Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Incredibly easy homemade Cranberry Sauce that is bursting with flavor thanks to the added Amaretto which gives it a slight nutty aroma. It goes perfectly with your Thanksgiving turkey and makes a great hostess gift too!

If you have always wanted to try making your own Homemade Cranberry Sauce for the holidays but are terrified as to what it might entail…well here you go! A super EASY sauce that comes together in a few minutes with just a few simple ingredients. It is just as easy as opening a can of that molded jelly “sauce” you buy in the store and I promise you that the flavor is a thousand times better! And perhaps the best part? It uses frozen cranberries, which you can buy months in advance (Yay to no last minute grocery runs when you are trying to prep a meal for 20+ people!).

I love making my own sauce for a number of reasons. You can control the amount of sugar you put in it (if you want to do less sugar, add in some fresh orange juice) and you can really let your creative side shine too! In fact, we have quite the secret ingredient that goes into ours…which is always getting “ooooo” and “ahhhhh” from our family. Don’t worry, I will share it with you as well! Ready for the step-by-step on how to make this delicious Cranberry Sauce?

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The one thing that you NEED to have to make this sauce a success is a good potato masher for making sure your cranberries are fully mashed into the right consistency.

homemade cranberry sauce recipe 

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Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

A super EASY Homemade Cranberry Sauce that comes together in a few minutes with just a few simple ingredients, and the delicious addition of Amaretto for a nutty flavor compliment. 

Course dipping sauce, Holiday Meals, sauce

Cuisine English, English-American

Keyword Holiday Meals, Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 3 cups

Author Melissa

Ingredients

• 4 c Frozen Cranberries you can use fresh if preferred
• 1 c Sugar white granulated
• 1 c Water
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 2 oz Amaretto almond liquor

Instructions

• In a medium saucepan combine sugar and water over medium heat. Allow to boil and add in liquor. Cook for about 2 minutes to “burn” off the alcohol. Add in cranberries and cinnamon and continue to gently simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.
• Once cranberries begin to pop (about 5 minutes) you can gently mash and cook for another 3-5 minutes until the liquid dissolves and it begins to take on a jelly consistency.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool before transferring to a sealed container. Refrigerate until ready to use (we make ours 2 days in advance!).

tips and tricks for the perfect cranberry sauce

• Taste it as you go! If you like it more tart cut back on your sugar, and opposite if you like it sweeter!
• Make it at least a day in advance, this will allow the sauce to cool to a nice consistency and give the flavors time to get stronger.
• To get the nice chunky consistency use a potato masher and gently mash the cranberries as they cook.
• Prefer a smooth sauce? No problem, once cooled add to a food processor or blender for 10 seconds to puree to a smooth and delicious spreadable sauce.
• Get creative! We add Amaretto (almond liquor) to our sauce, but we have also added orange juice and zest in the past. You can take a small amount and add in different combinations of ingredients to see what you like best.

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