Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to jazz up cranberry sauce? ›

Adding a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or orange zest, a tablespoon of chopped candied peel, or even a splash of juice to your canned sauce will brighten flavors and bring in some homemade flavor.

If your cranberry sauce is too thick, it's most likely overcooked. When you cook cranberries (or any berries), they burst, releasing pectin—a natural thickener. The key to a perfect consistency is to allow some but not all of the cranberries to split open—something you'll achieve with less time on the stove.

It's perfectly fine to serve up cranberry sauce — whole berry or jelled — straight out of the can. But in my experience, heating the canned sauce up takes its flavor to the next level. Plus, it becomes a little more aesthetically pleasing.

If you don't have maple syrup (pancake syrup WILL NOT do, y'all), try honey or a more neutral sweetener like agave syrup, brown rice syrup, or even simple syrup. All of these syrupy ingredients are a perfect quick fix for bitter cranberry sauce.

Once open, it can be stored in a container with a tightly fitting lid for up to two weeks. Just make sure to remove it from the can before storing, and don't freeze it as it could become watery upon thawing.

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.

Try reducing the sauce down even further so more of the liquid cooks off and the mixture thickens. If that doesn't work, add a thickener like gelatin, pectin or a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch whisked into juice or water). Let the sauce cool before refrigerating to completely set.

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.”

Similar to a low-sugar jam or preserves, cranberry sauce is intensely flavored and delicious with meats, especially pork or pot roast. It also fares well with cheese, in desserts, and in quick breads.

Health Benefits

Cranberries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as the metabolism-boosting mineral manganese. And yes, you reap all these benefits whether the cranberry sauce on your holiday table is homemade or canned, jellied or whole-berry.

How many cans of cranberry sauce per person? ›

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.

When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.

I sweetened my juice with honey which adds a sweet floral touch to the beverage. I also use a couple of freshly squeezed oranges which gives the juice a nice hint of citrus flavor. I'm sure apple juice or apple cider would work well too.

If you'd prefer, you could use simple syrup, coconut sugar, cane sugar, sugar-free sweetener, maple syrup, or raw honey. You could also omit the added sugar and make an unsweetened cranberry juice if you'd prefer. Fresh Citrus: oranges and lemons add sweet and acid to balance the cranberries tartness.

The orange enhances the cranberry flavor in the best possible way! Other great mixers for cranberry juice are grapefruit juice and pineapple juice. Cranberry juice also goes well with alcohols such as vodka, rum, gin, champagne, or red wine.