Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce is an easy, traditional dish that can elevate any holiday meal. Fresh cranberries slow cooked together with orange juice and rind combine to make a wonderful treat!
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They say the devil is in the details. Well, sometimes just remembering to pay attention to the details is devilish. Cranberry sauce is one of those holiday dinner details I always seem to remember about at the last minute.
Until this recipe!
📃Shopping list
To make this simple dish you will need:
- fresh cranberries
- sugar
- water
- orange juice
- cinnamon sticks
- orange peel
🔪Instructions
This great recipe just involves a few simple steps:
Preparing Your Slow Cooker
Prepare your slow cooker by coating it with a non-stick agent. Any nonstick cooking spray or oil will work. Olive oil and avocado oil are my go-to coatings.
NOTE: some slow cooker inserts come with a nonstick surface. Use of a non-stick agent is still suggested. However, oil is sometimes recommended rather than spray to protect the longevity of the non-stick surface. Check your slow cooker's manual if you have any concerns.
Alternatively, you can choose to use a slow cooker liner.
Cooking
- 🍒 Rinse your cranberries in cool water and remove any that are not in good condition
- 🍒 Place rinsed cranberries into greased slow cooker.
- 🍒 Add sugar, water, orange juice, cinnamon sticks, and orange peel to your slow cooker and give it a good stir
- 🍒 Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours
- 🍒 After cooking time, use the back of a silicone or wooden spoon to crush your cranberries. (They will make a very satisfying pop!)
- 🍒If you would like to thicken your sauce, cook for an additional 3- 60 minutes with the lid off.
- 🍒 Allow sauce to cool and remove cinnamon stick and any larger pieces of orange peel.
Nothing in a can -can compare to this homemade slow cooker cranberry sauce recipe. So - I now make it a week or two in advance of the holiday season and freeze it.
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🍽️Serving suggestions
This is not just the best cranberry sauce recipe for your holiday table. It can also be used in many other dishes
- As a topping for pancakes, waffles, French toast, or ice cream
- Mixed into cottage cheese, yogurt, or oatmeal
- As a sauce ingredient for dishes such as Cranberry Turkey London Broil
- As a sweet, tart side for a cheese plate
🔄Substitution ideas
- White sugar can be replaced with brown sugar for a deeper more intense flavor
- Vanilla extract can be added for a more mellow finished dish
- Apple juice can replace orange juice for a sweeter, less tart addition
Storing sauce
Place leftover cranberry sauce into an airtight container or ziplock bag to store. This easy recipe will last about a week or so in the refrigerator and a few months in the freezer.
When serving sauce that has been frozen, allow to defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
If you love this recipe...
Please let me know in the comment section below!
❓❓Why Use a Slow Cooker
I can't think of any reason NOT to make this in a slow cooker! However, here are some reasons why your crockpot is best for this dish:
- By making this dish yourself, you know exactly what goes into it. Absolutely nothing artificial and no preservatives here!
- Slow cooking tends to bring out flavors differently than other kinds of cooking. In this case, the flavors of cinnamon and slightly bitter orange zest add to the overall flavor.
- Using your crockpot leaves more oven space or stovetop space allowing more room for Christmas dinner and Thanksgiving classics
- When cooking in your crockpot, you can use either parchment paper or a slow cooker liner leaving you with virtually zero clean up!
- Crockpots are a great way to cook with children!
😉Hints & Hacks
- If you want to thicken up your sauce a bit, cook for about half an hour with the lid off.
- This dish freezes really well. This fact makes cranberry sauce the perfect make-in-advance dish. One less thing to worry about on the day of!
- This is a great dish to gift to anyone who is hosting you for a holiday meal. It is delicious served with turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, and, of course, stuffing!
- Cooking for a large crowd? This dish can be easily doubled. You will not need to increase the cooking time.
- Slow cooker liners are an optional but helpful hack whenever using a crockpot. They allow you to cook with little to no cleanup. I like to buy mine in bulk for a better per-piece price.
- In the market for a new slow cooker? I love mine!!
📖 Recipe
Lazy Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
All nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
Equipment
- 3.5 quart slow cooker or larger
- measuring cups
- slow cooker liner or parchment paper (optional)
Ingredients
- 24 oz fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1 large or two small cinnamon sticks
- ½ orange peel
Instructions
- rinse c24 oz fresh cranberries off in cool water and place in slow cooker24 oz fresh cranberries
- add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup orange juice and stir to combine1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, 1 cup orange juice
- bury larger pieces of ½ orange peeland 1 large or two small cinnamon sticks in cranberry mixture1 large or two small cinnamon sticks, ½ orange peel
- cover and cook on low 6-8 hours.
- after at least 5 hours of cooking, use a large spoon to smash some (or all - your choice) of the cranberries.
- For a thicker sauce, leave cover off of crockpot and continue to cook for an additional 30-60 minutes
- Remove orange peel and cinnamon stick
- Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition information shown here is automatically generated and should be considered an estimate. If you follow a specific diet, please calculate your own values to ensure accuracy.
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Ellen says
Great recipe. Can ‘t wait to try it.