Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce Recipes (2024)

FAQs

How to jazz up cranberry sauce? ›

Top with dried or fresh fruits

Sure, you can go all meta with some dried cranberries or sliced fresh raw cranberries, but I also like to think about complementary flavors — dried cherries, dried mulberries, golden raisins, chopped apricots. All work great with cranberry sauce.

If your cranberry sauce is too thick, it's most likely overcooked. When you cook cranberries (or any berries), they burst, releasing pectin—a natural thickener. The key to a perfect consistency is to allow some but not all of the cranberries to split open—something you'll achieve with less time on the stove.

It's perfectly fine to serve up cranberry sauce — whole berry or jelled — straight out of the can. But in my experience, heating the canned sauce up takes its flavor to the next level. Plus, it becomes a little more aesthetically pleasing.

"Instead, start by stirring in one tablespoon maple syrup and one teaspoon of a sweet drink like apple juice, orange juice, or fruity white or red wine. Add more to taste. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt (in small amounts, it intensifies sweetness)."

Health Benefits

Cranberries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as the metabolism-boosting mineral manganese. And yes, you reap all these benefits whether the cranberry sauce on your holiday table is homemade or canned, jellied or whole-berry.

Jelling. Homemade cranberry sauce is meant to thicken, or “jell,” while cooking. If it stays soupy, that could mean a couple of things. One possibility is that you may not have used enough sugar: Sugar helps the sauce firm up, so be sure to use the full amount called for in a recipe.

When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.

The sauce will thicken as it cools. If you want a cranberry mold that holds its shape, continue to boil the mixture so that more pectin is released from the fruit, additional water evaporates, and the sauce becomes thick enough to set into a firm gel.

You must cook the sauce for at least 10 minutes at a full boil for the pectin to react with the sugar and create the proper gelled texture. It is also important to let the cranberry sauce cool at room temperature. Moving it to the refrigerator too soon may also affect the gel.

How many cans of cranberry sauce per person? ›

One 12-ounce bag of cranberries makes about 2 1/4 cups of basic cranberry sauce—in my house, that's enough for about five people. Going the canned route? You'll need at least one can for six people.

4- You can enhance the canned cranberries by incorporating fresh fruits or berries. Chopped apples, pears, or even diced pineapple can add a fresh and fruity dimension to the sauce. Mix them in while heating the cranberries for added flavor. 5- Fresh herbs can provide a unique twist to cranberry sauce.

Dear Evelyn: I had the same problem when I first started making my own cranberry sauce. I found out that you should cook them just until they pop. Further cooking will make them bitter, and once that happens, you need to start again.

Cranberry sauce is supposed to be a balance of sweet and tart. The sauce acts as a cleansing port in a tumultuous storm of fat and salt, but the effect is lost if the sauce is too sweet. Luckily, there is a very easy way to fix an over-sugared homemade sauce: You just need a little citric acid.

But why? Ocean Spray says this is to get the cranberry sauce out in one intact piece. “The rounded part of the can that looks like the bottom has an air bubble in it,” Ocean Spray's representative explains. The bubble is there so you can “break the seal the sauce makes with the can.”

I sweetened my juice with honey which adds a sweet floral touch to the beverage. I also use a couple of freshly squeezed oranges which gives the juice a nice hint of citrus flavor. I'm sure apple juice or apple cider would work well too. I think moving forward I'm going to call this drink cranade (like lemonade…).

The traditional way to serve canned cranberry sauce is to slice the cylinder into rounds and arrange them on a platter. Go a step further by adding a garnish like sugared rosemary or candied ginger. Or, cook the canned sauce with orange juice and zest for a citrusy take on a holiday standby.

You open the can, slide the contents onto a plate, and either slice it into neat rounds, or break it into chunks to serve it. I have known people to eat it with a spoon straught out of the jar. Some people arrange round slices of cranberry sauce on lettuce leaves and top them with mandarin oranges from a can.

Smearing it on a turkey sandwich is an excellent, standard choice. Using it to top these Cranberry Cream Cheese Appetizer Bites is a smart allocation of precious leftovers as well. But my favorite way to enjoy this jeweled, vibrant sauce is for breakfast—parfait-style.