Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce
If you want to try something different than the traditional cranberry sauce that uses orange zest and if you love some warming, aromatic spices, this homemade spiced cranberry sauce recipe is for you.
This fresh, sweet, tart sauce has the perfect blend of spices and awakens your taste buds to true festive flavors that define the holiday season.
Also known as a cranberry chutney or cranberry relish, I’ve been making this for years and haven’t turned back.
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This Indian style cranberry chutney recipe is adapted from the book, The Spice is Right, with some adjustments to the amount of sugar and spices.
So if you’re looking for the best cranberry sauce recipe to impress your family and friends – this is it. People will definitely be asking you for the recipe!
What kind of spices are used in this cranberry sauce?
Think of this cranberry sauce as using similar warm spices to that of an apple pie with an Indian addition of garam masala.
Cinnamon, cloves, ground ginger along with brown sugar make this homemade cranberry sauce the perfect accompaniment to Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner or any holiday feast.
Other spices you can try
- Try adding whole star anise to the pot and remove once cooked
- Add 2 or 3 cracked green cardamom pods for more Indian flavors
- Add 3 tsps of pumpkin spice instead of the cinnamon, cloves and ginger
How To Make Fresh Cranberry Sauce
I find this to be the easiest recipe to make as everything goes in one pot all at once. You then simmer, rest, place in glass jars (or mason jars) and voila, recipe complete!
Ingredients:
- Fresh cranberries (frozen cranberries work great too)
- Water
- Sugar – You can use white sugar, but I prefer light brown sugar to add additional flavor. You can also try maple syrup as an alternative.
- Ground spices – cinnamon, cloves, ginger. A whole cinnamon stick is also nice to use if you don’t have ground cinnamon. You can also try whole cloves if you don’t have ground – just make sure to remove the whole spices before serving!
- Garam masala – a popular Indian spice to give this fresh cranberry sauce an unexpected pop of flavor.
Step By Step Instructions
1. Put saucepan/pot on weight scale and add cranberries
2. Put remaining ingredients into the saucepan (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, brown sugar and water)
3. Bring to a boil and then simmer on medium heat until cranberries begin to burst and sauce starts thickening. Stir frequently to prevent sticking.
4. Once cranberry sauce starts to thicken (after about 15 minutes), take off the heat. Sauce will continue to thicken.
What to do with leftover cranberry sauce?
- Mix into the batter of a simple muffin recipe or even banana bread
- Add to apple crisp
- Add to an oatmeal cookie recipe
- Make a smoothie and add 1 tbsp of cranberry sauce to spice things up
- Put it in a sandwich
- Add it to your breakfast oatmeal
- Add to some fresh fruit, plant based yogurt and granola
- Create a vegan cheese plate – cranberry sauce on a crackers with some vegan cream cheese is delish!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! There are so many recipes that are traditionally vegan and this is the case for cranberry sauces.
The best part about using frozen cranberries is you can cook them from frozen, making it super simple to pulled them out of the freezer and make them into a cranberry sauce, cranberry muffins or other delicious treats.
Ideally use fresh or frozen cranberries if you can. If not definitely try dried cranberries, but make sure to buy unsweetened dried cranberries.
Absolutely, yes! In fact, I recommend you make this a couple of days in advance. Once the cranberry sauce has a chance to sit in the fridge its flavors develop more and you’ll get a thicker sauce.
This spiced cranberry sauce recipe keeps for a long time! I’ve literally made this at Thanksgiving (in Canada this is in October) and it’s still good at Christmas. Of course it doesn’t usually last that long!
If you put your cranberry sauce in an airtight container, like a mason jar you can expect it to last 2 to 3 months.
Homemade Spiced Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 250 grams fresh or frozen cranberries (approximately 2 ¼ cups)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp finely chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts) optional
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to medium heat and let simmer for 15 to 25 minutes (depending on how thick you like your sauce). You’ll notice the cranberries start to break down.
- Stir frequently to prevent sticking
- Taste your fresh cranberry sauce and adjust as needed – add a little more sugar to reduce tartness, add a little more water to make it less thick.
- Take off the heat (your cranberry sauce will continue to thicken up while it rests).
- If you wish, mash half the cranberry sauce with a potato masher to create a less chunky consistency.
- Once sauce reaches room temperature you can serve or place in an airtight container and refrigerate.
Notes
- Serve at room temperature
- Your cranberry sauce will be a darker color than a traditional recipe due to the addition of the warm spices.
How are you going to use this homemade cranberry sauce recipe for your holiday meal?
Share in the comments below!
love the idea of the addition of spices in this cranberry sauce