Simple Homemade Cranberry Sauce

A delicious and easy homemade cranberry sauce recipe that will elevate your holiday table! Naturally sweetened with honey, this cranberry sauce with orange juice and cinnamon is bursting with flavor and way better than canned.

Updated November 27, 2021

This homemade cranberry sauce with honey is perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner table. A refined sugar free cranberry sauce that is incredibly easy to make.

Ready in only 20 minutes, this colorful side dish is one of the easiest to make. If you are taking a side to a Thanksgiving meal, sign up for cranberry sauce and wow your family/friends with this recipe!

In my opinion, homemade always tastes better and this recipe is no exception. If you have always eaten canned cranberry sauce, you will be amazed at how simple it is to make and how much flavor bursts out of this little side dish!

What is in Cranberry Sauce?

There are 3 basic ingredients to making classic cranberry sauce:

• Cranberries
• Sugar
• Water

Traditional homemade cranberry sauce calls for white or brown sugar. I opted to keep this refined sugar free by using honey to sweeten it. Maple syrup, coconut sugar or sucanat would also work here.

Adding orange and cinnamon to cranberry sauce is what makes it truly stand out as a delicious side! Bursting with flavor, you will never buy the canned stuff again.

Ingredients for Homemade Cranberry Sauce With Honey:

• Fresh cranberries – Fresh are readily available in the produce section this time of year. If needed, you can grab a bag of frozen cranberries if fresh are unavailable.
• Navel orange – Zested and juiced. The addition of orange to cranberries really brightens the flavor and makes this sauce stand out.
• Honey – This recipe ditches highly processed sugars and uses honey to naturally sweeten the cranberries. Maple syrup, coconut sugar or sucanat would also work.
• Cinnamon stick – Adds just a little bit of warmth to the bright citrus flavors in this cranberry sauce. I love using a cinnamon stick to gently infuse the flavor. In a pinch, you can add 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon instead of the stick.

How to make Cranberry sauce with Honey

This side dish could not be easier to make!

1. Rinse and pick through the cranberries, removing any that are soft or have brown, mushy spots.
2. Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Most of the berries will have popped.
3. Remove the cinnamon stick and let cool.
4. Serve warm or chilled.

Can I make this the day before?

This is a perfect dish to make the day before you need it. After you make the sauce, cool and cover it, then place it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. It even freezes well if you want to have it ready well in advance.

Set out and bring to room temperature before serving.

Uses for Leftover Cranberry Sauce

• Make a holiday appetizer such as my Cranberry-Pecan Goat Cheese Bites
• Swirl into yogurt and top with Gingerbread Granola
• Spread on a sandwich with leftover turkey. Yum!
• Add to oatmeal or steel cut oats
• On top of toast spread with ricotta cheese

Did you make this recipe? Have any questions? Leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

More Holiday Recipes to Try:

• 3-Cheese Baked Macaroni
• Healthy Cranberry Apple Baked Oatmeal
• Roasted Carrot Souffle
• Roasted Cinnamon Butternut Squash
• Mistletoe Mimosa