Quick & Easy Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce made with fresh cranberries, orange juice, crisp apple, cinnamon, and brown sugar in 15 minutes! Perfect for Thanksgiving dinner!
Cranberry sauce is a classic Thanksgiving side dish.
I grew up eating canned cranberry sauce (or maybe it was called cranberry jelly 🤷♀️) and loved it. But you know me, as a dietitian mom, I just had to figure out a way to make my own cranberry sauce that tastes good with less sugar.
Let's just say this recipe was 'love at first bite,' and became a 'go-to' side dish for the holiday season!
And, in case you're wondering, I got the idea of adding fresh apples to help sweeten cranberry sauce from a friend's mom when I was in college. She came into town and cooked us a little holiday dinner to celebrate their Canadian Thanksgiving. It was so good!
To be clear, this is not classic cranberry sauce - it's even better! In fact, this tastes SO MUCH better than the canned cranberry sauce you find in the grocery store.
What sets this recipe apart from others is that it's made with fresh apples, oranges, and cinnamon, which makes it more of a spiced apple cranberry sauce. You're going to love it!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy Recipe With a handful of ingredients that are easy to find, you'll have the best cranberry sauce ready to serve for your next holiday meal in no time... 15 minutes to be exact!
- Simple Ingredients Fresh tart cranberries, orange juice, apple, cinnamon, water, and brown sugar. No sugar substitute or sugar-free sweeteners.
- Kid-Approved My pickiest eater loves this cranberry sauce so much that she asks to have it as a snack. Now that's saying something!
- Holiday Side Dish Just like a Thanksgiving fruit salad, homemade cranberry sauce is an easy side dish that blends perfectly with pretty much all of your holiday meals. 😍
- 'Healthy Cranberry Sauce' Using fresh apple and orange juice to make cranberry sauce is the key to adding a variety of nutrients while providing the perfect balance of tart and sweet without overdoing it on added sugar.
- Low Sugar This recipe provides 4 grams of sugar per serving, which meets the 'low sugar' criteria. 4g of sugar per serving is much less sugar than you will find in traditional cranberry sauce recipes.
Ingredient Notes
- Cranberries Beautiful in color and have a tart flavor. Cranberries are a great source of fiber as well as a variety of vitamins and other compounds, including anthocyanins. Whole fresh cranberries can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores during the holiday season, while frozen whole cranberries can be found in the frozen fruit section of the grocery store nearly year-round.
- Honeycrisp Apple Use apples that are sweet and delicious. Honeycrisp apples are typically larger than other sweet apples. Apples are a source of natural pectin, which helps to give the best sauce consistency without needing to add more brown sugar.
- Orange Juice Use any kind of orange juice. I prefer to use fresh orange juice for the best flavor. Feel free to add a little orange zest, too.
- Cinnamon Added for flavor. If you don't have ground cinnamon, let a cinnamon stick simmer with the cranberries and apples, then remove the cinnamon stick before mashing everything together.
- Brown Sugar Use brown sugar, not white sugar. A small amount of brown sugar balances out the tartness of the cranberries and helps give the cranberry sauce the consistency you expect.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Here is a quick overview of the steps to make this homemade cranberry sauce with less sugar. For a full list of ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card.
- Core and chop the apple into small pieces.
- Place apple pieces in a medium saucepan with one-quarter cup of water and cook over medium heat or medium-high heat for about five minutes. Use a wooden spoon to stir periodically. Once the apples are softened, combine cranberries and the softened apple pieces and continue to cook for another three minutes, until cranberries pop.
- Using a food masher, mash cranberries and apple together, reduce to low heat.
- Last, add orange juice, cinnamon, and brown sugar and mix well. Reduce the heat to medium-low or low and cook for an additional 2 minutes, or until all ingredients are well combined. Remove from heat and let cool.
Helpful Tips
- This recipe makes 16, 2-tablespoon servings. If you will be making this for a larger crowd, make a double batch.
- Leave the skins on the apple. There's no need to peel the apples.
- You can use fresh or frozen whole cranberries. Either way, you'll want to rinse them first.
- To reduce cooking time, cut the apple into smaller pieces.
- Orange juice is not a must in this recipe. If you make this without orange juice, you'll want to increase the amount of sugar.
- This recipe can be made a day or two ahead.
- If you like the flavor of orange zest, add one teaspoon of orange zest at the end, while the cranberry sauce is still hot.
- If you don't have fresh orange juice or don't like the flavor of oranges, use apple juice or apple cider instead.
- If you use a different kind of apple, like Gala apples, use two small apples instead of one large Honeycrisp apple. Only use Granny Smith apples if you like extra tart cranberry sauce.
- This is not a sugar-free cranberry sauce recipe. This recipe contains mostly natural sugar (from cranberries, an apple, and orange juice) with a touch of added sugar (from brown sugar).
Dietitian Tip
Using fresh fruit in place of sugar in recipes is an easy way to increase fruit consumption, add variety to your diet, and reduce the amount of added sugar.
For instance, the recipe ranked #1 when I searched for a homemade cranberry sauce recipe that calls for an entire cup of sugar per 4 cups of cranberries, which is more than double what this recipe calls for.
How to Use Leftover Cranberry Sauce
Believe it or not, homemade cranberry sauce makes a great side dish for more than a Thanksgiving turkey! 😍
- Side Dish Cranberry sauce makes a delicious side dish alongside Rosemary Pork Tenderloin, barbecue chicken, and creamed chicken. Yum!
- Spread Use cranberry sauce like you would jam or jelly when making sandwiches and turkey wraps. I love to add a layer of cranberry sauce when making a leftover turkey sandwich. It's the perfect complement to turkey and stuffing!!
- Appetizer There's nothing like cranberry sauce served with cheese and crackers, especially in the appetizer section of the holiday table.
- Snack This might sound strange, but two of my kids love to eat this cranberry sauce just the way it is, as a snack. Yes, I've even packed leftover cranberry sauce in their school lunches using a small container with a tight-fitting lid.
- Topping Use fresh cranberry sauce as a topping for vanilla ice cream or stir a tablespoon or two of it into cottage cheese.
Questions You May Have
Yes, it can! I usually make this cranberry sauce recipe a day or two ahead of time. Serve it chilled or at room temperature.
Yes! Fresh cranberry sauce freezes nicely.
Allow the cranberry sauce to cool completely before placing it in an airtight container or in a resealable freezer bag. Remove as much air as possible before freezing.
Fresh cranberries can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
I buy extra bags of fresh cranberries around the holidays and put the bags directly in my freezer so I can use them throughout the year.
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📖 Recipe
Low Sugar Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Medium Saucepan
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh cranberries Can use fresh or frozen whole cranberries. Rinse well.
- 1 Honeycrisp apple 1 large apple, or approximately 1½ to 2 cups chopped sweet apple (example: gala apple).
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Instructions
- Core, then chop the apple into small pieces.1 Honeycrisp apple
- Add chopped apple and water to a medium saucepan. Cook at medium heat for about 5 minutes, until softened.1 Honeycrisp apple , ¼ cup water
- Add cranberries to the cooked apples and stir. Continue to cook for about 3 minutes, until the cranberries start to pop.2 cups fresh cranberries
- When the cranberries start to soften and pop, mash cranberries and apples using a food masher.
- Add orange juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to combine and cook for an additional 2 minutes.¼ cup orange juice, 3 tablespoon brown sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Remove from heat and let cool.
- Optional: add 1 teaspoon of orange zest.
Notes
- Leave the skins on the apples. There is no need to peel the apples first.
- Honeycrisp apple can be substituted with a different sweet apple. However, because they are usually much larger than other apples, you may need more than one apple if using an apple like Gala.
- Cut apples into small pieces so they cook faster and blend in better with the cranberries.
- If using frozen cranberries, cook time will be a little longer.
- If you don't have orange juice, add a little more water and brown sugar.
- This recipe is easily doubled or tripled.
- Kids love leftover cranberry sauce served by itself, with crackers or pretzels, or as a side dish with dinner.
- Leftover fresh cranberries can be frozen in a resealable freezer-safe bag to be used later.
Melanie Anders says
I make this at Thanksgiving. Our family likes it so much that I have made it with other fall/winter meals
Kristi Ruth RD says
I'm so glad! I stock up on cranberries to keep in the freezer so I can make it whenever, too! Happy Thanksgiving!!