Homemade cranberry sauce is something, believe it or not, I have never attempted before. Every homemade sauce I have seen is chunky. As much as I am beginning to love cranberries, I still don’t like chunky sauce. I don’t like the idea of the sauce overpowering the turkey, or whatever I am eating it with. So, we have always stuck with the canned stuff. That is, until I came across this recipe.
This cranberry sauce is seriously, unbelievable. I was definitely skeptical about how it would taste, but I shouldn’t have worried. This sauce is out of this world. It’s smooth and perfectly sweetened. The process is pretty straight forward and yields amazing results. Just look at that color! Everyone wanted to eat the cranberry sauce with a spoon. My 2 year old definitely did that. This is a recipe I will be coming back to every year for the holidays! You still have time to make this for Thursday!
Recipe from Floating Kitchen
Cranberry Sauce
You'll never go back to store bought cranberry sauce after making this recipe! Sweetened with orange juice and a little sugar with a touch of lemon juice, this sauce is simple to make and wonderfully delicious.
Ingredients
- 6 cups fresh cranberries, thawed if frozen
- 2 cups orange juice
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- Juice from 1 lemon
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a heavy-bottom saucepan over medium-high heat, stir together the cranberries and orange juice. Stirring frequently, bring to a boil. The cranberries will pop, so don't be alarmed. Boil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. (Do not boil for any longer than 15 minutes, or you will have a runny sauce.) Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl. Add the boiled cranberries to the strainer and use a rubber spatula to push out as much of the liquid as possible, collecting it into the bowl. If you need to, do this in small batches, if you strainer isn't large enough. Take your time really pushing the liquid out of the berries. (I spent probably 10 minutes pushing liquid out and scraping the bottom of the strainer.) Discard the remaining solids.
- Transfer the strained liquid back to the same saucepan and place over medium-high heat. Add the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture has thickened slightly, about 5-7 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Whatever molds you are using (I used weck jars, but mason jars or even drinking glasses would suffice), fill with water then pour out. Carefully pour the cranberry sauce into the prepared jars.
- Transfer the molded cranberry sauce to your refrigerator, uncovered. Let cool for about 1-2 hours before covering the molds with a lid or plastic wrap. Continue to refrigerate the cranberry sauce until it’s very firm, overnight is best. The cranberry sauce can be stored in the molds for up to 1 week before serving.
- When you are ready to serve, run a butter knife around the inside edge of the glass to release the cranberry sauce. Then slide it out onto a plate and cut it into slices. If you are having difficulties releasing the cranberry sauce, you can run the mold under hot water for 10-15 seconds.
Notes
The covered jars will last several weeks in the refrigerator.
I was just going to look for a recipe for this!! Definitely going to try this!! Happy Thanksgiving!!
Yay! Thank you Jenni, happy Thanksgiving to you as well! 🙂