Perfect Classic Cranberry Sauce: Approved by 3 Generations

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Cranberry sauce is practically a requirement for the holidays. At least for thanksgiving. And maybe Christmas. Homemade classic cranberry sauce is actually easy to make, despite how fabulous it looks on the table. The smell of cranberries, sugar, cinnamon, and cloves simmering also fills the house. The mere smell brings on the essence of the holiday season.

If you’re looking for a turkey recipe, my “Apple Cider-Brined Turkey with Herb Butter” is delicious, moist, and the best turkey I have ever eaten!
If I have extra sauce, I use it in my “Savory Stuffed Holiday Pork Chops“…where it calls for sweetened dried cranberries, I just use this amazing cranberry sauce!

Thank you for my father-in-law, George, for this recipe! He said he got it from a friend in the 70s, so I don’t really have an “original” source to credit.

Now, a question for you my dear readers: Classic cranberry sauce or the cranberry out of a can? Comment at the very bottom! 

I didn’t always eat homemade cranberry sauce. I grew up with the cranberries out of a can. You know the kind: the ones that keep the shape of the can- including the ripples- when dumped out. So, when my husband said he wanted cranberries, he said to call his parents. His dad makes the cranberries every year.

I was young and didn’t know anything about cooking, so as I scribbled the directions given over the phone, when they said ‘cloves,’ I was confused. The only cloves I knew of were garlic cloves. Which sounded odd in cranberry sauce…but who was I to argue. So, Thanksgiving arrives and I served cranberry sauce with garlic in it. Yes, seriously. It was at that age I discovered cloves existed.

Step-by-Step Cranberry Sauce: