sauce left to store in your fridge. Here are some great recipes to try that use leftover cranberry sauce!
- Use it as a glaze for vegan cranberry cocktail meatballs
- Make cream cheese cranberry crescent rolls
- Try easy cranberry orange hand pies
- Use it in some leftover cranberry sauce muffins
- Make cranberry coffee cake to go with your morning coffee
Recipe
How to make both whole berry AND jellied homemade cranberry sauce at home! This classic holiday favorite is so much easier than you think, and so much better than canned store bought!
- 12 oz fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
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Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
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Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally at first, then constantly once the berries start to burst.
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When the berries have burst, and you have a saucy, chutney like consistency, remove from heat. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes. For whole berry cranberry sauce, spoon into a serving container and refigerate for 1 hour.
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Place a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl. Pour the sauce into the sieve, and press the sauce against the sieve with a wooden spoon or spatula until all of the berry skins are separated from the sauce. Remember to scrape the bottom of the sieve to get the last bit of sauce into the bowl. Eat the cranberry skins, or reserve for another use!
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Pour into your desired serving container and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
If you make this recipe, please let me know on social media or in the comments below! Leave a star rating in your comment or tag me on Instagram with #Rhubarbarians.
Thank you so much for reading and supporting Rhubarbarians. If you’re looking for a group of people cooking vegetarian recipes through the seasons, join us on Facebook in our vegetarian and vegan recipes group!
Hope you enjoy,
Trish
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Stefeni
I typically dice or puree apples into my cranberry sauce for the natural pectin. It becomes more of a gel, but I haven't tried it in a mold. I have also used orange juice instead of water for additional sweetness and slightly brighter taste. It gets gobbled up during Thanksgiving festivities, and no one seems to notice the apples, which get dyed in the cranberry sauce. For a small bag of cranberries, I use one large apple or two small to medium apples. The OJ replaces the water in the recipe.
Carole
I make this with fresh cranberries,do not add ANY water or sugar, just out on low heat stir quite a bit to start,when start popping and juice coming out I put lid on turn very low,and all thickens up, when how you want,some berries still have little form to them or all cooked right down I cool and put in the my food processor, whizz for what ever time suits you,(I have the blade in) I made a batch today with my home made apple sauce. Very tiny drop of water put with apples when starting on heat.NO sugar added to anything..
Chris
Can I use frozen if I can't find fresh
Trish Bozeman
Absolutely! You will likely need to cook the cranberries down quite a bit longer to get that thick jelly like consistency due to the increased water content.
Marsha
I used the whole berry recipe. Total failure. Although I cooked the berries almost to a mush it remained runny at room temperature which is not a good thing. How much pectin would you use for one 12 ounce bag and directions on how to do this. Thanks in advance.
Trish Bozeman
That's interesting that it didn't thicken! Did the cranberries burst? I can't tell you how much pectin to use, as I'm not sure what went wrong with your sauce.
Brandi
Could you put the whole berry into a mold while it's cooling down?
Trish Bozeman
Yes you can. But this cranberry sauce won't shape to a mold like the canned. You will need to add pectin for that.
Cindy
Can you make this with Truvia?
Trish Bozeman
I haven't tried this with an artificial sweetener, but I don't see why it wouldn't work! You will probably need to adjust the amount of sweetener to your liking.
Becci
I’ve made this recipe with stevia with only partial success. The artificial sweetener doesn’t dissolve the way sugar does. The sauce comes out grainy.
Nancy
Did you try powdered?
old_MK
According to Scientific American, the pectin interacts with the sugar, so another sweetener may not do it. Or, it may be fine. I would love to know the answer to this question, too! Also, will replacing some of the white sugar with brown sugar affect the jelling? My cranberry sauce barely gels, every year, and I don't want it to be liquid-y. I want it the consistency of the canned stuff, minus the high fructose corn syrup... 🙂
Trish Bozeman
This definitely isn't gelled like the canned stuff. More of a sauce than a jelly. You would need to add pectin to do that. I'll work on testing a recipe for it for Thanksgiving!
old_MK
💋
Karen Schumann
I AM FOR SURE GOING TO TRY THIS WHEN CRANBERRIES COME AVAILABLE. IT SOUNDS SO YUMMY. I HAVE A QUESTION CAN YOU CAN THESE CRANBERRY SAUCE? I WOULD LIKE TO CAN THEM IF ITS POSSIBLE. THANKS
Trish Bozeman
Hi! I haven't tried canning this, but I don't see why you couldn't if you followed proper canning guidelines.
Jessa
Can I refrigerate the night before serving?
Trish Bozeman
Yep!
Freida
This came out very good! I just made the Jellied and one with the berries in it. I'll be making both for Thanksgiving. Thanks for publishing this!
LouAnn
Instead of a strainer I have always used a Foley food mill to make the jellied sauce. My husband's grandmother gave me one when we were married 40 years ago after a visit of picking cranberries in October while visiting her. We make cranberry sauce, cranberry juice, cranberry bread and cranberry cookies. A lot of cranberries! We harvested 6 gallons this year from a small bog we planted.
Trish Bozeman
Wow that's awesome! We don't have a Foley food mill, but someday I would like to try this method. Send me some of those cranberries, LOL!
Jean
I just cook it to the jellying point. You can look it up online. I think cranberries have a lot of pectin, so I don't think you need gelatin. Just try cooking it longer, til it kind of "sheets" off the spoon.
Patricia Bozeman
Hi there! There isn't actually gelatin in this recipe.
Trish 2
I have been making this for 40 years from my Mom's recipe which is basically the same, except the bags of cranberries used to be 16 oz. I've been having trouble getting it to jell. Any suggestions to solve my problem?.
Patricia Bozeman
Hi Trish. If you want it to the consistency of the canned stuff, you might try to add some pectin to the mix. You could try cooking just a bit longer and see if it thickens up too. Good luck!
Patricia Bozeman
You definitely should!
Susie Queue
I love this sauce with the cranberries left in. That's how I make it every year. Sometimes I add orange zest, and I always add a bit of Port..I'm from the UK and we don't get it in cans!
Patricia Bozeman
I love it both ways! I usually leave the berries in because it's easier. Such good stuff!
Marissa @ OMG FOOD
I love your photos on the cooking process from berry to jelly! I started making cranberry sauce a couple years ago and it's one of my favorites. I'm also a huge fan of the canned stuff; it's a guilty pleasure. I make a cranberry-habanero jelly I'm hoping to post by next week, but busy schedules are dumb, so we'll see. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yay, Thanksgiving time!
Patricia Bozeman
Thanks Marissa! I love spicy pepper jelly!
Theresa Butterbaugh
The habanero cranberry sauce sounds really good, a good kick to it. I'll have to try that idea some time.
Lindsey (LouLouBiscuit)
Although I'm all about homemade, from scratch, wholesome ingredients, I too have trouble enjoying cranberry sauce in any other form, besides straight from a can! I'll have to give this a go! It looks delicious!
Patricia Bozeman
Thanks Lindsey! You should definitely try it out!