I Am now a believer
Thanksgiving is fast approaching and there are just some dishes you know have to be on the table. One of them typically is cranberry sauce. We’ve decided to dress ours up a bit by making our homemade blood orange cranberry sauce.
I used to hate cranberry sauce and that was because my parents always chose the stuff out of the can. So when my husband suggested making it for Thanksgiving, I was pretty adamant about not trying it. That is until he made it from scratch. Beautiful, vibrant, tart, and sweet all at once. Even my parents were blown away. I’ll be honest, I was a little mad at them for not trying this sooner growing up.
Before my husband, I had never experienced it this way and I will never go back. Now, I put the blood orange cranberry sauce on just about everything on my Thanksgiving plate and we believe with this recipe, you’ll want to do the same. Guess what? You don’t have to stop at just making sauces with this. We’ll link some more recipes that use this blood orange cranberry sauce as we go, that’s how much we love this one.
I don’t know about your cranberry bag but ours is putting in a little work! The back of the bag tells us all the good stuff that comes with cranberries. For example, cranberries are packed with antioxidants and can help prevent urinary tract infections and certain cancers (verified by MedicalNewsToday as well). We’ll be adding this to our diet more often!
so Easy you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before
Before you start this quick and simple recipe, we thought you might want to know that we have more recipes that use this sauce coming up! We have a simple syrup that comes from this same process so keep an eye out in the directions for this sauce.
- Place the blood oranges on the cutting board and use a paring knife to peel the exterior. Set aside 3 large peels. Slice the blood oranges in half. Use the handheld juicer over a bowl to squeeze out the blood oranges from these halves. You’ll need about 1/2 cup or 91 grams of blood orange.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the blood orange juice, orange peels, bottled orange juice, star anise, cinnamon stick, ground cinnamon, and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil until sugar dissolves.
- Reduce heat to a simmer and add the cranberries. Simmer on medium heat until cranberries begin to pop, 10 minutes approximately. Stir and remove from heat. OPTIONAL: Once the cranberries begin to pop (about 5 minutes into the simmer), you can gather a few tablespoons of liquid (about 1/4 cup) with a spoon and scoop the liquid into a bowl for a blood orange cranberry simple syrup. We have a drink we think you’ll like coming up!
- We recommend chilling for at least 2 hours. Before serving, remove spices and peels. Enjoy!
answers Just for you
How long will the blood orange cranberry sauce last in the fridge?
Store in a container and it will last 10-14 days in the fridge. This means you can make it in advance of Thanksgiving Day or any other event!
How do I know if I’ve overcooked my cranberry sauce?
It will be pretty thick due to the pectin released from the cranberries. You’ll want some cranberries to be slightly split open but not all. If this happens, add 1 TBS of water or orange juice at a time, and taste as you go!
Should I serve the cranberry sauce hot or cold?
We recommend chilling the sauce for at least two hours before serving but the preference is entirely up to you. We like to sneak spoonfuls from the pot at the end of cooking the sauce so really we could go either way.
Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Medium saucepan
- 1 Wooden or plastic large spoon
- 1 Paring Knife
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 or 91 grams of Blood oranges
- ½ Cup Orange juice
- 2 Star Anise
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- ½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 3 Blood orange peels
- ½ Cup Granulated sugar
- 12 oz Fresh or frozen cranberries in a bag
Instructions
- Gather the ingredients. To start, place the blood orange on the cutting board and use a paring knife to peel the exterior. You'll need about 3 large peels
- Slice the blood oranges in half. Use the handheld juicer over a bowl to squeeze out the blood oranges from these halves. You'll need about 1/2 cup or 91 grams of blood orange
- In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add the blood orange juice, orange peels, regular orange juice, star anise, cinnamon stick, ground cinnamon, and sugar. Bring mixture to a boil until sugar dissolves
- Reduce heat to a simmer and add the cranberries. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes approximately. Stir and remove from heat.OPTIONAL: Once the cranberries begin to pop (about 5 minutes into the simmer), you can gather a few tablespoons of liquid (about 1/4 cup) with a spoon and scoop the liquid into a bowl for a simple syrup. We have a drink we think you'll like coming up!
- We recommend chilling for at least 2 hours. Before serving, remove spices and peels. Enjoy!
Did you try this?
Drop us a comment down below if you made our blood orange cranberry sauce!