This is our favorite recipe for the Thanksgiving staple: cranberry sauce. Made from 5 ingredients, this easy sauce is ready after 20 minutes on the stove. Flavored with fresh orange juice, brown sugar, and a dash of vanilla—my secret—it’s a cut above the rest.
I originally published this recipe in 2019 and have since added a few new photos and more helpful success tips.
I’ve been making this cranberry sauce for years. It’s our family’s favorite recipe and whenever I first taste it on Thanksgiving, I always wonder why I wait for the holiday season to make it?! Honestly, this stuff deserves to be a year-round habit.
I’ve never really thought to publish the recipe on my website because it’s not (1) a large side dish, (2) dessert, or (3) baking related. But I figured if something is this easy AND this delicious… why not?! And, luckily, this recipe is one of my very best. Readers agree:
One reader, Barb, commented: “I have never been a huge fan of cranberry sauce until I made this recipe. The vanilla, in my opinion, makes this. This will be my go-to from here on out. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Emily, commented: “OMG! Just made this ahead for Thanksgiving dinner. It tastes so wonderful, it may not make it until Thanksgiving! Back to the store for more cranberries. And so easy… who knew. ★★★★★”
Finally, another reader, Marsha, commented: “I made this for Christmas and it was fantastic. Reserving 1/2 cup of raw berries and adding them at the end is a flavor sensation. I also loved the balance of orange flavor, which was just right. ★★★★★“
Why This is My Best Cranberry Sauce
- Quick—only 20 minutes on the stove
- Easy—no boiling the water and sugar together first
- Convenient—just 5 simple ingredients, including water
- Flavorful—made with fresh orange juice & zest
- Texture—moderately thick with whole cranberries swirled in
- Make-ahead—make it a few days in advance so it’s ready!
- Unlike the rest—I use brown sugar & vanilla
I didn’t think there was a way to mess this recipe up, but when I was filming the video, I spaced out and over-boiled the cranberries on high heat. I was literally standing over the pot and before I knew it, the cranberries shriveled up and the sauce thinned out. So, make sure you cook on a lower heat and keep a watchful eye on it. 🙂
Also, don’t be like Chandler Bing and rinse your cranberries with dish soap.
Grab These Ingredients
No cornstarch or other thickeners needed!
- Cranberries: Use fresh or frozen cranberries. Do not use dried.
- Water: The cranberries cook in liquid, so we’re using a combination of water and orange juice. I find using all orange juice overpowers the cranberry flavor.
- Fresh Orange Juice: Squeeze 1/4 cup of juice from a fresh orange. You need the orange zest anyway, so why not use the juices inside? Orange and cranberry are a natural pairing. Have you tried my orange cranberry bread yet?
- Brown Sugar: Why use regular white granulated sugar when there’s brown sugar?! That’s my motto and it definitely applies to cranberry sauce. I usually use only 3/4 cup, but if you want a very sweet cranberry sauce, increase to 1 cup.
- Orange Zest: Before you juice the orange, grate some zest off. Add the zest after the sauce comes off heat. Why? When I cook the cranberry sauce with the zest, the end result tastes a little bitter.
- Vanilla Extract: I don’t see a lot of cranberry sauce recipes use this ingredient, but I swear by it. A dash of vanilla extract tastes unbelievable with the orange, brown sugar, and cranberry flavors. (And bonus! Smells great too.)
How to Make Quick Cranberry Sauce
It couldn’t be easier.
Set 1/2 cup of cranberries aside. We’ll stir those in at the very end, adding even more texture. Put most of the ingredients into a pot and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in orange zest and vanilla extract. That’s it, you’re done. Though I don’t recommend it, you could probably make this with your eyes closed.
If you need to bring a dish to Thanksgiving, bring this cranberry sauce (and bring cranberry cake for brunch or dessert!). It’s low maintenance and you can make it ahead of time. You can also freeze the cranberry sauce for up to 3 months. Easy!
