Classic Chunky Cranberry Sauce

Chunky cranberry sauce lovers, this one’s for you: with a thick and chunky texture and the perfect balance of tart and sweet (well, I think it’s perfect, but the beauty of this recipe is you can customize it to your personal tastes!) This tried-and-true recipe requires only a few ingredients, minimal prep, and under 15 minutes of time from start to finish!

Make this classic recipe your go-to cranberry sauce, and use it as a foundation for your own inspired creation—a choose-your-own-adventure cranberry sauce if you will. The only limit is your imagination!

Homemade cranberry sauce is one of my favorite parts of the holidays. The intense tartness is the perfect contrast to the rich, fatty flavors and textures on the rest of your plate. I like to get a bit of cranberry sauce with each and every bite.

Another thing I love about cranberries are their versatility: there are so many complementary flavors that go with this unique fruit, from savory winter spices to sweet summer berries, zesty citrus to spicy peppers and sultry liqueurs (just take a walk down the cranberry juice aisle in your local market and it will be obvious that cranberry goes with just about anything).

That means that I can make a different kind of cranberry sauce every year and never get bored.

But still, there’s something to be said for the classic, with the perfect balance of sweetness, and a hint of lemon to compliment the natural tannins in the cranberries.

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The question is: are you team chunky-homemade cranberry sauce or team jellied-from-the-can? Chances are your Thanksgiving table is probably split right down the middle, with both sides staunchly arguing for their candidate of choice. Such a heated debate has ruined many a Thanksgiving.

While this recipe is intended for the chunk-ocrats among us, if you happen to identify with the jelly-can party (or have dinner guests who do), don’t worry, I have a recipe for that too which you can find in my book, That’s My Jam. It’s a recipe that will please the canned-cran lovers but still bring that homemade touch to the table. Might I suggest making a batch of both?

If you’d rather not make two batches of sauce, you can follow this recipe but run the mostly-cooked cranberries through a food mill for a smoother, saucier texture (not quite jellied—it needs more pectin for that—but it might be the perfect compromise!) Return to the stovetop and cook a few minutes longer to thicken. You’ll end up with a batch of beautifully saucy, spoonable deliciousness that should please just about everyone!

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The Cranberry Edition mini eBook is filled with 8 of my favorite cranberry sauce recipes (including this recipe, my homemade jellied cranberry sauce recipe, 6 other unique flavor combinations AND a bonus recipe for sugared cranberries), just in time for Thanksgiving! Free with any That’s My Jam purchase!

Oh, sugar sugar.

Feel free to adjust the sugar to taste, though it is already a lower quantity than most cranberry sauce recipes out there as I tend to prefer my cranberry sauce on the tart side (conversely, you can use up to 1 cup of sugar if you like it sweeter).

You can also swap the sugar for a liquid or alternative sweetener like honey, agave, or maple syrup (the general rule is about 75% liquid for the equivalent amount of sugar, so you’d want to use about 3/8 cup of honey/etc in place of the 1/2 cup sugar as called for in the recipe, but again, this is flexible so I’d go by taste more than anything).

I personally like to use an organic sugar (which has a touch of molasses flavor) or even something like raw/turbinado sugar (which would have even more molasses flavor), or you can add a teaspoon or two of actual molasses (go easy as it is a strong flavor that can easily overpower). I think that hint of molasses really complements the cranberries beautifully!

Using frozen cranberries? No need to thaw, just dump them in the pot with the water and proceed as instructed!

Choose Your Own Cran-venture

This is a very simple recipe for a reason (think of it is a foundation upon which you can build the cranberry sauce of your dreams) and can be adapted in any number of ways.

Truly, the sky is the limit when it comes to adapting and expanding on this recipe! (Actually if we’re being honest there are limits because while cranberry is an incredibly versatile flavor—you only have to look at the cranberry juice aisle for that—there are a few ingredients that probably shouldn’t be combined with cranberry, but you get the idea.)

Looking for more Thanksgiving menu inspiration? Browse all my past Thanksgiving recipes — from stuffing and potatoes to gravy and pies galore, I’ve got you covered!

But can it be canned?

Yes! With the caveat that if you are making a batch of this cranberry sauce with the intention to water bath can it for long-term storage, stick to the proportions as written (don’t reduce the lemon juice in particular and I’d recommend not reducing the sugar either).

That said, if you’re not canning it (and it’ll store beautifully in the fridge for a week or so and can also be frozen!) you don’t have to worry about acidity and water activity and such, so feel free to go crazy and adapt it any which way you please!

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