Homemade cranberry sauce with a kick.
Tired of plain old grocery-store cranberry sauce? Me too. That’s why I was inspired to make a holiday cranberry sauce with some heat, and loaded with one of my favorite flavor combos – cherry chipotle.
The tartness of the fresh cranberries is toned down by cherries, along with some help from brown sugar and a bit of honey. That additional sweetness also helps balance the heat of the chipotle peppers. Adding in a supporting cast of clove, chili powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and you’ve got one hell of a holiday cranberry sauce.
Recipe notes: For extra heat, add in more chili powder, or adobo sauce from the chipotle peppers. For a sweeter version, try adding a bit more brown sugar as you cook the cranberry sauce on the stove.
TIME YOU NEED
- ~10 minutes
- Yields: ~7-8 servings
WHAT YOU NEED
- 4 cups of fresh cranberries
- 2 diced chipotle peppers in adobo
- 1 cup of frozen tart cherries, pitted
- ½ tbsp adobo
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 cup of water
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp chili powder
- ¼ tsp clove
- 1/2 cup apple cider or fresh orange juice
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp lime juice
- ½ tsp of orange bitters
WHAT YOU DO
- Start by rinsing cranberries and draining excess water. Toss out any mushy cranberries.
- In a medium saucepan, add the cranberries, cherries, chipotle peppers, water, juice, bitters, honey and brown sugar.
- Stir well and then bring to a boil over medium high heat. Then reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer, while stirring occasionally.
- Continue to cook until cranberries begin to pop, around 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and season with cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder, and clove. Stir mixture together and taste. If it’s too tart for your liking, add a bit more brown sugar or splash of apple cider until desired sweetness is achieved.
- Using an immersion blender, lightly blend the mixture to chop up the cherries and chipotle peppers, and mix the sauce.
- Remove from pan and serve warm, or place in a covered bowl and refrigerate.
- Note: sauce will thicken as it cools, reheat as needed. The cranberry sauce should keep for 3-4 days in a covered bowl in the fridge.