Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Flavored with orange juice and yummy spices like nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon this Spiced Cranberry Sauce will blow your taste buds away. It’s seriously delicious and the perfect condiment for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any holiday!

I love cooking with spices. I just love the intense complexity in flavor that a little dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, or my favorite cardamon can add to a dish. When I decided to make some condiments for Thanksgiving, I thought it had to be cranberry sauce and a spiced one, too.

I love Indian spices, especially cardamom. I buy a big bag of it for making homemade Chai Tea. An Indian friend of ours taught me how to make authentic Chai and once I got introduced to cardamom, which is Chai’s premier ingredient, I was hooked.

After that I have used cardamom in many dishes I have made especially in curries as hubby and I are huge curry fans. I recently made pumpkin lassi and used cardamom for that and thought to myself it would be awesome to use cardamom in flavoring cranberry sauce, too! I know a little cardamom goes a long way, so I thought I’d try it.

Honestly, my taste buds were blown away by the flavors in this cranberry sauce. The addition of cardamom worked and the combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves was perfect.

A subtle hint of nutmeg, a nuance of cardamon, and of course the yummy flavors of cinnamon and cloves give this Thanksgiving condiment an amazing taste. And, it’s such a breeze to make! Hope you give this spiced Cranberry Sauce a try this holiday season!

FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.

WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR SPICED CRANBERRY SAUCE?

Flavored with nutmeg, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon this Spiced Cranberry Sauce will blow your taste buds away. It’s seriously delicious and the perfect condiment for Thanksgiving, Christmas and any holiday!

  • 1 cup Orange Juice or Water – some sweetness and citrus flavor are added with the orange juice so use it if possible.
  • 2 cups Sugar – white or brown as preferred.
  • 4 cups fresh or frozen Cranberries
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground Nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground Cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves

HOW DO YOU MAKE SPICED CRANBERRY SAUCE?

In a heavy saucepan, dissolve the sugar in orange juice or water by stirring over low to medium heat.

Bring to a boil.

Add the cranberries and the spices and stir.

Lower the heat and cook until the cranberries pop about 10-12 minutes and the sauce has thickened to your liking. It will also thicken as it cools down.

The cranberry sauce can be made a day or 2 ahead. Refrigerate if making ahead. Serve at room temperature.

Yield: 10-12 Servings
Prep Time: 5 Minutes
Cooking Time: 15 Minutes
Total Time: 20 Minutes

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Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Manila Spoon
Flavored with orange juice and yummy spices like nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon this Spiced Cranberry Sauce will blow your taste buds away. It’s seriously delicious and the perfect condiment for Thanksgiving, Christmas and any holiday! Tried and tested recipe for the holiday season.
5 from 24 votes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 12
Calories 154 kcal

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup Orange Juice or Water
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 4 cups fresh or frozen Cranberries
  • ½ teaspoon ground Cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground Nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground Cardamom
  • ¼ teaspoon ground Cloves

Instructions
 

  • In a heavy saucepan, dissolve the sugar in orange juice or water by stirring over low to medium heat.
  • Bring to a boil.
  • Add the cranberries and the spices and stir.
  • Lower the heat and cook until the cranberries pop about 10-12 minutes and the sauce has thickened to your liking. It will also thicken as it cools down.
  • The cranberry sauce can be made a day or 2 ahead. Refrigerate if making ahead. Serve at room temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 12gCalories: 154kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 0.3gFat: 0.2gSaturated Fat: 0.03gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.03gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.02gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 70mgFiber: 1gSugar: 36gVitamin A: 62IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 7mgIron: 0.2mg
Keyword spiced cranberry sauce, spiced cranberry sauce cardamom, spiced cranberry sauce with orange juice
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Last updated on November 11th, 2023 at 02:09 pm

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26 Comments

  1. November 20, 2015 / 2:59 am

    Dear Abby, I've never cooked with cardamom before. My head must be in the sand. I'm intrigued. I love chai tea, so I must love cardamom. I definitely love whole cranberry sauce, so this will be a real winner at our Thanksgiving table. Have a blessed Thanksgiving with your family and friends. xo

  2. November 20, 2015 / 3:07 am

    My grandmas would love this! Her most favorite thing at Thanksgiving is the cranberry sauce and we always make sure we have it there for her!

  3. November 20, 2015 / 3:41 am

    Looks delicious and perfect for this year's turkey.

  4. November 20, 2015 / 4:29 am

    I much prefer spices in my cranberry sauce (or chutney) too! This one looks amazing! I save extra of it for after Thanksgiving and serve it on my curries too!

  5. November 20, 2015 / 6:29 am

    I'm a BIG fan of cardamom too, and I love all the spices you added to this cranberry sauce. Something about these spices that make anything festive. And just a little bit more special. Thanks for the inspiration!

  6. November 20, 2015 / 8:54 am

    I love cranberries and this combinations with the spices sounds delicious I will have to try soon.

  7. November 20, 2015 / 1:42 pm

    We are going to be making our own cranberry sauce this year for the first time and I hope it looks as great as this!

  8. November 20, 2015 / 7:07 pm

    Amen to homemade cranberry sauce! It's so easy to make, I don't know why anyone ever buys anything else–but you've made it even better with the spices. Sounds good!

  9. November 20, 2015 / 7:39 pm

    This sounds amazing! I love spices in pretty much everything, whereas my family doesn't. Fortunately, they live in another state, so we don't spend Thanksgiving together and I can eat what I want!

  10. November 21, 2015 / 12:35 pm

    I love cardamom on anything so I am sold.

  11. November 21, 2015 / 9:02 pm

    I've rarely been sorry when I've added cardamom to a dish 🙂

  12. November 22, 2015 / 1:59 am

    I am looking for a new cranberry recipe this year. this sounds awesome!

  13. November 22, 2015 / 2:27 am

    Perfect recipe for the holidays right now. And love the heart shape bowl!

  14. November 22, 2015 / 11:21 pm

    I love cardamom too… I use it lots in my cooking and it is fabulous with just about anything. I always have some on hand. Think I will be adding some to my cranberry sauce this year.

  15. November 23, 2015 / 5:28 am

    This spiced cranberry sauce looks perfect!

  16. November 23, 2015 / 4:28 pm

    In Sweden we love cranberry sauce, but I never tried with spices. Love the idea though, it will be the perfect twist to a classic. Thanks for your recipe! 🙂

  17. November 25, 2015 / 2:07 am

    I love that you added cardamom to this! I'm sold!

  18. November 25, 2015 / 9:12 am

    Abby, your addition of cardamom is genius! Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving.

  19. November 25, 2015 / 9:36 pm

    I'm a huge cranberry sauce fan, but have never used this combination of spices – love them together, especially in this context. I must try it!

  20. November 26, 2015 / 2:07 am

    I love the flavor combinations in this dish! Thanks for sharing!

  21. December 13, 2015 / 8:00 am

    great flavours to make a different cranberry sauce , thank you xoxo

  22. Anonymous
    December 20, 2016 / 4:18 am

    I'm making this for Christmas this year – I need a change and this recipe sounds wonderful. Thanks.

  23. Mary Chappell-Davee
    November 17, 2023 / 3:01 pm

    Just made this with tangerine juice ( Costco find) and it is delicious. I decided to make a second batch because this is going to go fast at our Thanksgiving table. Thank you.

    • abigail
      Author
      November 17, 2023 / 7:42 pm

      I am so happy to know this! Every year we make this because it’s always requested and my husband won’t eat turkey without it – saying it’s only good because of the cranberry sauce. Thank you so much for letting us know.

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