Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Sauce
This naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is made simply with fresh cranberries, honey or maple syrup and orange zest! It's ready in 10 minutes.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
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Let’s talk about cranberry sauce! It’s the neglected, afterthought condiment of Thanksgiving, but no holiday table is complete without it. Cranberry sauce adds a very necessary burst of sweet-tart flavor and ruby red color to an otherwise beige meal.
This naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is much prettier than store-bought, not to mention extra delicious thanks to the honey or maple syrup.
Plus, this homemade cranberry sauce couldn’t be easier to make. It’s ready in about 10 minutes. If you need a quick and easy Friendsgiving option, sign up for the cranberry sauce!
Here’s what you’ll need to make this cranberry sauce recipe:
- 1 bag of fresh cranberries
- Honey or maple syrup
- Water
- Zest from one orange, or orange juice
…and a pot to cook it in. That’s it.
Watch How to Make Cranberry Sauce
Naturally Sweetened vs. Conventional Cranberry Sauce
There is something fantastically retro about a gelatinous, shimmering cylinder of canned cranberry sauce on a plate. I’ve always wondered when we started buying cans of cranberry sauce instead of making it themselves. Did we experience a fresh cranberry shortage in the 50s? Maybe fresh cranberries weren’t readily available back then?
Fortunately for us modern Americans, grocery stores are overflowing with cranberries this season. I picked up a can of cranberry sauce at the grocery store recently and glanced at the list—cranberries, followed by high fructose corn syrup, and that’s about it. High fructose corn syrup is heavily processed, flavorless sweet stuff that I try to avoid, and I know you all do, too.
Most homemade versions call for about a cup of white sugar. Today, I thought I would offer you a more nutritionally redeeming, naturally sweetened option that calls for 1/2 cup of honey or maple syrup.
Uses for Leftover Cranberry Sauce
- Swirl leftover sauce into yogurt with granola.
- Dollop it into your oatmeal (like this).
- Spread it onto toast topped with almond butter or goat cheese (like this).
- Basically, treat it like jam.
Please let me know how this cranberry sauce turns out for you in the comments. If you have any other fun ways to use up your leftover sauce, I’ll add them to the list.
Looking for more Thanksgiving recipes? Check out my roundup here.
Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Sauce
This naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is made simply with fresh cranberries, honey or maple syrup and orange zest! It’s easy to make and tastes amazing, too. Recipe yields about 2 cups cranberry sauce.
Ingredients
- 12 ounces (1 bag) fresh cranberries
- ½ cup honey or maple syrup
- ½ cup water
- Zest of 1 medium orange*, preferably organic (about 1 teaspoon)
- Truly optional add-ins: ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon and/or ¼ cup fresh orange juice
Instructions
- First, rinse the cranberries well and drain off excess water. Pick through the cranberries and discard any squishy ones.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, honey and water. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have popped and the mixture has thickened to your liking, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from heat and stir in the orange zest. If you’d like to add cinnamon or orange juice, add it now. Taste and, if the mixture is too tart (keeping in mind that cranberry sauce is supposed to be a little tart!), add more orange juice, honey or maple syrup to taste.
- The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. It will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 weeks.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my cranberry crostini.
Make it vegan: Use maple syrup instead of honey.
Prepare in advance: You can make this sauce up to 2 days in advance. Cover and refrigerate, then let it warm to room temperature before serving.
*How to remove zest: I use a Microplane grater (affiliate link) which easily removes the zest. You could also use the fine holes of your box grater. If you want to simplify, skip the zest and stir in ¼ cup orange juice instead.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
The best cranberry sauce recipe Ever !! I did add a teaspoon of cinnamon…
Posted on Instagram too!
Another use for leftover sauce is I use 1teaspoon of Dijon mustard to a third of a cup of cranberry sauce to spread on turkey sandwiches And also grand on ground chicken burgers
Thank you for this recipe, Kate! Was looking for an alternative to the usual cup of sugar. This is perfect.
This recipe is exactly what I was looking for. I used 1/4c honey + 1/4c agave nectar, plus the zest and juice of one mandarin. The taste was pleasantly tart and bright. I like it better than the traditional 1c sugar recipe.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have always used white sugar before and this recipe is great! I used raw honey in mine and it is the perfect sweetness. I omitted the orange because I always feel it overpowers the cranberry. Will use this recipe going forward!
Just made your Naturally Sweetened Cranberry Sauce for Thanksgiving tomorrow!
I used maple syrup with the orange zest and added both the ground cinnamon and juice from the orange and it is now my new favorite way to make cranberry sauce! Tastes soo yummy! Thank you!
You’re welcome Jennifer!
I love this recipe and make it every year for the past 4 years! It’s the best and so clean, with maple syrup! Thank you!
OMG! So delicious and super easy! First time making cranberry sauce, I will never buy canned again! I used 1/2 cup honey and the orange zest. Wondering if this recipe will work with other fruit?
You should try my Easy Fruit Compote.
So good!
I cut up a few small pears in it and then topped it off with a little extra coconut sugar. I also used 1/2 honey and 1/2 maple syrup.
Delicious!!! Happy Thanksgiving :)
This is the best cranberry sauce recipe—I make it every year! So sweet and simple to make.
Followed your recipe as written. It was absolutely awesome.
Followed your recipe as written. It was absolutely awesome. Thank you!
Made this again for Thanksgiving today! I always do the optional mix-ins. So incredibly good, my kids were eating it out of the pot.
That’s great to hear, Jenna!
Came out simply delicious!! This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thank you for sharing. Happy Thanksgiving
The. Best. Cranberry Sauce. Recipe! Just the right mix of sweet and tart. We love it alone of with yogurt & granola. Also, wonderful on vanilla ice cream.
Sooooo good. Soooo simple. And soooo healthy! Love this recipe.
Hi Kate, This recipe was a clear winner! Bonus was a couple of days latter when I added a dollop of cranberries along with a diced Granny Smith and a handful of pomegranate seeds to my steel cut oats for breakfast. It was so good I made up another batch for future gray, winter mornings. Thanks!
This has become our traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner accompaniment, I now make it on the regular to use as yogurt, ice cream, bread, etc topping basically as a jam. We love it!
Great to hear, Lisa!
For sweetner I mixed 1/2 cup of maple syrup, honey and a splash of grand marnier. I added the orange juice and zest. It became perfection when I added a tsp of cinnamon. Merry Christmas to all.
Hello,
Have made this before and was so delicious!
Could I use frozen cranberries as cannot find fresh ones anywhere.
Thank you.
Sure, that should work too.