This Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce is an amazingly delicious Thanksgiving or Christmas dish! And you can quickly throw it together from fresh or frozen cranberries in less than 30 minutes! Sweet-tart flavor to complement your turkey!
Traditional Cranberry Sauce?
Are you tired of the traditional Cranberry sauce? This simple delicious sauce made from frozen cranberries will be a game changer for your Thanksgiving Dinner. Let’s turn the mundane classic into a different kind of the cranberry sauce this holiday season!
I don’t know why we haven’t made it this way before. This year I made the most of what fall has to offer. Use frozen, fresh or canned cranberries to create tart and sweet flavors that complement each other beautifully! This cranberry sauce is truly a winner!
I love tart cranberries so much I also made this Cranberry Pecan Dessert from fresh cranberries.
Grand Marnier cranberry sauce
I’m not sure about you, but in my family cranberry sauce has always been an afterthought kind of thing. Of course, we always had it on our holiday table. But we sort of jammed it onto our plates after they were already full with all the other good stuff. As a result, the cranberry sauce was always more of a runner up to all the other dishes on the table. Now it’s the star of the show!
In this Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce, you simmer fresh berries with orange juice and Grand Marnier. And within 15 minutes they become a jammy sauce full of tart, juicy berries. Just beautiful!
Substitutions and variations that work
Cranberry sauce can be so much fun! Because you can play around with adding various other flavors and nuances, besides Grand Marnier.
Sweet: Remember that cranberries are very tart by nature, and need sugar to balance their tartness. You can always substitute the sugar with these sweeteners to balance cranberries’ tartness.
- Honey
- Blue agave syrup
- Maple syrup
But keep in mind that these sugar substitutes will produce slightly different flavors and textures in the final sauce.
Non-sweet: If you like to add additional flavors to the tart/sweet combination, I would recommend to experiment with the following.
- Cinnamon
- Walnuts
- Crystalized ginger
Storing, making ahead and freezing
Storing: For storage, refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 months. That’s right! The sugar serves as a preservative and your cranberry sauce can be safely kept in the fridge just like a cranberry jam! It’s the same idea.
Making ahead: You can make Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce up to three days ahead. I actually found that it tastes much better if I made it ahead. Especially if I allowed it to sit in the refrigerator for at least one day.
Freezing: For longer storage, freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Transfer to the refrigerator to thaw before serving.
You just made a cranberry cocktail cleverly disguised as a holiday table side dish! By the way, you will really like the taste of liquor in this sauce. You can definitely taste Grand Marnier and orange flavors against tartness of cranberries.
More delicious dried cranberry recipes
White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Cranberry Walnut and Spinach Salad
More holiday recipes
Not only did I try a different cranberry sauce, but also a different kind of turkey. I made Garlic Butter Roasted Turkey Breast instead of the traditional turkey this year!
I cooked a couple more amazing holiday recipes this year. All are delicious and easy to make.
Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Gratin
Brussels Sprouts Cranberry Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing.
And if you like pinning, follow me on PINTEREST to get more recipe ideas!
Grand Marnier Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 bags cranberries, fresh or frozen, (12 oz each)
- 1.5 cups cane sugar
- ½ cup orange juice
- 4 tablespoon Grand Marnier or Cognac
- 1 tablespoon zest of fresh orange
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, and orange juice.
- Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring often until syrupy, about 10 minutes.
- Add 4 tablespoon Grand Mariner and orange zest. Continue to cook on low heat for 10 more minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve with freshly grated orange zest.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Just pre made this for Thanksgiving. It turned out beautifully and bonus made the house smell great.
Well prepared and enjoy, Michele!
Many years ago I made a similar recipe that was cooked in the oven. This year for Friendsgiving, we had to use my oven for many other dishes. I was excited to find an even easier recipe for stovetop. This recipe is uncomplicated, scrumptious, and pulchritudinous for any setting. It pairs well with more than turkey- we did roasted chickens and stuffed pork tenderloin. The relish tasted delectable with both. It also complimented many other side dishes. If you are an adventurous eater with bold ideas, the pairings are endless. I received multiple compliments on this dish and made certain to share the recipe. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Being an adventurous eater is what I strive to be! Thank you for such a fabulous review and a 5-star rating, Bobbi!
I am going to try this on fresh waterfowl (duck). I cook alot of waterfowl this time of year because we hunt them alot. This sounds amazing and i will let you know how it goes. Thank you for the recipe!!
Wow! I am going to wait until you return and report how it tasted!
Could you use Xylitol or Stevia instead of sugar? Trying to cut down on processed sugar this year.
Yes! You could use that and in much lesser amounts than the recipe caLls for.
Could you freeze this? I know you could can it but not sure about the freezing
Maryann
Yes, you can freeze it.
Can this be canned?
I would think yes, even though I have not canned it. But because it does have enough sugar, which will serve as a preservative – I believe it will work.
I also add chopped walnuts to this, yummy
Sounds really good with chopped walnuts!
Just made this to put over brie tarts. It’s so easy and so delicious!! Hoping I can stop dipping into it so I leave enough for the tarts!!
Haha! Poor tarts.
Is this served hot or cold?
Cold.
hello this looks amazing and I am definitely going to make it for Christmas. what is the longest it can stay in refridgerator if we dont use it all Christmas dinner. could it stay a week? thank you
Lorenza, it will keep in the fridge for 2 weeks in the air tight container. It can even be frozen for 1-2 months. Just make sure to put it in the fridge within an hour (don’t let it sit on the table at room temperature for more than an hour – to keep it fresher longer).
This sounds amazing! I’d love to give this one a go.
Thanks Stine Mari – I hope you will enjoy it.
Can you freeze it?
Hi Pauline. Yes, homemade cranberry sauce can definitely be frozen! Just make sure to use it within a month.