Homemade Jellied Cranberry Sauce
Bid adieu to canned cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving! Discover the joy of making your own homemade jellied or whole berry cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries and a hint of orange. It takes just minutes, basic tools, and tastes so much better than the can. Your turkey dinner just got a serious upgrade.
Every Turkey needs to be accompanied by a great cranberry sauce, not the kind that pops out of the can still retaining the shape of the can, no way. We want the kind that is made from fresh cranberries, with a touch of orange flavor. It’s easy and so worth the time.
This is an easy-to-follow recipe for homemade jellied cranberry sauce, sure to level up your Thanksgiving meal. We dispel the myth that fresh cranberry sauce is complicated to make and guide you through the process using fresh cranberries and a touch of orange zest. It’s a fun, interactive experience that results in a tasteful and authentic cranberry sauce, far superior to the store-bought canned option. Use our recipe to prepare it ahead of time, ensuring one less thing to stress about on the big day.
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This Jellied Cranberry sauce is very easy and just takes minutes. For years we would buy the canned only because it thought Fresh Cranberry sauce would be too difficult. Boy, was I wrong! And this whole berry cranberry sauce doesn’t take any special equipment, only a saucepan, and a fork. Ok, you do need an orange zester and juicer. And it can be made prior to the turkey coming out of the oven and refrigerated and until ready to serve so it’s not one of those last-minute dishes that give us added stress when we are trying to get Thanksgiving dinner on the table.
Now you can ditch the can—your turkey deserves this homemade jellied (or whole berry) cranberry sauce! Fresh, zesty, and ready in 25 minutes, it’s the easy upgrade your Thanksgiving table’s been craving. Make it ahead, chill, and wow everyone.
Fresh Cranberry Sauce Recipe:
You will need:
- 12 oz. package fresh cranberries
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cups of water
- zest of one orange
- juice of 1/2 orange
Equipment Needed:
- zester
- juicer
- saucepan
- potato masher
🥣 Recipe Tips
- Zest Like a Pro – Use a microplane zester to get just the bright orange peel—never the bitter white pith. It’s safer, easier, and adds the perfect citrus pop without overpowering the cranberries.
- Control the Texture – Want jellied? Mash all the berries smooth with a potato masher. Prefer whole berry? Lightly crush just a few. You decide—same recipe, two sauces!
- Make-Ahead Magic – Cook it up to 3 days ahead, cool, and chill. It sets beautifully in the fridge and frees up your Thanksgiving chaos—no last-minute stress!
Using your zester, zest one whole orange and then juice one half of the same orange. We use this zester (shown above) because it never reaches so far as to cut into the bitter white part of the orange. Easy to hold and it’s safer.
Place a package of fresh cranberries in a small saucepan and add the water and sugar.
Add the zest of 1 orange and the juice of ½ an orange and bring to a boil or medium-high heat.
After bringing them to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the berries break down and burst about 10-12 minutes.
Finish by crushing any whole berries with a potato masher. If you wish to have whole berry cranberry sauce then less mashing or if your family would rather have jellied cranberry sauce then mash them completely.
Cool to room temperature before serving or it may be placed in the refrigerator. And this jellied cranberry sauce recipe is simple enough that it would be delicious served with chicken or pork. The leftovers can be made into sandwiches or brushed on before grilling chicken or pork.
In the Fall of the year, cranberries start appearing in the produce department of the grocery store. And since this is a seasonal item, we try to make the most of them. We make Cranberry Muffins with an easy Streusel, a Cranberry Walnut Salad with Pineapple and Marshmallows, a Cranberry Bourbon Chiller and The Best Cranberry Jalapeno Jam, which is so good as an appetizer over cream cheese.
Happy cooking and happy Thanksgiving!
🥣 Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 ounces (package) fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- zest of one orange
- juice of ½ an orange
Instructions
- Using your zester, zest one whole orange and then juice one half of the same orange. We use this zester because it never reaches so far as to cut into the bitter white part of the orange. Easy to hold and it’s safer.
- Place a package of fresh cranberries in a small saucepan and add the water and sugar
- Add the zest of 1 orange and the juice of ½ an orange and bring to a boil or medium-high heat.
- After bringing them to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the berries break down and burst about 10-12 minutes.
- Finish by crushing any whole berries with a potato masher. If you wish to have whole berry cranberry sauce then less mashing or if your family would rather have jellied cranberry sauce then mash them completely.
- Cool to room temperature before serving or it may be placed in the refrigerator
Nutrition
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ooo yummy!! We are having our big dinner early this year on Sat… can't wait to eat all these tasty Thanksgiving foods!!
Looks absolutely delicious, Evelyn!! I can't wait for Thanksgiving!
I've never made cranberry sauce. so this recipe is perfect! Thanks!
I can't wait for Thanksgiving! Thanks for the great recipe!
This looks like an excellent recipe! Yum!
Maybe I would actually like cranberry sauce because the kind from the can always scares me!
Yum! We always have it from the can, I've never had it homemade, I bet it is good!
My most favorite part of Thanksgiving! I could eat it alone with a spoon.
I've never been a big cranberry jelly person. My family loves that canned stuff (yuck). But this looks amazing! I want to slather it on a piece of bread right now!
Yummy! I loved the little bit of orange. This was delicious!
I've never eaten cranberry sauce any way but from a can – and then, I only like it on my turkey/stuffing/gravy sandwich! But this looks BEAUTIFUL – I'd even give it a try 😉
This may seem weird to others, but cranberry sauce is my favorite side dish on Thanksgiving! Thanks for sharing a very yummy looking version!
I had been wanting to make my own sauce, thanks for sharing!
I cannot wait for cranberry sauce! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Homemade cranberry sauce tastes soooo much better than the store bought stuff! Great recipe! 🙂
Evelyn, you always have the best Thanksgiving recipes. This is exactly the way I like my cranberry sauce, but I've never tried it with nutmeg- where have I been?? Thank you for sharing your beautiful cranberry sauce with us at Treasure Box Tuesday- pinned! ♥
Just finished making this. So done with the canned crap. You wouldn't believe the way the kitchen smells.
Lol! My grandpa always had to have the canned stuff. With the ridges from the can. Ick. Making it yourself doesn't look so hard and definitely much more attractive. Thanks for sharing with See Ya in the Gumbo.
Don't laugh but I've never made homemade cranberry sauce, lol. I'll have to remember this for Christmas and give it a try 🙂