Cranberry Orange Sauce Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do you cut the tartness out of cranberry sauce? ›

"Resist adding granulated sugar—you won't get the full effect unless you reheat the sauce and the sugar dissolves," writes Kelsey Kloss. "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.

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.

In a small saucepan, combine the cranberries, orange peel, sugar, and 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and let the berries bubble until they burst and form a sauce, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove the orange peel and cool to room temperature or chill.

When it comes to choosing between canned and fresh cranberry sauce, taste and nutrition are often key factors. Let's break down the differences: Taste: Fresh cranberry sauce typically has a brighter, more tart flavor taste, while canned sauce is often sweeter and has a more uniform texture.

Try A Softer Sweetener

It's already liquid so it will stir right into the cranberry sauce, lending it a gentle sweetness. If you don't have maple syrup (pancake syrup WILL NOT do, y'all), try honey or a more neutral sweetener like agave syrup, brown rice syrup, or even simple syrup.

How Do You Neutralize Sour Taste in Food? If a dish is too sour, add a little bit of sugar! Sweetness balances out sour flavors, so if something makes your mouth pucker, a dash of sugar may help soften the blow of the sour food.

Mistake #4: Your Cranberry Sauce Is Too Bitter

Obviously, we can't lose the cranberries, but you can swap out the water for orange juice, apple cider or grape juice. The sugar, while necessary, doesn't need to be granulated. Maple syrup, brown sugar and even honey can make your cranberry sauce more dynamic.

Spike cranberry sauce with citrus

Adding a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or orange zest, a tablespoon of chopped candied peel, or even a splash of juice to your canned sauce will brighten flavors and bring in some homemade flavor.

To start, we add a little salt. The salt helps to make the sugar taste sweeter, masking a little of the bitterness. Some suggest that adding a small pinch of baking soda helps by limiting the acid in the sauce. And while tannic acid is what makes up some of the tannins in cranberries, it's not all tannic acid.

Cranberry sauce can be served either as a gooey liquid or as a solid jelly. The jellied version is solid enough to retain the shape of the container in which it's placed whereas the sauce version is much more fluid. The difference between the fluid sauce and the jelly versions comes down to pectin.

What is the difference between jellied cranberry sauce and whole cranberry sauce? ›

The major variation you're likely to come across is "whole berry" versus "jellied." The only difference between them is that the jellied sauce is cooked until the berries have completely broken down. They both slide out of the can as a wobbly red cylinder.

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.

Costs are up

That includes cranberry sauce, whose price is up about 18% compared to last year because cranberry crops are smaller this year, sparking a supply squeeze.

Should homemade cranberry sauce be served cold? You'll want to cool your homemade cranberry sauce to room temperature first, as hot liquids can crack pretty serving dishes! After that, chilling it will not only help the cranberry sauce thicken and gel, but it preserves it as well.

5,062,500 gallons of jellied cranberry sauce are consumed by Americans every holiday season. 70 million is the number of cans of cranberry sauce Ocean Spray produces a year.

If the sauce is too sour, add more sweetener.

If you find the recipe as written is a bit too tart, keep adding honey 1 tablespoon of honey until you reach your desired sweetness.

You can smooth out your sauce and remove the tartness by adding cream, butter, cream cheese, and/or grated cheese such as Parmesan.

My cranberry sauce is too sweet now that I taste it. How do I fix it? Add a splash of red wine or apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt to lessen sweetness.