This Spiced Cranberry Sauce for the holidays is sweet, tart, and warmed up with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. From start to finish, the recipe takes only 20 minutes and will add beautifully to your Thanksgiving and/or Christmas table.
After I eat something sweet, I crave something salty.
And my favorite is to have sweet and salty all in one bite.
This is exactly why I think adding cranberry sauce to your holiday spread is essential.
Listen, I know you have dozens upon dozens of cranberry sauce recipes to choose from, and here's why I hope you'll chose mine.
Two good reasons: it's super quick and easy to make, and the delicious addition of the spices makes it unique.
- These Spiced Cranberries take twenty minutes to make, from start to finish.
- Cinnamon, cardamom and cloves -- these three spices are typically combined with other spices to make a chai spice blend. This combination of spices adds warmth to almost anything it's added to, bringing it to another level.
The Ingredients
- fresh cranberries - During the fall and winter seasons, fresh cranberries should be available in the produce section of most markets. If it's off season, they'll be in the freezer section.
- water
- ground cinnamon
- ground cloves
- ground cardamom
- sugar
(See recipe card below for quantities.)
How to Make it
- Rinse the cranberries in a collander.
- Then, combine them with all of the other ingredients in a small saucepan.
- Place the saucepan over low heat and simmer until the cranberries have broken and become soft, and the liquid has thickened. This should take about 20 minutes.
The spice mix: cardamom, cinnamon and cloves.
Recipe Tips, Substitutions and Variations
- Add citrus juice and zest. If you want to add a little tang to your cranberry sauce, use orange juice instead of water, and add about 1 teaspoon of orange or lemon zest.
- Add orange segments. I love adding beautiful orange segments. Here's how to cut citrus for adding it this recipe. You can also use mandarin oranges from a can, drained.
- The spices in this recipe make it interesting and different, and you can change them up if you'd like, adding just one or two, or more or less of them.
- This is not a super sweet cranberry sauce. Feel free to add more or less sugar if you like sweeter or less sweet.
- Can you use frozen cranberries? Yes you can use frozen cranberries. Just be sure to thaw them before starting the recipe. (If once thawed there is excess liquid, drain them.)
- The longer the cranberry sauce sits after it's cooked, the thicker it will become.
Serving Suggestions
Of course cranberry sauce is expected at Thanksgiving and/or Christmas, however -- whether you're celebrating -- or not, this will add beautifully to almost any meal.
Savory gravy, cornbread stuffing with mushrooms and bacon wrapped turkey are simply a bit more delicious with a sweet spiced cranberry sauce. Not to mention how beautifully the vibrant red color will add to your table.
Can you make it ahead?
Absolutely. You can make this spiced cranberry sauce recipe up to one week ahead.
Once it's made, cool it to room temperature, cover and refrigerate. (Bring it back to room temperature before serving.)
What to do With Leftover Spiced Cranberry Sauce
- Like most cranberry sauces, this spiced version is amazing in a grilled cheese sandwich! Especially with a brie grilled cheese.
- You can warm spiced cranberry sauce and spoon it over vanilla bean ice cream.
- And you can also make my Cranberry Sauce Muffins or Balsamic Cranberry Vinaigrette.
I hope you love this spiced cranberry sauce, along with all the other Thanksgiving and holiday recipes.
Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Combine ingredients. In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients.
- Simmer. Place the saucepan over low heat and simmer until the cranberries have broken and become soft, and the liquid has thickened. This should take about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Serve. Serve warm or cold.
NOTES
NUTRITION
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Diane
Ooooo!! This is WONDERFUL!!
I bring homemade cranberries to our TG get together, every year. I just made this recipe and WOW! Omgoodness! The cardamom is beautiful and brilliant! Touché!!
valentina
Thanks so much, Diane. I'm so happy you tried this recipe and are happy with it. Your timing is impeccable -- I just took mine off the stove! 🙂 I wish you a very Happy (and delicious) Thanksgiving!
Eha
Well, cranberries are not exactly an ingredient easily sourced Down Under but should I come upon them your simple bit very attractive recipe has already been filed. Definitely not for the grand holidays most of which I usually do not keep. As a child I was brought up on Northern European lingonberry preserve to go with everything, so the idea is attractive . . .
Gerlinde@Sunnycovechef
I think I will try your recipe for my Christmas dinner. I like all the spices and it doesn’t have a whole lot of sugar.
valentina
Thanks so much. I hope you love it! Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂
Healthy Kitchen 101
Sweet and salty in one bite is terrific! I just made a big jar of cranberry sauce last week but it's a mix of sweetness and sourness. Next time I will try your ingredients. It must be tasty!
- Natalie
valentina
Thanks Natalie! So great you already have a jar of yours ready! Cheers! 🙂
David
For us, it isn’t Thanksgiving unless Mark makes his famous cardamom-scented cranberry sauce. I will show him your recipe… Maybe he’ll want to make a few other additions! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. 🧡
valentina
Cardamom is my favorite of all of the spices in this! Hope your feast is fun and delicious! 🙂
Ron
That spice blend sound perfect with cranberries. Only problem is we don't see cranberries here, but we do have lingonberries, which are very similar. I have some whole berries in the freezer from this year’s harvest that I could use for this. Do you think frozen would work?
valentina
Hi Ron, Yes! I would thaw them first, though. I would love to try it with lingonberries. So pretty!
David @ Spiced
I love, love, love sweet + salty combos, too, Valentina! I must admit that I've never made my own cranberry sauce, though. Thanksgiving is over, but these flavors are totally appropriate for the rest of the holiday season. I'm making this one sometime soon for sure! You sold me with the bit of ground cloves in there. Yum!
valentina
Thanks, David. Yes, the holiday season is young -- lots of cooking time left! 🙂
valentina
Orange juice is a delicious substitute, or you can use water and another tablespoon or so of sugar to the recipe. Yes, delicious over melting brie! Enjoy and thanks for visiting. Happy Holidays!
Nadira Shaikh
I love, love, love sweet + salty combos, too, Valentina! I must admit that I’ve never made my own cranberry sauce, though. Thanksgiving is over, but these flavors are totally appropriate for the rest of the holiday season. I’m making this one sometime soon for sure! You sold me with the bit of ground cloves in there. Yum!
valentina
Hi Nadira, Thank you so much for this lovely note. I hope you try and love this recipe. 🙂 ~Valentina
Donna
My own recipe is similar, I use orange juice and zest, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, sugar and add acacia honey. At the very end, I add a splash of Chambord.
valentina
Hi Donna. This sounds fabulous -- The Chambord is brilliant! Happy Thanksgiving!
Judee
Looks beautiful and sounds delicious. You got me at the cinnamon, cardamom and cloves. Yum. Visiting from Gluten Free A-Z Blog
valentina
Hi Judee, Thanks so much for visiting and checking out this recipe. Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂 ~Valentina