My mother loves homemade cranberry sauce, she always has. Me, I was a died-in-the-wool devotee of “the kind with the rings on it” from an early age and only discovered the beauty of homemade as an adult.
Since we only had cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving and at my grandmother’s house, I thought it was her “special” recipe. She always served it in an oval pressed glass dish, all sliced up and ready to go.
But for those of y’all who like it how my Mama does (and myself these days, too!), here is a handy little recipe that can be made up quick as a wink and is sure to impress – almost as much as the fact that you loved them enough to make it.
What’s The Difference Between Cranberry Sauce and Cranberry Relish?
People often ask, how Cranberry Sauce recipe is different from cranberry relish. The fact of the matter is cranberry sauce tends to be sweeter cuz it’s cooked. While cranberry relish is still tasty just not quite as sweet and it also is not cooked.
The Ingredients You’ll need for our Cranberry Sauce recipe are:
Sugar
Cranberries
Walnuts*
Crushed pineapple
Lemon juice
*You will only need one cup of crushed pineapple but I only had a large can so used that and ate the rest. ~sighs~ It’s a tough job 😉
*Walnuts are optional. Feel free to substitute pecans or leave the nuts out altogether if you like.
How to Make Homemade Cranberry Sauce Recipe
Drain pineapple juice into a cup.
Add enough water to make one cup of juice.
Now could use fresh cut pineapple if you can find it and it’s stored with the juices or you surely can buy a pineapple and juice some of it to use in this recipe.
If you have those means, do whatever cranks your trailer.
Place cranberries in medium to large sauce pot.
Add pineapple juice/water
Sugar is next.
Stir that up and bring it to a boil, stirring every now and then.
Continue boiling until all of the berries are popped and mixture is thickened.
You may actually hear them pop, which is pretty cool and impresses kids.
Once all of the berries are popped, remove from heat and add all other ingredients (including lemon juice).
Remember, if you’d rather not add nuts that is fine, too!
Ooh yum!
Pour your homemade cranberry sauce into bowl and allow to cool.
How Do I Know When It’s Ready to Serve?
Once cool the mixture will be “jelled” and resemble store bought cranberry cause in texture, but much more impressive in taste – because YOU made it!
Ingredients
- 12 oz Bag of fresh cranberries
- 1 cup Canned or fresh pineapple (reserve juice and use remaining pineapple later) If using fresh you will need to juice some
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Walnuts Nuts are optional
- 1 tsp Lemon juice
Instructions
- Drain pineapple juices into a measuring cup. Add water to make one cup of liquid
- Place cranberries, cup of liquid, and sugar into a medium saucepot. Stir
- Bring to a boil over medium heat until all cranberries have popped and mixture is thickened, stirring every now and then.
- Once all the cranberries are popped, removed from heat and add all other ingredients . Mix and pour into bowl and let cool. Once cool the cranberry sauce mixture will be jelled and ready to serve
Notes
Nutrition
You may also like these other cranberry recipes:
Cranberry Orange Meatballs Appetizer Anytime
Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of living.
~Kahlil Gibran
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Lots of folks are grateful to have you in their lives and I’m one of them. 🙂
I hope my Aunt Charlie sees this! ~hugs~
Gratefully,
Christy
I have an Aunt Charlie too and she’s a great cook! Hi to yours!
I might use this recipe this year. I have a great one but it’s much more complicated and being that this is my first year hosting (rather than just bringing the cranberries) something simpler might be in order.
OH Dear Christy
I got in to big a hurry, the phone rang right in the middle of me making this and I ended up using the ENTIRE can of pineapple. UGH!
I sure hope it turns out okay! 🙂
Mix a large box of raspberry jello in one and a half cups of boiling water and mix well. Allow to cool and add to the above recipe for a quick fix. I fix cranberry relish with fresh, chopped in food processor berries, one whole orange, 3/4 C. sugar and raspberry jello mixed with 2 cups of boiling water. Allow to cool and add to mixture. Is terrific. Can add crushed pineapple and nuts.
Christy, this recipe looks and sounds delicious, but I have to confess that I still love canned cranberry sauce. My mother always sliced it and put in in a special Christmas dish also. I do the same.
Alright now Darlene, please tell me I’m not the only one who likes to take canned cranberry sauce and moosh it up into my dressing….
~waits with baited breath~
I’m counting on y’all here! lol
I like mine mushed up in dressing on top of turkey in between a buttery, flakey croissant for the day after sammich! :o)
I just about passed out from sheer delight just thinking about that…
Wow I thought I was the only one to put it on a Turkey sandwich the day after…yum.
