Sauces
Cranberry Sauce
A bright, glossy sauce of fresh or frozen cranberries simmered with light brown sugar, orange zest and juice and a splash of ruby port until most of the berries burst. Ready in 15 minutes, it sets as it cools and keeps for a week, so it can be made well ahead of Christmas Day.
- Serves 8
- Makes about 450 ml
- Ready in 15 minutes
- Keeps a week in the fridge
- Freezes for 3 months
- British
Method
Put the sugar (100 g), orange juice (1 orange), port (75 ml) and cinnamon stick (1) in a medium saucepan. If you are not using port, use 75 ml extra orange juice or water instead. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil.
Add the cranberries (300 g) and a pinch of salt (pinch) and bring back to a simmer. Cook gently, stirring now and then, for 6–8 minutes for fresh berries or about 10 minutes for frozen, until most of them have popped and the sauce looks glossy but a few berries still hold their shape.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the orange zest. Taste: it should be sharp enough to cut through rich meat. Add a little more sugar if you prefer it sweeter, stirring until dissolved.
Remove the cinnamon stick and leave to cool. The sauce looks runny while hot but sets as it cools, because cranberries are naturally rich in pectin; do not keep boiling it or it will turn stiff and jammy.
Spoon into a bowl, cover and chill. Take it out of the fridge an hour before serving so it softens.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- Make ahead: it keeps in a covered container in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge. If it has set too firm, loosen it with a splash of water or orange juice and warm it gently.
- Cranberries are in the shops from October to December. Buy an extra bag and freeze it; frozen berries can go straight into the pan.
- Variations: add a peeled, chopped eating apple with the cranberries for a softer, sweeter sauce; swap the port for red wine, sloe gin or a splash of Marsala; or add a star anise or a few crushed cardamom pods with the cinnamon (remove them before serving).
- With a kick: stir a finely chopped red chilli and 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger into the hot sauce for a chutney-style relish that is good with cold ham and cheese.
- Leftovers: serve with cold turkey and ham, in sandwiches with Brie or Stilton, swirled into yogurt or spooned over vanilla ice cream.
How this recipe was developed
We compared cranberry sauce from Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver and Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street with the top-rated recipes on BBC Food, BBC Good Food and America’s Test Kitchen.
- Orange juice as the liquid. BBC Food’s cranberry sauce (4.9/5, 32 ratings) simmers the berries in sugar and fresh orange juice with grated zest; we use the same base.
- A splash of port. BBC Good Food’s simple port and cranberry sauce (4.7/5, 31 ratings) cooks the berries in port and light muscovado sugar. We keep a smaller amount so it is optional.
- Stop while some berries are whole. Every source warns that the sauce thickens as it cools; BBC Good Food cooks fresh berries for 8–10 minutes and frozen for about 5 once boiling, until tender but holding their shape.
- A pinch of salt. Christopher Kimball recommends adding a little salt to cranberry sauce, and America’s Test Kitchen’s simple cranberry sauce includes ¼ teaspoon; it softens the bitterness.
- Spice and apple variations. Gordon Ramsay starts with a caramel spiced with star anise and cardamom and adds apples, port and orange; Jamie Oliver uses apple, maple syrup, thyme and spiced rum. Both ideas are in our variations.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Gordon Ramsay: Cranberry Sauce
- Jamie Oliver: Cranberry sauce
- Christopher Kimball (Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street): 5 Ways to Upgrade Your Cranberry Sauce
- BBC Food (BBC Food team): Cranberry sauce (4.9/5, 32 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Sara Buenfeld): Simple port & cranberry sauce (4.7/5, 31 ratings)
- America's Test Kitchen: Simple Cranberry Sauce
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.