🍒✨ Maple Syrup Orange Cranberry Sauce | Fresh & Easy

Mary Draper
Nov 28, 2023
2 min read

Updated: Dec 4, 2025

You have no excuses to use canned gelatinous cranberry sauce - making your own is super easy and you'll never go back to canned!!

Watch how easy it is: https://youtube.com/shorts/b57pDkBj3Xc?feature=share

Growing up with Dutch parents, we always had homemade applesauce on the table for Thanksgiving and Christmas—a bright, refreshing contrast to all the rich dishes.

So years later, when I watched Bobby Flay whip up cranberry sauce on TV and tried it myself, I had that same aha moment… but elevated. The fresh cranberries, the burst of citrus, the natural sweetness from maple syrup—it hits all those “fresh and light” notes, but with a little extra sparkle.

This maple-sweetened orange cranberry sauce is ridiculously simple to make, naturally refined-sugar-free, and brings a zinginess that (sorry, Grandma) applesauce just can’t.

Serve it with your holiday feast, spoon it over oatmeal or yogurt, or use it as the bright, tangy filling in our Cranberry Crumble Bars. Trust me—you’ll be making this long after the holidays are over.

Ingredients

1 bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 oranges
pinch of salt

Directions

Wash cranberries and discard any that are soft or bruised.
Add all but 1 cup of the cranberries to a medium saucepan; set the remaining 1 cup aside.
Zest both oranges and juice one of them; add zest and juice to the saucepan.
Add maple syrup and salt, then bring to a boil over medium heat.
Reduce heat and simmer until cranberries begin to pop and the sauce thickens.
Add the reserved cranberries and cook on low until they pop (about 5 minutes).
Let cool—your sauce will continue to thicken as it rests. Adjust sweetness with a little more maple syrup if desired.
Enjoy! It’s delicious at room temperature, but also great chilled or gently warmed.