Spiced Cabernet Cranberry Sauce

I’m having a small Thanksgiving with just my husband and 2 friends this year, but I want everything I make to be extra special, and I can’t wait to serve this cranberry sauce!

I’ll be making my roasted duck instead of turkey, but everything else will be perfectly traditional. An Anjou pear and mushroom stuffing with baked goat cheese mashed potatoes, and my incredibly simple crispy roasted cauliflower with cheddar and parmesan!

For dessert, I’ll be making a cranberry apple crisp and debating whether or not mini-pumpkin pies will be served as well. Suffice it to say, I’ve told our guests to bring Tupperware for the left-overs.

Why This Recipe is Special

It’s an elegant spin on a classic recipe – It’s fun to spruce up traditional recipes and it really is incredible just how much more delicious a little cabernet make cranberry sauce.

It’s all natural – Unlike canned cranberry sauces, there are obviously no preservatives, no fake sugars, no dyes. Just delicious the delicious ingredients below.

It’s so easy to make – This recipe cooks up in a snap!

Ingredients Notes

cabernet wine – You can also use a Pino Noir, Merlot, Syrah, Pino Noir Malbec or Tempranillo.

lemon juice – (Not pictured above), you only need 1 teaspoon but it makes all the difference. It add some extra brightness that makes it sing.

cranberries – I used fresh cranberries, but you can also use frozen strawberries, once thawed.

orange – You’ll just be using the zest of an orange, but if you have an orange juicer, you can just juice the orange, and not buy extra juice. You only require 2 ounces of orange juice.

How to Make This Recipe – Step by step

1. Use a little cheese cloth to make a tiny bundle of 1 tsp. of cloves, and tie it with a string. You can also use a tea egg if you don’t have cheese cloth.

2. In a sauce pan, add 2 oz. Cabernet wine, 2 oz. orange juice, 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice, 4 oz. white granulated sugar, zest from one small orange (about a teaspoon), 2 cinnamon sticks, a pinch of nutmeg and the bundle of cloves. Bring to a simmer over MEDIUM heat. About 3 minutes.

3. Add 6 oz. cranberries (fresh or frozen) and allow to simmer for 10 minutes on LOW, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove from heat and pour everything, including cinnamon sticks and clove bundle, into a bowl or container to refrigerate for 1 hour. Don’t worry if it appears a little runny. It will gel as it cools. Remove cinnamon sticks and cloves after 1 hour.

Keep sauce refrigerated for up to a week and a half or freeze for up to 12 months. Thaw at room temperature when ready to serve.

A Few Tips

1. You can make this recipe with either frozen or fresh cranberries – just make sure they’re not too ripe.

You want to be sure your cranberries are nice and firm, not soft and mushy, before they go into the sauce pan. When they’re perfectly fresh, they’re just right, and frozen cranberries are frozen at the peak of freshness, so they’ll be just fine too.

2. Cranberries POP while simmering, so watch out!

Be aware that the cranberries will pop as they heat in the pan. They may not “explode” or burst in such a way that they’ll cause any harm, but they might splatter a little juice, so you may want to use a vented lid to safeguard your shirt.

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