Top Tips For Elevating Canned Cranberry Sauce
Whether you’re short on time or just don’t feel like dealing with the mess of making your own cranberry sauce from scratch, we’ve got you covered. Check out our following tips below.
- Look for brands that use real sugar. Many commercial cranberry sauces are loaded with high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Not only do these ingredients impact the flavor of the sauce, but they also affect its texture. Real sugar will give you a sauce that’s thick and glossy, while HFCS will result in a thinner, more watery sauce.
- Avoid brands that add citrus fruits. You don’t want your cranberry sauce to taste like oranges or lemons. The natural tartness of cranberries is part of what makes them so great.
- Make sure there aren’t any chunks floating around in the can. You don’t want to open up your can of cranberry sauce only to find that it’s full of mysterious lumps and bumps. A quick shake should take care of rogue chunks!
- Don’t be afraid to mix it up. Canned cranberry sauce is extremely versatile so don’t be afraid to experiment with different flavors. Try adding a little orange zest, fresh ginger, or a splash of bourbon. The possibilities are endless!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
If you need more convincing to give this canned cranberry sauce recipe a shot, consider the following:
- It’s easy to make. This canned cranberry sauce recipe is quick and easy, which means you’ll actually want to make it and eat it all over again.
- It was cheap. Homemade goods are frequently more pricey. Unlike this recipe! Canned cranberry sauce is one of the cheapest grocery store goods, so this recipe is inexpensive. Plus! It only requires five ingredients.
- It’s versatile. Cranberry sauce isn’t just for Thanksgiving anymore! This recipe can be used in all sorts of dishes, from savory pork chops to sweet desserts. You just have to be creative and see what you can come up with!
Ingredients For Fresh Cranberry Sauce
To make small batch cranberry sauce, the ingredients are fresh cranberries, sugar, fresh oranges, cinnamon, and a big pinch of salt.
For the orange juice, I highly recommend buying oranges then squeezing fresh juice from them. It tastes so much fresher.
However, if you want to use bottled orange juice, make sure its either unsweetened or adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe.
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Cranberry Sauce From Can Recipe
Cranberry sauce is one of those things that I never really enjoyed until I got older. I remember having cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving, but it was just usually from a can and sliced.
It just didnt look or sound very appetizing! As an adult, I have discovered how delightful a good cranberry sauce can be.
While I am a big fan of homemade cranberry sauce, I think that it can be really delicious when you make it from a can IF you make a few adjustments!
Cooking With Fresh Cranberries
Can we talk about how Ive never had fresh cranberries before this cranberry sauce recipe? My only experience with cranberries is from a can.
I remember my parents opening a can of cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and the sauce kept the shape of the can.
I think Ive had cranberry juice once or twice in my life but not enough to tell you what cranberry tastes like. Until now.
I decided to eat a fresh cranberry straight from the bag and let me warn you dont do that. They are extremely tart, much like rhubarb.
Never had raw rhubarb? Yea you dont want to taste that one raw either.
Although cranberries are very tart on their own, balancing them out with sweetness makes them much more enjoyable.
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Canned Cranberry Sauce Recipe
by Susie Weinrich · This post may contain affiliate links.
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!
And if you still really want to make them homemade from fresh cranberries you can pop over to this recipe for Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce.
When I Was Growing Up My Mom Loved To Elevate The Canned Cranberry Sauce She Served With Roast Chicken Potatoes And Of Course Thanksgiving Turkey
While I loved opening the plastic, bowl-shaped Ocean Spray tub and digging my spoon right into the sweet, tangy cranberry sauce, my mom often had bigger plans for jazzing it up.
For a regular weeknight meal, she would open up a can of cranberry sauce and simply heat it up in a pot. She’d then defrost a bag of frozen mixed berries and add it to the sticky stuff simmering on the stove. It really was that simple.
The blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries that typically come in a mixed-berry medley add their own flavors to the sauce, but they also add texture. Each berry brings something unique strawberries hold their clunky but soft integrity, blackberries and raspberries add some seeds, and blueberries are always a welcome burst of sweetness.
