Perfecting Thanksgiving Dinner: Best Cranberry Sauce Recipes

From simple cranberry relish to port-spiked cranberry sauce, Food & Wine offers the best recipes for this tangy-sweet Thanksgiving essential.

Classic Cranberry Sauce Recipes

Chunky Cranberry Sauce

With just three ingredients: apple juice, cranberries and sugar, this rustic sauce is easy, healthy and fast.

Candied Cranberry Sauce

Cooked with less water and in a wide skillet, tart cranberries are candied in the sugar syrup and remain almost whole.

Cranberry Relish Recipes

Cranberry-Apricot Relish

This tangy sweet cranberry relish can be served in a sandwich or as an alternative to traditional cranberry sauce.

Fresh Cranberry Relish

Coarsely chopped apple, lemon and orange come together in this traditional raw cranberry relish.

Cranberry-Bourbon Relish

This bourbon-laced relish can be served alongside sliced turkey or as a sweet counterpoint to pâté or smoked meats.

Cranberry-Citrus Relish

With navel orange, lemon and lime, this condiment is packed with citrus flavor.

Cranberry Sauce Recipes with Fruit

Cranberry-Grapefruit Conserve

“It’s so easy to make your own cranberry sauce, why wouldn’t you?” Boston chef Barbara Lynch says of this bitter-tart conserve, which she also jars and gives as a gift.

Jellied Cranberry Sauce with Fuji Apple

While this cranberry sauce may remind some of a canned version, it’s healthy and homemade. The addition of Fuji Apples to the sauce provides pectin, a natural gelling agent.

Cranberry and Dried Fruit Compote

This cranberry compote gets depth and texture from dried figs, cherries and raisins.

Cranberry, Quince and Pear Chutney

Verjus (the juice of unripe grapes), brandy, pears and quince add complexity to this chutney.

Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce

In this sauce, pomegranate juice adds sweet-tart freshness while pomegranate seeds offer a great pop in the mouth.

Following the advice of their mother, Sarah Harris, that tart is always better than sweet, Bruce and Eric Bromberg developed this tangy sauce to balance the sweet dishes normally served at Thanksgiving. The sugared tangerines need to stand overnight; so plan accordingly.

Spiked and Spiced Cranberry Sauce Recipes

Cranberry Sauce with Spiced Pumpkin Seeds

Marcia Kiesel gives this sauce crunch and flavor by adding pumpkin seeds roasted with cumin and paprika.

Instant Spiced Apple Cider-Cranberry Sauce

Apple cider, cinnamon and ground cloves give this cranberry sauce a distinctly fall flavor.

Port-Cranberry Sauce

Reduced Ruby Port adds richness and depth to this fast and easy sauce.

Cranberries with Orange Zest and Port

Chefs Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock find a real affinity between the flavors of cranberry and port. The unusual way of cooking the berries in this cranberry orange sauce renders them perfectly done but not mushy, resulting in a relish that is as beautiful as it is delicious.