Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce Recipe with Sweet Cherries (2024)

For years now, we have simply plopped down one of those blobs of canned Cranberry Sauce on our Holiday Table and called it good. Well, NO MORE! This year I actually made a homemade Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce and it's a whole lot easier than you think!

Not only does it taste OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD.....you get to listen to the little cranberries POP when you cook them!

I know - it doesn't take much to entertain a food blogger.

Fresh cranberries, sweet cherries, a few dates, a cinnamon stick, some spices, and a little orange juice and zest - and you have the simplest holiday recipe ever.

And it tastes SO GOOD compared to that blob of jelly in a can. And did I mention it's sugar-free???

I looked at a few traditional recipes on the big, wide, interweb and good lord the amount of sugar they use in their recipes! I could feel my insulin spike just reading about it!

This recipe uses NO refined sugar, but rather the natural sweetness from the dates, the cherries, and the orange juice. It's got plenty of natural sweetness this way but yet has just enough tartness leftover for a little pucker.

My wife said it was so good it could be used for pie filling! Lol, maybe in another recipe.

So are your Holiday Plans set in stone yet? Got room for a homemade sugar-free Cranberry Sauce that everyone will be sure to love? It only takes about 15 minutes to whip up a batch...so why not?

But....you will have to soak some dates....so be prepared for that. Whoops...looks like I'm getting ahead of myself.... so let's quit yammerin' and go make some Cranberry Sauce...

Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce

As I was saying, you're gonna need a handful of dates. I like the Medjool Dates, so grab about 6 of them and toss them in some hot water for about an hour or so to let them soften. The longer the better. And if they have the pit, be sure and remove them eventually.

Next, rinse a 12oz bag of fresh cranberries, in case there's any bog left on them, and toss them into a large pan.

Next, I added about 1 cup of frozen Dark Sweet Cherries. I buy the Private Select brand from our local Fred Meyer (Kroger).

Next, use a zester tool to collect about 1 tablespoon of Orange Zest. I chose an organic orange just for this purpose. We'll also need about 1 cup of orange juice, so feel free to squeeze the juice from this orange as well, but we'll probably need to add a little store-bought orange juice too.

Here is a really cool zester I found on Amazon. It makes the really long strips of zest and I'm truly thinking of ordering one for myself. And as always, as an Amazon Associate, I do earn from qualifying purchases but at no extra cost to you.

Add the zest to the pot with the cranberries and cherries but save the cup of orange juice for later.

Now we just add a few spices, the entire list of which is down below in the recipe box but feel free to tweak them or add your own.

So we have the cranberries, cherries, orange zest, and spices in the pan. All that's left now is the orange juice and the soaked dates. I added the dates and juice to my blender and pureed it until it was super smooth, then added that into my pan.

Bring the heat up to med-high and you will soon hear the little cranberries pop as they split. Again, I thought it was kind of fun to watch. Just don't put your face down too close...one might pop out at ya. 😉

One they begin poppin' and rockin', turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and let that go about 10 minutes. It will look a little thin but trust me it will thicken up as it cools.

After 10 minutes or so you can remove the pan from the heat and taste for any adjustments. A pinch of salt may be all it needs, or if you like your Cranberry Sauce a little bit sweeter, you could maybe add another pureed date or a few more cherries - up to you.

That's it!

Super easy, super tasty, homemade Sugar-Free Cranberry Sauce - just in time for the Holiday Table.

Be sure and comment to let me know how it went and in the meantime, I'll be here working on at least one more Holiday Recipe before the big day.

Can you believe it's almost here? Yikes! See ya soon!

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