Cranberry-orange sauce
20 min · 0 g protein · 62 cals / serving
Bright, tart and jammy, with whole berries that pop as they cook and the fresh perfume of orange zest. A grated apple melts into the sauce and sweetens it naturally, so it needs about a third of the usual sugar and still sets beautifully as it cools.
Ingredients
- one 12-oz bag cranberries, fresh or frozen
- 1 large apple, peeled and coarsely grated
- 1 orange's worth orange zest
- 1 large orange, zested above, then segmented and juiced
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup water
- a pinch ground cinnamon
- a pinch salt
Steps
- Put everything in a medium saucepan: cranberries, grated apple, orange zest, orange segments and juice, sugar, water, cinnamon and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
- Lower the heat and simmer for 10–12 minutes, stirring now and then, until most of the berries have burst and the apple has melted into the sauce. Press a few berries against the side of the pan if you like it smoother.
- Taste it hot: it should be tart. Add another teaspoon of sugar if you want it sweeter. Let it cool completely; it thickens a lot as it sets. Serve at room temperature or cold.
Good to know
It looks runny. Did it fail?
No. Cranberries are full of pectin and the sauce sets as it cools. Judge the texture after an hour, not straight from the pan.
How far ahead can I make it?
Up to a week ahead in a covered jar in the fridge, and it freezes for three months. It is one less job on the day.
Can I cut the sugar further?
Yes. Replace half the sugar with the same weight of allulose or a granulated monk-fruit blend. Below that the sauce turns sharply sour and needs another apple.
Per
- Calories
- 84
- Protein
- (2%)
- <1 g
- Fat
- (2%)
- <1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (96%)
- 21 g
- of which sugar
- 16 g
- Fiber
- 3 g
- Sodium
- 28 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 618 kcal goes into the pot and 805 g of ingredients comes out as about 735 g of food: 84 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.