Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce

More tart than sweet, you'll want to slather this ruby red condiment on more than just turkey...

No shade to canned cranberry jelly, but this Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce is simple and delicious — a no-brainer addition to your Thanksgiving table. It’s more tart than sweet (add more sugar if you must), with the right amount of bitter thanks to a blood orange, peel and all. It’s a little rustic, a little fancy, and (shhhhhhhh!) so easy. It also comes together in about 20 minutes—perfect for those of us who want our holiday sides to be effortless but still steal the show. Bonus: it doubles as a condiment for leftover turkey sandwiches and a topping for breakfast yogurt, pancakes and more.

You can toss a cinnamon stick in there, fresh ginger, or star anise if you must show off, but I’m perfectly happy letting the cranberry and blood orange do all the talking. If you can’t find blood oranges, a regular navel orange will work just as well (though the title won’t sound as dramatic.) The last selling point is that you can and should make this a couple of days ahead of time and keep it in the fridge. The chunks of orange rind jelly up nicely and you can steal spoonfuls as needed for yogurt, impromptu cheese boards, or ABCJ’s (almond butter and cranberry jelly sandwiches….yesssssss.)

Blood Orange Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 (12 oz) bag of fresh cranberries

• 1/3 cup water

• 4-6 tablespoons sugar (adjust to taste - I like mine xxx-tra tart with just 2 tablespoons)

• 1/4 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste

• 1 blood orange (or navel orange), halved and diced (peel and all)

• optional: 2 cinnamon sticks, 2-3 star anise, or 1/2 teaspoons freshly minced ginger

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, water, sugar, salt and pepper. Turn heat to medium and bring to a simmer.

   

2. While mixture heats up, cut the blood orange in half and then into a small dice (see video.)

3. Add the diced blood orange (pulp, pith and rind) to the cranberries and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally.

   If you want, you can toss a cinnamon stick, fresh ginger, or some star anise in at this point. Cook for about 20 minutes on low heat, or until the cranberries begin to burst and the sauce thickens. Make sure to stir occasionally so the sauce doesn’t burn on the bottom.

4. Taste the sauce and adjust the sugar to your liking, stirring to dissolve any added sugar.

5. Remove from heat and let the sauce cool to room temperature. It will thicken as it cools.

Serve alongside your holiday meal or as a topping for desserts, sandwiches, yogurt, pancakes, french toast, etc.. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Like it? If so, I’d love for you to share, give it a like ❤️, and/or let me know what you think. Your feedback is important and can spark many ideas. Thanks!