Cranberry Orange Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade cranberry sauce not thickening? ›

One possibility is that you may not have used enough sugar: Sugar helps the sauce firm up, so be sure to use the full amount called for in a recipe. Another possibility is that the cranberries need to boil for longer, releasing their pectin and ensuring a jelly consistency.

Top with dried or fresh fruits

Sure, you can go all meta with some dried cranberries or sliced fresh raw cranberries, but I also like to think about complementary flavors — dried cherries, dried mulberries, golden raisins, chopped apricots. All work great with cranberry sauce.

One 12-ounce bag of cranberries makes about 2 1/4 cups of basic cranberry sauce—in my house, that's enough for about five people. Going the canned route? You'll need at least one can for six people.

To refrigerate, transfer to a covered glass or plastic container, and it'll keep for 10 to 14 days. To freeze, transfer to a covered, airtight container or freezer-safe bag, and it'll stay fresh-tasting in your freezer for about 1 month. Beyond that, it's still safe to eat (though less fresh-tasting) for up to a year.

If you have followed these instructions, and for some reason the sauce still won't gel, add 1 envelope of unflavoured gelatin to the sauce and bring to a hard boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-high; cook an additional 5 minutes.

The most readily available sauce-thickener is flour. For a too-thin sauce, try adding a slurry (equal parts flour and water, whisked together) or beurre manie (equal parts softened butter and flour, kneaded together to form a paste)—both are ideal thickeners for rich and creamy sauces, such as steak sauce recipes.

Add A Splash Of Vinegar

While citrus is a natural pairing for cranberry sauce, bright, savory vinegars like sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and apple cider vinegar play well with the bitter-tart berries. Start with a little, then add more gradually.

While there are some editors who prefer homemade cranberry sauce, the canned variety also has quite a following. "There's something so beautifully perfect about the texture of canned cranberry sauce, and none of those homemade mess will ever compete," says Senior Digital Food Editor Kimberly Holland.

But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.” Ocean Spray isn't immune either.

Sugar helps the thickening process, and while it's nice to try to keep your cranberry sauce from being too sugary sweet, you will need at least some sugar to make it work well (about 1/2 cup sugar per 12-ounce bag of cranberries).

Do you serve homemade cranberry sauce cold or warm? ›

Cranberry Sauce Recipe FAQs

We prefer to server our cranberry sauce cold! But really it's up to you! I do recommend serving it cool or room temperature, but not heating it up!

Yes, when stored properly, you can freeze leftover homemade cranberry sauce. Before freezing, keep three important principles in mind: cool it, wrap it and label it (the same rules apply when freezing homemade meals). First, it's important that any cooked food has cooled down before it goes into the freezer.

Both fresh and dried cranberries are safe to feed to dogs in small quantities. Whether your dog will like this tart treat is another question. Either way, moderation is important when feeding cranberries to dogs, as with any treat, as too many can lead to an upset stomach.

Homemade orange sauce, if properly refrigerated, can last for about a week, and if frozen, up to a month.

The sauce will thicken as it cools. If you want a cranberry mold that holds its shape, continue to boil the mixture so that more pectin is released from the fruit, additional water evaporates, and the sauce becomes thick enough to set into a firm gel.

In a small cup make a slurry with cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Whisk cornstarch mixture into cranberry sauce and cook, whisking, until sauce thickens. Taste and add more sugar, if necessary.

When the cranberries are heated, the berries begin to break down and pop open. The pectin is then released and reacts with the sugar and juices to form long polymers and thicken the sauce. This process creates the cranberry sauces and jellies which are so familiar at holiday dinners.

If the consistency of a sauce is too thin or the flavor too weak, adjust it by gently simmering the sauce to reduce, thicken, and concentrate the flavors. Other alternatives include adding a thickening agent, cream, a swirl of butter, or a liaison of egg yolk and cream.