This Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce is a MUST in our house. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, our tables are graced by this sweet treat of cranberry greatness, and we love this dish so much that we make it at least twice a year. Out of everything prepared, this is my 13-year-old’s absolute favorite. She tells me it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without smelling the delectable aroma of fresh cranberries, warm cinnamon, and sweet vanilla filling the house.

If you like this recipe, then you’ll love my: Chewy Ginger Spiced Molasses Cookies.

Holiday Flavors and Spices

The vibrant red cranberries command attention at any table and will be a perfect addition to your setting. The color pops, and the smell wafts through the house as children’s enthusiasm and anticipation increase with every moment. Even my toddler looks forward to this dish every year! (Plus, I like that it secretly sneaks a little extra fruit into the kids.)

Cool fact: Cranberries are naturally rich in pectin and cook down into a thick, rich, and sticky sauce.

For everyone who grew up not feeling fresh cranberry sauce, I got you. This Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce will change how you feel about cranberries. The flavors are perfectly balanced, keeping the tart and sweet working harmoniously together, giving you a burst of flavor with each bite. The apricot jam adds to the symphony of flavors backed up by vanilla, cinnamon, and warm spices that embody the holidays.

The History of Cranberry Sauce

The first association with cranberry sauce paired with turkey was in a book called “American Cookery” by Amelia Simmons, published in 1796 by Hudson & Goodwin of Hartford, CT. The book’s full title is: “American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.” – I’m not kidding, that’s the actual name. The original recipe called for serving roast turkey with “boiled onions and cranberry sauce.” I guess tastes have changed over the years.

In 1912, Marcus L. Urann and Elizabeth Lee worked to invent a solution for bruised cranberries by boiling them down to make a gel. It was only then that cranberry sauce appeared in American food markets.

In the 1930s, Ocean Spray reinvented the cranberry game creating the technique used today to harvest cranberries by flooding a cranberry bog and waiting for the berries to float to the top before harvest. This technique allowed the berries to become more commercially available.

Ingredients – Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce

• Fresh vs. Frozen Cranberries: For this Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce, I use fresh cranberries for this dish, as frozen cranberries may be more challenging to control the tartness. Choosing to cook with frozen cranberries may lead to adjusting the sugar content based on the berry.

• Orange vs. Apricot: Orange zest and juice bring a lot to the table. I love the flavors of orange and cranberry together, so there are many times I make the cranberry sauce this way. Due to allergies to oranges in my household, I’ve recently begun experimenting with my Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce by trying different fruits. My favorite is using apricot if I cannot use orange. I like the sweetness the apricot brings, so this is my second choice. I have also tried pineapple juice and lemon zest works well too! Feel free to experiment with flavors you love!

• Granulated Sugar: If you don’t have granulated white sugar, you could use agave, honey, or brown sugar. Start with 1/2 cup, then add to taste, depending on your sweetener of choice. The granulated white sugar also helps the gel-like consistency of the cranberry sauce, so depending on what you choose, it may loosen the recipe slightly.

Spices & Flavoring

• Cinnamon: I adore cinnamon! I use both ground cinnamon and a cinnamon stick in this recipe. I feel like it helps boost the spice just slightly above the loud tartness of the cranberries. You may prefer less cinnamon, but I love what the cinnamon brings to this dish.

• Nutmeg, Clove, Allspice: These flavors dress the Easy Sugared Cranberry Sauce for the holidays. If you do not have one of these spices on hand or prefer to leave one out, the sauce will still be good but maybe just a little less holiday-ish.

• Vanilla Extract: I prefer vanilla extract for the boost of flavor and assistance to round out the warm spices. You could also use vanilla paste if you have it on hand, but for this dish, I don’t mind the extra moister and do not want the paste to overpower the spices.

• Salt: For this recipe, I use iodized table salt. It dissolves quickly in the cranberry sauce rather than using coarse-grained. Ironically, sweet foods get sweeter when you add a little salt. It helps your tastebuds taste more sweetness!

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