I do the same thing…lol…
As a child, we always had the canned cranberry sauce….and I love it 🙂
But your relish sounds so good. Thank you Christy!
<3
Hey Christy! I love your website! I also love the canned cranberry sauce. I don’t honestly believe I have ever had anything else! We eat it year around and anytime you eat at my granny’s house you will have it! My husband ( I refer to him as a city boy!) thinks that cranberry sauce is only to be served at holidays! Bless his heart!
P.S.-I like to eat mine with my mashed taters!!!
I love it the same way Christie.
I like my canned cranberry sauce mushed into my dressing too. I also like it sliced on pumpernickel or marble rye bread with cream cheese.
Yes ma’am, yes yes yes!!! I serve both canned and homemade cranberry relish, I feel like I need both!
I wonder if you could use brown sugar with this recipe?
As a rule, I’m the one who likes the real cranberry
sauce – that is, the kind that slides out of a can (lol), but this
recipe looks easy enough that even I couldn’t mess it up!
Thanks, again, Christy, for taking the mystery out of cooking!
Being able to see all the ingredients, and then the step-by-step
photos has made dinnertime planning much less burdensome for me!
Thanks for all you do! It’s a simple thing, but it means more
than you know!
Now Carla, you are asking a brown sugar L-O-V-E-R so YES, I’d definitely put brown sugar in if if you are inclined to. I’m actually kicking myself for not having done that now that you mention it!
You are so very sweet, thank you for your kindness! I have to admit its comments like this that keep me going! ll
Love and Gratitude,
Christy
Oh my gosh, this sounds SOOO good! I am trying to wean my ‘Bama boy off “the stuff with rings”! Oh, it is okay in a pinch, but this sounds so good (he loves pineapple) that we may just have a winner here! Thanks Christy!!!!
I love cranberry sauce in a can. I can make some cornbread dressing and eat on it forever. Well.. until I start to turn purple anyway.
I think I am the only one in the whole wide world who makes cranberry relish from uncooked cranberries. I have never, ever seen the recipe any where, but it is the BEST! Basically process your cranberries, a peeled, skinned orange, sugar and walnuts in a food processor and allow to sit for 24 hours so the flavors come together. It is YUMMY!
Not that I would refuse this version because this is almost exactly as my mother in law makes it. But I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year so I can have my cranberry relish the way I like it!
Hi Heather. You are not alone. My mother made a relish much the same way, but I don’t remember the nuts, and as I recall, her relish had some peel in it. Thanks for reminding me. =-)
I make a delicious cranberry sauce, 1 & 1-2 C cranberries, 1 large orange,rind intact, 1 C. white sugar (more or less to taste). 1 TBSP lemon juice.
Wash fruit and rind. Leave raw.Place all ingredients into food processor,rough chop.
Taste,adding more sugar if needed.
Refrigerate.
*** I make large batches, wash,sterilize, pint jars,lids,and rings.
Add relish,leave approx 1/2 inch headspace. Place lids/rings on jars hand tighten.Water bath,boiling water (lids covered) for 20 minutes. These are fantastic Christmas gifts,to send family members home with the delicious relish they had for Dinner.
I also make this uncooked cranberry relish–actually I make both kinds so there is a choice. I LOVE the uncooked kind. I make it with black walnuts (which I buy in the South when I go home and bring back with me to NY–I am a displaced Southerner).
I place a bag of cranberries, a quartered navel orange (with skin) & 1/2 cup white sugar into the food processor. I “pulse” till chopped. Then add walnuts………chill & it is yummy. No need to cook.
The navel orange skin is NOT bitter but gives a deeper orange taste. For those who want it sweeter, add more sugar!!
Heather, try this one. 1 cup cranberries (food processed), 1 orange, peeled, sectioned and processed, 1 apple, cored, cut up and processed. 1/2 cup sugar. mix together and leave overnight. old family recipe of ours. kids don’t like it, but I sure do. Christy, love your website. It is wonderfully set-up and the step by step is so helpful. Thank you so much and your family for giving up their time with you so you can help all of us.
I’m a die hard canned fan! My nanny always sliced it up and put it on a pretty dish. Now I do the same at Thanksgiving on one of her small relish dishes. 🙂
I’m always tempted to try making my own because it’s so pretty, but my hubby won’t touch the whole berry kind in a can so I’m not sure if he’ll go for this one. Maybe I’ll just splurge and have both. Can’t have too much food on Thanksgiving, right?
Mama has ALWAYS served both!!!
I love the pretty dishes!