Cranberry Sauce with Orange Zest Recipe

A bowl of homemade cranberry sauce with a slice of orange zest.

Cranberry Sauce w/ Orange Zest

The Recipe

Ingredients

Recipe Ingredients

12 oz of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp orange zest
1 cup water

Directions

Recipe Directions

Add all ingredients to a small or medium saucepan and stir.
Boil for at least 10 minutes and then reduce to medium/low heat until berries burst or soften.
Remove from heat and mash in a serving bowl. Cool at room temperature completely.
Optional: Refrigerate to serve cold, although sauce can be equally enjoyed hot, warm or chilled.

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Notes & Options:

There are lots of ways to modify this cranberry sauce to spruce it up, down or just change it to suit your palate. You can try:

– Using orange juice instead of water for a sweeter taste since cranberries are tart.
– Add 1/2 tsp each of cloves, all spice and ginger to the cranberry sauce if you want it holiday spicy-like.
– Adding more or less orange zest and even combining it with some lemon zest if you want a citrus explosion of flavors.
– Frozen cranberries may be used for this recipe as well. You’ll need about 2 cups of them and will likely have to reduce the water content a little as frozen berries often become watery when cooked.

Make it Healthy – Replace the sugar with granulated sweetener in this sauce. Replacing this one ingredient (sugar) will turn this recipe into a healthy, sugar-free snack instead of a sweet treat.

Enjoy