Perfectly balanced, this homemade cranberry sauce with mandarin orange is ideal for holidays, baking, and as a tangy fruit condiment to enjoy through the winter season.
Cranberry sauce is one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. When done right, it should balance tart and sweet with a bit of spice. More importantly, the cranberry sauce should complement the other components of the dinner.
Chances are that something on your holiday dinner needs a boost of flavor. Hint: it’s probably the dry and often bland turkey. Cranberry sauce can also help cut through the fat in all the buttery, creamy, and dense foods on the table.
People have strong opinions about their cranberry sauce. And so do I. I'm sorry, but the jellied stuff that plops out of the can gives cranberry sauce nothing but a bad rap. It’s not supposed to be jello, either. Nor should it be as sweet as a dessert.
I guess it should be something like this.
😍 Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Ideal Balance of Flavors: This recipe strikes the ideal balance of sweet, tart, citrus, and spice, making it the perfect companion for holiday dishes. With a touch of cinnamon, ginger, and plenty of mandarin orange, it elevates turkey, stuffing, and even green beans with a fresh and vibrant flavor.
- Fresh and Simple: Forget the overly sweet, jellied options or unnecessarily complicated recipes. This cranberry sauce is quick to prepare, can be made ahead of time, and avoids the traps of being too sugary or having weird add-ins like celery.
- Versatile: With half the sugar of most cranberry sauce recipes, maple syrup and brown sugar create a complex sweetness. Dried fruit enhances its texture, making it as versatile for post-Thanksgiving leftovers as it is on the holiday table.
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🍊 Ingredients
Here's everything you need to make this cranberry orange sauce.
Key Ingredients
- Cranberries: This cranberry sauce recipe calls for fresh whole cranberries. They offer the best flavor and are easy to cook into sauces and jams because of their naturally high level of pectin. I like to use cranberries from The Vermont Cranberry Company. They're Vermont's only commercial cranberry farm.
- Mandarin oranges work well here because they're easy to peel and have small segments. All you need to do is give them a quick chop. I like that they have a stronger flavor than your basic navel orange.
- Dried cranberries: For some added texture. You could certainly leave them out.
- Fresh ginger: I like a fair amount of spice in my cranberry sauce, and fresh ginger is a good way to get it here, as it melds so well into the berries as they cook.
See the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients and quantities.
🍇 Substitutions & Variations
- Dried fruit: In place of dried cranberries, other dried fruits such as raisins, currants, or cherries may be used. You can also leave it out altogether, as it's not essential.
- Other oranges: Mandarins make this recipe unique, but you may peel and chop any other orange if mandarins are not handy. You want about 1 to 1 ½ cups of orange.
- Spicier: Add black pepper and increase the ground cloves for more flavor.
- More robust: Toss in some chopped apples and toasted walnuts.
How to make cranberry sauce with mandarin orange.
🔪 Instructions
How to make this fresh cranberry orange sauce.
- Step 1: Add the fresh and dried cranberries to a saucepan with 1 cup of water. Bring to a simmer.
- Step 2: After the cranberries start popping, stir in everything else but the mandarins.
- Step 3: Simmer for several minutes (up to 10) until the sauce has thickened.
- Step 4: While it cooks, peel and roughly chop the oranges.
- Step 5: Stir the oranges into the sauce and cook for another couple of minutes until they've softened and melded into the cranberries.
- Step 6: Taste the cranberry sauce. If it's too tart, stir in some additional maple syrup to your liking. Then, serve at room temperature or after chilling in the fridge.
🥄 Helpful Tips
- To prevent burning, adjust the heat if the simmering becomes too strong. If the pan dries out at any point, add a splash of water.
- Stir the sauce on a regular basis as it cooks.
🫙 Storage
This mandarin orange cranberry sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks. It may also be frozen for 3-4 months.
🍰 How can leftover cranberry sauce be used after Thanksgiving?
There are many ways to use cranberry sauce outside of a holiday dinner.
- Stir it into this cranberry gingerbread cake
- Stir some into your overnight oats
- Mix with mayo or mustard and spread on a sandwich, such as a Monte Cristo
- Use it as a filling for rugelach cookies instead of jam
- Swirl into muffin batter or as a filling for these Danish pancakes
🙋🏻♀️ FAQ
Brighten up cranberry sauce with fresh oranges, chopped apple, and with spices such as cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. A small pinch of salt also helps to balance the flavor.
It's hard to find a good substitute for the tanginess of cranberry sauce that will also fit it on Thanksgiving. However, try a fruit based chutney or relish. Consider something with seasonal fruits such as apples, pears, or pomegranate.
Cranberry is such a good compliment to turkey and rich meals like that on Thanksgiving or Christmas because it has a bright, fresh, and acidic flavor that can cut through the fat and carb heavy foods we tend to eat at the holidays. It also helps to freshen up foods like turkey that can often be dry or a bit bland.
If you find your cranberry sauce is a little bitter, try adding some maple syrup and a pinch of salt. The rich, deep sweetness of maple syrup counters the sharp, acidity of the cranberries while the hint of salt will help to bring out the other flavors of the sauce.
🫖 Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
📖 Recipe
Cranberry Sauce with Mandarin Orange
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: about 1 ½ cups 1x
Description
Perfectly balanced, this homemade cranberry sauce with mandarin orange is ideal for holidays, baking, and as a tangy winter condiment.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- ½ cup chopped dried cranberries, raisins, or other dried fruit
- 1 cup of water
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 mandarin oranges
Instructions
- Add the fresh and dried cranberries and water to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat and cook for a couple of minutes until the cranberries start to pop.
- Add brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt. Stir to combine and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries have mostly all broken down and the sauce has thickened.
- As the sauce cooks, roughly chop the oranges and stir them into the pan. Cook for another couple of minutes after adding the oranges. Taste and add more sugar or maple syrup, if it is too tart to your liking.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Sides
- Cuisine: American
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