Uses for Cranberry Sauce
- With a traditional Thanksgiving meal
- On biscuits, pancakes, or pound cake
- Swirl 3/4 cup into cheesecake batter before baking
- Serve with cornbread
- On buttermilk waffles
- Swirl 1/2 cup into cranberry orange muffins batter (you can skip the whole cranberries in that recipe)
- Swap BBQ sauce for cranberry sauce on BBQ chicken pizza (it really is good)
- Swirl into yogurt or cottage cheese
- Swap the fresh fruit for a spoonful of cranberry sauce on my goat cheese crostini
- Inside these cranberry brie puff pastry tarts
More Thanksgiving Side Dishes
- Candied Sweet Potatoes
- Green Bean Casserole (from scratch!)
- Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese
- Sweet Potato Casserole (with crunchy pecan topping)
- Mushroom Puff Pastry Tarts
- Sausage & Herb Stuffing
And for even more inspiration see my complete list of 40+ Thanksgiving side dishes.
Print
Easy Cranberry Sauce Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made from 5 ingredients, this easy sauce is ready after 20 minutes on the stove. It thickens as it cools. You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. See notes.
Ingredients
- 12 ounce bag cranberries, rinsed*
- 3/4 cup (150g) water
- 1/4 cup (60ml) fresh orange juice (about 1/2 large orange)
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar*
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Read before you begin: You need fresh orange juice and orange zest. I recommend zesting the orange first, setting the zest aside, then cutting the orange for the juice. (Harder to zest a cut orange!) You need about half of a large orange for 1/4 cup juice. Juice the other half of the orange if you need more to yield 1/4 cup.
- After rinsing the cranberries, set 1/2 cup cranberries aside. You will stir these in at the end for extra texture.
- Combine the remaining cranberries, water, orange juice, and brown sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the mixture comes to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to low-medium. While stirring occasionally, continue to cook until liquid has reduced and cranberries have burst and thickened, about 15 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup reserved cranberries, orange zest, and vanilla extract. Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Sauce is excellent served warm or at room temperature. Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can prepare the sauce 3 days ahead of time. Cool completely, cover tightly, then refrigerate until ready to use. Bring to room temperature or warm on the stove/in the microwave, if desired, before serving. To freeze, cool sauce completely. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature or warm on the stove/in the microwave before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Zester | Citrus Juicer | Saucepan | Wooden Spoon
- Cranberries: One 12 ounce bag is usually between 3 and 4 cups. You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. No need to fully thaw. Rinse the cranberries with water in a colander before using. No need to pat dry—some water droplets are fine.
- Brown Sugar: I usually use 3/4 cup brown sugar, which makes a moderately sweet cranberry sauce. You can increase to 1 cup (200g) if you prefer your cranberry sauce extra sweet.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Cranberry Sauce is my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner so I decided to try Sally’s recipe because I trust her. I’ve always omitted the orange zest in cranberry sauce recipes because I wasn’t a fan as a kid but I really enjoyed the flavor of the orange in the sauce. After reading the blog post, I was nervous about the sauce being thin so I simmered the sauce with a couple strips of orange peel for about 5 minutes then removed them. This made my sauce thicker than I’ve ever made it before and it didn’t bother me. I will make this again.
My friend made this for Thanksgiving today. So delicious! I had to have the recipe!
Perfect recipe. I’ve used grapefruit instead of orange and taste was delicious!Thank you!
This was absolutely delicious! Made it exactly as written, and it was perfect. Thank you!
Absolutely love the cranberrie sauce! Its in my recipe book now! Thank you!
With the addition of the orange zest it becomes very orangey. We love orange so it works for us. I think I’ll cook all the cranberries next time instead of adding at the end to make it easier to spread. Great flavor and will make again.
Awesome recipe! I just finished making it for our Thanksgiving dinner. I used rum extract instead of the vanilla, for fun. It is delicious. Thank you!
Thank you for this recipe! I followed it exactly and I Love it! So easy and So delicious…Can’t wait to serve it with our Thanksgiving feast this afternoon.
This recipe is great!. I also used it in a cranberry vodka holiday drinks. Yum.
This was the best Cranberry Sauce recipe!