While you can use fresh berries, I prefer frozen for a number of reasons. First, I only have to buy one bag of frozen mixed berries, which is usually cheaper than buying packages of four different kinds of fresh berries from the produce section. Second, when frozen berries defrost, the juices melt and become sauce-like on their own, making for an easy marriage of the berries to the cranberry sauce.
If the sauce was being prepped for a holiday meal, Mom would get a little more creative. Adding diced apples and a can of mandarin oranges to cranberries as they cook down was her go-to. She’d then fold in chopped pecans for some crunch after pulling the mixture off of the stove.
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Find The Perfect Recipe
If youre using canned cranberries, its best to start by finding the right recipe. Most cranberry sauces are made with fresh berries, but you can also use canned cranberry sauce.
Just make sure that the recipe you choose has a high sugar content. This will help to create a sweet sauce that pairs well with desserts.
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Meal Planning Guide For Parties
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The Seven Basic Steps For Canning Cranberry Sauce
Canning cranberry sauce is easy but it does take some time. Here are the basic steps.
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How To Make Canned Cranberry Sauce Taste Better: Step By Step
Here are some quick visual instructions. Remember that full instructions with the exact ingredients will be in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Add canned cranberry sauce to a medium pan. Using a wooden spoon, break it up a bit. Then, add all other ingredients and stir to combine.
Step 2: Bring to a boil, then simmer 1-2 minutes, stirring, until flavors marry together. Serve warm, cold or at room temperature.
CONFIDENCE TIPDont be afraid to TASTE your homemade sauce as it cooks. Too sweet? Add a little lemon juice. Too tart? Add a bit more maple syrup. Adjust the flavors until they are just how you like! That is the beauty of cooking at home!
Why Youll Love Canning Cranberry Sauce
- Great flavor. Not too sweet.
- Perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas meals. You can make it ahead and enjoy homemade cranberry sauce on the big day.
- Easy canning recipe. Fantastic for beginning canners.
This recipe makes canned cranberry sauce. Its helpful if you have some familiarity with water bath canning before making the recipe.
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The Best Way To Serve Cranberry Sauce
There are two ways we like to serve jellied cranberry sauce. First, you can slice the sauce into rounds and lay them on a dish with your preferred garnish. Serve it at room temperature or chill it in the fridge until mealtime. Secondly, you can cook it down in a saucepan to create a cranberry sauce. Add the jellied cranberry along with the juice and zest of two oranges for the extra citrusy zing. Simmer it for approximately 10 minutes, let it cool, and either serve it at room temperature or chilled. If you have any extra sauce, create a sandwich completely from leftovers. We prefer sliced turkey, melted brie and a thin layer of cranberry sauce on toasted bread.
Ingredient: Cranberries, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Water
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How To Make Cranberry Sauce
Making homemade cranberry sauce with orange juice is as easy as boiling water!
Add your cranberries, sugar, orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon, and salt to a large saucepan then bring to a boil.
Once boiling, cook until the fresh cranberries break down into a sauce, roughly 10 minutes for a small batch.
Seriously so easy!
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Process The Cranberry Sauce
Using a jar lifter, carefully place the filled jars onto a rack in the pot of simmering water. The water should be about 180 degrees F.. The water should cover your jars by one to two inches.
Cover the pot and bring the water to a rolling boil. When the water reaches the boil, start your timer. Pints and half-pints of cranberry sauce should be processed for 15 minutes.
When the processing time completes, turn off the heat and remove the lid from the pot. Allow the jars to cool in the pot for five minutes.
Lift the jars out of the canner with a can lifter and place on a dry towel. Allow the jars to cool for 24 hours. Do not touch the lids and bands during this time.
Easy Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Orange Juice, no sugar added*Ground CinnamonSalt
Just a quick note about the orange juice. As always it is best to use fresh squeezed juice. However, most of us will be measuring the juice from a store-bought container.
