Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Ready for the best cranberry sauce recipe that is not only easy but healthy? We have tried this Spiced Cranberry Sauce with the Porcini Mushrooms Stuffing in warm Rosemary Christmas Bread Buns, and it is heaven! This gem is the best fresh cranberry sauce we have tried!

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Although Cranberry Sauce is associated with Thanksgiving dinner and the holiday table, we crave them year-round. We use it for our breakfast fruit bowls and topping for porridge (warm oatmeal), just as we would use our applesauce.

It is also a staple in our Thanksgiving table and we love cranberry sauce and pairing it with our easy vegan buttermilk and gluten-free cornbread recipe with vegan chili, and vegan pumpkin pie, made with a 5-minutes pumpkin spice mix and the no-roll vegan pie crust.

If you love the fall season and all its yummy produce recipes, you may love our compilation of fall season recipes.

Ingredients

This healthy cranberry sauce has the right and simple spiced to make it perfectly suitable for all your guests, with a couple of secrets that will make it memorable.

• Dried cranberries
• Fresh ginger
• Cinnamon stick
• Nutmeg
• Maple syrup
• Cloves

Optionally the two ingredients will take it to the NEXT LEVEL: English Breakfast Black tea and one clementine or one orange (use the orange juice and orange zest).

Making a healthy cranberry sauce is easy. We don't use white sugar or brown sugar. We replace it with maple syrup and use only spices, which a calorie-free. Then we use clementine or orange juice, more added natural sweetener power.

See quantities and full instructions in the recipe card.

Instructions

If you don't have much time making cranberry sauce, worry not! To make homemade cranberry sauce, you need no experience to make an exceptional one. Start by:

Step 1. Hydrate the dried cranberries with a teabag of your preferred tea for five minutes (we like English breakfast tea). If not using tea, hydrate the cranberries using warm water.

Step 2. Heat a medium saucepan and add the cranberries with its water. If using the clementine or orange, add the freshly squeezed juice and zest, the cinnamon, sticks, and cloves. Bring to a boil over medium heat stirring occasionally.

Once the cranberries start to wilt, add the grated ginger, nutmeg and simmer further. You can add water if the cranberries are drying too much.

Step 3. Final touches. Add the maple syrup (or agave) and briefly simmer.

Remove the cinnamon stick and the cloves, and there you go, you have your own cranberry sauce, which is healthy, delicious, and quickly done in minutes.

As you can see, making cranberry sauce is a breeze!

Variations

Cranberries - instead of dried cranberries, you can use fresh or frozen cranberries or even canned stuff. You won't need to hydrate them before using them. I find fresh cranberries to be a little more acid, so you may need to adjust the sweetness.

Citrus - we love the citrusy notes that clementines provide, but you can use orange juice if you prefer making cranberry-orange sauce. You can even use lemon juice. The orange peel is excellent because you can use the orange zest to add an even more complex and unique flavor. You can even use bottled orange juice.

Some people like adding orange liqueur or Grand Marnier, which adds an interesting note. If doing so, make sure you add it at the beginning of the simmering process so the alcohol evaporates.

Ginger - if you don't have fresh cranberry, you can use candied ginger and hydrate it along with the dried cranberries. You can even use ground ginger; just adjust the seasoning accordingly to your liking.

Spices - you can play with the spices, and instead of using ginger and cinnamon sticks, use 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice mix. If you do so, add them one at a time and taste. Pumpkin pie spice has in it the four main spices present in this cranberry sauce recipe: cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

Pro Tip: you can make cranberry sauce simply using cranberries, pumpkin spice, tea bag, and citrus. Voilà! That's the easiest way to make homemade cranberry sauce.

For my cranberry sauce recipe, I like using fresh ingredients like freshly grated ginger, cinnamon sticks, and cloves, but sometimes you put convenience on top of nostalgia!

Storing

You can freeze cranberry sauce. This fresh cranberry sauce freezes and thaws perfectly well. Just leave it in the refrigerator overnight before using it.

I like to use leftover cranberry sauce on top of my Homemade Granola Bowls and use it both on my Oats and Chia Pudding or Breakfast Fruit Bowl as an option when we run out of fresh fruit.

Tips for using

Apart from enjoying this delicious sauce on Holidays, you can also enjoy it year-round.

Pair the Cranberry Sauce with some nice Vegan Bread Buns or in your morning breakfast fruit bowl.

Not only does it adds a beautiful flavor but some delicious spices to our mornings... and spices are great for our health!

Health benefits of cranberries

These bitter and sour fruits have some profound benefits. Cranberries are superfoods as they are high in antioxidants and have compounds that may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.

They may also:

Help with gut and urinary tract health, keep your mouth healthy and improve eyesight and cardiovascular health.

More Vegan Sauce Recipes

• Creamy Vegan Sauce
• Vegan Arugula Pesto
• 5-Minutes Vegan Basil Pesto
• 3 Ingredients Pasta Sauce

Our suggested Vegan Christmas Menu Post

• Truffled Mashed Potatoes
• Green Beans with Flaked Toasted Almonds
• Vegan Sweet Potato and Eggplant Casserole
• Onions Stuffed with Porcini Mushrooms and Christmas Stuffing
• Christmas Rosemary Bread Buns

If you try any of these recipes, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!

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Food safety

We sometimes take for granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking points to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.

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