Honey cranberry sauce with orange and cinnamon is naturally sweetened and absolutely delicious! In just 20 minutes you can have this zesty sauce prepped to eat right away or store in the fridge. This recipe is so easy, you’ll never buy store bought again!
Cranberry sauce is often the unsung hero of Thanksgiving. That flavor you have once a year that seems like a subtle side character but in truth, defines the whole show. I’m obviously a fan, although I know some aren’t. But for those of you that don’t like it, I dare to ask… maybe you just haven’t had the good stuff yet?
If you’re looking for not just the best honey cranberry sauce, but simply the best cranberry sauce period, this is the recipe you want. Bold statement I know, but honey does an excellent job of sweetening up tart berries and you won’t miss the refined sugar one bit. No Ocean Spray needed.
If you’re on board but don’t make it yourself, well, you’re about to start! Making your own honey cranberry sauce makes you look like you’ve got your Thanksgiving game on point. It’s the final touch that makes a good, homemade Thanksgiving dinner ultra impressive. I like to pair it with my smoked turkey breast recipe for the ultimate *chef’s kiss* experience. You can use leftovers of both in these epic cranberry turkey sliders too!
The kicker? It is soooo easy! It takes about 20 mins to make and most of that time, you’re just casually stirring a pot every 2-3 minutes. NBD right?
Ingredients and Substitutions
This cranberry sauce recipe couldn’t be simpler with just 6 ingredients. With this cranberry and orange sauce recipe, the orange gives it so much flavor that I probably should’ve called it a honey orange cranberry sauce, but to simplify, I emphasized the honey. Don’t worry though, the orange is still prominent!
Here are a few notes on what you’ll need and substitutions:
- Fresh Whole Cranberries – pick the freshest whole cranberries you can find.
- Fresh Orange – pick a fresh juicy orange. You’ll use both the zest and the juice. If you don’t like orange cranberry sauce and want to make the orange flavor less prominent, leave the zest out or use less.
- Honey – a good quality honey works great here or you can use agave syrup or maple syrup to make it vegan.
- Spices – Cinnamon and Nutmeg add that warm, comforting spice characteristic of a good cranberry sauce.
- Salt – I used pink Himalayan salt and again, just a pinch. I tested it with and without salt and adding some helps balance the sweetness of the honey and tartness of the orange and cranberries.
How to make honey cranberry sauce
This dish is so simple to make that even a novice cook or kid can tackle (with adult supervision!). Here are the basic steps:
- Pick through cranberries and remove any bad ones, zest and juice your orange and prep other ingredients.
- Dump cranberries, water, orange juice and honey into a medium sauce pan.
- Let cook down for 10 minutes stirring here and there.
- Remove from heat, add orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Making Honey Cranberry Sauce Ahead of Time
Cranberry sauce made with honey keeps in the fridge for several weeks so you can knock it out in advance. From my experience, its at it’s peak around the 2-3 day mark. Given this, I normally make this on Monday or Tuesday night. That way I can focus on all of the critical dishes the Wednesday before the big day and then do as little actual cooking as possible on Thanksgiving.
To prepare ahead of time, simply cool after cooking and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until Thanksgiving day. It tastes best served at room temperature so make sure to pull it out of the refrigerator 3-4 hours before you plan to eat to give it time to come to room temp. It also freezes great so you can use the leftovers later on.
Using Leftovers
Since it lasts forever in the fridge and even freezes well, you can put those leftovers to use. Use it in this amazing cranberry goat cheese appetizer for either thanksgiving or as a holiday appetizer. My turkey cranberry sliders recipe is always a hit too for lunch or dinner the next day.
Another option – I don’t even have a recipe for this (yet) but toss some meatballs in a crockpot with a cup of cranberry sauce and a cup of salsa or some Thai sweet chili sauce. Sounds totally weird but it works! I’ve also made these cranberry sauce muffins from Ahead of Thyme and they’re great.
Honey Cranberry Sauce – Naturally Sweetened
Equipment
- 1 Cooking spoon
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pick through cranberries and throw away any bad ones. In a medium saucepan set to medium-high heat, add cranberries, water, orange juice, and honey. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low.12 oz. fresh cranberries, 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 cup honey
- Let thicken, stirring occasionally for about 8-10 minutes until most of the cranberries half burst and the sauce is the desired thickness (sauce will thicken much more as it cools). You can use a potato masher to break up cranberries if you want a smoother consistency.
- Remove from heat and stir in orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Taste and adjust if desired. Watch out – it will be hot!1 tsp. orange zest, 1/8 tsp. cinnamon , pinch of nutmeg, pinch of salt
- Refrigerate in a sealed container and bring to room temperature before serving. Sauce will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
Notes
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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Originally published November 22, 2017 but post has since been updated to add additional tips and content.
Comments & Reviews
Yummy! Just the perfect level of tartness with a touch of sweet orange flavor. The honey balances the tart naturally without the too sweet flavor that sugar sometimes adds. Love the addition of cinnamon!
Me too! That little bit of cinnamon is just enough for me and adds enough underlying flavor. 🙂
I’m making today with pumpkin spice ( so adds ginger, allspice). And, more mandarine juice vs. h2o. Mince up the mandarins (on sale) to add texure, fiber, and yum. I also grow rosemary. So, I’m going to use cc to simmer w the sauce. Then remove. The essence is beautiful, but not over powering.
Wow, those add-ins sound fantastic! The rosemary + pumpkin spice is simply brilliant. Trying your variation next year!
You must try adding some fresh grated ginger instead of cinnamon. You can thank me later.
That sounds fantastic! Maybe even adding both would be good.
Is there a way to make this jelly? If I refrigerate it??
Like turn it into a jelly from a sauce? Jelly normally has pectin or another thickener but you might be able to get that same consistency if you cook it down way more. I haven’t tried though so can’t vouch for it!
OH MY GOSH; this is the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever made . I was expecting something different for sure and that’s what I was looking for; but I didn’t expect this. WOW!
This looks like an older post, I hope you see this :0)
Thank you! I love this cranberry sauce too! 🙂
I am never eating canned cranberry sauce again!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was DELIGHTFUL!
SO YUMMY. Next, I am making this again for our late Christmas gathering for the whole family and making cocktail meatballs with this sauce combined with chili sauce. I will post an update on how they turn out but I don’t expect to be disappointed!
Ha, great minds thin alike! I actually made cocktail meatballs with this cranberry sauce and chili sauce a few weeks ago! The meatballs were frozen and it took about 5 minutes to throw it all into a crockpot. Best use of leftover cranberry sauce yet!
Can this be made in a Ninja Foodi?
You could probably do it under the sauté setting but I’d worry that it would get too hot. If you try it, make sure to keep stirring so it doesn’t burn!