Very good recipe! I used blood oranges and mandarins from my tree. I just made this for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. It’s lovely.
Had to comment because wow. I have always disliked cranberry sauce but wanted to make some for my husband and his family this year. I always use your recipes and everyone just loves whenever I do so. Anyways, I just got done making this sauce at 2am and I’m amazed with how tasty it is! For the first time in over 15 years I will be eating cranberry sauce as a side for Thanksgiving ❤️
Very good recipe. I used blood oranges and mandarin oranges from my tree. Organic coconut sugar which is less sweet (perfect). I added a bit of ground cinnamon and ginger. It turned out great. I just made this for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.
Yummy! I made this cranberry relish as stated. It is delicious! I made it a few days ahead of Thanksgiving – trying to alleviate all the last minute worries. I snuck a taste though – my oh my, is it delicious! It’s a good thing I’ve been too busy to taste it again or there wouldn’t be any left for feast! It was a breeze to make. I chuckled at the cranberries popping when the reserved berries were stirred in at the end. Guess it hit a funny bone!
I read a bunch of the comments but decided to make the recipe as written the first time. The comments about the orange being too pronounced are correct. I tasted the mixture before putting the zest in & I could hardly taste orang but after adding zest, it was overpowering. Next time I’ll Leave the zest out completely, or use a 1/4 tsp or less.
This is the third year I’m making this recipe for thanksgiving – absolutely delicious, tart, fresh, so so good! I grate in 1/4 of a cinnamon stick and leave the remainder in to simmer. I also grate in an entire piece of nutmeg. Delish!
This sauce was amazing! It made my house smell so good. Perfect consistency. I will admit I added a shot of bitter orange liqueur as I always do when I make cranberries and it was great.
I had a cranberry sauce recipe on my phone forever and unfortunately lost it. This seemed like a good replacement. Unfortunately the sugar isn’t right. The other recipe used had both white (Florida Crystals) and brown sugar. No vanilla. I added more sugar but this was still very tart. The addition of vanilla sounded very pleasing but ended up with an off-putting flavor. I used pure, Madagascar vanilla, only the finest. I wish I could think of a more eloquent word than “yuck” but that about covers it. Off to search further for that old, amazing recipe. Sorry. This isn’t it.
Thanks for the feedback. Sorry this did not live up to your other recipe!
What if I don’t have fresh orange juice?
Hi Jan, you can use orange juice from a container, if needed.
I just made this recipe for the first time. So far I love it. The true test will be tomorrow with roast turkey and oyster dressing
Ok, this is amazing! The brown sugar and vanilla are game changers!!
I made a triple batch yesterday in prep for Thanksgiving. We have two large family gatherings each year. Had a little bit with toast and butter this morning. It is delicious! I love the brightness in flavor that the orange and vanilla give it. Will be making again!
Hi Sally
How many servings does this recipe cover?
Hi Vicki, the recipe yields 2 cups – number of servings will depend on your portion size. Hope it’s a hit for you!
The BEST cranberry sauce! I love everything I make from your site and this is another winner. Thank you!
Made as directed, this stuff is delicious!
This cranberry sauce is divine warm…I can’t wait to try it cold! The orange rind and juice in recipe are heavenly.
An idea for using cranberry sauce at other times of the year: Cheesecake topped with cranberry sauce. I use Ginger Snaps for the crust, and I triple up on the vanilla extract in the cheesecake batter, and the cranberry sauce topping really takes it further. Not just a home run, but a Reggie Jackson, swing from the heels, Game 6 of the 1977 World Series home run. Ka-boooooom!!
I made this recipe but would like it sweeter. Can I add more sugar after it has cooked?
Hi Lynn, I wouldn’t add more granulated sugar as you may taste the granules. A little honey could help.
This cranberry sauce is wonderful; tangy and sweet all at the same time. I’ve never had fresh cranberries sauce before, and I may be the only one to enjoy it, but I’m so glad I made it for Thanksgiving.
Made it today! Excellent recipe. I added a cinnamon stick as others have here. Came out great. Thank you. Saving this one.