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Closeup of a white bowl filled with whole berry cranberry sauce with a serving spoon.

Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce

This recipe for homemade Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce is my family’s favorite and uses just a handful of fresh ingredients for delicious results. Bursting with juicy cranberries, apples, orange juice, orange zest, cinnamon and nutmeg. All simmered for just 15 minutes into a thick, flavorful sauce (perfect for slathering on turkey or cornbread!).
4.72 from 14 votes
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Course: Sauce, Side Dish + Condiment
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cranberry sauce, orange cranberry sauce, whole berry cranberry sauce
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 12
Calories: 104kcal
Author: Lauren Kenson

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh cranberries or about one 12-ounce bag
  • 1 granny smith apple peeled and diced into small cubes
  • zest of 1 orange
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar
  • ¼ cup orange juice or the juice of about 1 orange
  • ¼ cup water
  • ¾ tablespoon cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Instructions

  • Add all the ingredients to a medium-sized lidded sauce pot and stir together.
    Stirring chopped fresh fruit, sugar and orange zest.
  • Bring the mixture to a boil. Then cover and turn down to a simmer, and cook for 15 minutes (stirring once halfway through cooking).
    Fresh cranberries and diced apples simmering in sugar and orange juice.
  • Once it’s done cooking, give it a final stir and allow to cool fully before sealing with a tightly fitting lid and storing in the fridge.
    Simmered and cooked fruit in a black sauce pot.

Notes

This recipe yields about 4 cups of cranberry sauce, or about 12 servings if each person had ⅓ cup.
The sauce will thicken up a lot as it cools but if you prefer a thinner sauce, simply return it to the saucepot, heat, and stir in a bit of water until its the consistency you like.
For a low sugar orange cranberry sauce, reduce the cane sugar in the recipe by up to half the amount listed above.
For more ingredient swaps, modifications, variations and storage tips - see the full blog post above.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/3 cup | Calories: 104kcal | Carbohydrates: 27g | Protein: 0.2g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 50mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 35IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 9mg | Iron: 0.1mg