Homemade cranberry sauce with holiday spices.
Cranberry sauce has always been a top favorite Thanksgiving side of mine. But, I’ve always been put off by how much sugar you typically find in this Thanksgiving staple.
On one hand, I get it. You need the sweetness to balance the tart bitterness of cranberries. But there’s got to be a better way right?
That’s what led me to this recipe. I tried to balance the use of sugar, opting for honey and a bit of brown sugar, but also added natural holiday spices to tone down the tartness of the cranberries. The end result is a semi-sweet, still tart, and spiced up take on cranberry sauce using cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and just a hint of chili powder. The spices work perfectly to help bring done the bitterness of the berries. Which has me toying with future concepts (chipotle cranberry BBQ sauce anyone?)
Notes: You can always up the brown sugar, honey, and or spices depending on preferred level of sweetness vs. tartness.
Time You Need
- ~10 minutes
- Yields: ~7-8 servings
What You Need
- 4 cups of fresh cranberries
- 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
- 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, 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.
- 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.