However, be sure to use all-natural orange juice that is not made from concentrate and has no added sugar. If the juice you are using contains added sugars, eliminate or significantly decrease the amount of granulated sugar in the recipe.
And as a side note, I prefer pulp-free juice for this recipe so you dont have to worry about the added texture of the pulp completing with the cranberries and orange zest.
How To Make Easy Cranberry Sauce
Start by zesting an orange. I recommend using a citrus zester to easily remove the orange peel. However be sure not to go too deep into the skin.
You want to avoid getting the white pith that is underneath the peel as this surface produces a bitter taste. Once the zest has been removed, use a sharp knife and chop it into fine pieces.
Although you want the flavor and texture of the zest, large pieces scattered throughout your sauce can be annoying.
Once you have your zest ready, add it to a sauce pan. Then add the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, cinnamon, and salt.
Stir and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the liquid begins to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes.
How To Know When The Cranberry Sauce Is Done
Store any leftovers in a covered container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!
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Try It In Pasta Dishes
Canned cranberry sauce makes a great addition to pasta dishes. Simply toss it into your favorite pasta recipe, and youll get a delicious side dish thats ready in no time. If you want to get creative with your pasta recipes, then you might want to try adding your canned cranberry sauce to an existing recipe.
Just be sure that you follow the directions for any sauces or toppings that youre adding to the dish. You might also consider tossing your cranberry sauce into a salad for a unique flavor profile.
Have Fun With Your Canned Cranberry Sauce But Make Sure You’re Tasting What You Mix As You Cook It
You’ll want to periodically taste your mix along the way to make sure you’re adding needed components, though. If your sauce is tasting too tangy, then add something sweet, like sugar, to balance it out. If it’s too sweet, you can add lemon juice the acidity will cut the sweetness.
Let creativity be your guide, but also get your palate involved. It can be all too easy to get carried away with flavors when you’re boiling a sauce trust me on that one.
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Canning Time At The Factory
Throughout the day, frozen cranberries are transported from the receiving facility to Ocean Sprays production facility, pictured here in Kenosha, Wis., where theyre inspected with a laser, to make sure each one meets the companys specifications for color and size.
The berries are sent through a machine that removes their skins and seeds, producing a smooth purée. A second purée is made with what the company calls presscake, other reserved skins and seeds from Ocean Sprays other products, which contains the pectin that gives the sauce its gelatinous texture. Corn syrup is mixed in while making the purée. Once the mixtures are filtered and blended together, theyre sent off to be packaged in cans.
Empty cans move down a conveyor, where theyre inspected for defects and rinsed before they travel to the filler, the device that fills the can. There, the hot cranberry sauce is poured into the can, and a lid is added. Random cans are inspected to make sure that theyve been filled to the proper height and that the sauce has the right texture. The sealed cans are then sent to a rotary can cooler to chill.
The cans are coded, labeled, packed into cases, shrink-wrapped and put into pallets for shipment.
Why Youll Love This Recipe
- Such an EASY fix to turn canned cranberry sauce into your own special homemade sauce.
- Only uses FIVE ingredients and takes no time to make!
- The perfect complement to your holiday dinner table.
- SO many other uses for this sauce aside from the holidays!
- You can use whole-berry canned cranberry sauce or the jellied version.
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Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce
As silly as it seems, having a plate with canned-shaped cranberries is absolutely essential on Thanksgiving. If you prefer the jellied style our Test Kitchen recommends Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce. This is no surprise since Ocean Spray is the biggest name in the cranberry game.
Once you schloop this sauce out of the can, youll notice a vibrant maroon color. It has those classic canned lines, says Ellie Crowley in the Test Kitchen. This one is easy to slice and holds its shape.
Take a forkful of this sauce and its exactly what you want on your Thanksgiving plate: Tart and tangy, according to the Test Kitchens . This Ocean Spray sauce isnt overly sweet. Instead, it has the perfect hint of acid to balance out a heavy plate of mashed potatoes and turkey.
