Canned Cranberry Sauce Recipe (2024)

Canned Cranberries are okay, but this holiday season take a little extra time and spruce up the canned stuff. It only takes a couple extra ingredients and a couple minutes to add layers of flavor. It can even be made a few days ahead for easier holiday dinner prep!

We are taking a can of Ocean Spray Whole Berry Cranberries and making them SO much better! And it is super simple to do.

And if you still really want to make them homemade from fresh cranberries grab this recipe, and you have an Instant Pot you can pop over to this recipe for Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce.

Cranberry Sauce

If you are not familiar with cranberry sauce, sometimes called cranberry relish (although relish is more of a raw cranberry dish), it is a condiment or side dish that is made from whole cranberries and sugar. It is a popular holiday side dish served in the United States with Thanksgiving or Christmas Dinner.

It is the perfect complement to any rich and butter heavy dinner. It goes great with Roasted Turkey, Pot Roast, Braised Tri Tip, Pork Roast, or Rosemary Pork Loin.

Canned Cranberries

There are two options when you go to the store to buy canned cranberries.

• Jellied Cranberry Sauce
• Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

You want to make sure you buy the whole berry cranberry sauce, we like Ocean Spray brand. It is consistent and has a lot of berries.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce is the one that gives canned cranberry sauce a bad reputation! It is the one that comes out of the can whole, still showing the ribs of the can, and then gets cut into slices. NO THANK YOU… Although we love the idea of using cranberry sauce in a co*cktail.

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce actually has whole cranberries in it and is surrounded by a cranberry sauce. It is good, but lacks depth of flavor and additional texture. It is a great starting point for your “homemade cranberry sauce”.

Ingredients

You only need a few ingredients to dress up your canned cranberries:

Orange Zest – the zest of an orange is literally just the orange peel portion, you want to avoid going to deep or you will also get the white pith under the peel, which can be bitter. A Microplane does a great job of zesting fresh oranges!

Crushed Pineapple – a little pineapple goes a long way in this recipe, you only need an 8 oz can. Make sure you get the crushed pineapple in 100% juice. It adds the perfect texture and sweetness.

Cinnamon & Clove – These two spices are the perfect addition here. The cinnamon is traditional and the clove adds perfect depth of flavor and warmth.

Step by Step Instructions

Start by opening the cans of whole cranberry sauce and pop them into a medium saucepan. You may need to run a knife or spoon between the cranberries and the can to get them to release.

Place the pot over low heat .

Now add the orange zest from a medium or large orange, canned crushed pineapple with juices, ground cinnamon and clove.

Stir it around the pot and let warm through for about 10 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let it cool.

Serving

You can serve your cranberries warm, cold or at room temperature, it is completely personal preference.

To serve them warm, you can cook them right before dinner and then let them cool for a while and serve. Or make ahead and then warm on the stove or in the microwave for a minute.

To serve cold (my favorite way to serve them!) make the cranberries ahead and then pop in the refrigerator for a couple hours or a couple days. Give them a stir and place them on the dinner table.

Making Cranberries Sweeter

Give the cranberries a taste. There is already quite a bit of sugar in the canned cranberries, but if you still like it a little sweeter, try using some of these options, adding just a little at a time:

• brown sugar
• white sugar
• maple syrup

Making Cranberries More Tart

If you like tart cranberries then you want more acid. Achieve this by adding a little lemon juice, taste, and add more as you like.

Using Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Store any leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge, covered, for up to a week.

It is excellent added to leftover turkey sandwiches, over ice cream, or served with other proteins like pork chops, roasted pork loin. Or use it to mix up a co*cktail!

More Delicious Holiday Side Dishes