Your Thanksgiving feast without cranberry sauce! This super easy cranberry sauce recipe comes together in just minutes, so you won’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen this holiday season. Homemade with hints of ginger and orange, fresh cranberry relish is so much better than canned! It’s vegan and gluten-free. Cranberry Sauce Growing…
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The post Super Easy Cranberry Sauce appeared first on Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen.

Super Easy Cranberry Sauce with text overlay

Your Thanksgiving feast without cranberry sauce! This super easy cranberry sauce recipe comes together in just minutes, so you won’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen this holiday season. Homemade with hints of ginger and orange, fresh cranberry relish is so much better than canned! It’s vegan and gluten-free.

Thanksgiving foodCranberry Sauce

Growing up, cranberry “sauce” came from a can. There was really nothing saucy about it. It slid out of the can like a giant gelatinous cylinder, and I did not want that goo on my plate.

As I grew older, fresh cranberry sauce started to make an appearance on the holiday table, but the cans of red glop from my childhood had tainted me, and I didn’t want to try it.

sauce in a bowl overheadBut one year, was planning my annual holiday Friendsgiving, and I came across tubs of fresh orange and cranberry relish at Trader Joe’s and I actually looked tasty. I like cranberry muffins, so why not give it a try? I picked it up, and to my surprise, I liked it! Who knew?

Dennis doesn’t really like cranberry sauce (it’s too sweet for dinner), so I don’t always make it for Thanksgiving. A few years ago, I made a Thanksgiving Vegetable Crescent Roll Ring, and I put a bowl of homemade cranberry sauce in the center of it, mainly for color. People asked me for the recipe, but it was so simple that I hadn’t written it down. But now I realize that simple is good, and good things need to be written down. So, I finally did so.

cranberries, oranges, ginger, maple syrup
How to Make Easy Cranberry Sauce

It’s so easy to make homemade cranberry relish that once you try it, you’ll never use the store-bought stuff again.

Zesting OrangesThe only tricky bit, which honestly isn’t that tricky at all, is zesting oranges. I use a microplane zester, but if you don’t have one, you can use any type of grater. You’ll need the zest from one orange from this recipe. 

cooking cranberries

  • You just place all of the ingredients in pot and bring the mixture to a boil.
  • Once it boils, you reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes.
  • It is ready once it has thickened and most of the berries have popped.

plate of thanksgiving foodCranberry sauce can be served warm or cold. In addition to be being a must-have for Thanksgiving, it’s great for Christmas dinner, too. Serve leftovers as a topping on cake or ice cream. It’s great as jam on toast, too!

Cranberry sauce in bowl with oranges

Super Easy Orange Cranberry Sauce

Your Thanksgiving feast without cranberry sauce! This super easy cranberry sauce recipe comes together in just minutes, so you won’t have to spend too much time in the kitchen this holiday season.

  • 12 ounces fresh cranberries
  • ½ cup orange juice
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons orange zest
  • 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
  1. Place all of the ingredients in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and low the mixture to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and most the cranberries have popped.

cranberry sauce square

Other Thanksgiving Recipes Include:

cranberry sauce in bowl horizontal

The post Super Easy Cranberry Sauce appeared first on Dianne’s Vegan Kitchen.