Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice

Cranberry orange sauce is a mouthwatering holiday cranberry sauce with subtle citrus flavor from orange juice and orange zest. Quick, easy, and made for Instant Pot or stove!

It's not a holiday without turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and healthy green bean casserole. Make fresh cranberry sauce with orange juice your new favorite Thanksgiving condiment.

Cranberry sauce with orange juice is my favorite way to make homemade cranberry sauce for holiday dinner. The orange juice adds acidity which brightens and balances the tart and sweet flavors of fresh cranberry sauce. If using whole oranges, zest it and add the orange zest to the recipe. The zest adds a pop of color, a subtle hint of bitter flavor, and makes it perfectly balances. Cranberry orange sauce complements savory holiday holiday turkey and stuffing like no other.

Ingredients

Ingredient amounts are listed in printable recipe card below.

• fresh cranberries - Fresh or frozen cranberries work perfectly for this recipe.
• orange juice - Use store bought orange juice or the juice (and zest) from a whole orange. It's perfectly fine if you don't use orange zest in your cranberry sauce.
• sugar - I prefer cane sugar for cranberry sauce, but you can use brown sugar or raw sugar for this recipe.

Cranberry sauce with orange juice step by step

Printable instructions are listed in recipe card below.

Step 1: Place fresh cranberries, orange juice, orange zest (if available), and sugar in a 3 quart soup pot over medium high heat.

(Get the pressure cooker instructions in the recipe card below).

Step 2: Bring everything to a boil until the cranberries start to pop. Remove from heat, mash some of the cranberries, and let the sauce sit at room temperature about 30 minutes. It will naturally thicken as it cools.

Step 3: Allow to cool completely and refrigerate in an airtight container up to 7 days. Serve chilled.

Recipe tips

• If using frozen cranberries, there's no need to thaw them before making cranberry sauce with oranges. Use them in this recipe the same as fresh cranberries that aren't frozen.
• The main advantage to using freshly squeezed orange juice is that you can zest the orange before juicing it, and add it to the recipe. Otherwise, bottled orange juice will make your cranberry sauce just as delicious.
• You can make cranberry sauce without orange juice by simply substituting water for the orange juice. In this case, you would be making a classic cranberry sauce.
• You can freeze cranberry sauce up to three months in freezer-safe storage containers, or even longer if it's vacuum-sealed. To thaw, transfer it to the refrigerator 12-24 hours before serving.

Pressure cooker cranberry orange sauce

Place all ingredients in a 3 qt or 6 qt cooker. Lock the lid and pressure cook on HIGH for 2 minutes, followed by a 10 minute natural pressure release. Proceed with steps 3-4 in the recipe below.

Essential holiday recipes

• Baked Turkey Breast (or Air Fried Turkey Breast)
• 10 Minute Gravy
• Mashed Potatoes
• Cranberry and Apple Crisp