My favourite cranberry sauce recipe with just the right amount of tanginess can be made with fresh or frozen cranberries.
Only four ingredients needed and 10 minutes to make - it's an easy-to-make homemade addition to the Christmas dinner table.
And you know what? I rather like it on toast for breakfast too!

Cranberry sauce in a white bowl, topped with orange zest. Festive table decorations scattered around the bowl.

Jump to:

📋 What do we need?
🔪 How to make this Cranberry Sauce
🍽️ What to serve it with
📺 Watch how to make it
🍲 More fantastic Sauces and Dips
Cranberry Sauce with Port
💬 Reviews

I've made a few versions of cranberry sauce at home, and this version with orange and port is hands down the best!
Just tangy enough, with a slight hit of zesty orange and a subtle richness from the port. Don't worry though - the cranberry sauce doesn't taste boozy.

I keep a stash of frozen cranberries in my freezer (useful for adding to my Christmas punch and making my mulled cranberry jelly) so I can whip it up to go with any roast dinner.

📋 What do we need?

Ingredients for cranberry sauce on a wooden table.

Cranberries - you can use fresh or frozen cranberries
Port - any port will be fine
Sugar - use golden caster, regular caster or superfine sugar.

🔪 How to make this Cranberry Sauce

Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Place cranberries, sugar, port, orange juice and orange zest in a pan and stir together.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 6-8 minutes - until the cranberries begin to burst.
Turn off the heat.

6 image collage showing how to make cranberry sauce

👩‍🍳PRO TIP If you like a smoother sauce you can mash the sauce with a potato masher or the back of a fork.

Serve as part of that Roast Turkey or Roast Chicken dinner

Roast turkey christmas dinner with vegetables and gravy on a wooden table.

🍽️ What to serve it with

My easy Roast Turkey
Crispiest Roast Potatoes
Pigs in a blanket (I love turkey butties with a couple of pigs in blankets and a dollop of cranberry sauce - sandwich heaven!!)
Make Ahead Christmas Gravy
And not forgetting the veggies - garlic parmesan green beans and butter pepper carrots!

Top with a few strands of orange zest before serving for an extra festive look.

👩‍🍳PRO TIP You can zest the orange a few hours beforehand and wrap in a piece of damp kitchen towel to stop it drying out.

Cranberry sauce topped with orange zest in a white bowl. Festive decorations scattered around.

📺 Watch how to make it

🍲 More fantastic Sauces and Dips

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Cranberry sauce in a white bowl with orange zest on top - on a festive christmas table

Cranberry Sauce with Port

By: Nicky Corbishley

This cranberry sauce, made with fresh or frozen cranberries, has just the right amount of tanginess. Only 4 ingredients and 10 mins to make!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 5

Cook Time 8

Total Time 13

Course Sauces, side dish

Cuisine American

Servings 10

Calories 81 kcal

Ingredients

▢ 300 g (3 cups) cranberries – fresh or frozen
▢ 125 g (¾ cup) golden caster sugar - (or use regular caster or superfine sugar)
▢ 80 ml (⅓ cup) port
▢ Zest and juice of 1 large orange

INSTRUCTIONS

Place all of the ingredients into a small saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then simmer for 6-8 minutes until the cranberries soften and start to burst, and the liquid thickens slightly (it will thicken more as it cools).
If you like a smoother sauce, use a potato masher to crush the cranberries.
Allow the sauce to cool, then cover and refrigerate for up to a week.
Take out of the fridge for an hour before serving to take the chill off it.

Video

✎ Notes

Consistency:

Once cooled, this cranberry sauce has a thick, jam-like consistency. If you want it a little thinner, you can either stir in a splash of water to it once cooked (but while it's still warm), or you can reheat in the pan to loosen it and serve it warm.

Make Ahead:

Once made, cool, cover with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 10 days. Remove from the fridge an hour before serving, or serve warm by reheating in a pan (it will loosen slightly when warm.

You can also freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight, then remove from the fridge an hour before serving, or serve warm by reheating in a pan.

Reducing the sugar:

We like our cranberry sauce quite sweet, but you can reduce the amount of sugar by half if you prefer a really tart cranberry sauce.

Alcohol free version:

If you don’t want to include alcohol in your cranberry sauce simply leave out the port and add in an extra 3 tbsp (45ml) of orange juice and 2 tbsp (30ml) of water.

Nutritional Information is per serving.
I've assumed 10 servings for this recipe - which is a good heaped tablespoon each.

Nutrition

Calories: 81kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 57mgFiber: 2gSugar: 16gVitamin A: 47IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg

Keywords Christmas dinner, Christmas Side Dish

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Hi I’m Nicky

I love to cook and I want to share with you my favourite, delicious family friendly recipes. I want to inspire you to create fantastic food for your family every day.